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Social Studies
Social Studies instruction at JPDS, in keeping with the school’s mission, balances a content-rich curriculum with an emphasis on both core values and critical thinking skills to establish a foundation for our students “to become knowledgeable, responsible Jews and citizens” and “lifelong learners.”
Beginning in the earliest grades, teachers foster a spirit of inquiry, inspiring and accentuating the children’s own questions and joining them on guided journeys of exploration. As the students move forward in their learning, the curriculum moves outward in concentric circles, with considerations of individual identities, families, community helpers, our Brightwood neighborhood, and the District of Columbia, followed by year-long geographic investigations of the United States and the World.
Our oldest students add a temporal component to their explorations, studying, first, the historical origins of American values and American national identity and, then, the roots of civilization itself in the ancient world.
Along the way, morning routines and communal celebrations—including the annual Veterans Day assembly—affirm civic consciousness, while regular field trips, readings in periodicals, and participation in classroom-based or school-wide special events serve to keep students engaged in cultural activities and aware both of current affairs and of the world around them.
Through the give-and-take of the classroom and the progression of independent work, JPDS students learn to make connections, to challenge assumptions, to consider multiple perspectives, to undertake research, to formulate arguments, to substantiate ideas with evidence, and to communicate them orally, in writing, and using modern technologies. Lessons at all levels invite questioning, debate, and independent thinking.
Even as students explore different communities across space and time, they also participate in a community of their own at school. Regular classroom meetings address issues of concern, following the lead of students and of adults. Children develop their understandings of fairness and of responsibility along with their conflict-resolution skills through discussions in the abstract and practical applications in the day-to-day. Classroom work generates active initiatives in multiple, meaningful ways at JPDS, including, for example, the student leadership of the school’s Green Committee, inspired by lessons on allocation of resources and recycling. Individual classrooms, beginning in 3rd Grade, elect Class Representatives to the Student Council, and the entire student body chooses this Council’s four officers each spring. Students may also opt to join a weekly club that publishes the school’s newspaper, The Panda Post, and one that produces podcasts on different topics, and they have multiple opportunities throughout the year to participate, together with their families, in projects of service to the community at school and beyond.
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| "Along the way, morning routines and communal celebrations—including the annual Veterans Day assembly—affirm civic consciousness, while regular field trips, readings in periodicals, and participation in classroom-based or school-wide special events serve to keep students engaged in cultural activities and aware both of current affairs and of the world around them. |
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