Portland Jewish Academy
PJA PROUD! We love our school and are eager to share it with you.
Shalom and Welcome to Portland Jewish Academy!
care and education. Established in 1961, we are proud to be an inclusive
OUR MISSION
Jewish community early childhood program, preschool and day school,
As a Jewish day
providing a strong foundation of academics, Jewish values and learning,
school, we strive
and community service. Accredited by the Northwest Association
to ensure an
of Independent Schools, PJA embraces best practices in education
academically rich
We are excited that you are considering PJA as a partner in your child’s
to support each student’s social, emotional and spiritual growth and development. PJA’s child-centered preschool is a warm and stimulating environment that encourages learning through exploration, play, and the arts. PJA’s day school prepares students to think for themselves and work for the world. Our project-based curriculum offers an integrative approach to Jewish studies, STEAM (Science + Technology + Engineering + Arts + Mathematics) and the humanities. Our students are engaged and love to learn. Our graduates excel in high school, college and in life. We look forward to sharing our excitement about PJA with you.
environment which honors the whole child. Portland Jewish Academy nurtures and inspires Jewish engagement, kavod/respect, and responsibility
All the best,
for the world in
PJA Faculty, Staff and Administration
which we live.
MIDDOT - OUR CORE VALUES These six values are the foundation of our mission at PJA.
sunhk | LIMMUD | Study
,uhrjt | AKHRAYUT | Responsibility
“Delve into it and continue to delve into it, for everything is in it.” (Pirkei Avot 5:26) PJA believes in education for the whole child and supports multiple approaches to learning. Love of life, Judaism, and learning are integrated into all aspects of our school community.
“The day is short, the work is great. You are not expected to finish the work, but you are not free to desist.” (Pirkei Avot 2:20-21) At PJA, we are guided and inspired to take responsibility for the world in which we live. Through acts of Chesed - kindness, and Tikkun Olam - repairing the world, we see ourselves as agents of change who can achieve social justice and pursue peace.
sucf | KAVOD | Respect “Who is worthy of honor? One who honors all of creation.” (Avot 4:01) As a community we learn to treat ourselves, others and the world with dignity and respect.
,uvz | ZEHUT | Identity “Beloved is the person created in God’s image.” (Avot 3:14) Our middot serve as a foundation to form and build identity, both as a school and as individuals. We seize the opportunity to explore who we are, what we stand for and what we believe.
vkhve | KEHILLAH | Community “Bless all of us as one in Your light.” (Amidah prayer) Jewish learning and engagement enhances our participation in a variety of communities, and encourages a sense of belonging and connectedness.
vhsuv | HODAYAH | Appreciation “We gratefully thank you, God, for You have returned our souls within us with compassion.” (Modeh Ani prayer) Our PJA community nurtures a sense of appreciation and gratitude for the world around us, inspired by Jewish thought and learning.
EARLY CHILDHOOD PJA’s child-centered Early Childhood Program is a warm and stimulating environment that encourages learning through exploration, play, and the arts. Children cultivate a love of learning through an emergent developmentally-appropriate curriculum. Specialists guide enrichment classes including music, Hebrew language, art, physical education, and weekly visits to the library. Children explore Jewish life by celebrating holidays, Shabbat, values and community. Small classes support individualized attention and personal growth. Our Early Childhood program serves children starting at age six weeks through six years. The Preschool offers half and full day options and the Infant/Toddler Program offers flexible full-day options.
MUSIC
Upbeat classes elicit learning through all the senses; children explore musical concepts through the lens of Jewish culture.
ART
Children engage with a variety of art mediums and sensory exploration, with a focus on understanding materials and honoring art as an individual process.
HEBREW LANGUAGE
Our Hebrew curriculum is based on the Jewish calendar, introducing our language in a format that is engaging and age appropriate.
LIBRARY
Children enjoy group story time, explore the library and learn about borrowing and returning items.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION Children develop gross motor skills and learn the elements of working as a team.
The strong foundation set by our son’s teacher gave him such solid life skills at a very young age. I am so grateful for the positive energy, bright spirits, and excellent communication skills of the staff and teachers at PJA. - Kristen McCall, PJA parent
LOWER SCHOOL
Guided by our foundational middot (values) of study, respect, responsibility, community, identity, and appreciation, the PJA lower school program is designed to be developmentally appropriate. The classroom environment fosters a caring community of learners and supports students’ growing ability to think critically. Students communicate orally and in writing in both English and Hebrew, read widely, and use mathematical, scientific, and ethical thinking to solve problems. Student learning is enriched by our integrated, project-based approach, which includes all subject areas and a wide variety of opportunities to explore visual and performing arts. Our Learning Commons and Makerspace offer students opportunities for flexible spaces for collaboration and support continued innovation and integration throughout the grades. Students benefit from the daily use of our facilities and grounds, which include the MJCC athletic facilities right next door, and our outdoor classrooms and playgrounds. Children receive an education in all subjects that is illuminated by Jewish values, honoring the legacy of our heritage.
