Social Justice Trip: The Heart of the NEMJDS
The Equal Justice Initiative, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Civil Rights Memorial Center, and the Rosa Parks Museum all opened their doors to educate N.E. Miles Jewish Day School students recently on the Upper School Social Justice trip to Montgomery.
Our students spent the day learning about social justice issues our country has faced and continues to face. Students were well prepared for the emotional stories and challenging situations presented to them on the trip; they had prepared for this trip in all of their classes, from reading court cases in Language Arts class to dissecting what it means to be a nonprofit in Youth Philanthropy class.
The first stop on the trip was the Equal Justice Initiative. Students learned about personal stories which exemplify the importance of fighting for justice, from children who are tried as adults to innocent people freed from wrongful convictions.
For the rest of the story, click
here.
Thank you to the Target Corporation for the Field Trip Grant that provided our transportation.
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Sixth Grade State Champions
Sixth grade students recently competed and earned the title of State Champions in the very first Wonder League Robotics Competition. The competition consisted of seven obstacle course-like challenges through which the students had to program Dash and Dot robots. More than 1,100 teams competed nationwide!
NEMJDS students started preparing for this competition in their Innovative Learning Class, but they met after school and on the weekends to practice. This was a student-led process, and students rotated through various leadership and coding roles to ensure they completed all of the challenges.
Day School students were already familiar with Dash and Dot robots because the NEMJDS was an early supporter of the Wonder Workshop. Wonder Workshop's goal is to teach programming basics through hands-on play with their robots, Dash and Dot.
For the full story, click here.
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Kindergarten Giving Tuesday
Our kindergarten students celebrated Giving Tuesday by allocating their tzedakah. The students have collected coins and given tzedakah every day at school, and on Giving Tuesday, they had a conversation about the importance of tzedakah. They learned about different non-profits and voted on which organization would receive the money. They decided to give $10 to Heart Gallery Alabama and $10 to Service Dogs Alabama. Students felt a connection to the Service Dogs because they had learned about a veteran and his service dog on Veteran's Day, and they loved that the Heart Gallery helps kids find families. Days later, the students were still talking about their donations! We are so proud of our kindergarten philanthropists!
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 The NEMJDS Kids Can Code: An Afternoon for Grandparents & VIPs
T
here was standing room only for Grandparent and VIP Kabbalat Shabbat. Thank you to all of our guests who joined us to welcome in Shabbat and share in an afternoon of coding.
Every student had the chance to show off their programming skills using the SurfacePros and IPads. From creating their own video games in sixth grade to programming on code.org in kindergarten, all of our students were able to take ownership over their learning and proudly share their exciting, innovative skills with their loved ones. The afternoon concluded with the entire school (and our families) outside for the seventh and eighth grade NASA Challenge Rocket Launch.
The excitement was palpable as our students launched their bottle rockets with the help of Ms. Troxell in her astronaut uniform and seventh grade parent Amit Berger. After each rocket launched, students and guests alike erupted in cheers as we watched our students learning sky rocket! The enthusiasm surrounding our day school community and our students' learning was the perfect reminder of what the NEMJDS is all about!
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A Chanukah Concert for the Ages!
From students playing piano to ukulele, the Chanukah Concert was one for the ages!
All of our students participated in the musical spectacular. Each grade had various numbers they performed, and we even had community members working with our kids to make such beautiful music. Thank you to Greg Odrezin for playing the cello and Jeanne Averheart for playing the recorder to add to our program. We started with "Ostinato" performed by the third grade, and we ended with "Hanukah, Hanukah, Chag Sameach" performed by the seventh graders along with the kindergarten through second graders. Our seventh graders loved performing with their kindergarten buddies and providing them with encouragement!
We feel so lucky to have Ms. Claire Rottembourg as our students' music teacher and Ms. Holly Gettinger as our music class assistant as well. From teaching them to read music, to playing the bongos, to giving them the confidence to perform, the NEMJDS music program is one that shines during Chanukah and throughout the year!
