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April 13, 2016
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5 Nisan 5776
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Pardes Jewish Day School provides a rigorous, experiential education grounded in Jewish history, culture and values. This monthly newsletter highlights examples of classroom learning designed to meet and exceed state and national standards. Our students are well prepared for entry to the finest high schools and colleges and serve in a multitude of leadership roles.
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Upcoming Events
7 Nisan
Friday
April 15
First Grade
Siddur Ceremony
9 Nisan
Sunday
April 17
Class of 2012
Reunion
1:00 - 2:30 pm
12 Nisan
Wednesday
April 20
Kindergarten Seder
9:00 am
13 Nisan
Thursday
April 21
Grades 4 - 8
Color Wars
14-21 Nisan
Friday - Friday
April 22 - 29
Pesach Break
No School
25 Nisan
Tuesday
May 3
8th Grade Car Wash
25, 26, 28 Nisan
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
May 3, 4, 6
Stanford Achievement Testing
27 Nisan
Thursday
May 5
Yom Hashoah
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Jenny Swift
Jenny Swift, a member of the class of 2010, entered Pardes as a sixth grader. During those three years, she quickly recognized the benefits of attending Pardes. Now a sophomore at Cornell University, Jenny enjoyed the opportunity to reflect upon her middle school years.
"The best thing about Pardes was the sense of community. Small class sizes allow for connection between faculty and students in addition to a community of peers with whom you grow close when you spend all your time together. Even today, my two best friends attended Pardes with me. We were always told that Pardes was a
Kehila Kedosha,
a holy community, but I don't think I truly understood what this meant until long after I was gone," she said.
When asked how Pardes impacted the person she has become, she explained, "My time at Pardes made me a self-assured person. I was encouraged to ask questions, to participate, and to speak my mind, both in and out of the classroom and I have continued to do so in college and in life. Because of Pardes, I am more confident in my beliefs and Judaism will always be an important part of who I am."
After graduating from Pardes, Jenny attended Chaparral High School where she took all honors and AP classes. "I was nervous before freshman year and was told that maybe I should take a few non-honors classes. However, Pardes prepared me for the challenge of juggling work in multiple classes and the stress of taking difficult exams."
During high school, she was involved with her Temple Youth Group and Camp Swift as well as National Honors Society. As a freshman, she played volleyball for Chaparral, and during her last two years of high school, she returned to Pardes as an assistant volleyball coach.
Jenny now attends Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and is studying Industrial and Labor Relations. Outside of class, she is on the board of Into the Streets, Cornell's largest day of service which brings hundreds of students into the community to volunteer with local organizations. She is also a committee member on the School of Industrial Relations' Student Government Association and a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed community service fraternity.
When asked why people should send their children to Pardes, she replied, "I recently turned 20. For my birthday, I asked my parents for plane tickets to Tacoma, Washington
to visit my two best friends
done my spring break. These people aren't friends that I met in high school (in fact, we all went to different high schools) or college, but people I met on the first day of school at Pardes when I was 11. There are a million things I could have been doing during my spring break, but I wouldn't have chosen anything other than spending the weekend with the people who know me best. Staying this close with people that I met in middle school might be an anomaly, but Pardes, and the community it creates, gave me the opportunity to meet the people I would eventually call my best friends."
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Specialty Classes
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Specialty classes give our students the opportunity to expand their horizons. Developing a passion for art, music, or a myriad of other topics, robotics can be a lifelong interest. All of our specialty classes seek to expand the critical thinking of our students and provide opportunity for creativity, problem solving and, often times, collaboration. These are important 21st century skills that we want our students to experience and explore.
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Art
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Pardes knows that art education is critical, not only to cultivate budding artists, but also to help children learn about themselves and appreciate the world around them. Lower school art classes completed the unit on Purim masks, taking inspiration from such varied items as African masks, clowns, abstract art, and the art of Pablo Picasso. Kindergarten recently learned how to draw a clown by using basic shapes. Fourth grade has been working on a more advanced artistic process by using acrylic paint to paint landscapes on wine bottles. All levels are currently working on Passover art, with materials and mediums appropriate to the age level. Many fun and creative projects and lessons are completed throughout the course of the school year.
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Art Elective
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Art elective class gives the middle school students a chance to explore their creative sides.
