Starting June 17, KSDS will be on summer hours. The office will be open from 9 am - 3 pm Monday-Thursday. The KSDS offices will be closed on Fridays through August 16.
Our Six Weeks Till Summer Fundraising Campaign has already reached 67% of its goal of $10,000. Once we reach $10,000 we have a donor who will contribute another $5,000, putting us at $15,000! All of these funds will support our Annual Campaign and make a true difference in the lives of our students. Here is a list of people who have been honored with donations just in the past few days! Every donation, whether it's $36 or multiples of $36, makes a big difference. Thank you for your support and you can still donate here.
Staffing Updates 2013-2014
Tuesday is our last day for the 2012-2013 school year, and we are already busily planning for the first day of school on Tuesday, August 27, 2013. While the summer allows for an easier pace, many of us are here all summer getting ready for our students to return and fill our hallways with joyful learning. You'll be hearing from us a number of times over the summer with updates, calendar information, and news about the 2013-2014 school year. We are happy to announce our staffing for the upcoming school year, including the grade teams for the Lower School and department faculty for the Middle School.
In Kindergarten, our entire team will be continuing in their current roles. Nancy Muser and Karla Schulman will be the General Studies teachers, assisted by Marlene Ettlin and Mindy Pruitt. Debbie Boches and Chantal Reznik will be the Judaic/Hebrew Studies teachers and will be ably assisted by Pnina Moschel and Haya Shimon.
There will be three Grade 1 sections for the 2013-2014 school year. Barbara Baylin, Sharon Brown and Patti Jeffrey will continue in their roles as General Studies teachers. Tzeira Minka and Yael Turkel will continue as Grade 1 Judaic Studies teachers. We are pleased to announce that in addition to her Kindergarten responsibilities, Chantal Reznik will serve as the third Grade 1 Judaic Studies teacher.
There will be three Grade 2 sections for the upcoming year as well. Mindy Rosen will continue to teach one section of General Studies, and she will be joined by two new faculty members, Sarah Bohn and Julie Steinberg. (See bios below) Our Judaic Studies faculty will remain the same in Grade 2. Alina Matz will be teaching two sections of Grade 2, and Tzeira Minka will be teaching one section. Donna Latova will continue to support our Hebrew/Judaics teachers in Grade 2.
Our students in Grade 3 and 4 will continue to work with Ann Berman, Daniela Eyal and Bracha Lang as our Hebrew/Judaics team. Nissa Weinberg will teach Grade 3 General Studies, and will be joined by a new faculty member, Sharon Green. (See bio below) Our Grade 3 team has already started planning a spectacular experience for our Grade 3 students. Faith Friedman will continue teaching Grade 4 General Studies and Amanda Levine, who has many years of Grade 4 experience at KSDS, will be returning to complete the General Studies team.
Donna Elrick will continue as Lower School Reading Specialist, working with students at all grade levels. Brina Pintzuk will continue as our Art Educator and Sara Fuld will continue as the Lower School Music Educator and Choir Director. Sonia Kozlovsky and Laurie Margolies will continue to work with our students, and will assume the title Media Specialists to better reflect the full range of their expertise. They will be assisted by Isabel Pinson. Amanda Levine will continue to coordinate the Lower School Technology program. New faculty member Joanna Katz will serve as the Science Educator for the Lower School. (See bio below) She will be working closely with our entire Lower School faculty, as well as coordinating programming and aligning curriculum with the Middle School. Mike Foxwell, Shannon Cohen and Chris Schanberger will continue to staff the Lower School Physical Education classes.
The core 5th grade team consists of Annalisa McCann, Debbie Steinig, and Alex Thaler in Language Arts and Social Studies and Michal Reichman, Shuli Raffel, and Hasia Cohen in Hebrew and Judaics.
In the Middle School as a whole, each of our departments is deep in planning for 2013-14 school year for all grades. The Math Department, chaired by Robin Nesky, includes teachers Kay Schuster, Roxy Buchsbaum, Tzippy Wecker, and Debbie Steinig. The Science Department, led by Barb Siegel, also consists of Alex Thaler, Annalisa McCann, and Karen Booth.
The Foreign Language Departments, under the supervision of Dafna Tasch, include Hebrew teachers Michal Reichman, Shuli Raffel, Hasia Cohen, Sally Grobani, Yehudit Kesselman, Tzippy Wecker, and Zemer Tshuva. Zemer most recently taught Hebrew at The Cardin School and has substituted at KSDS throughout the past few years. We are thrilled to have her as part of our permanent faculty. We are also pleased to welcome Monika Morgan who will be teaching Spanish in grades 7 & 8. Monika, a native speaker with extensive study abroad in Latin America and Europe, has been a Spanish immersion teacher for the past six years.
The Judaic Studies staff, led by Robyn Blum, consists of Erica Allen, Andrea Cheatham Kaspar (new Director of Teacher and Learning), Hasia Cohen, Ellen Friedman, Sally Grobani, Yehudit Kesselman, Rita Plaut, Shuli Raffel, and Michal Reichman, We are also honored to have Chizuk Amuno clergy teach in this department as well.
The Language Arts Department, chaired by Regina Puleo, welcomes back teachers Sima Abarbanel, Michelle Frisby, Annalisa McCann, Vered Nusinov, Kelly Platzke, Debbie Steinig, and Alex Thaler. The Social Studies team, led by Steve Gordon, consists of Sima Abarbanel, Karen Booth, Michelle Frisby, Annalisa McCann, Debbie Steinig, and Alex Thaler.
