The Temple Beth El David Posnack Preschool is dedicated to working in close partnership with parents to develop strong and confident children in a warm and loving Jewish environment. We believe that play is the work of children. Our program is based on the children's need for spontaneous, active play and it involves learning experiences that will help the young mind to grow and the young body to increase its physical competence. The program will provide your children with the opportunity to explore, discover and create, all on a level that makes sense to them.
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| REGISTRATION FOR THE 2010-2011 SCHOOL YEAR IS NOW OPEN...
FOR INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 954.921.7096 FREE ..... MOMMY AND ME CLASSES Beginning Wednesday September 22nd - Wednesday November 10th To Register or for additonal information, Please call 954.921.7096 | 8/2 | Crazy Hat Day.. Water Play and Gymnastics | | 8/3 | Silly Sock Day.. Drama and Creative Movement | | 8/4 | Bounce House Day.. No Water Play | 8/5 | Pajama Day.. FREE PIZZA LUNCH PARTY. Last Day of Camp | | 8/6 | NO CAMP | | 8/8 | Passport to Temple Beth El .... OPEN HOUSE.. 11am-2pm | | 8/19 | Parent Orientation 6:30pm. Get Babysitters | | 8/20 | Parent / Child Meet the Teacher 9:30am | | 8/23 | FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL | | | |
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Registration is easy!....
Click here to print out the form, fill it out and mail or bring in with your deposit to save your place |
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Our Philosophy
The Temple Beth El David Posnack Preschool is owned and operated by Temple Beth El of Hollywood. It is our belief that the early years in a child’s life provide the foundation upon which later social and academic successes are built. Young children are naturally enthusiastic and highly motivated to acquire and demonstrate new information and new skills. They have an unbridled capacity to play and imagine, wonder and explore, make new friends, and enjoy new experiences. For the child, a wholesome preschool can promote a healthy self-image and independence. Parents can feel comfortable knowing their child is being cared for in a pleasant, developmentally sound environment.
The uniqueness of The Temple Beth El Preschool can be found in the quality of day-to-day interactions among children, staff, and parents. To the children, it feels like family, a place where they belong. To the parents, it feels secure and reassuring. To the staff, it feels like caring for a member of their own family.
Our staff is dedicated to strengthening family life through the transmission of values and Jewish traditions. We have created a caring environment which encourages your child to begin at his/her own level to develop emotionally, spiritually, socially, physically, and cognitively. This includes opportunities to be “little scientists,” to explore and experiment, to question and guess, to try and try again, ...... to succeed.
Since the preschool years are the time when behavior patterns, value systems, and attitudes emerge, it is essential to our philosophy to provide individualized attention. Our program provides quality care as shown by:
| | - A nurturing environment; | | | - Staff trained in child development methods; | | | - Age-appropriate curriculum; | | | - Safe, well maintained physical environment; | | | - Ample space, materials, and equipment; | | - Consistent communication with parents, both formal and informal. |
The following factors are the keys to realizing our goals: | | - Building a positive self-image and high self-esteem in children; | | | - Encouraging patterns of learning and problem solving; | | | - Encouraging self-reliance; | | | - Encouraging empathy and concern for others; | | | - Developing an ability to cooperate with others; | | | - Providing a healthy, safe and pleasant child oriented environment for optimum
growth and development. |
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Our Curriculum
The Temple Beth El preschool utilizes a developmental approach in which children’s play activities are viewed as indispensable precursors to the academic activities of elementary school. A child learns through play. Through play, children learn to be part of a group, to share, and to become friends. In play children feel the freedom to try new ideas, practice skills, and imitate adult roles. All other learning is based on this fundamental ability. The environment is carefully planned and fosters discovery, learning, and exploration.
We use a theme or unit approach to learning. Weekly and monthly activities are organized around these themes. Teachers are trained to listen to children, allowing the children to take the initiative to extend these themes according to their knowledge and interest of the topic. Situations are created to encourage children’s natural curiosity, inquiry and invention to thrive. Concepts that are woven into our curriculum are math, science, creative art, music, movement, drama, language development, and Judaic activities.
Early Childhood Programs
The early childhood program is environmentally based. Rooms are set up in warm home-like settings where children and adults can play comfortably together. They are primarily places of learning and discovery.
