Academics
at JCDS
תכנית הלימודים
"Open hearts. Open minds. Open worlds."It is not only our mantra, but it informs the meaning we seek in our day-to-day lives.
Our Approach to Excellence
הגישה שלנו למצויינות
At JCDS, we teach our students how to think, and not what to think. Within our values based, academically rigorous environment, they are taught the habits, and given the tools needed to succeed in this fast-paced and ever-changing world.Our students learn and succeed while caring for their fellow classmates and others. We raise critical thinkers who are also mensches.
Innovative Practices
שיטות חדשניות
Habits of Mind and Heart
Our Seven Habits of Mind and Heart inspire our educational program, guide participation in our community, and prepare us to live lives with purpose and meaning. Pluralism is the frame through which we help our children develop these habits, allowing them to engage across difference, build self-awareness and reflection, cultivate curiosity and empathy and foster strong identity. We teach these habits explicitly in all studies so that it will become part of the natural language of our students. We strive to ensure that our students can identify opportunities in which they can employ the habits successfully and intentionally, allowing them to be a contributing and engaged member of society.
Growth Mindset
We prepare our students for high school while preparing them for life. Through a growth mindset approach, students develop resilience and perseverance, learning that making an effort has great personal value, and that considering outside perspectives enriches everyone's understanding.
Differentiated Learning
Our Learning Services provide students in-class academic and executive functioning support, enrichment opportunities for students ready to go deeper with their learning, as well as pull out intensive intervention classes in reading, math, and English as second language classes. We work closely with teachers and instructional coaches to design and implement accommodations and modifications that make instruction and learning experiences accessible to an individual student's needs. We, too, are in close collaboration with parents and outside professionals and are integral team members in district Individualized Education/504 Accommodation meetings.We believe that the social-emotional development of our students is critical to them becoming happy, flexible, and resilient young adults. Our SEL curriculum is embedded within our classroom culture. Teachers frame the lessons from a combination of formal SEL curricula, for example, Zones of Regulation and Responsive Classroom, starting when children are in Kindergarten. In Middle School, the SEL curriculum is taught in Advisory, and includes preteen/adolescent health and wellness topics. Teachers also capitalize on moments in their respective curricula that make connections to topics related to identity, diversity, and pluralism and use them as teaching opportunities.
Integrated Learning
JCDS integrates our dual English & Hebrew curriculum as much as possible, drawing a meaningful throughline from general studies to Judaic studies and vice versa. This natural integration creates an enriched educational experience for our students, resulting in broader thinking and connection-making. Students may explore Biblical themes in art class, or make mindful comparisons between the literature being read in Humanities with teachings from Tanakh. There are no divisible partitions when it comes to learning; JCDS students come to recognize that everything is connected.
Building Bridges: Interschool Programming
At JCDS students have an opportunity to practice the skills core to intentional pluralism extending beyond the walls of our school community. We believe that relationships are central to this kind of bridge building. For example, our Middle School has long standing partnerships with the German International School of Boston, Alhuda Academy in Worcester, and the Epiphany School in Dorchester which broaden the students' connection to the world around them.Learn more about our curriculum by clicking on the categories below.
Curriculum Overview
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STEM
Engineering at JCDS begins in Gan Nitzan (Kindergarten) where students engage in the design thinking process, exploring high level questions, testing theories, and designing and prototyping solutions to real-world problems. Asking a six year old, "How do we design good quality playdough?" or challenging a sixth grader to create and program a robot to recycle. Students engage in inquiry through hands-on exploration in response to big picture and analytical questions.
Design thinking, scientific method, and inquiry are at the heart of science at JCDS. Engineering is taught K-2. In grades 3-5, there is a transition to scientific exploration of rich topics such as weather, forces in motion, earth systems, the human body, and our solar system. Students engage in meteorologic simulations while running JCDS' weather station, create models of buildings and test their earthquake effectiveness, map the use of energy in our building, and design solutions to energy problems.
Our Middle School has a rich science program following a curricular sequence aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. Students study cell biology, ecology, evolution and genetics, earth science, climate science, space exploration, chemistry and physics. They engage in labs, hands-on projects, deep discussion and debate, as well as formal assessments, research, and scientific writing. Connections are found across disciplines, as students ask open-ended questions about scientific phenomena in the world around them.
The science curriculum and maker education projects align perfectly with the school's mission of nurturing intellectual discovery, fostering creative problem-solving with empathy and curiosity, thus kindling a flame for lifelong learning. Students are given the opportunity to apply design thinking to develop solutions to real-world challenges, fully embodying the school's vision of graduates who can apply knowledge to creatively tackle problems.
