THOMAS AND MARJORIE SCHWARTZ
PRESCHOOL & JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN

Our "Learn Through Play" philosophy encourages the children to freely explore their surroundings. Our program is child-directed and teacher supported. The primary goal of our centre is to provide the children with a warm and respectful place where they feel safe and content. We celebrate the importance of social relationships and promote meaningful and collaborative learning. Throughout the day, children will have a variety of activities available to them including outdoor play, fun in the gym, music classes and creative activities. Our classrooms will be rich with sensory exploration and age-appropriate toys and materials.

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We strive to provide a fun, stimulating and creative environment for the children in our Toddler, Preschool/JK and School-Age Programs. Programming is based on children's interests and skills, and documented. Children take the lead in their learning and use their imaginations and creativity to set the tone for the planning.

 

We hope to inspire a journey, not a destination, that is not linear or prescriptive, and that reflects the ongoing evolution of a discipline. A central part of the process is our Sheva Learning Communities, in which our early childhood educators network with each other in dialogue over the core elements, exemplary practices, critical incidents, knots in their work and more. 

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Our philosophy: 

• encourages each child’s positive image

• guides children to develop problem-solving, time management, self-help and social skills

• is child-directed, therefore demonstrating to children that they are an important part of our world

• fosters a learn-through-play environment. Children learn best through their own hands-on experiences.
  They are offered endless amounts of opportunities to play productively. Teachers offer guidance and assistance
  when necessary to ensure that children are gaining all that is possible through their activities.

• stimulates curiosity

• guides children to be empathetic, moral beings
   

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Seven Core Elements of Sheva 
The Sheva Early Learning Framework is coherent with the culture and teachings of Judaism in everyday life, values and principles. The Jewish lenses serve as a tool, a prism through which we overlay our traditions, our study, and our Jewish philosophy. The core elements are the fundamental components of our early childhood programs and are deeply rooted in the latest research on child development.

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1. Children as Constructivist Learners

2. Early Childhood Directors as Visionaries

3. Early Childhood Educators as Professionals

4. Families as Engaged Partners

5. Environments as Inspiration for Inquiry

6. Discover CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) as Sh’mirat HaGuf (taking care of our bodies)

7. Israel as a Source and Resource
    

These lenses articulate our approach to our work. They inspire as much as they inform. Ideally, they are manifested daily in our centre: in the ways in which we structure our time, our curricula, and our classrooms; the quality of our relationships with our students, our faculties, our host institutions; and the partnerships we forge with the families in our communities. They improve and sharpen our vision, and enable us to see our world more clearly and in a particularly focused way. Judaism is not exclusively a matter of the “what” or “when” in the world of ritual and faith, but includes the deeper matters of the “how” and “why” of the totality of our lives and our relationships to the world as a whole. It welcomes diversity, inclusion, reflection, and innovation. For each lens, there is a Hebrew word that captures the essence of the lens, a literal translation of the Hebrew, and a more interpretive word or phrase, which illuminates our understanding of the core value within each category.

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Although Sheva is based on Jewish lenses, the values that they portray are universal and inclusive to all.

​Using the Ontario Ministry of Education's “Early Learning for Every Child Today” (ELECT) in conjunction with the Sheva Framework, our programs meet and exceed Ministry requirements for curriculum planning and implementation. 

 

We believe in the importance of communication with families. This is done through daily feedback, observations, documentation, parent-teacher interviews (Preschool/JK) and through our newsletters. Our Kaymbu app allows communication with families to be easy and it is simple to use. 

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Observance of Holidays

As our schools are within a Jewish Community Centre, we celebrate the Jewish holidays and Shabbat. These holidays are introduced in a non-religious fashion. We base the focus on the story rather than the religious aspect of the holiday. We welcome information from other cultures and will happily talk to the children about other cultural (not religious) holidays as well. We have big celebrations for Chanukah, Purim and/or Passover.

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Weekly Suzuki Early Childhood Education Music Classes  

The Suzuki philosophy compliments our beliefs of what a successful learning environment should be, and we are pleased to bring it to our children!  This class develops the children’s rhythmic and melodic awareness, memory, and social skills. The curriculum is built around a repertoire of lullabies, action songs, and nursery rhymes for children ages 18 months to five years old. With a strong emphasis on a positive and nurturing approach to learning music, the classes will be a wonderful beginning to a child’s appreciation of music. Children will learn skills that will benefit them in all aspects of their life, such as confidence, self-regulation, listening, mental focus, memory, increased vocabulary, language, socially acceptable behaviour, sensitivity, and numeracy development – all while having a blast! Classes will be taught by a registered Suzuki Early Childhood Education instructor. 

 

Hebrew Engagement Program 

Our Hebrew Engagement program uses the Jewish calendar to teach the children about the holidays and special dates, general vocabulary, colours, numbers, and letters in a fun and interactive way. This is included in our childcare, preschool, and JK programs. 

 

Annual Early Childhood Gallery Exhibit 

Each spring, our ECE department puts together an art exhibit in The Etta and Frank Jacobs' Hospitality Lounge on the main floor of the Miles Nadal JCC. The exhibit showcases amazing projects our classrooms create based on a particular theme chosen for that year. The ideas for these projects stem from the children's initial interests and then carry on over several months. Activities are implemented in all classroom areas: art, science, language, and motor, cognitive, and social skills. The children are actively engaged and expanding on their knowledge through these daily experiences using ELECT, Reggio, and the Sheva Framework to guide them through the process. We invite parents to see the amazing work our Toddler, Preschool, Junior Kindergarten, and After School students work on over several months. The children's artwork, documentation, and any photos of the children are displayed in the lounge for viewing. Everything is kept as a surprise to parents until April of each year when the exhibit is up in the lounge.

 

And just for our JK’ers! 

• In addition to our weekly music class, our JK children will receive a weekly Suzuki music class focused on playing the violin!  We will work on basic posture, coordination, and listening skills, working on and off their self-made instruments. Throughout the year, the class will focus on mastering the Suzuki Twinkle variations.  

• Beginning in September 2024, we are pleased to introduce a new literacy program being piloted with our JK children. The Sounds-Write program will use evidence-based approaches to teaching the skills to our JK children to help set them up for success as they learn pre-reading and writing skills. These skills will be tools needed as they move to SK.