January-February 2012 - The Jewish Georgian

January-February 2012 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 17
Davis students learn about the critical need for safe drinking water
Davis Academy students recently
learned some serious facts about something
most of us take for granted. For example:
Approximately one out of eight people
worldwide, and especially in developing
nations, do not have access to safe and clean
drinking water. Another fact: water-related
illnesses kill more people each year than
wars and conflict.
Access to clean drinking water, something
that most Americans take for granted,
became the focus of this year’s Tikkun Olam
project for Davis Academy 5th-8th-graders
during the month of November, culminating
in activities the day before Thanksgiving.
The project, dubbed the Mayyim
(Hebrew for water) Challenge, spanned the
curriculum. In social studies, students
learned the lengths to which people must go
and the hardships they must endure in some
parts of the world just to obtain clean drinking
water and how that impacts their health
and their families’ ability to function. In science,
students learned how nature produces
clean water, where it is found, and how it is
accessed, as well as the different ways water
can be purified.
After completing surveys, Middle
School students were surprised to learn how
many sodas, smoothies, and sports drinks
they consume. The results motivated them to
forego those beverages for a few weeks and
As parents, we all want to do everything
we can to aid in the development of our children’s
minds. As the inheritors of a long and
proud tradition of study and learning, we seek
to reach a higher plateau in our personal, spiritual,
and business lives.
To challenge young people through a regimen
of formal education has proven a wonderful
tool in striving for these goals. And The
Epstein School continues to find new and
innovative ways to mold and develop young
minds.
One of the concepts that Epstein focuses
on is enhancing brain development through
bilingual education. The advantages of bilingual
education have been researched for
decades and are well documented. As a leader
in bilingual education, The Epstein School
uses an integrated curricular approach that has
been recognized for its excellence both nationally
and internationally.
The school’s academic bilingual program,
combined with integration of advanced
technology and the arts, is one of the reasons
Epstein graduates go on to succeed at the best
high schools and colleges. In 2011, 25 students
took first place at the North Atlanta Jewish
Students Technology Fair (NAJSTF); four
Epstein students placed in the top three at the
2011 Georgia State Technology Fair. Over the
past five years, more than half of Epstein 7thgraders
tested qualified for the Duke
University Talent Identification Program (TIP)
for academically gifted and talented youth. In
both 2010 and 2011, 100% of those students
tested received state recognition; four received
redirect the money they would have spent
toward the tzedakah portion of the Mayyim
Challenge. All the funds collected will go to
SAFE Water Now, an Atlanta-based organization
that distributes special water filtration
systems to needy communities worldwide.
Fifth-graders Bryan Penn, Evan Penn,
and Jack Kaye show off a sign they
made to create awareness about the
issue of safe drinking water and to
encourage fellow students to contribute
tzedakah toward the project.
“At my house, there is running water
everywhere,” said 8th-grader Evan Miller.
“To walk two miles with 40 pounds of water
because the family needs it would be so hard.
national recognition. Third- and 5th-grade students
at The Epstein School consistently rank
in the 95th-99th percentile among students
taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.
Four Epstein students placed in top
three at the State Level Competition,
2011 Georgia Educational Technology
Fair: (from left) Sarah Peljovich, Jack
Schneider, Olivia Fox, and Yoel Alperin
Last year, Epstein alumni included one
high school valedictorian, four salutatorians,
six National Merit Finalists, three Governor’s
Honors participants, the Riverwood High
School Student Council president, and the copresidents
of The Weber School. Also in 2010,
62% of alumni from The Epstein School class
of 2006 were members of the National Honor
Society and/or received National Merit
Recognition.
There are numerous additional advantages
to receiving a bilingual education. Young
children who learn a second language have
Our grade is trying to collect as much
tzedakah as possible to help.”
Sophia Gurin discovers how heavy a
35 pound jug of water is.
The half day of school just before
Thanksgiving was dedicated to Mayyim
Challenge programming. Hands-on activities
and the viewing of an award-winning video
helped further understanding, including getting
a feel for the weight of water and doing
stronger communication skills, which are
needed in a constantly evolving global economy.
Knowing a second language also makes
learning additional languages much easier;
fosters understanding of, appreciation of, and
respect for differences; increases self-esteem
and confidence in social interactions;
improves interpersonal skills; and fosters
adaptability to new situations and contexts.
Rotem Kadosh enjoys being bilingual
and is confident that bilingual skills
will help her be successful.
Additional resources that support the
advantages of a bilingual education:
• Ellen Bialystok, in her 2001 book
Bilingualism in Development: Language,
Literacy, and Cognition, says that bilinguals
have “consistent advantages” to understand
the nature of language rather than the ability to
use language to communicate meaning.
• A study conducted by Peal and Lambert in
1962 showed bilinguals to be superior to
science labs that underscore the impact of
water pollution on the environment. Tracy
Hawkins, founder of SafeWaterNow, spoke
to students.
The Mayyim Challenge concluded
with a half day of activities, including
a collective science lab that demonstrated
how pollution affects the
water supply.
“This type of program never precisely
fits into the traditional academic curriculum,
yet it encourages thinking and feeling, and it
challenges students to seek a deeper understanding
of the world in which they live,
and—most importantly—their place in that
world,” said Middle School Principal Jamie
Kudlats.
Epstein students benefit from bilingual education
monolinguals in the domain of mental/cognitive
flexibility.
• One of the most fascinating advantages of
bilingual education is described in an article in
the October 2004 issue of Nature, in which
researchers found that bilingual speakers had
denser gray matter, in particular in areas of
memory, language, and attention.
• In the 2007 article “Raising a Bilingual
Child: Parents Can Teach Their Children a
Foreign Language at a Young Age” by Diane
Laney Fitzpatrick, Dr. Geoffrey S. Koby, associate
professor of German translation at Kent
State University, said, “All human beings are
naturally, innately able to learn a foreign language
as a child.”
First-grader Joeli Van De Grift performs
a Hebrew lesson task on an
ActivBoard, one of the many advanced
educational technologies utilized by
students at The Epstein School.