The hands-on, inquiry-based nature of projects connects to the school's dual language Hebrew-English environment that emphasizes respectful questioning and listening. As students collaborate, iterate on designs, and learn from mistakes, they will grow their capacity for decision-making rooted in Jewish values like increasing knowledge and repairing the world.
Moreover, by integrating art, technology, and engineering through iterative design in science classes it enables students to explore connections between Jewish texts, culture, and innovative making, preparing them to build communities that embrace differences and learn from diverse perspectives.
Experiencing STEM education through this style of pedagogy instills vital 21st century skills for our graduates helping them to make a meaningful difference in their communities and the world at large.
Design thinking, scientific method, and inquiry are at the heart of science at JCDS. Engineering is taught K-2. In grades 3-5, there is a transition to scientific exploration of rich topics such as weather, forces in motion, earth systems, the human body, and our solar system. Students engage in meteorologic simulations while running JCDS' weather station, create models of buildings and test their earthquake effectiveness, map the use of energy in our building, and design solutions to energy problems.
Our Middle School has a rich science program following a curricular sequence aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. Students study cell biology, ecology, evolution and genetics, earth science, climate science, space exploration, chemistry and physics. They engage in labs, hands-on projects, deep discussion and debate, as well as formal assessments, research, and scientific writing. Connections are found across disciplines, as students ask open-ended questions about scientific phenomena in the world around them.
The science curriculum and maker education projects align perfectly with the school's mission of nurturing intellectual discovery, fostering creative problem-solving with empathy and curiosity, thus kindling a flame for lifelong learning. Students are given the opportunity to apply design thinking to develop solutions to real-world challenges, fully embodying the school's vision of graduates who can apply knowledge to creatively tackle problems.
The hands-on, inquiry-based nature of projects connects to the school's dual language Hebrew-English environment that emphasizes respectful questioning and listening. As students collaborate, iterate on designs, and learn from mistakes, they will grow their capacity for decision-making rooted in Jewish values like increasing knowledge and repairing the world.
Moreover, by integrating art, technology, and engineering through iterative design in science classes it enables students to explore connections between Jewish texts, culture, and innovative making, preparing them to build communities that embrace differences and learn from diverse perspectives.
Experiencing STEM education through this style of pedagogy instills vital 21st century skills for our graduates helping them to make a meaningful difference in their communities and the world at large.
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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
Enhancing creativity, imagination, and building anthropologic awareness; music, dance, and visual arts at JCDS are ongoing gateways to culture and cultural literacy. All taught in Hebrew by native Israelis, each of our interdisciplinary arts continually provides students' opportunity for individual expression.
Our music program uses children's voices, instruments, movement, and multimedia, including visiting musicians, films, and concerts, to bring a wide variety of musical genres and rhythm into the students' lives. The reading of music and musical notation is also taught.
The JCDS Middle School klezmer band is a marvelous means for 5th through 8th graders, who play instruments, to informally gather together weekly, learn Jewish music, and perform it inside and outside of school. At the start of each season, students in the band gleefully determine a name for that year’s ensemble, some of which include: Les Klezerables, Elvis Klezley, and The Grateful Klez!
Through our Visual Arts program, students come to see themselves as budding young artists, from creating their own small masterpieces, to learning about the great masters while studying their styles and methods.
Our JCDS dance program is taught to all Lower School children. Middle Schoolers who choose to be in Dance Troupe beautifully collaborate toward the common goal of performing, culminating in them proudly participating at the MIT Folk Festival each Spring.
Students leave JCDS seeing themselves as adept and capable in the arts, as well as knowing dozens of modern day Israeli dances, rock, pop, hip hop, and folk tunes.
Our music program uses children's voices, instruments, movement, and multimedia, including visiting musicians, films, and concerts, to bring a wide variety of musical genres and rhythm into the students' lives. The reading of music and musical notation is also taught.
The JCDS Middle School klezmer band is a marvelous means for 5th through 8th graders, who play instruments, to informally gather together weekly, learn Jewish music, and perform it inside and outside of school. At the start of each season, students in the band gleefully determine a name for that year’s ensemble, some of which include: Les Klezerables, Elvis Klezley, and The Grateful Klez!
Through our Visual Arts program, students come to see themselves as budding young artists, from creating their own small masterpieces, to learning about the great masters while studying their styles and methods.
Our JCDS dance program is taught to all Lower School children. Middle Schoolers who choose to be in Dance Troupe beautifully collaborate toward the common goal of performing, culminating in them proudly participating at the MIT Folk Festival each Spring.