The Life Skills and Arts classes in grades 5-8 will be taught by Brina Pintzuk, Joe Vrzalik, Shelley Hendler, Alex Thaler, Kathy Krcma, Ellen Friedman, Tzippy Wecker, Yehudit Kesselman, Kelly Platzke, Hasia Cohen, Cheri Crow, Kristin Wavle and Robin Nesky. The PE Department consists of Mike Foxwell, Athletic Director, as well as teachers Chris Schanberger, and Shannon Cohen.
The Resource Team of Dr. Sharon Buck, Lower School Psychologist, Cheri Crow, Learning Specialist and Kristen Wavle, Counselor, returns to provide support services for our students, teachers, and parents.
Please Welcome our New KSDS Faculty
Sarah Bohn (Grade 2 General Studies) received a B.S. degree in Early Childhood Education from Towson University, and a Master in Education Degree and Certificate in Administration and Principalship from Johns Hopkins University. During the past eighteen years she has been a full time teacher at The Day School at Baltimore Hebrew, teaching from grade 2 through grade 8.
Sharon Green (Grade 3 General Studies) holds an MAT from American University, and previously taught 4th and 5th grades in public school districts in Washington, DC and New Jersey before taking a break to be home with her young daughters. Prior to becoming a teacher, Sharon worked at the DC JCC as the Youth and Family Director. Sharon and her family relocated to Baltimore last spring and she is very excited to be stepping back into the classroom this fall at KSDS!
Joanna Katz (Lower School Science) is delighted to be starting her first year at KSDS. After receiving a BA in literature from SUNY Purchase College, she began working with The Teva Learning Center. It was there that Judaism, science, and education formed a deep connection in her life. For six years, Joanna taught with The Teva Learning Center during the fall and spring, and spent the winter months traveling around North America and Israel. In 2009 Joanna received her Masters degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania and began her teaching career in the Philadelphia School District and most recently at Gesher Jewish Day School, outside of Washington DC.
Monika Morgan (Grade 7 and Grade 8 Spanish), a native Spanish speaker with extensive study abroad in Latin America and Europe, has been a Spanish immersion teacher for the past six years. We are delighted to welcome Monika to our Schechter community!
Julie Steinberg (Grade 2 General Studies) grew up in Owings Mills and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.S. in Elementary Education. For the past two years, Julie has taught first grade in Fairfax County, Virginia. Julie is excited to move back to Baltimore and become part of the warm and welcoming Krieger Schechter community.
Zemer Tshuva (Middle School Hebrew) most recently taught Hebrew at The Cardin School and has substituted at KSDS throughout the past few years. We are thrilled to have her as part of our permanent faculty.
TAMRITZ, a digital badge learning network for Jewish Day Schools, announced today the first four schools selected to pioneer its connected learning community.
The following schools will form TAMRITZ's 2013-2014 cohort:
Kehillah Schechter Academy, Norwood, MA
Krieger Schechter Day School, Baltimore, MD
The Moriah School, Englewood, NJ
Seattle Hebrew Academy, Seattle, WA
TAMRITZ will provide schools with in-person training, a networked community of practice and ongoing coaching to design and implement their own badge learning programs. Beginning with a summer professional development course, Digital Age Teaching, cohort teachers will be immersed in a badge-based experience, focused on learning in the digital age, relevant research and connected learning. In the fall, schools will partner with TAMRITZ to co-facilitate a badge-based digital media literacy course for their middle school students. Schools will begin to roll out their self-designed badge learning programs semester two, 2014.
Digital badge learning takes a traditional system of awarding badges for achievements to a new media level. Guided by their teachers, students explore their own interests and acquire knowledge and skills. Each digital badge they earn becomes an electronic credential that contains not only what the student understands and has accomplished, but also the methods used and data about the institution that sponsored the learning experience. These badges can then be shared through social media from a digital backpack, providing transparent transcripts for students' skills and achievements.
Selected schools demonstrate an innovative spirit and readiness for transforming how learning happens, according to Sarah Blattner, TAMRITZ's founder and executive director. "These schools are willing to experiment and explore how digital badge learning can engage students," said Myrna Rubel, chief advisor for TAMRITZ's Advisory Council and principal of the Epstein Middle School. Rubel is the pioneer of Epstein's badging program, where she has discovered that "true learning takes place when students have choice, create meaning with their in-school and out-of-school lives and connect and develop relationships with teacher advisors."
TAMRITZ, meaning "incentive" in Hebrew, seeks to ignite collaborative learning between Jewish Day School teachers and students through its digital badge learning network. Through the support of the Joshua Venture Group's Dual Investment Program and the AVI CHAI Foundation, TAMRITZ will match the program fees with in-kind support for each participating school for the first year of engagement.
TAMRITZ scaffolds its learning network with exemplary instructional practices, including project-based learning and teacher-as-coach, to give students a chance to create their own meaning. "We believe that every child has a spark within them: A spark of passion, creativity and excellence. Badge learning will help us nurture each child's spark, personalize their learning and gauge students' understandings of Habits of Mind through our Beit Midrash program," said Dr. Nitzan Resnick and Rabbi David Paskin, co-heads of the Kehillah Schechter Academy, Norwod, MA. "Our school will implement a badge learning program that offers new courses and differentiates the learning experience for our students, said Katie May, principal, Seattle Hebrew Academy. "Our teachers are excited to move in this bold new direction."
