Baltimore Jewish Day Schools

Day School at Baltimore Hebrew students learning with their iPads

Last spring, the CJE (Center for Jewish Education) and Apple teamed up to offer day schools a set of iPads, a synch cart and apps, along with a day-long professional development workshop, for an attractive price.

The Day School at Baltimore Hebrew responded to the offer, ever eager to bring best practices in education to its students. After a marathon workshop in August, the iPads were rolled out during the first week of school. Children in Kindergarten through eighth grade are now learning to use these tools to enhance their experience.

Head of School Gerri Chizeck says, “The children are loving the iPads, and of course are more tech savvy than the faculty, but we are learning together. We are making sure that they are not just a gadget, but something that increases collaboration, creativity and problem-solving abilities. We can also personalize and differentiate curriculum with them.”

So far, the children have:

• Made documentaries on the birth of the universe
• Introduced themselves to one another with recordings and interviews
• Found their homes on maps
• Created graphs
• Studied math vocabulary, and
• Written letters in Hebrew to friends in Israel

Mrs. Chizeck visited the students in the seventh and eighth grade and asked how they felt about the iPads. Here are some responses:

“They are really fun and portable. It’s great to have access to the Internet right at your desk. And because we share them, I get to see the cute photos and things the first grader who shares my iPad made.”

“I love them! They make learning so 2011.”

“We adapt to new ways of learning—more fun, more technical, more interesting.”

“It’s good for our minds that we learn to use different technologies and tools, learning how to use them while learning material.”

“We’re having fun while learning. I think if we never had them we’d be learning more out of textbooks and on computers, instead of something new and enjoyable.”

“We can teach our parents who have them all the great things you can do.”

Come see our iPad program in action! Visit us online at www.thedayschoolbh.org.

Amy Fink, History Instructor/Student Support Services Coordinator at The Shoshana S. Cardin School, shared these thoughts about the synergy of her two subjects, U.S. Literature and History:

The most exciting new experience for me this year is being able to teach the 11th grade U.S. Literature class in conjunction with the U.S. History class. When two disciplines work so well together, it’s very exciting to be able to teach both!

Though we pride ourselves on integration throughout the curriculum, doing it within two classes that one teacher is teaching can be a unique experience. While learning events that occurred and how people handled them over the course of history, we refer to texts from English class that are expressions of those feelings and events. Understanding the historical context of writings, as well as their literary devices and styles, has truly enhanced the learning within each of these classes and I’m excited to see how it continues over the course of the entire year!

Filmed by KSDS Alumnus Blake Pruitt, journey through a day at Krieger Schechter Middle School and hear the impressions that KSMS has made on its students.

View A Taste of Krieger Schechter Middle School from Krieger Schechter on Vimeo.