Middle School FAQs

Over the summer of 2016, we will remodel the Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Upper School Campus, and we are creating a separate space for the middle school division, establishing a robotics lab and innovations center, and upgrading most of the science labs.

The new middle school space will house most of the middle school classrooms and all the lockers, and will allow for easy access to the middle school administration and guidance counselors. The middle school will still utilize specialty spaces at the Upper School including science labs, art studios, theater, the Daniel Pearl Memorial Gymnasium, the Feith Beit Midrash, etc. This affords all middle school students a “home base” with an identity that is unique to their division, while also maximizing the benefits available to them at the Upper School campus.

We will host a special orientation for 6th graders the day before school begins, all students have buddies from 7th or 8th grade, and students will participate in middle school-specific programming to help integrate them into the new Upper School community.

• A variety of co-curricular options including performing and visual arts (such as the Middle School Musical), physical education, and world languages
  
• Leadership opportunities including Knesset (student government specifically for middle school)
  
• Expanded opportunities to participate in Jewish life including Kabbalat Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh assemblies, communal prayer, and holiday celebrations/commemorations including Yom Ha-Atzma-ut’s Zimriyah and Hanukkah Heroes
  
• Faculty members with content-specific expertise including four rabbis, and faculty with Bachelor’s degrees from Columbia, Yale and UC-Berkeley, and Master’s degrees from MIT, Harvard, NYU, and more

At CESJDS, we are proud of our culture of inclusiveness, acceptance, and understanding anchored by values such as k’hilah/community, achrayut/responsibility and derekh eretz/respect. Our high school students enjoy being helpful to and supportive of our younger students on campus. Our current middle school students quickly become comfortable and confident at the Upper School, and we know our newest grades coming over will also be welcomed, supported, and celebrated.

CESJDS Middle School will engage students in an educational program that is rigorous and personally relevant to provide them with a solid foundation of skills and content in all academic areas, while fostering the use of critical and higher-order thinking skills. Students develop and build the habits of mind to be successful in high school and become lifelong learners. Ethical and moral development is also a primary component of the program. Finally, the middle school years are particularly significant in developing the values and spiritual grounding to lead healthy and vibrant lives in the future. Our program addresses all these areas thoughtfully through formal curriculum as well as informal and experiential learning.

The new middle school program will include several signature programs across the middle school experience and will feature milestone moments in students’ journeys through CESJDS. Each grade will experience enriching field trips that complement the curriculum and larger themes of the year (6th: Identity, 7th: Community, 8th: Action).

• Service learning
• Simulations
• Hands-on activities
• Field trips
• Facing History and Ourselves
• Active projects that allow students to create and execute a plan from inception to completion
• A skills-based capstone project that will couple students’ understanding of Jewish values with skills that they have acquired, including research, writing, organization, and personal identity

• A distinct schedule that fits the unique developmental stage of middle school students including:
  
  • Shorter periods
  • Flexible core-subject blocks for interdisciplinary learning
  • Designated weekly time for experiential learning, including hands-on projects, service learning, and more
  • Appropriate time for advisories, social-emotional learning, and community building
    
• Middle school-exclusive space on the Upper School campus, including most classrooms, lockers, and the administrative suite. The middle and high school will continue to share co-curricular spaces, science laboratories, and will be able to learn together in the new Robotics Lab.
  
• The 6th grade will be integrated into the middle school, allowing further collaboration and connections between grades.

All students will take English, Social Studies, Math, Science, Tanakh (Bible), Toshba (Rabbinics), Hebrew, and Exercise Science. Beyond these requirements, students have several options for electives, including Spanish, Music Ensemble, Theater, Coding, and Robotics. Students who are placed in our Educational Support Services program will take a Structured Study Hall instead of an elective slot.

As middle school students’ minds and bodies are rapidly changing, early adolescents are at a critical stage in their development. With this in mind, we designed the new middle school schedule to allow more break times between classes. The new schedule affords teachers the opportunity to be flexible in how they use their instructional time and to provide short breaks during class time as needed. Our lunch break is designed to encourage students to play, move, and make use of supervised indoor and outdoor spaces.

• Technology is totally integrated into the middle school program. As appropriate, students use technology for research, note-taking, presentation of information, STEM opportunities, and online textbooks.
• Students will be able to choose from a variety of STEM electives which may include topics such as robotics, coding, and 3-D printing and design.
• Students will be trained to be responsible and ethical users of the technology tools.
• All middle school students are required to use a school-issued laptop. An annual technology fee of $200 will be assessed to ensure proper care and maintenance of the machines.