Hello JrK families and friends.  Welcome to our class and the excitement that is junior kindergarten at MJDS. Being your child’s first stop on their MJDS journey is a responsibility I take seriously and a gift I am grateful for daily.  As our year together moves on, we will see each other in our own stories and we will become connected. We will learn and grow together.  This blog, and your child’s individual “learning journey” page, will provide insight into how we each view ourselves in our classroom: what we are feeling strong about and what we are working on.  Along with learning subjects and skills, we are beginning this journey by learning about and understanding ourselves.  While early reading and math are important, we really can’t make strides unless we are feeling good about ourselves and what we can do.  And the “we” in here is important, as young children are already focused on themselves, on “me”.  By working and growing as a school family, we will learn to look outside of ourselves.  To not only feel strong in who each one of us is becoming, but how we support each other, and our world.  Our school’s core values are wonder, empathy, and tikkun olam (repairing the world). That sure sounds like MJDS junior kindergarten to me!