Make it matter
Students at The Brandeis School of San Francisco make it matter by participating as innovators and doers in the unique challenges of our time.
Together, we nurture creativity and curiosity, celebrating the connections that engage students with learning, with each other, and with our world.
See what makes us extraordinary
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Where learning and purpose go hand in hand.
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Celebrating the many ways of being Jewish.
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Our values aren’t just painted on the walls: they walk the halls.
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Parent involvement keeps our community warm, welcoming, and vibrant.
Recent News
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First Graders Explore Sacred Spaces
The Judaic studies curriculum focuses, in part, on the tefillah (prayer) service, to help students become more comfortable with the prayers and in preparation for the culminating first grade tefillah. One of the ways students begin to understand the significance of prayer is to learn about the concept and importance of sacred space and sacred time “for us as individuals and as a community,” notes teacher Sandra Menachem...Read More -
Warm Start to Brandeis Mentoring Program
The Brandeis Mentoring Program, now in its third year, kicked off last Friday afternoon. Students in fifth through eighth grade (mentors) are paired up with students in kindergarten through fourth grade and together they participate in activities and games. The eighth-grade members of the Mentoring Youth Board planned an afternoon of word search and match games designed for students to get to know one another...Read More -
Third Graders Learn about Place Values by Raising Money for St. Anthony’s Socks in the City Program
Third graders were busy the past few weeks raising money and counting donations as part of a penny drive to purchase new socks for St. Anthony’s Socktober. “The penny drive is part of the third grade math curriculum, which focuses on place value up to 10,000,” says teacher Janet Fung. “Students investigated data collection by organizing pennies by their year...Read More -
"Building and Buildings" Through Line Shapes Year of Learning in CREATE
The overarching through line this year in lower school CREATE classes is "Building and Buildings." “We’ve been kicking off our year-long exploration of building and buildings by mastering our materials,” says teacher Sandee Bisson. “After studying different types of tape and glue, we’ve moved on to non-adhesive fasteners,” which include wire, string, paper and binder clips, staples, and brass fasteners...Read More -
Fourth Graders Study Ecology, Nature, and Society on Outdoor Education Trip
Over the summer, the fourth grade teaching team met with a curriculum specialist to redesign some of the fourth grade curriculum. Out of that work came four essential questions for the year’s curriculum: 1) What makes a sustainable system? 2) How does change happen in a system? 3) How are human and natural systems interrelated? And 4) How do our choices affect us, our community, and the world, now and in the future? To begin answering these questions...Read More -
Project-based Learning Drives Third Grade Judaic Studies Curriculum
To learn about the holiday of Sukkot, and the specifications for building a sukkah, third graders worked in groups using paper and other materials to build a miniature sukkah they believed met the criteria for sukkot. “Instead giving students all of the rules for building a sukkah,” explains teacher Sharona Israeli-Roth...Read More -
Social-Emotional Learning Teaches Kindergarteners to Be More Aware of Their Emotions
“Everyone has an engine in their body,” began kindergarten teacher Emma Larson at the beginning of a social-emotional learning (SEL) lesson on Wednesday afternoon. “Your brain, your heart, and your muscles. And they work together like a machine to help keep you moving.” Ms. Larson then explained that sometimes the engine runs fast, other times it runs slowly, and that individuals are in charge of their own engines. Following this introduction, Ms. Larson shared with students the four different Zones of Regulation...Read More -
Seventh Graders Explore Digestive System of Organisms by Analyzing Skulls
The seventh graders are currently exploring the way the human body is a system made up of multiple components that help humans stay alive. “To begin this unit, students are studying the digestive system to think about how structure relates to function,” explains teacher Sarah Freilich. Students had the opportunity to observe an assortment of animal skulls and jaws—on loan from the UCSF Science and Education Partnership Resource Center—in order to find similarities and differences in teeth between the different organisms...Read More -
Professional Development Inspires New Fifth Grade Music Project
Inspired by curriculum work she began at the Ethical Creativity Institute in 2017 and further encouraged by the Brandeis faculty and staff summer reading of Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchell Resnick, music teacher Kimberly Lostetter has introduced a new passion project in fifth grade music. "Both of these professional development opportunities reinforced for me that students are most successful when they work on projects they are passionate about," Ms. Lostetter says...Read More
