Focus
This volume represents the core of the MJDS educational experience with reflections on child development, description of curriculum, and focus upon personnel:
At the heart of all of our work is the child. We start with our understanding of the developmental needs of children and build our program around the ways in which children gather information, acquire and apply skills, and share what they have come to know.
The content of our curriculum reflects areas of interest for elementary students, challenges that we believe will enhance growth and stimulate engagement with classroom experiences. Our curriculum looks at the many dimensions of a student’s learning including the spiritual.
It is of course, the teachers who bring curriculum to life. Our faculty bring a wealth of experiences from other schools and our community. Personally committed to lifelong learning, they offer the critical human dimension that connects the developing child with the core curriculum.
The curriculum described is carefully studied each year, with particular attention given to the ways in which it is implemented. Our focus during the coming year is upon:
Derech Eretz: the ways in which we interact with one another. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which we bring our core values to life so that they can take on meaning in our day-to-day work and play.
The integration of new math materials as we continue to differentiate instruction to meet the varied needs our students.
A continuation of work to deploy faculty resources to “differentiate” the curriculum to meet individual learning needs.
During the coming year, you’ll hear in our school-wide and classroom newsletters about:
The specific programs that focus our attention on core values.
Reports from the T’fillah Task Force that will be examining ways in which we help students to understand and fully engage with prayer while also learning the form of services and individual prayers.
Progress reports (formats which will be revised). While we hope to preserve the developmental aspects of reporting progress, we hope to share information in more concise ways, using formats that recognize the varied needs of students of different ages, and indicate progress in relation to grade level standards.
Reports about our partnership with the Mul Gilad School in the Kinneret region of Israel with whom we will be working as part of people-to-people efforts associated with the Partnership 2000 program.
Programs and community service projects that focus on our commitment to the larger community with particular attention to multi-cultural programming.