Students leave JCDS seeing themselves as adept and capable in the arts, as well as knowing dozens of modern day Israeli dances, rock, pop, hip hop, and folk tunes.
Learn More
Mathematics
Math at JCDS is a joyful enterprise, where students explore mathematical concepts, focusing not just on developing skills, but on how to think like mathematicians.
Lower School Math
Our math curriculum, based on the Investigations curriculum, focuses on deep content mastery. Students use manipulatives, visual models, and verbal explanations to grasp concepts. The curriculum emphasizes higher order problem-solving, and depth over breadth in its content. Formative and summative assessment regularly occurs through quizzes, tests, exit tickets.
At JCDS, we focus on understanding concepts and the why behind strategies and algorithms, instead of just rote memorization of steps. Our primary goal to move every child into a higher level of understanding. Students engage in daily math warm-ups that are designed to get them talking, reasoning, and justifying their math thinking. We give challenging work that takes children deeper into concepts and helps them gain problem-solving skills.
Middle School Math
Middle School math is differentiated across the grade, teaching students at an appropriate pace and level and moving them to the next level in a supportive environment. Using the Illustrative Mathematics curriculum, our emphasis is on developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts, while developing fluency and facility with calculations and processes. Students build a mathematical vocabulary used to explain their thinking and defend their mathematical ideas. They engage in hard work and productive struggle, with the teacher as the guide on the side helping them to fine tune their thinking and deepen their procedural knowledge.
For students who wish to extend the in-class math instruction, we offer Math Kangaroo and Math Team. Math Kangaroo USA is an international math contest composed of multiple-choice questions that vary in level of difficulty on a variety of topics, such as logic puzzles, spatial 2D and 3D reasoning, number theory, and much more. It is open to any student who would like to participate. JCDS students have placed in the top percentile nationally.
Lower School Math
Our math curriculum, based on the Investigations curriculum, focuses on deep content mastery. Students use manipulatives, visual models, and verbal explanations to grasp concepts. The curriculum emphasizes higher order problem-solving, and depth over breadth in its content. Formative and summative assessment regularly occurs through quizzes, tests, exit tickets.
At JCDS, we focus on understanding concepts and the why behind strategies and algorithms, instead of just rote memorization of steps. Our primary goal to move every child into a higher level of understanding. Students engage in daily math warm-ups that are designed to get them talking, reasoning, and justifying their math thinking. We give challenging work that takes children deeper into concepts and helps them gain problem-solving skills.
Middle School Math
Middle School math is differentiated across the grade, teaching students at an appropriate pace and level and moving them to the next level in a supportive environment. Using the Illustrative Mathematics curriculum, our emphasis is on developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts, while developing fluency and facility with calculations and processes. Students build a mathematical vocabulary used to explain their thinking and defend their mathematical ideas. They engage in hard work and productive struggle, with the teacher as the guide on the side helping them to fine tune their thinking and deepen their procedural knowledge.
For students who wish to extend the in-class math instruction, we offer Math Kangaroo and Math Team. Math Kangaroo USA is an international math contest composed of multiple-choice questions that vary in level of difficulty on a variety of topics, such as logic puzzles, spatial 2D and 3D reasoning, number theory, and much more. It is open to any student who would like to participate. JCDS students have placed in the top percentile nationally.
Learn More
Language Arts
From the moment children enter Gan Nitzan (Kindergarten), our goal is for each to celebrate the joy of stories, books, and the written word. Throughout their Lower School years, engaging students in rich discussions about the stories is an integral part of our reading program, in which they learn critical thinking skills, how to share ideas and talk about books with a partner or group, and celebrate the wonder and endless worlds that stories bring to their lives.
As they matriculate through Lower School grades, lessons systematically build their understanding of letters and sounds through an evidence-based curricular approach to teaching phonics. Tried and true literacy programs are employed, such as Heggerty used in Kindergarten and first grade to teach phonemic awareness, and Fundations as our keystone for teaching phonics. Students learn these critical skills and readily apply them to reading, engaging stories and informational texts. Our robust literacy program provides authentic and exciting exploration of texts.
We teach reading in concert with writing. As our students examine books to become better readers, they, too, learn to think about the role of the writer and discern the qualities of what makes excellent writing. When reading to oneself, or being read to, students are taught to think deeply about the voice of the author, how they create mood and characters, and this helps them as they come to develop their own unique writing voices.
Throughout the Lower School years, grammar, syntax, and mechanics are taught in synchronicity with all styles of writing, from stories, to small moments, to research social studies papers, to journaling. Lower School students enter the Middle School well prepared for what comes next.
