Why Attend the EVJDS?

The East Valley Jewish Day School offers a unique and exciting place for children to learn, explore and grow. We incorporate well-established models of teaching while exploring new approaches, using a solid theory of past with new and current innovations. Our small student teacher ratio and small class sizes allow us to provide an individualized and nurturing environment.

Small Class Sizes

Because the overall enrollment is small and manageable, our children and teachers work together as a team throughout all the grade levels. Our teachers do not feel alone in their pursuits because they have close ties with each other and the children. The team concept provides an environment that enables the faculty to develop an understanding of each student's strengths, weaknesses, and talents. And because the EVJDS practices the looping concept, the children and teachers move up together to the next grade levels, providing continuity between the grades.

Innovative Teaching

Our curriculum fosters learning through all of the seven intelligences: visual and spatial, musical, verbal, logical and mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and bodily and kinesthetic intelligences. We understand that every child learns differently, therefore we provide a variation of practices through themes. This way we can tailor the lessons around the children's abilities and strengths while helping them to build strengths in new areas.

Wolfe and Brandt (1998), writing from the neuroscientific position, point out that the acquisition of learning power is not just a matter of the sheer amount of learning, but one of the quality of the content and process that is accumulated and, therefore, of the richness of the environment that surrounds the child and, later, the older student and adult. The East Valley Jewish Day School provides that quality of content and process in its uniquely rich environment.

Parent Involvement

Combined with our commitment to teaching and learning excellence, we continue to foster a committed relationship with our parents and community. Our parents are intimately involved in our school and have a real voice. We encourage participation and value each parents input, concerns, and needs. We are not just a school that stands alone - we are a community.

For more than 2000 years Jewish society, spread among many nations and cultural variations, has generated 100 percent literacy in its population. Joyce, 2000

The EVJDS honors that tradition. We believe in lifelong learning and we believe that by providing a nurturing environment at an early age our children will discover the love of learning and exploration that will last them a lifetime.

Summary

• Low student teacher ratio.
• Low total enrollment: the school environment is not overwhelming for children and permits children to work together at all grade levels for some subjects.
• Our teachers work together as a team.
• Teachers know each student's strengths, weaknesses and talents.
• We practice the looping concept, wherein the children and teachers move up to the next grade together.
• The curriculum fosters learning through all seven multiple intelligences:
  • visual/spatial intelligence
  • musical intelligence
  • verbal intelligence
  • logical/mathematical intelligence
  • interpersonal intelligence
  • intrapersonal intelligence
  • bodily/kinesthetic intelligence
• We currently practice educational innovations that other schools only dream of implementing. For example, we already incorporate many concepts of the Keyschool, tailoring these concepts to our unique environment (Keystone theory of themes and multiple intelligences).
• Parents are intimately involved—they have a real voice.

We promote values that help children grow into creative, involved, successful members of the community.

References

• Joyce, B. & Weil, M. (2000). Models of Teaching. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
• Wolfe, P., & Brandt, R. (1998). "What do we know from brain research?," Educational Leadership, 56(3): 8-13.