The Charlotte Jewish News - March 2011 - Page 17
What to Think About When You Are Thinking About
Choosing a Preschool
By Jen Lahn, director, Jewish
Preschool on Sardis
It’s the time of year when you
as parents will ehoose the best set
ting for your ehildren to begin
their edueational journey. A
ehild’s presehool experienee lays
the foundation for future learning
so when ehoosing a presehool, it’s
important to seleet one that is the
best fit for your individual ehild.
What philosophy and style of
teaehing will work best for your
ehild? What are your ehild’s
needs? In essenee, you want to
ehoose a presehool where your
ehild ean thrive and he or she will
be nurtured eaeh day—a plaee
where their uniqueness is eelebrat-
ed.
Below I will share some impor
tant areas to eonsider when ehoos
ing a presehool. Make an appoint
ment to visit the sehools you are
eonsidering - ask questions, talk
to teaehers and administrators,
eonsider the physieal environment
and the overall “feel” of the pre
sehool.
1. Consider the edueational phi
losophy of the sehool. Ask the
Direetor about the sehool’s philos
ophy on early ehildhood eduea-
tion. Does the sehool follow a spe-
eifie eurrieulum? How do teaehers
individualize the day to meet eaeh
ehild’s needs? Some presehools
foeus heavily on aeademie skills
and eonsider soeial and emotional
development as seeondary. How
the
does the sehool meet the
needs of the whole ehild?
Are letter and number skills
taught methodieally or do
the teaehers tailor the pro
gram to eaeh ehild’s devel
opmental ability and inter
est?
2. Is the sehool aeeredited
or lieensed? Does it follow a
elear set of guidelines and
rules so you as parents will
know what to expeet? How
often is the program
assessed and what is the
purpose of the assessment?
Part of any formal or infor
mal assessment should
inelude the teaeher quality
and style of teaehing. Are
teaehers experts in early ehildhood
development? Do they have
degrees in this field? When you
visit a sehool, observe the teaehers
as they interaet with ehildren. Do
they approaeh the ehildren with a
warm and earing tone? Do the
teaehers interaet with and faeili-
tate play or are they direeting the
ehildren from afar? Do the teaeh
ers respond to eaeh ehild as an
individual or do you hear rote and
rehearsed answers?
3. Staffxhild ratio is an impor
tant faetor. How many teaehers are
responsible for the ehildren in
eaeh room? What is the maximum
number of ehildren in the elass-
room and how many teaehers will
be assigned to eaeh age group? Of
Making friends at the Jewish Preschool on Sardis.
eourse the fewer ehildren a teaeher
is responsible for, the better able
the teaeher is to respond to indi
vidual needs. Teaeher turnover is
also an important indieator. Ask
the direetor about this to get a
baseline. This will give you infor
mation about the working environ
ment and let you know whether
the teaehers feel appreeiated and
happy. Happy teaehers typieally
have happy elassrooms.
4. The physieal environment of
the sehool needs to be eonsidered.
Ask to see the outdoor play area.
Do the different age groups play
outside together or do the younger
ehildren have their own spaee? Is
there suffieient spaee for the ehil
dren to run, jump, play with balls,
and work on large musele devel
opment? Is the equipment in good
eondition? Are the elass
rooms spaeious, elean and
bright? Are there ample mate
rials for all of the ehildren in
the elass? Does the room look
organized and inviting for
your little one? You should
see speeifie areas of play
referred to as “eenters” and
they should be full of materi
als that are fun for the ehil
dren. There is no reason for
the ehildren to know that they
are working on some serious
skills when they are building
with bloeks in the bloek een-
ter, or exploring the
free art materials in ^ ^
the art eenter.
Most importantly, rely
on your “parent gut” (as I
like to refer to it). All of the
points that I outlined are
important, but above all,
the sehool must “feel”
right to you. You need to
feel eonfident that your ehild will
be eared for and that your needs
will also be met. If you have ques
tions or eoneems, will you be
eomfortable asking them? Trust
your instinets in this proeess.
I invite you to visit The Jewish
Presehool on Sardis and enjoy a
private tour of our program. At
JPS, we are eommitted to meeting
the needs of eaeh individual pre-
sehooler while working elosely
with the parents to sueeessfully
meet the developmental mile
stones for their ehild. I am avail
able to answer your questions and
would love to meet with you to
show you our elassrooms and pro
gram. ^
♦
jps
The Jewish
Preschool on Sardis
DR. JOSEPH STEINER
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V A ■ '■
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n A strong Jewish foundation that
wiii serve our chiidren for a iifetime!
Pictured are Mark and Amy Vitner (Board President of
Preschool) with their children Eli (QP), Saul and Sylvia (both at QDS).
As we navigafed the public school magnef
loffery. fhe Charlotte Jewish Day School
started out as our hack up plan. While we
ended up getting into our top magnet choice.
CJVS had already won us over with its small
class size, exposure to a second language
through Hebrew immersion and emphasis on
positive values.
We have been so impressed with CJVS's
individualized approach to learning. What
is more, our children are receiving a strong
Jewish foundation that will serve them for
a lifetimel
— Amy Vitner
CJDS
Charlotte Jewish
Day School
Now accepting applications.
For more information, call 704-366-4558
A BENEFICIARY AGENCY OF
JEWISH^
FEDEiy^TION^