Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center

The Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center is a fully licensed program that has opened its doors for the 2009–2010 school year. It is open to all families in the community. Membership in Congregation Shir Hadash is not required.

School Year Program

The Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center offers preschool classes for children ages 2 through 5 years (before a child enters Kindergarten). Children must be 2 years old by September 30th to begin in the Center. A child is not required to be toilet trained.

• School starts at 8:30 am each day. Care before 8:30 am is available upon request for an additional fee.

• Parents may choose a schedule ending at 1:00 pm or continue care until as late as 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

• Parents may choose a 5 day, 3 day (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) or 2 day (Tuesday and Thursday) schedule for their children.

• School begins the third week of August and ends in the beginning of June.

Summer Program

Summers at the Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center will incorporate our Reggio style of investigation in the areas of nature, art, play and creativity.

• The summer program is eight weeks long, starting the third Monday in June.

• The Center is closed a week between the school and summer programs in June and in August for maintenance of our building and staff development.

Mission Statement

The Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center creates a safe and nurturing Jewish early childhood environment, inspired by the philosophy of Reggio Emilia, rooted in our congregational community and Reform Jewish values.

Goals

Specific goals of the Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center are:

• To promote self-esteem and confidence.
• To increase independence in meeting and solving problems through cooperation and other pro-social behavior.
• To form a positive Jewish identity by exposing the children to Jewish culture and tradition through music, holiday celebrations, special Shabbat services and interaction with the Rabbis and Cantor.
• To further intellectual development; to foster cognitive learning, concept formation, self-understanding.
• To provide opportunities for large and small motor development through specific classroom activities.
• To promote language development.
• To develop fantasy play that facilitates imagination, ideas and creative thinking processes.
• To foster awareness of the world by participating in a variety of experiences.
• To help the child separate from the family, and learn to enjoy the classroom social group.
• To foster creativity and free self-expression in art, music and socio-dramatic play.
• To help the child learn control, restraint and good attending skills.
• To encourage the expression of all feelings, such as fear, anger and happiness, in acceptable ways; to develop positive qualities such as the capacity for fun, humor and optimism.
• To provide an environment that gives the child the opportunity to learn by doing—moving from concrete hands-on experiences to more abstract concept development.

Values

Our staff and children are encouraged to implement these values during their time at school. Our hope is that all our families will join us in adopting these values to live by:

• Chaverut—Friendship—Embracing and caring about all the people in our program.
• Tzedekah—Justice and Righteousness.
• Tikkum Olam—Caring for the world and our environment—locally and globally.
• Torah—Study and worship.
• Ruach—Spirit—To find joy in all parts of our lives.
• Klal Yisrael—Community and inclusiveness.
• Chaknasot Orchim—Welcoming the Guest—being a gracious host to visitors of our school.

Curriculum

Our preschool program is inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy of early childhood education. Started in the Reggio Emilia region of Italy in the late 40s–early 50s, this methodology has been studied and modeled world-wide. In 1991, a Newsweek article identified the Reggio Emilia programs as the best early childhood programs in the world.

• Building from what children already know.

  A Reggio inspired program is one that states that children come to preschool with some knowledge of the world and the desire to learn more. Through a careful inquiry process, the teachers start with what the children know and what they wish to learn more about. The gaps in the children’s knowledge and skills are filled as the children explore and work on projects based on what they are investigating. This process opens the world to the children beyond the classroom walls and the play yard fence.

• Classrooms are designed to stimulate and incorporate natural elements.

  Our classroom spaces are carefully considered by the teachers. They thoughtfully display materials as to be provocative to their students so that the children participate directly with their environment while fulfilling their need to learn. The Reggio inspired environment incorporates natural elements to stimulate the senses. The trickle of a water fountain, the beauty of a green plant, the taste of fresh vegetables and fruit, the scent of a flower and the texture of a shell are just a few of the elements we build in to the children’s day.

• Celebration of Jewish traditions

  Jewish holidays enrich our classroom curriculum as well and Shabbat is joyously celebrated each Friday. The children study and learn about the Jewish holidays at their developmental level. The clergy of Shir Hadash play an active role in the weekly life of the preschool. Shabbat and holiday stories are told by Rabbi Aron, Rabbi Fleekop and Rabbi Levenberg. Cantor Felder-Levy’s music adds beauty to our celebrations.

The Playscape

Outdoor space and activities are just as important in a Reggio-inspired school as indoor activities. Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center has an innovative outdoor play area designed by Planet Playscapes. It has:

• boulders to climb on,
• sand and water elements to investigate,
• a tower slide built into a child-sized hill,
• a stage for impromptu performances,
• stepping logs,
• outdoor easels for capturing the beauty of nature in artwork,
• quiet spots for thinking and enjoying nature.

The outdoor space includes a garden of flowers, trees and green plants. As the garden evolves, we will add planting, caring for and harvesting vegetables for our snacks. Investigation of nature and the enjoyment of the outdoors are essential elements of each day.

Parent Participation

We encourage parents to get involved with the Early Childhood Center to the extent that they are able. A central theme in our Reggio inspired program is to involve the child’s family in all that happens in school. We hope that parents find their child’s experience exciting and want to join in both small and large happenings in the classroom. There are many different levels of participation, and we understand that while some parents have a lot of time and energy to commit, others are more limited.

Shir Hadash Babies and Shir Hadash Tots

These two parent/child programs are held once a week in eight week sessions.

• Shir Hadash Babies meets for an hour and is designed for children from 6 weeks to 12 months and a parent or caregiver. Each class will include a discussion on parenting issues or child development topics as well as play activities with your baby and social time with the group participants.

• Shir Hadash Tots enrolls children 12 months to 24 months of age with a parent or caregiver. In each hour and a half class the children and adults will enjoy a group meeting time, art exploration, sensory experiences, and a brief discussion of parenting issues or child development topics during snack time.

There is a small fee for both these programs.

Information

For information about Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center and to schedule a visit to our program, please phone our Preschool Director, Robin Adelman, 408-358-1751 ext. 115, or email her at .