Children follow a curriculum that is varied in activities, based on different themes. The themes are used as a spring board to teach the children various skills that they need to grow and mature. Curriculum night for each class is held early in the school year. At curriculum night, the teachers explain the curriculum for the upcoming school year, their goals that they wish to achieve with the children, and their daily schedule.
Pre Nursery Curriculum Goals
Social Skills
We expect children to be taught in a safe, loving environment, using positive reinforcement, teaching them how to interact with peers, teachers and other staff. They should learn how to communicate their needs, fears, frustrations, desires, and accomplishments. They should learn how to ask for help. They learn how to be polite, using words such as please and thank you. They learn to share, take turns, and negotiate line-up, snack time, and hand washing time. The drama center is a great vehicle to teach the children these skills, as they navigate the adult world through interaction with friends. Changing activities in the drama centre will encourage the children to keep coming back.
Living Skills
A strong classroom routine will teach the children how to sit at circle time, pay attention to others when spoken to, how to sing, participate in discussions, how to line up in an orderly fashion, how to wash hands properly and be encouraged in proper hygienic washroom skills. Table manners are encouraged too.
Academic Goals
Literacy; children at this age level are not generally ready for literacy. Our goal is to get them interested and excited about the concepts of letters. One new letter can be introduced each week, with activities, letter table/jar/posters etc. being related to the letter of the week. If someone’s name starts with that letter, they can relate to that, or a particular animal, or food. A special snack for that letter is something they can relate to. Parents can be encouraged to be part of this, by sending in a toy with the letter of the week, or taking turns coming in to the class in relation to the letter… An important way to encourage literacy is to read lots of age appropriate stories, and encourage the children to spend time at the library.
Math skills; children are introduced to the concept of numbers. We count until six to do netillat yadayim. We count the people on line, we count the people sitting on the mat, etc. calendar at this age level can include singing the days of the week. For Chanukah we can count 8 candles, and we can count shofars, apple seeds etc. children should be exposed to numbers but are not expected to recognize them.
Tefilla
We pray with children every day, singing with them songs and doing finger plays to help them through it. We start the year with 4-5 songs, and add, as the year progresses.
Jewish Holidays
Children are taught about the holidays. Circle time should include the foods eaten on that day, the basic rituals such as shofar, slippers on Yom Kippur, and flags on shimchat torah. The basic story line of each holiday can be taught with puppets, costumes and songs.
Arts and Crafts
Children should be encouraged to learn their fine motor skills, such as pasting, gluing stickers, and painting. They are not ready to cut at this age. Later in the year they can be taught to snip, if the older ones are ready. We use all different mediums such as clay, paint, cotton balls, glitter, Popsicle sticks, etc. for art, and give the children as much freedom as possible. Sit at the table with them to help guide their skill, but not to do the art for them. It does not have to be perfect!
Gym Time
Children come to the gym or playground every day. They can be taught to jump, run, skip, throw, and catch, and do other teacher directed activities. These activities should alternate with some time for them to develop on their own. We have Sports with Jay every other week, to teach more skills. Please enhance those skills in between sessions.
Music
Children learn a lot through songs! We sing with them all the time. Also, we have music classes every week.
The music teacher will follow our themes, and teach rhythm, dancing, etc, to enhance their musical experiences.
Science
At this age, children learn by trying things out with their hands. Our discovery table should display things related to the theme that they could explore alone. Ex: shofar, different colored apples, a scale, a ram and sheep with horns, honey jars, crowns, etc. for Rosh Hashanah.
Cooking
For special holiday treats, the children can participate in making the food for snack. Ex: falafel for Israel
Nursery Curriculum Goals
Social Skills
We expect children to be taught in a safe, loving environment, using positive reinforcement, teaching them how to interact with peers, teachers and other staff. They should learn how to communicate their needs, fears, frustrations, desires, and accomplishments. They should learn how to ask for help. They learn how to be polite, using words such as please and thank you. They learn to share, take turns, and negotiate line-up, snack time, and hand washing time. The drama center is a great vehicle to teach the children these skills, as they navigate the adult world through interaction with friends. Changing activities in the drama centre will encourage the children to keep coming back.