Tiny Tots (18 - 24 months) and Toddlers (24 – 36 months)
For the youngest children in our care, we design experiences to provide a warm, loving environment that promotes a sense of security and trust. Emphasis is placed on the development and expansion of language, social skills, and motor skills through art, music, dancing, outdoor play, singing, cooking and Judaic programs. Younger toddler rooms will be limited to 10 children with a ratio of one adult to 4 children (1:4) to allow for intimacy and quality care. There will be three teachers in each Tiny Tots classroom. The older toddler room is limited to 12 children with a ratio of one adult to 6 children (1:6) to ensure maximum attention to each child.
Nursery and Pre Kindergarten (3 to 5 years)
Experiences for the older children are designed to enable the children to learn about themselves and the world around them. Opportunities are provided for individual and group activities in a variety of interest centers including block building, sand/water play, dramatic play, art, music, cooking, reading, and storytelling. Teachers guide the development of intellectual, physical, emotional and social skills that help prepare the children for the future. Nursery classrooms will be limited to 14 children with a ratio of one adult to seven children (1:7) children to allow for quality experiences. Pre kindergarten classrooms will be limited to 14 children with a ratio of one adult to seven children (1:7) to allow for social interaction. Approved FREE Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Provider (VPK) Starting with the school year 2005-2006, the State of Florida instituted the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program. All children who turn four prior to September 1st of that school year are eligible for the 540 hour school year program. As an approved provider, our preschool follows all of the guidelines outlined by the state with regards to teaching credentials and class size ratios. We provide a high quality, Pre-K early childhood development and education program. We stress early literacy through promotion of emergent literacy skills that are fundamental for learning how to read. The Pre-K program uses a wide variety of skill strengthening activities to ensure children's long term reading success. We are a VPK Provider, which entitles a Pre-K student to 3 hours per day fully subsidized by the State of Florida. Parents may enroll their children for additional hours in a preschool program but will be directly responsible for payment of any hours in excess of the Free VPK allotted 3 hours per day, at the current program rate.
Weekly Shabbat and Holiday Programs
Every Friday morning we have a Shabbat celebration for all of the children. Each child has a turn to be an “Ima” or “Aba” (Shabbat Mommy or Daddy). The children learn many Shabbat songs and prayers. We also stress the importance of giving to those persons less fortunate by bringing a small amount of change every Friday for Tzedakah (charity). As the money in the Tzedakah box grows, hopefully a special feeling will grow within our children, who will know have helped others less fortunate. Parents are invited to attend and join in our celebration.
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PTO
We welcome back all Temple Beth El David Posnack Preschool families, new and old, as we start another wonderful school year together! It is our responsibility as parents to get involved in the PTO and support our wonderful, school. The goals of the PTO at The Temple Beth El David Posnack Preschool are not only to raise money to continually improve our school and show appreciation to our teachers and staff, but also to help students and parents feel connected through social events. Research studies continue to find that when parents are involved in schools, their children are more successful academically, socially, and emotionally. We got the year off to an excellent start with our FREE social event, "Bagels and Books," on October, 18th. This event was the kickoff of our school Book Fair. There were bagels for breakfast, a variety of outstanding books to buy, and entertainment for the children. Everyone was welcome at this fantastic family event! Entire families (grandparents too!) came out to buy books while supporting our school. Another exciting PTO event was a school-wide bake sale on Friday, October 30th. October was a fun-filled and successful month for everyone! We’re having a "Groovy Dance Party" on November 11th. It’s open to the public. Please mark your calendars and join in the fun! Tickets are for sale in the preschool office for $8.00 per person in advance or $10.00 per person at the door. This includes pizza lunch, DJ and fun and games. With your support, the PTO raised enough money last year to greatly improve the back playground at our school. We replaced the mulch under the covered canopy with Forever Lawn, a state of the art material that is safer, more durable, and leaves a lot less mess on our children’s clothing and shoes! The PTO is constantly brainstorming and developing new events and planning how to improve old favorites in order to reach our goals for this year. We are continuing to set aside money to resurface the front playground with Forever Lawn. We also are looking into replacing the perimeter of the front playground with real grass and an irrigation system. In the spirit of this wonderful New Year 5770, the PTO would like to challenge each parent to list two ways he/she will contribute to TheTemple Beth El David Posnack Preschool. Whether this is lending a hand at an event, buying a baked good, or sharing a new idea for a fundraiser, we want to hear from you! Please hand your list in at the front office or bring it to the next PTO meeting on November 18th at 9:30 am . If every parent does just one thing for The Temple Beth El David Posnack Preschool, there is no limit to what our school can achieve. |
