Mitzvot and Middot are a crucial component of our program as we integrate these values in every aspect of our curriculum and student life at every age. Project Gevurah was developed by our elementary school psychologist and faculty as a means of developing positive behavior, encouraging acts of kindness, and providing bullying prevention. Developed from the nationally recognized Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports, Project Gevurah is imbued with aspects from the Torah and reinforces students for making good choices.
Our Elementary School social worker provides supportive school counseling, behavioral planning and support, crisis counseling and intervention, social emotional instruction, and parent and teacher consultation. The school social worker attends and actively participates in monthly student need meetings and provides appropriate follow-up and services based on team recommendations. The student support team across all divisions also collaborates to bring school wide programming and workshops to students and parents.
Social Emotional Learning continues beyond the elementary years through programming developed and administered by our middle school psychologist. The Social Emotional Learning Fundamentals (SELF) program merges middot with character traits as a guide to teach our students how to live a life with Jewish values. Kindness (chesed), gratitude, self-control and grit are just a few of the areas that this thoughtfully designed program addresses. Important content such as bullying and relational aggression, academic integrity, mindfulness, executive functioning and digital citizenship are discussed in a manner that is effective and relevant to tweens and teenagers in today’s world. In addition, our school psychologist is also available to offer supportive school counseling and mediation services to our students.
During the high school years, our students experience significant growth and development across academic, social/emotional, and spiritual levels. Our team is dedicated to creating a supportive and nurturing environment that allows our students to navigate these years feeling both supported and empowered to reach their fullest potential.
Our high school social worker addresses the multifaceted needs of high school students, playing a vital role in fostering the emotional well-being, personal growth, and academic success of students during these formative years. Through one-on-one counseling sessions and group sessions, students are given a safe space to explore and address personal challenges and provided with tools to succeed inside and outside of school.
The focus on the social/emotional wellbeing of our students is brought into the classroom setting as well. Our Social Emotional Wellness and Advisory period meets weekly, in which students are broken out into smaller groups with a dedicated faculty advisor. During this time, they are provided with lessons created based on their current developmental needs, and are also given dedicated 1:1 advisory time, fostering further connections between the students and faculty.
Our health elective class gives students an opportunity to learn and explore a wide range of important health topics, with a focus on how to live a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Some of these topics include stress management, self-care, mental health, social media use, substance abuse, and healthy relationships.
The Math Enrichment program, which is run in partnership with Zaniac, supports students who are academically gifted and above grade level in math. Students are selected for the program based on their scores on a math assessment, previous teacher recommendations, and current teacher’s approval. Students are placed into small pods in the Math Enrichment program. They work with a customized advanced curriculum that matches their skill levels/abilities, and encourages them to advance and be challenged in math.
Zaniac offers all students in grades K-5 an amazing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) enrichment opportunity. Students from grades K-2nd participate in Tinkering with littleBits and coding with ScratchJr. and Scratch. Students from grades 3rd-5th participate in coding with Scratch and 3D Design with Tinkercad.
Students needing resource support in elementary school benefit from push-in or pull-out, small group reinforcement with learning specialists. The AEP teachers target individual needs in the areas of reading, language arts, math, and Judaic studies. If a student has been identified as having a Specific Learning Disability or other challenges that impact learning, accommodations or modifications can be provided as described in a current psychological-educational evaluation. Students who are learning to speak English can receive support from ESOL (English as a Second Language) support. English skills are assessed for each student and a learning plan is set into place.
The Mechina program was developed in order to provide a solid Judaic Studies foundation for students who come from public school or a private school with a less rigorous Judaic background. The goal of Mechina is to give the students accelerated support and return them to the mainstream setting as soon as possible. The students are introduced to the Aleph Bet, basic Chumash skills, basic Ivrit, and Tefilla. Students learn at their own pace and then matriculate back to the regular classroom once their skills are on level.
In middle school and high school, the AEP teachers monitor students’ progress and meet with students in a study hall setting in order to ensure that assignments are completed in a timely manner. Students will have the ability to meet with the resource teacher on a regular basis in order to review organizational strategies, build academic skills, study for a test, ensure their planner is up to date, and receive homework assistance. If a student has been identified as having a Specific Learning Disability or other challenges that impact learning, accommodations or modifications can be provided as described in a current psychological-educational evaluation.
Zaniac provides a STEM push in program for grades K-5 focusing on Tinkering, Coding and 3D design. Zanaic also provides a Math Enrichment program for students with advanced math skills.