Students graduate from JCDS seeing themselves as writers who trust in their own voices as mindful and critical wordsmiths. By both analyzing the written word in the literature read and using each book, from 5th to 8th grade, as a vehicle for a particular form of writing, they develop multiple language arts and literary skills. In the process of writing, pertinent grammar and mechanics are taught coupled with students learning the integral skill of peer editing. With sensitivity, care, and rubric in hand, they learn to critically, constructively, and carefully advise one another on how to make their writing better; crisper, more direct, and compelling. This act of peer editing helps improve the writing of both the giver and receiver, and in sharing the intimacy of one's own words, students open themselves up to being their best selves, taking this responsibility with great seriousness of purpose.
One prime example of the integration of all of these skills is the seventh grade Tales of Childhood project. Using Roald Dahl's autobiographical stories, Boy,Tales of Childhood, as a conduit, 7th graders spend eight weeks recounting and writing up tales of their own childhoods, reading them aloud in small groups for peer review and editing, and then typing them for one last revision before final 'publication.' Once completed, they design their own marvelously unique books, replete with drawings, photographs, and original design in which to hold their stories, creating a keepsake of childhood memories.
As they matriculate through Lower School grades, lessons systematically build their understanding of letters and sounds through an evidence-based curricular approach to teaching phonics. Tried and true literacy programs are employed, such as Heggerty used in Kindergarten and first grade to teach phonemic awareness, and Fundations as our keystone for teaching phonics. Students learn these critical skills and readily apply them to reading, engaging stories and informational texts. Our robust literacy program provides authentic and exciting exploration of texts.
We teach reading in concert with writing. As our students examine books to become better readers, they, too, learn to think about the role of the writer and discern the qualities of what makes excellent writing. When reading to oneself, or being read to, students are taught to think deeply about the voice of the author, how they create mood and characters, and this helps them as they come to develop their own unique writing voices.
Throughout the Lower School years, grammar, syntax, and mechanics are taught in synchronicity with all styles of writing, from stories, to small moments, to research social studies papers, to journaling. Lower School students enter the Middle School well prepared for what comes next.
Students graduate from JCDS seeing themselves as writers who trust in their own voices as mindful and critical wordsmiths. By both analyzing the written word in the literature read and using each book, from 5th to 8th grade, as a vehicle for a particular form of writing, they develop multiple language arts and literary skills. In the process of writing, pertinent grammar and mechanics are taught coupled with students learning the integral skill of peer editing. With sensitivity, care, and rubric in hand, they learn to critically, constructively, and carefully advise one another on how to make their writing better; crisper, more direct, and compelling. This act of peer editing helps improve the writing of both the giver and receiver, and in sharing the intimacy of one's own words, students open themselves up to being their best selves, taking this responsibility with great seriousness of purpose.
One prime example of the integration of all of these skills is the seventh grade Tales of Childhood project. Using Roald Dahl's autobiographical stories, Boy,Tales of Childhood, as a conduit, 7th graders spend eight weeks recounting and writing up tales of their own childhoods, reading them aloud in small groups for peer review and editing, and then typing them for one last revision before final 'publication.' Once completed, they design their own marvelously unique books, replete with drawings, photographs, and original design in which to hold their stories, creating a keepsake of childhood memories.
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Social Studies
In Lower School, social studies is taught through a lens of respect, cooperation, celebration, and community. Students engage in rich discussion as they explore content that exposes them to new cultures and traditions, and ask questions about what it means to be in community with one another. In Middle School, students deepen their understanding of the world by expanding their critical thinking skills and the multiple narratives associated with moments in history.
Throughout the grades, students think critically, engage in civil discourse, and flex their thinking muscles as they develop their own understanding and opinions about the world around them through asking questions. From the beginning, our students are geographers, mapping the school, their surrounding community, and exploring maps of the country and the world. Lower School students engage in directed study of Indigenous Peoples of the United States, the age of exploration, and the Mayflower. They explore aspects of immigration and the experience of immigrants coming to America, both long ago and today. Their studies take them to the founding of the United States Government, our Bill of Rights and Constitution, and then delve deep into the fight for rights within the Civil Rights movement. Students read, research, debate, and write extensively, as they think about pivotal moments in history and the people impacted by them.
Throughout the curriculum, students learn about ancient civilizations, American, Israeli and modern Jewish history through a lens that history is a result of choices made by individuals for a variety of reasons. Students learn how to go deep, ask questions and use modern methods of research and interview skills. The Israel curriculum fosters a sense of belonging and attachment to the State of Israel and Jewish Peoplehood. We trust that our students can build an attachment and pride in the miracle of the State of Israel while exploring the complexities and hardships connected to it. We are blessed to have a diverse community including many Israelis who share their personal stories giving texture to our Israel curriculum.