About Our Director
Ruth Rubin grew up in Philadelphia, and relocated to sunny Florida in 1977. She has a husband, Hal “Tiny” Rubin, three sons and five granddaughters and one grandson. Ruth began working as a teacher’s assistant at Temple Beth Or in Coral Springs, Florida while attending college. After graduation from Florida International University, she was immediately hired to be the Director of Early Childhood Education at the Miami Beach Jewish Community Center. In a few years Ruth was enticed by an offer to open a new school in downtown Miami: the “Downtown Toddler Club.” The playground was on the third floor of the building, overlooking the Port of Miami. She had to get a special decree from the City of Miami to allow a childcare center above the first floor of a building! Because of this success, she was recruited to open another new school at Barnett Bank called “Little Dividends.” After several years of working with corporate child care, Ruth decided to return to the world of non-profit Early Childhood Education. She operated a program for Think Life, Inc., an organization that provided services for children of families that were infected and affected by HIV. Then she became the founding director of the first early childhood program at Temple Israel of Greater Miami. The program was the only Jewish Early Childhood program serving working parents with children aged six weeks to five years old in downtown Miami. College programs sent their students to observe the program to see the wonderful infant and toddler environments that were developed. The program grew from six children to sixty-five in just a few years.
Wanting to work closer to home, Ruth was recruited by The Temple Beth El to direct the our preschool program. When Ruth arrived, there was an existing program with eighty-three children enrolled. There are now 183 students! Last year, under Ruth’s guidance, the Temple Beth El David Posnack Preschool chose to be one of the first schools to open the State of Florida sponsored Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program. This program helps to ensure that all four-year-old children are able to attend preschool before enrolling in kindergarten. Ruth has taken three schools through NAEYC accreditation and was an NAEYC validator. She was president of the Jewish Council of Early Childhood Educators in South Florida. She is now thrilled to be on the Board of the ECERJ. The Bulletin
May - June 2010 Jewish Early Childhood Educators Take the Lead in Their Own Growth: A Leadership Intensive 10th Annual ECE-RJ Conference.
I had the good fortune of joining forty-nine educators from URJ congregations across the United States for the tenth annual conference of Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism (ECE-RJ) Take the Lead in Your Own Growth: A Leadership Intensive, held March 7-9, 2010 in Dallas, Texas.
For two and a half inspiring days, the group focused on how early childhood centers within the Reform movement discover and express their core ideals and values in many areas of early childhood administration, from building a vision of community to the importance of the budget process. We also considered challenges and issues in our field and studied innovative program ideas. The conference scholar-in-residence was Lyndall Miller, Director of Jewish Early Childhood Education and the Legacy Heritage Institute for Jewish Early Childhood Educators, at Gratz College in Elkins Park, PA.
The Intensive began Sunday afternoon with a gathering to welcome Panim Chadoshot (New Faces), after which we immediately immersed ourselves into an enriching session considering the topic, “How can Havdalah help us understand the various aspects that go into being a leader in a Jewish early childhood program?” Temple Shalom welcomed us on Monday. The inspiring discussion began with “directing the light of the Jewish image of the child,” and continued with the consideration of how environments impact young children. Temple Emanu-El was our host on Tuesday. We engaged in discussions about the importance of directors as members of the professional staff of our synagogues. In addition, we explored the concept of teaming with teachers and parents as we deepened our understanding of the integral roles we play as directors. Our closing ceremony was filled with ruach, as we reflected on the wealth of information and introspection we had obtained with our colleagues.
I am very fortunate to be a member of the Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism (ECE-RJ), the newest professional affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism. ECE-RJ represents professionals in all fields of Reform Jewish early childhood education; serving as a voice for educators, guiding synagogue leaders by offering them the most current information about the benefits of early childhood education and engagement for congregations and young families. In addition, ECE-RJ in partnership with the URJ, provides useful guidelines for its members and their extended communities about salaries, contracts, benefits, and opportunities for lifelong learning. ECE-RJ sponsors an annual opportunity for professional growth and development open to directors, teachers, and others who are dedicated to the vision of early childhood education.
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