Living Skills
A strong classroom routine will teach the children how to sit at circle time, pay attention to others when spoken to, how to sing, participate in discussions, how to line up in an orderly fashion, how to wash hands properly and be encouraged in proper hygienic washroom skills. Table manners are encouraged too. At this age, independence is encouraged. Children can have jobs, such as setting out the napkins for snack, helping serve water, etc. They can put up the date on the calendar, take attendance, and other such jobs.
Academic Goals
Literacy: Some children at this age level are ready for literacy. Our goal is to get them interested and excited about the concepts of letters. They should be able to identify the letters by the end of the year, out of order, and understand that different letters make different sounds. Some children will know the letter sounds of the letters. They should be able to identify some letters in their names. Some of them should be able to write their names in upper case letters. This should be encouraged, but not pushed. If the child shows resistance, we can try again in a few months. One new letter can be introduced each week, with activities, letter table/jar/posters etc. being related to the letter of the week. If someone’s name starts with that letter, they can relate to that, or a particular animal, or food. A special snack for that letter is something they can relate to. Parents can be encouraged to be part of this, by sending in a toy with the letter of the week, or taking turns coming in to the class in relation to the letter… An important way to encourage literacy is to read lots of age appropriate stories, and encourage the children to spend time at the library.
Math skills; children are introduced to the concept of numbers. We count until six to do netillat yadayim. We count the people on line, we count the people sitting on the mat, etc. Calendar at this age level can include singing the days of the week, counting the dates of the month, and discussing the weather. Children should be able to count until 30 and recognize one to ten out of order. For Chanukah we can count 8 candles, and we can count shofars, apple seeds etc. children can also count in Hebrew- you would be surprised at how much they pick up!
Tefilla
We pray with children every day, singing with them songs and doing finger plays to help them through it. We start the year with 4-5 songs, and add, as the year progresses.
Jewish Holidays
Children are taught about the holidays. Circle time should include the foods eaten on that day, the basic rituals such as shofar, slippers on Yom Kippur, and flags on shimchat torah. The basic story line of each holiday can be taught with puppets, costumes and songs.
Arts and Crafts
Children should be encouraged to learn their fine motor skills, such as pasting, gluing stickers, and painting. They can be taught to snip, if the older ones are ready, and as the year progresses, taught to cut properly. We use all different mediums such as clay, paint, cotton balls, glitter, Popsicle sticks, etc. for art, and give the children as much freedom as possible. Teachers sit at the table with them to help guide their skill, but not to do the art for them. It does not have to be perfect!
Gym Time
Children come to the gym or playground every day. They can be taught to jump, run, skip, hop, throw, and catch, and do other teacher directed activities. These activities should alternate with some time for them to develop on their own. We have Sports with Jay every other week, to teach more skills. Teachers enhance those skills in between sessions.
Music
Children learn a lot through songs! We sing with them all the time. Also, we have music classes every week.
The music teacher will follow our themes, and teach rhythm, dancing, etc, to enhance their musical experiences.
Science
At this age, children learn by trying things out with their hands. Our discovery table should display things related to the theme that they could explore alone. Ex: shofar, different colored apples, a scale, a ram and sheep with horns, honey jars, crowns, etc. for Rosh Hashanah. Simple experiments can be done with this age group such as opening an apple and seeing the star shape.
Cooking
For special holiday treats, the children can participate in making the food for snack. Ex: falafel for Israel
Goals and Expectations for Kindergarten Program
Social Skills
Children are taught to interact appropriately, with gentle instruction. They learn to share, take turns, sit beside each other at the table and during circle time, to role play, be respectful to teachers and peers, and are polite.
