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Learning is Special Here

There's excitement

Children run into school each morning leading their parents by the hand. Parents cluster in the courtyard, help in the classroom, and participate actively in all facets of school activity and leadership. Teachers glow as they build the skills and motivation that will make learning a rewarding lifetime activity. The joy of learning, the joy of belonging, is everywhere.

There's tenderness

Jewish values permeate small moments and large events. "When I asked my daughter about her homework, I was amazed that she said she first had to call a classmate who was out ill," reports one parent. "She said every child out sick for two days gets a phone call from a classmate. It's their way of performing the mitzvah of bikkur cholim (visiting the sick)."

There's intellectual challenge

The information age is predicated on learning, on problem solving as a way of life. These students develop the confidence and skills to navigate through complex landscapes of information. Learning in the information age may be different from what it was in the industrial age. But it is a process familiar to the Jewish ear and heart.

There's a very special school in our community

It's the Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School, whose twin goals are to celebrate learning and foster academic excellence while developing menschlichkeit, imbuing students with Jewish values and literacy.

A community-based day school for kindergarten through fifth grades, MPJCDS serves families of reform, reconstructionist, conservative, orthodox, and unaffiliated backgrounds. The school teaches understanding, sensitivity, and loving acceptance of those whose practices are different from one's own and makes no distinction on the basis of gender or religious practice at home.

Children naturally desire to learn. And MPJCDS reinforces children's love of learning and respect for the intellect, hallmark values of Jewish civilization and culture.

Students best construct their understanding through interaction with the world, and the role of the teacher is to architect those experiences. A nurturing and supportive environment, the School is devoted to individualized development and instruction according to each child's needs and abilities. Student:teacher ratios of about 7:1 make this possible.

Enter a classroom and you may not see children quietly facing the front. Rather, you'll see children deeply engaged in learning, focused on their tasks, their materials, their peers, or their teachers as the moment requires. Students write their own books to be reviewed by classmates, critically analyze Judaic literature, and re-enact historical events. They experiment with electromagnetism, investigate environmental issues, and build their own understanding of mathematical processes. D. E. A. R. period (Drop Everything And Read) promotes a love of literature while giving teachers time to work one-on-one with students.

At MPJCDS, a highly positive overall experience is forged by combining an excellent general education with a deep and joyous exposure to Judaica. Academic excellence is built on rigorous standards, exceptional staff, and small class sizes. The General Studies curriculum includes science, mathematics, reading and language arts, use of computers, social studies, art, music, and physical education. The attainment of Hebrew literacy, the understanding and enjoyment of festivals, and the study of sacred texts in a spirit of reverence and intellectual openness are central to the school's Judaic curriculum.

Students at MPJCDS experience a rich, diverse and caring educational process. They develop personal values, including a love of learning, respect for others, pride in being Jewish, and a deep commitment to tikkun olam (perfecting the world), the practice of Tzedakah (acts of charity) and Gmilut Chassidim (compassion toward others).

Those students gain a first rate secular education, but more: the Jewish knowledge, Jewish values, and Jewish community needed to become responsible citizens and active participants in Jewish life.

Observes one child, "They don't teach Torah just in the classroom; they teach it on the playground, too."

There's confidence

Working together we can give our children an exceptional, joyful, learning experience.