Currently they are painting on canvas, developing their critical eye to recreate colors, composition and textures from a photo. Whether they are working on a project individually or together with a peer, it is a wonderful opportunity for students to use a different part of their brain in a casual classroom setting.
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 The E-Journalism elective class consists of students with a wide variety of talents and interests, which is what makes it great. Students work on topics that interest them. Some take photographs, some write about sports, some conduct surveys, some create puzzles, and some write opinion pieces. They have the freedom to pursue their own passions, and in turn they produce an electronic publication that appeals to their peers. It's a great opportunity for kids to write content that is intended for an audience of other middle schoolers. The Panther Post is created through Google Sites exclusively BY Pardes Middle School students, FOR Pardes Middle School students.
Some highlights of The Panther Post this year have included:
- An exclusive interview with Rick Hahn, Vice-President and General Manager of the Chicago White Sox, conducted via telephone by Panther Post Reporter Lauren Eckstein
- Numerous book reviews to help middle school readers choose their next great book
- An Oreo taste test conducted to answer the question, "Which Oreo flavor is best?"
- Advice from our own anonymous columnist, who responds to real student letters asking for help with common middle school issues
- Directions for making some simple yet fantastic DIY Hanukkah gifts
- Well-written opinion pieces about why homework should be limited, why punk rock is actually good for you, the positives and negatives of playing video games, and more
- Photos of new, ready-to-wear fashions for the middle school set
- A list of delicious Kosher restaurants in the Phoenix metro area
- "Panther Nation"--a video show patterned after Sports Nation that discusses sports happenings in school and on the national scene
...and much, much more! This has been a great year of fun and growth in E-Journalism as the talented student journalists have taken their interests and turned them into awesome reading material for their fellow middle schoolers.
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Entrepreneur
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Entrepreneur class teaches how to implement a business idea and goes through each step such as researching ideas, product creations, business finances and marketing.
The year culminates in an "Entrepreneur Fair" where the budding entrepreneurs sell their final product or service to their peers.
Currently, the students are working on creating their menu of services and  products. In the process, they are learning about unit costs and breaking down their inventory to help them figure out their price points and what they will charge customers to help maximize their profit. We are also discussing the most effective marketing strategies for their brand and how they can attract the most consumers the day of the fair. Over the past few months we've also engaged in discussions about work ethic, team work and collaboration, innovation, creative marketing strategies, the life and social skills necessary to be successful by exploring those common traits among the worlds most successful entrepreneurs. We enjoy watching biographies, Ted Talks and episodes of Shark Tank throughout the year. Earlier in the year, each team created their own YouTube channel and explored the process of monetizing their passions on the internet and social media. At the end of the year, the students will split their net profit they generate from the Entrepreneur Fair with a charity of their choice, to learn about giving back to their community.
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Music
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Music at Pardes is all about encompassing not only singing and playing both secular and Jewish music, but also learning about the composer behind the music. This past month, students learned all about movie composers such as John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino, and Randy Newman. The students were excited to learn about the composers of their favorite movies.
Each student created a poster, glogster, or slideshow about a song and composer from a movie of their choice and shared it with the class. Students chose anything from Zootopia, to Lord of the Rings to of course, Star Wars. It is fascinating to see the likes and interests of each student, and each one appreciating all different types of music scores.
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Panther Connection
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The Panther Connection elective organizes and facilitates many of the athletic programs throughout the year, and promotes school spirit. The students assist in planning and implementing home games of various sports, field day, color wars, and the Panther Classic, our annual bike race. The class itself is taught by our Coaches, and is run like a board of directors, using the Roberts Rules of Order, giving committee reports, taking minutes, etc. Each student either chairs or is a member of a committee for each of the ten athletic events. The students are given opportunities to develop and grow their self-identity, confidence and leadership skills that will benefit them in the future.
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Physical Education
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Physical Education is an integral part of the educational program at Pardes.
It offers a unique contribution in the development of knowledge, understanding, and positive attitudes concerning movement as well as physical fitness. The degree of success is geared towards the student experiences in work and play. This is influenced by his/her ability to execute movement patterns effectively and efficiently.
Students are exposed to many opportunities to participate in well conceived, well taught learning experiences in a safe and constructive environment.
Through movement, impressions of self-confidence and identity are formed.