Living Skills
Children are encouraged to be independent in the washroom, washing hands, serving, eating and cleaning up from snack, cooking skills, dressing, and switching shoes in the winter. They are encouraged to take leadership positions in the classroom such as monitoring, clean up time, distributing supplies, being responsible for belongings, etc.
Tefilla
Children should be taught the basic tefillos, adding more as the year progresses. We use the ncfje siddur, but more songs can be added. Hebrew songs and motions etc can be added, as well as having the children take turns being chazzan. Davening can be done at the table or circle, with stickers or other incentives.
Literacy Goals
Children will begin with a review of their letters and sound skills and progress at their individual paces to more letters and sounds. They will work from booklets, designed to teach the children to recognize and write the letter, (in upper case for JK and upper and lower case for SK), understand the letter sounds, and how they combine with other letter sounds and vowels. Children will progress to short vowel sounds and words in the short vowel families (such as “at” words- hat, mat, etc), then progress to digraphs, consonant blends and long vowel sounds. Once children have mastered all the writing skills, they will work on progressing in their reading skills. Sight words will be introduced, using a word wall / dictionary/ flash cards, etc. When introducing new topics, literacy will be included in all activities, such as listing foods we like, when learning nutrition, etc. The room should be rich in literacy, including journal/book writing, literacy games and flashcards.
Writing
Children will be taught to use the pencil the right way, form letters, and space them properly on the line, JK children will learn upper case letters, and SK children will learn both. JK children can progress to lower case letters when they have sufficiently mastered the upper case.
Math Skills
Children will be taught to count until 100, skip count by 2s and 5s, and understand the calendar. They will understand the placement of numbers and their place value. They will learn how to write the numbers, 1-10 for JK and until 20 for SK. They will learn how to add digits equaling up to ten, and higher for SK if capable. They will learn the concept of money, learning the value of each coin. They will learn to pattern by 2s, 3s, and 4s. Children will work at their own pace using booklets, games, counting beads, graphing, etc.
Math skills should be included in all themes, such as figuring out how many Chanukah candles we need for two nights, etc.
Thematic Units
Children will learn about a variety of Jewish and typical Kindergarten themes that help them expand their world as it relates to everyday life, such as our neighborhood, the seasons, etc. All themes should include activities that relate to all types of learners, such as science activities, manipulatives, drama, art, math, literacy, and cooking.
Parsha
The children can be taught the parshios (Torah Portions) of chumash breishis (the First book) until Pesach, when the story of the Jews leaving Egypt is taught. The parsha should be taught as a long term project so a journal/scrapbook/weekly art project, etc. can accompany it. Parent guides accompanies the parsha info, as the material needs to be made relevant to both children and parents. Stories are made relevant; as we can tie them in to our own lives, etc. Puppets, drama, costumes, etc. help make the stories come alive.
Jewish Holidays
Children will be taught the holidays in a timely manner, including the story line, mitzvahs and customs related to the holiday, foods, and tefillos. For every Yom tov, a few special art projects that the children can really use on their Yom tov table should be included. Holidays should be made as relevant as possible, inviting parents in for programs, having kids bring in show and tell objects related to the yom tov, etc. will enhance the learning. The drama center should be set up for Yom tov, the discovery table should have stuff on it related to the Yom tov, and centers and activities set up, to immerse the children in what we are learning.
Hebrew Aleph-Bet
The alef bet will be taught with Sephardic pronunciation. Children are expected to recognize all the letters, by the end of the year. Children should know words that start with each letter, maybe making a dictionary or word wall together. To make the letters relevant, their Hebrew names and the Hebrew names of friends etc. can be included, and used as part of the learning process.
Hebrew Language
Hebrew vocabulary that comes up in every day language such as shulchan, kisai, etc, can be incorporated into their every day language. Holiday words, Hebrew songs that they can learn the meanings of, should be taught in a fun manner. Stick letters should be used when writing with the children- they so not need to use the cursive, yet. They can be encouraged to write.
