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Charlotte Jewish News - March 2017 - Page 17 Outdoor Learning Space at CJP By Brooke Amo At The Charlotte Jewish Pre- sehool we are working to eontin- ually strengthen our religious eonneetions, improve on our prae- tiee and explore learning opportu nities that are best praetiee for our ehildren. It is essential to always keep in mind our mission and teaeh Judaism as the foundation for all of our learning, and not as a speeial, simply a holiday, or in isolated eontext. As we make sure that we are teaehing through “Jewish lens” we have to ehal- lenge ourselves, and look for even more opportunities to organieally evolve a Jewish identity within our ehildren. As some of you may know in the baek of The Don and Bobbi Bernstein Edueation building where CJP and Temple Beth ETs religious sehool reside, there is a desolate eonerete open spaee. This spaee was onee used as a one’s and two’s playground before The Sandra and Leon Levine Play ground was built. Now that we have a beautiful playground for all aged to go to, it was time to look into other outdoor learning oppor tunities for our ehildren. This year thanks to our Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte’s Impaet and In novation Grant, along with our Annual Fund dollars we are going to begin to build a CJP learning garden (name not yet determined). A CJP garden will provide a se- eure and loving environment for our students to explore God’s ere- 1 .1 Bobbie Mabe S' sketch of the upcoming changes in the garden. ations. Students will not only learn about, but will also be aetive partners with God in growing fruits and vegetables - with and without soil. They will learn healthy eating habits and have in- ereased opportunities for develop ment of physieal and soeial skills. Furthermore, ehildhood mem ories surrounding eontaet with na ture involve a deep sensory imprint of texture, smell, eolor, sound, and taste. These spaees in nature imply a sense of freedom and serenity in whieh the natural elements (ineluding the weather) present both eomplexity and the unexpeeted. We began with the garden as a plaee for wonder and the unexpeeted. As stewards of the earth, working beside their peers and adults, the ehildren in the garden eonstruet a sustainable future for themselves and their eommunity. CJP’s overarehing goals for the garden: 1. Students will learn about Ju daism and the natural world around them - this will be aehieved eontinuously through weekly lessons of formal seienee and Judaie edueation and informal exposure in the garden. 2. To ereate an outdoor student- eentered learning environment that is enriehing, engaging, and fa- eilitates our mission - this will be overseen by Bobbie Mabe as she works with our designer and eon- struetor in building the garden. 3. Students will learn seienee eoneepts - this will be aehieved in eonjunetion with learning about Judaism, as we have intertwined both eoneepts in our eurrieulum. 4. Furthermore, one of our goals is to instill a love for the en vironment in our students and to eneourage their eontinued partiei- pation in other gardens loeated around Shalom Park. By starting our students early with their love of and partieipation in nurturing the environment we aim to en eourage inereased partieipation in Tikkun 01am and Ba’al Tasheheet at Shalom Park and in any eom munity through the eourse of their lives. Bobbie Mabe joined our CJP team of highly-qualified edueators as the Seienee teaeher this year. Not only has she has demon strated her love of teaehing as well as hortieulture, but has developed the vision for this garden. Some of the items you ean expeet to see in our garden beginning mid-Febru ary are: more box gardens, ehild- size pienie tables, root view gardens, sensory garden, waterfall tables, bean teepee, a learning stage, a storage shed, pollinator gardens and mueh more. Please see Bobbie’s rough sketeh herein. It is through the CJP garden that we will be able to eoneretize the link between Judaism and sei enee for our students. The garden will aet as a spiraling eurrieulum as students as young as 12 months and all the way through our Pre-K program will be learning some thing new and more eomplex eaeh time they attend seienee elass. Moreover, our Jewish holiday’s observanees will be enhaneed by a CJP garden - our bean tent will be a perfeet sukkah for the stu dents to dwell inside, and students will have an opportunity to piek fruit that they have grown for a shalach manot basket at Purim. While working together to learn the joy of these various Jew ish traditions, students will eon- neet meaningfully with eaeh other and our Shalom Park eommunity. As you ean see and hear we are very exeited to share this news with the eommunity. In the near future we will be looking for ways to get the ehildren, parents, teaeh- ers and any eommunity members involved with ereating, personal izing, and sustaining this great learning opportunity for our ehildren. ^ Charlotte Jewish Preschool LEARN • CROW • CONNECT "Tri" for a Cause! 6^ Annual Levine JCC Kids Triathlon f^teAentedBa UTC Aerospace Systems r Open W all Kid; Ages 5-14 June 4 at 2pm To Benefit Pediatric Rehabiiitative Services at # Carolinas HealthCare System Levine Children’s Hosp tal ^ Levine JCC Charlotte 2017 Honorary Co-Chairs: Dale and Larry Polsky REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! www.ljcckidstri.org Jewish Federation Questions? 704-944-6730 OF GREATER CHARLOTTE
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 1, 2017, edition 1
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