Academics at Weizmann Day School: “The World is Our Classroom”
For over 30 years, Weizmann Day School has played a vital role in the education of its students. It is renowned for its consistently outstanding academic achievement. Its staff show a genuine interest in each student’s development, encouraging him/her to strive for personal excellence.
Monthly Field Trips
Every month, each grade at Weizmann enjoys field trips to a variety of locations for a range of activities.
Field trips in Pasadena and the Los Angeles area expose students to the community, giving them practical experiences, and enriching their understanding of academic subjects.
Visitors, parent presenters, and guest faculty are frequently invited to individual classrooms to enhance and extend learning.
Monthly Mitzvah/Service Projects
Like many schools, Weizmann fosters a sense of community responsibility and civic awareness by seeking out mitzvah/service opportunities, collecting supplies and funds for causes WDS care about. But WDS want its students to internalize community service as an ongoing part of their lives. So it take its commitment further by engaging in ongoing grade-appropriate activities that span years.
From WDS’ youngest learners who visit elderly neighbors, to the fourth and fifth graders who volunteer at the Friends inDeed food pantry – all of WDS students are out in the community each month helping others. They develop relationships with community members, a deeper sense of specific community needs, and confidence in their individual ability to make a difference.
As a result, many of Weizmann’s alumni feel a connection to charities they first visited in our Elementary School and continue to volunteer with these groups for years after graduation.
Middle School Retreats
Each September, Middle School students begin the year with a two-day camping retreat in locations like Yosemite, Point Mugu, and Joshua Tree, to participate in team-building activities and study the local environment.
In the spring, sixth-graders visit the Catalina Island Marine Institute, where they snorkel, hike, study marine biology and ecology, and the students’ favorite – dissect squid!
Seventh- and eighth-graders travel to Washington, D.C., with Muslim students from New Horizon School. There, they meet their elected officials and learn about our nation’s history and the democratic principles that promote religious diversity in America.
All of Weizmann’ retreats are designed to promote teamwork, build leadership skills, and enhance self-esteem and appreciation of one another. The retreat program is a valuable part of the curriculum since it provides an opportunity to focus on affective issues in a way that cannot be done in the same way in a classroom setting.
Weizmann Day School, 1434 N. Altadena Dr., Pasadena, (626) 797-0204 or visit http://weizmann.net/.