Creating this understanding of sports, sportsmanship and teamwork will lead to the development of a life long passion for physical fitness.
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Recycled Art
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In Recycled Art elective, the students often get to do and create things they would never do otherwise. We have collected odds and ends, parts of things like electronics, containers, broken toys, incomplete puzzles ... you name it, we have it! Using various tools such as mallets, pliers, screwdrivers and sandpaper, the kids get busy pounding, pulling apart and destroying these items. With a little bit of imagination and a lot of glue, they then create useful (and sometimes not-so-useful) things, and they have great fun doing it!
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Robotics
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Robotics is the place to be! Where
else can you use your
 imagination, learn hands on, build with Legos, learn to code, and end with something that does exactly what you tell it to do? Shhh...don't tell the students how much they are actually learning!
Students build with Legos and NXT "bricks", the brains of our robots. They use their computers to program in Lego Mindstorms. Programming teaches logic, algorithms, math, and decision making.
In this classroom, creativity rules.
In the beginning of the semester, students learn to follow step-by-step directions to put together the "basic build." Then students may create their own designs.
Building with Legos teaches
three dimensional planning, organization, and problem solving. Students learn to communicate with each other as they discuss their "builds," and ask to borrow Legos from each other. Most importantly students learn critical thinking skills so they can build and program robots to perform certain tasks.
The majority of students in this class have chosen to make "battlebots." Some robots have scoops to turn over their opponents. Others have battering rams or hammers. Students use trial and error to decide whether a high profile works best for them, or a lower profile, with less possibility for rolling over when scooped up by an opponent. Many battles take place each class until someone loses a major component.
Robotics classes can get kids interested in careers in computers, programming, engineering, math, technology, and of course, robotics. Many startups in Silicon Valley are yearning for young people with technical and coding skills. This elective can put your child on the path to a lucrative career.
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Rubik's Cube
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Can you solve a Rubik's Cube? Taking the stickers off and re-arranging them doesn't count! The Rubik's Cube elective has been examining the algorithms for solving this famous brain puzzle. Ilan Pinkus, Arizona's champion Rubik's competitor, visited the elective and gave the class helpful hints and tips to improve their skills. Ilan also led a friendly in class competition of who can solve the Rubik's Cube the fastest! We have four students who are totally new to the Rubik's Cube, and now they can solve, too!
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Technology
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We have been
really busy in second, third and fourth grade  technology classes. Our second graders have just received their Pardes Gmail accounts! They have been busy practicing how to compose a properly written email. Our second graders have also corresponded via email with their teachers.
Our third graders have been practicing checking their Schoology accounts in order to check grades, homework and assignments posted by their teachers. These amazing third graders also are learning how to collaborate with classmates in Google Documents.
Lastly, our fabulous fourth graders have been creating their very own electronic portfolios called "All About Me" using Google Sites. This is a private ongoing portfolio of select work, memories and reflections that our students design themselves. They will continue to upload work throughout their Middle School years.
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Volunteering
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Middle School students have been enjoying the opportunity to volunteer at the JCC Early Childhood Center each week in the pre-kindergarten and three year old classrooms. Each visit, our Pardes students are surrounded by excited preschoolers greeting them with hugs and big smiles. Pardes students spend the time with the children reading to them, play games together, participating in art activities and more. Neither the Pardes students nor the preschoolers want the class period to end!
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Yoga
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Each week Pardes middle school students cultivate a personal practice in Yoga elective. Students set goals for a physical practice, as well as applying the mindset on their mat to their thoughts, words, and actions in daily life. They enjoy deconstructing inversions and have been focused on body awareness and muscle differentiation.
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Math
Problem of the Month |
If you are able to complete this problem, please email your response to Bethany Spector at [email protected] by noon on Monday, April 18.
The following problem was given to students in grades 6 - 8 on last month's fifth Mathematical Olympiad. Are you as smart as a Pardes Mathlete?
A lattice point is a point with integer coordinates. A straight line segment is drawn between points A (-6, -5) and B (24, 19).
Including the endpoints, how many points on straight-line segment AB are lattice points?
Go Pardes Mathletes!
Mazal Tov to the following people, who successfully answered last month's Math problem:
Ariella Friedman
Jeremy Marks
Jennifer Mason
Rabbi Tracee Rosen
Robin Rosenbloom
Ruth Small
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