
Rodeph Sholom School offers students in Early Childhood through 8th Grade a stimulating academic program led by experienced and passionate faculty.
Our core academic subjects are offered alongside a wide range of co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities. We challenge our students, while supporting each child’s cognitive and social-emotional growth.
Early Childhood Division
Rodeph Sholom School’s Early Childhood program stands on its own as one of the premier offerings in New York City. Housed in its own dedicated building on West 84th Street, the program boasts talented faculty of professional educators, play spaces designed for young learners, a library, an art facility, and specialist teachers who enhance the experience.
Elementary Division
Our 1st – 4th Grade students enter our doors every day eager to learn, play, and contribute to their community. Elementary students at Rodeph Sholom School are able to grow in a safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate environment where they build confidence, competence, and self esteem. Our enthusiastic and highly trained teachers actively engage students in their own learning processes, and together they explore new ideas and expand their understanding of the world around them.
Middle School
Rodeph Sholom Middle School offers a unique middle school environment where learning is prized, teachers are specialists in both their subject disciplines and the developmental needs of adolescents, and Reform Jewish values form the foundation of learning in and outside of the classroom. The division is comprised of 5th through 8th Grade.
The stimulating curriculum recognizes that middle school is a transformative time of intellectual, emotional and spiritual development. The Jewish ethos of our community provides a firm grounding in the ethics and values which are essential traits of active and responsible citizens. Over the course of their Middle School years, students encounter a myriad of authentic leadership opportunities. At its core, the Middle School is designed to provide students with the tools necessary to learn how to evaluate themselves and the world around them.
Science
Science at Rodeph Sholom School pulls on students’ natural curiosities and pushes them to think deeply and critically about the physical world around them. Science in the Early Childhood Division is taught by classroom teachers, and science experiences are coordinated with children’s everyday experiences, such as noticing changes in the world around them due to the seasons and their immediate environment. In 1st-8th Grades, science is taught as a separate class by a specialist, which students attend at least once a week. In the Elementary Division, students continue to explore many of the basic and fundamental scientific principles they see in their everyday lives and the natural world. Particular emphasis is given to measuring, graphing, and the fundamentals of conducting a scientific test. Middle School explores three different branches: physical, life, and earth science. Time is spent on each of the following topics: biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, and computer science. Students learn how to collect and analyze data, write a scientific report, and give a formal presentation of their work.
Language Arts / English
At Rodeph Sholom School, reading, writing and oral expression are taught in conjunction with one another and instruction in Language Arts and English is strongly influenced by our mission; prioritizing challenging, rigorous academics and placing a strong emphasis on values and ethics within the texts presented. As students make their way from grade to grade, the complexity of the texts they interact with becomes more sophisticated and the skills taught become more in-depth and multi-faceted. In Early Childhood, reflection is given to how children can experience complex and thought-provoking texts. Focus is placed on both self-identity and identity within the larger community and much time is spent considering the ways in which students can become activists in their community, and literacy plays a key role in this process. Throughout the school, the curricula for reading, writing, and speaking are all strongly student-centered, prioritizing content and lessons that can engage students where they are now, in terms of interest and skill. The reading curriculum in the Elementary Division utilizes small group instruction paired with a variety of leveled texts, in which children can be challenged and instructed based on their individualized learning styles and needs. And in Middle School, rich discussion and analysis of texts is augmented by individual challenges afforded to each student by thoughtful teachers throughout their English classes.
Jewish Life & Learning
Jewish Life and Learning at Rodeph Sholom School is rooted in tradition, identity, ethics, and critical thinking, and is guided by informed choice, a core principle of Reform Judaism. As such, our students graduate with a strong foundation of Jewish knowledge that enables them to embrace their identity, including their Jewish identity. Jewish Life & Learning is woven into the fabric of the entire school community through the traditions we honor, the values we embrace, and the mitzvot we practice in our personal behavior.
Holidays
The annual cycle of Jewish holidays anchors the school year. Students experience the cycle of Jewish holidays on both personal and communal levels. In Jewish Studies and Hebrew classes students learn about Jewish holidays, their origins, customs, and traditions, laws and interpretations. Students explore the diversity and commonalities from around the Jewish world, including food, greetings, customs, and rituals. As a community, we celebrate Jewish holidays together.
Creation Lab
Our Creation Lab invites budding “makers” to engage in a range of STEM activities. A hub for student-driven projects, it is a space for students to harness their creativity using both high and low-tech materials. Students learn benchmark skills like 3D Design, project prototyping, basic woodworking, programming, and engineering that they can then apply to a variety of co-curricular projects.