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Kindness & Technology
Sixth graders concluded their reading of the book
Wonder
with a skype session with Ms. Nicole Hayes, Clinical Psychology Graduate Student at Northwestern University, to discuss her experiences working in a Craniofacial Clinic.
The main character in the book is a boy with craniofacial anomalies who enters school for the first time as a fifth grader. The theme of the book is "Choose Kind," and through their literary studies students have focused on the importance of
kindness
and getting to know people for who they are.
Our students used the Surface Pro and sat around the conference table in the Rabbi Culpepper Library, as Ms. Hayes shared how through her graduate program and future career she is helping kids who have the same experiences as the main character in the book. She explained to our students the challenges that students who have craniofacial differences, like cleft lip, might face at school. She talked to our students about how the kids in her clinic are normal kids who celebrate birthdays, tell jokes, and more, but they often struggle with bullies. By sharing her story, Ms. Hayes empowered our students to stand up to bullies and embrace kids who might look different than they do.
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Buzzing About Our Champions!
The NEMJDS held our own Spelling Bee as part of the Scripps National Bee to end 2015. Congratulations to all of our students who participated and expanded their vocabulary! School champion Noah went onto compete in the city-wide bee where he finished second! From there, he went onto compete in the county bee!
The NEMJDS Spelling Bee was made possible, in part, by The Birmingham Jewish Foundation's Landy Family Fund and was coordinated with help from NEMJDS Spelling Bee Champ and alumna, Ellen Landy.
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Alumni Spotlight- Get to Know Alison Goldstein Lebovitz on February 28th
Alison, an NEMJDS graduate, an author, television host, speaker, and nonprofit executive believes that each of us has the power and responsibility to make this world a better place. In 2007, that conviction prompted her to become co-founder and president of One Clip at a Time, a nonprofit inspired by the Paper Clips Project started in Whitwell, Tennessee, that promotes student activism and supports service learning in classrooms across North America. She is also the host of "The A List with Alison Lebovitz," a weekly television series for WTCI/PBS, a monthly columnist for Tennessee Valley Parents Magazine, and the author of "Am I There Yet?" a collection of her candid essays and life-inspired stories. In addition, Alison is Board Member and Past Campaign Chair of
Alison will be speaking at the NEMJDS on Sunday, February 28th, at 4:00 pm. All community members are invited to Alison's "Telling Your Organization's Story." RSVP to
Lynn Raviv.
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You are always invited to join us!
NEMJDS Tiki Time Gala
March 13th, 5:30 pm, Friedman Center
NEMJDS Kids Club Purim Party and Parade
March 20th, 10:30 am, Barnes and Noble at the Summit
You and your preschooler are invited to celebrate Purim with the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School Kids Club at Barnes and Noble at the Summit.
Join us in costume for a Purim Musical,
Costume Parade, & more
!
For more events:
Interested in learning more about our program, and seeing our completely renovated, state-of-the art learning environment? It would be our pleasure to give you a personalized tour! Contact us.
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BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION
Did you know that every box top collected brings in ten cents to the NEMJDS?
Click here for the list of products with Box Tops and start clipping!
YOU SHOP. AMAZON GIVES!
Click here and choose N.E. Miles Jewish Day School as the organization you'd like to support and a portion of your purchase will go straight to the school!
PUBLIX PARTNERS
When you shop at Publix and use a Publix Partners NEMJDS swipe card, our school earns a donation.
Please your swipe cards when you check out at Publix. If you need a swipe card, please stop by the school office.
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For the last 43 years, the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School has been committed to a warm, safe, and positive atmosphere in which children from diverse levels of religious observance are inspired to grow and celebrate Jewishly and embrace life-long learning. With a strong basis in academics, Jewish education, sense of community, development of leadership and menschlichkeit, our school is an integral part of our community and works to make it even better.
Learn more about what it means to be a part of our school family.
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