FULL S.T.E.A.M. AHEAD
Science
Technology
Engineering
Arts
Math
The benefits of a PJA education boil down to three things: an emphasis on critical thinking skills, values/ethics, and a love for learning. I’m so thankful that PJA has helped mold our children into highly engaged young adults with a moral compass. - Mary Reisch, PJA Parent
MIDDLE SCHOOL PJA’s middle school program centers around the teaching of Hillel: “If I am not for myself who will be for me, and if I am only for myself what am I, and if not now, when?” (Avot 1:14) Our students delve into personal identity, explore and respect other points of view, and through their studies and culminating capstone project, become leaders in the school and broader community. PJA’s middle school classrooms are places of active learning as students engage in discussions and debate, problem solve, design, and create. Students apply critical thinking skills as they consider ethical questions and develop their own informed views regarding values, community, and culture. In middle school, PJA students learn by doing, asking, and thinking for themselves, and are supported as they become intellectual risk takers and agents of change who have the ability to turn their beliefs into action.
CAPSTONE PROJECT IDENTIFY
DESIGN
WRITE
CONNECT
SHARE
a local or global need
a service project to address the need
an academic research paper inspired by the project
the project and paper to Jewish values
the learning with our school community
Couldn’t ask for a better school to prepare my children for the rest of their lives. - Robin Flamm, PJA Parent
ALUMNI Our students graduate with the knowledge and the skills to help them make a difference in their communities and in the world. PJA graduates are mensches, people with integrity who do good. Our graduates combine their passion with a desire to repair and improve the world which we all share. PJA alumni acquire a love of learning, a deep connection to Jewish values, critical thinking skills and a commitment to service. They receive an academic foundation that prepares them for success in high school, college and beyond. At the end of 8th grade, our alumni graduate with a tool box to help inform a life that has a positive impact.
Five years ago we came to PJA with a 4th grade boy in tow and we now leave with an 8th grade man. We have watched in awe as PJA has helped shape our son into a thoughtful and critical thinker; with the mind of an engineer and the heart of a poet. ~ PJA Alumni Parent, Caron Kushner
Barkley Saltzman
Mara Rosenberg
Joseph Warton
PJA Class of 2009
PJA Class of 2004
PJA Class of 2012
Barkley attended PJA from Kindergarten through 8th grade. He recently graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Psychology and is beginning a masters program in International Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University. “One of the best things about PJA, was the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills - largely through open discussions in a setting that welcomed dissent. That learned comfort with open, critical discussions was a tremendous value in the conflict resolution work I did in college. While working in behavioral science labs and helping lead Manzil Midrash, the organization fostering healthy discussions between Jews and Muslims, I continued to appreciate PJA for helping inspire a comfort with working among varying views and perspectives.”
Mara Rosenberg was recently selected by the American Society of Hematology as one of two students nationwide to receive the 2017-2018 ASH Physician-Scientist Career Development Award! Rosenberg is spending the year studying next generation sequencing-based minimal residual disease detection assays for patients with leukemia. Rosenberg has established herself as an aspiring clinician-scientist, having devoted significant time to research as an undergraduate at OHSU and contributing thus far to more than 20 scientific publications. In the summer of 2010, she was a biomedical informatics intern, working with Ruikang Wang, Ph.D., affiliate professor of biomedical engineering, OHSU School of Medicine.
Joseph Warton has been newlyannounced as a member of the corps de ballet of the San Francisco Ballet. In 2014, Joseph left Portland to attend the San Francisco Ballet School. He attended a local ½ physical, ½ online high school program, maintaining a rigorous schedule of ballet classes six days a week. He graduated high school with honors in 2016 and was appointed to the “trainee” program at the ballet school, a focused pre-professional program for high-level students. As part of the program he traveled to Germany and Paris to participate in international Ballet School festivals. He also traveled to Washington DC with the San Francisco Ballet to perform Cinderella, and performed in San Francisco for multiple productions.
Mensch
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PJA Proud
PORTLAND JEWISH ACADEMY 6651 SW Capitol Highway, Portland, OR 97219 Phone: 503.535.3599 | Fax: 503.452.7001 admissions@pjaproud.org | pjaproud.org