Welcome to the Donna Klein Jewish Academy Middle School where learning is engaging, challenging, enriching, and nurturing.  The curriculum integrates general studies subjects and Judaic studies throughout grades five through eight, fostering Jewish identity with an understanding of our heritage.

Our focus is to not only educate children within a global society, but to help build their moral and ethical character to sustain them throughout their lives.  Our students move on to the High School at Donna Klein Jewish Academy where they become very well prepared for their university experience.

The Middle School is structured in team-based communities where every child is known by each teacher who encourages and supports his or her needs.  The six major subjects include mathematics, Hebrew, English, Judaic studies, history, and science.  History drives much of the curriculum allowing for literature, Jewish history, music, drama, computers, and art to integrate their disciplines.  Grade five focuses on early civilizations from Sumer through Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the rise of Islam, and the early history of Jerusalem.  In grade six, students learn about world geography and cultures with a focus on Israel.  Grades seven and eight spend two years studying American history.

Middle School life is not just academics.  Adolescent development has many stages, and students learn to understand and live with others through the Steps to Respect guidance program, weekly discussions with the guidance counselor, and ethics and value study within Judaic studies class.  Both faculty and students focus on respectful and responsible communication.  Team sports, drama productions, musical theater, art, and a very innovative technology program complete the balance of a well-rounded student.

It is important for parents to be included in their children’s school life.  This is particularly true of the middle school years when children normally seek greater independence, wanting to make more decisions without parental input.  A major component of our advisory program is a system of communicating with parents to ensure that they remain aware of how their child is progressing academically, socially, and emotionally.  A close relationship is built when the child’s advisor calls home to bring parents up to date and to build a working partnership in helping their child become successful.

DKJA is an exciting and nurturing Jewish day school that strives to work together as a team with our parent body in order to help children develop and grow to be responsible and caring adults.

• A four-year Shakespearean sequence and an annual Shakespeare Festival in which all students participate
 
• A multi-year sequence in expository writing and research skills
 
• Emphasis on the innovative use of computer technology
 
• Curriculum-based class trips, including science trips to the Kennedy Space Center, Seaworld, Epcot, a history/political science trip to Washington, D.C., and an eighth grade trip to Israel
 
• An integrated program incorporating most of the disciplines
 
• Exposure to the classical arts, including trips to the opera, philharmonic, and museums, as well as the Meet the Masters art enrichment program and the Meet the Maestros music enrichment program
 
• A Holocaust unit that integrates the global perspective of World War II with personal perspectives
 
• A strong emphasis on traditional Jewish values
 
• Promotion of social development, self-esteem, and school spirit
 
• Leadership opportunities through participation in Student Council, the National Junior Honor Society, and extracurricular activities
 
• A nationally acclaimed character development program that teaches important social skills, such as conflict resolution and anti-bullying behavior
 
• Honorary distinctions, including the Honor Board and the National Junior Honor Society
 
• A transitional program that eases fifth graders into the Middle School environment
 
• A communication network between parents, teachers, and students, reinforced by individual teacher Web pages and voice-mail boxes
 
• Faculty advisors who serve as the liaison between students, their parents, and teachers
 
• A faculty who builds on the individual strengths of each child
 
• A strong mathematics program that not only develops mathematics skills and higher level thinking, but also works in concert with our science curriculum