Our Jewish Values Drive the Curriculum

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 The Gan Yeladim unites children, teachers, family and community in a positive  early childhood experience. Our Jewish values drive the curriculum, environment and school culture. We model and encourage kindness, respect, compassion, confidence and responsibility. Judaism teaches that the formative years of early childhood are vitally important. A child is viewed as a seed that we nurture with the utmost care, since the seed's every experience will shape and color the quality of its matured self.

Judaism underscores the uniqueness of every child with the axiom "chanoch l'naar al pi darko," encouraging us to train children according to their individual paths. We recognize that each child has his or her unique needs, interests and passions. Our children are viewed as collaborators: they are competent, curious, inquisitive, unique, and creative.

The Gan Yeladim Preschool believes in an experiential and intentional approach to teaching and learning. This approach fosters children's intellectual development as they are encouraged to explore their environment and express themselves through words, movement, drawing, painting, playing and other natural modes of expression. We promote an environment where children can develop the critical thinking and problem solving skills for a successful and meaningful life.

We believe in active learning, in encouraging children to manipulate materials, to use their senses to investigate, to explore by hands-on experience, and to search for answers to satisfy their curiosity. The classroom is planned to include a wide variety of open ended activities and materials so that children can learn in their own way and at their own pace and level. We strive to highlight the unique strengths of every child, and to help each one become an independent thinker.

 Our curriculum is based on the calendar and the child’s world. Through developmentally appropriate practice we work to implement the curriculum focusing on the social, physical, intellectual, creative and emotional development of each child.

Some of the objectives of The Gan are:

- to provide a setting in which your child will feel safe and happy
- to use your child’s interests and experiences as the basis for learning and activities
- to help your child develop a love for learning; a love that is deep, wide, and ever-growing
- to provide opportunities for your child to learn academic skills through day-to-day activities and through interactive experiences with peers and adults
- to encourage your child’s love for books and foster the pre-reading skills appropriate to his/her stage of development
- to provide opportunities for your child to make discoveries and to use them in learning, developing the building blocks for the study of science
- to develop your child’s problem-solving abilities, developing the building blocks in the study of mathematics
- to encourage your child’s creativity and artistic expression
- to encourage your child to ask questions, which will be answered sincerely and honestly
- to develop your child’s social skills, in both one-on-one and larger group settings
- to encourage your child to work independently and with his or her peers
- to provide learning materials and equipment, as well as caring and committed adults, to help your child get the most out of school and of themselves.
- to help your child feel good about him/herself

Our staff plans, implements, and evaluates the classroom curriculum so your child receives the best opportunities for high quality education.

The curriculum is designed to incorporate all necessary activities so that your child meets, and even exceeds, the framework for preschool curricular goals & benchmarks. This includes structuring the environment, planning activities, and selecting materials to help accomplish our goals and give each child a successful start in school. A child should go through the preschool years associating fun with learning. If we’re really successful, that feeling will last a lifetime.