Throughout the grades, students think critically, engage in civil discourse, and flex their thinking muscles as they develop their own understanding and opinions about the world around them through asking questions. From the beginning, our students are geographers, mapping the school, their surrounding community, and exploring maps of the country and the world. Lower School students engage in directed study of Indigenous Peoples of the United States, the age of exploration, and the Mayflower. They explore aspects of immigration and the experience of immigrants coming to America, both long ago and today. Their studies take them to the founding of the United States Government, our Bill of Rights and Constitution, and then delve deep into the fight for rights within the Civil Rights movement. Students read, research, debate, and write extensively, as they think about pivotal moments in history and the people impacted by them.
Throughout the curriculum, students learn about ancient civilizations, American, Israeli and modern Jewish history through a lens that history is a result of choices made by individuals for a variety of reasons. Students learn how to go deep, ask questions and use modern methods of research and interview skills. The Israel curriculum fosters a sense of belonging and attachment to the State of Israel and Jewish Peoplehood. We trust that our students can build an attachment and pride in the miracle of the State of Israel while exploring the complexities and hardships connected to it. We are blessed to have a diverse community including many Israelis who share their personal stories giving texture to our Israel curriculum.
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Toshba תושב״ע
Rava says: Hevruta or Mituta (Taanit 23a)
Judaism survives because of the learning done in partnership.
Generations of Jews have wrestled with tradition and have been tasked to keep it alive through interpretation and commitment to ethics and action. At JCDS, our students are given a seat at the table and asked to engage in this important work, just as did those who came before them. We ask our students to bring their full selves to actualize through our Toshba studies.
We are building a positive, intentional, pluralistic community at JCDS. Jews have never agreed on everything, and those arguments between Jews and God, Jews and Jews, and Jews and the world are the content of our holy texts. By taking our learning of them seriously, we learn to take our pluralism and differences seriously and intentionally build a Jewish community where all belong. Students are taught how to learn in Hevruta (in pairs), find themselves in our texts and traditions, and see the continuous thread of Jewish history. By engaging with the thousand-year traditions of our people, our students take ownership of their Judaism while developing text and research skills that will serve them in both their religious and secular lives.
Judaism survives because of the learning done in partnership.
Generations of Jews have wrestled with tradition and have been tasked to keep it alive through interpretation and commitment to ethics and action. At JCDS, our students are given a seat at the table and asked to engage in this important work, just as did those who came before them. We ask our students to bring their full selves to actualize through our Toshba studies.
We are building a positive, intentional, pluralistic community at JCDS. Jews have never agreed on everything, and those arguments between Jews and God, Jews and Jews, and Jews and the world are the content of our holy texts. By taking our learning of them seriously, we learn to take our pluralism and differences seriously and intentionally build a Jewish community where all belong. Students are taught how to learn in Hevruta (in pairs), find themselves in our texts and traditions, and see the continuous thread of Jewish history. By engaging with the thousand-year traditions of our people, our students take ownership of their Judaism while developing text and research skills that will serve them in both their religious and secular lives.
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Tanakh תנ״ך
The biblical narratives, with their infinite wisdom, open the doors for our students to the national ethos that shapes the Jewish people. The Tanakh serves our diverse community as a shared history, a moral compass, a codex of law, and a touchstone of national identity. Through studying the Tanakh, students acquire knowledge that shapes their value systems and helps them establish their priorities.
Tanakh study opens their minds by cultivating curiosity and wonder, and encourages openness to diverse ideas and thoughts. And it opens their hearts as they embrace it as an inspiring resource, informing their values, moral commitments, and ways of experiencing the world.
Students encounter a range of viewpoints and values. Teaching them skills that will allow them to:
Tanakh study opens their minds by cultivating curiosity and wonder, and encourages openness to diverse ideas and thoughts. And it opens their hearts as they embrace it as an inspiring resource, informing their values, moral commitments, and ways of experiencing the world.
Students encounter a range of viewpoints and values. Teaching them skills that will allow them to:
- Become independent readers of the biblical text in Hebrew.
- Cultivate an ability to contend with the multiplicity of outlooks and evolving values in the Tanakh.
- Develop familiarity with different meforshim (interpreters) from ancient, Rabbinic and modern times.
- Recognize different genres within biblical literature and how each contributes differently towards the Tanakh's teachings.
