Goldberg Early Childhood Center

Rain, rain, stay and play! Rainy days transform our naturescape in a magical way and we wouldn't dare stay inside and miss out.

The benefits of exploring paint are endless. Particularly when adults place emphasis on the process of exploring the paint, rather than the finished product. Whether or not a piece of artwork ends up in your child's cubby at the end of the day, each classroom offers the children opportunities to explore paint in a variety of ways.

Through these pictures we see core strength, concentration, experimentation, sustained attention, self expression, problem solving, discovery, hand-eye coordination, and each child finding their "just right" level of sensory input.

The before, during, and after parts of the painting experience offer a myriad of opportunities to practice social/emotional, self help, cognitive, language, physical, and scientific thinking skills.

Shabbat Shalom! Wishing each and every one of you a restful and meaningful long weekend. See you Tuesday, school family!

The most valuable play materials can come from the place you least expect it! This week, while on the naturescape, a group of three year olds noticed Emmaline, our outdoor learning pedagogista, trimming some branches.

The children were curious, asking why these branches and not others? What will happen to them now? Why are these leaves big and these leaves small? The curiosity quickly evolved into a plan to create the "biggest leaf and stick pile EVER". They set off on a mission to find any fallen leaves and sticks (plants need the ones still attached!) and the pile began to take shape.

Along the way, they made some interesting discoveries. Huge green leaves. Half eaten green leaves. Tiny green leaves with ridges. Sticks with leaves and acorns. Brown leaves. Flat and crunchy yellow leaves. Curled and leathery yellow leaves. The questions continued to flow - How? Why? Where? When? as they worked to form theories about these nature treasures and their observations.

Rich, valuable discussion. Observation and formation of theories. Questions about the natural world and plant life cycles. Noticing similarities and differences. Collaboration and problem solving. All from a pile of discarded plant trimmings. Magical things can happen when children have the opportunity to direct their own learning.

Havdalah marks the end of Shabbat and the beginning of a new week. The ceremony can take place as early as Saturday evening after three stars have appeared in the sky or as late as sunset on Tuesday. As a school family, we gather together on Monday mornings for Havdalah, beginning our week together with this ritual.

Our weekly Torah with Laura time this week also centers around Shabbat and Havdalah learning, so we've spent the past two days immersed ritual objects, blessings, and engaging our senses through making our own spice bags!

Did you know that the JCC offers early childhood programming through JNurture? If you're looking for an activity for a younger sibling or a day where your child isn't with us at school, check this out!

We have some exciting things going on this fall and we would love for you and your little one to join us! You can find registration information, dates, and times here: https://linktr.ee/jnurture

When children and their families arrive on Fridays, it is our goal that our spaces and routine indicate that today is different. Today is Shabbat. Today is elevated, holy, different, special.

We gathered all together at our first Shabbat celebration of the school year and then each group observed Shabbat back in their classrooms.

For those who celebrate, what does Shabbat look like in your home? What makes Shabbat sacred and special, separated from the rest of the week?

We’re in the home stretch of our first week of school and parents, we hope you’re hanging in there! Check Storypark for a great reminder from our director Tara about home to school transition and the regression we typically see pop up at this point during the week. You’ve got this, your child is safe and loved, and we’re happy to check in on them at any time!

Our 2024-2025 school year begins tomorrow! See you bright and early, school family ☀️

A large chunk of our professional development week together is allocated towards educators preparing their classrooms. We believe that the classroom environment is a crucial part of making learning meaningful. These spaces should be welcoming, spark joy, invite open ended exploration, and allow children to have a voice.

Parents got a peek on Thursday night and many families visited on Friday morning, but the real magic from these classroom spaces will unfold tomorrow morning as each new classroom of children experiences the space, each other, and their educators together for the first time!

On the eve of the first day of school, we are thinking back to this final orientation week experience we shared on Friday.

Our educators wrapped up an intense and meaningful orientation week on Friday. Before our annual tradition of sharing Shabbat lunch together, we engaged in dialogue about how to make our classroom spaces elevated and holy for Shabbat. How might we show children and families from the moment they walk in on Friday mornings that the day is separate and different from the rest of the week?

As part of this dialogue, we moved everyone to new tables, provided them with an assortment of loose parts and fresh flowers, and invited them to elevate the table for Shabbat. After moving back to our original tables, we reflected on the process, the Jewish values involved, and how meaningful it will be for children to feel this same pride by including them in the process each Friday.

We hope you all had a restful and meaningful
Shabbat and cannot wait for our first Shabbat together as a school family this Friday!

😎 Ready to see the world through rose-colored glasses? At the Goldberg Early Childhood Center, happy times are always ahead! Enroll your 12-24 month old today for part-time or full-time fun! 🌈🎉

What a wonderful end to a fantastic summer at Camp Simchah. L'hitraot to all who joined us and we hope to see you again soon!

🌟 Are you looking for a place where your child can truly thrive? Join us this Thursday for our GECC Open House! Discover the nurturing environment we offer. If you can't make it, no worries we can set up a 1:1! Just RSVP using the contact info: [email protected]. We can't wait to meet you! 🌈✨

Things are shaping up to be pretty “wacky” for the last week of Camp Simchah 2024!

Week 8 of Camp Simchah was a BLAST with our Outer Space theme, earthworms, Creature Teacher, swimming, water play, creating with clay, celebrating Shabbat, dressing up, and using our imaginations! We cannot believe next week is the last week of Camp Simchah 2024.

Starting out Week 8 of Camp Simchah with an outer space theme!

Session 3 is officially here and we started off with Creepy Crawly week! In addition to swim lessons, water play, movement, and gardening, we dove into bug themed learning and experiences and our three and four year olds began exploring clay in the atelier. On Friday, we ended the week with a Creepy Crawly dress up day and a Camp Simchah-wide bug scavenger hunt!

We are starting Session 3 of Camp Simchah off with a “Creepy Crawly” theme! 🐝🐞🦋🐛🪲🦗🕷️

This was a BIG week over here for Camp Simchah! Our second session is officially over, and many campers and staff are saying l'hitraot, Hebrew for "until we see you again". We had gardening class (yum, watermelon!), had an outdoor pool party, dove into fairytale learning through a variety of experiences, practiced swim skills, danced with Suzi, played in sprinklers, and so much more.

During the second session of Camp Simchah, we incorporated an exciting new opportunity! Our two year olds had a dedicated time each week to visit Michele, one of our pedagogistas, in our atelier to explore clay.

They began with wondering about what their hands and feet would tell them about the clay. The next week they added water to the mix to see how the clay changes and during this last week they're discovering the effect that various tools have on the clay.

Next session the 3s and 4s will have turn with Michele in the atelier!

We are so excited for our theme this week. How is it already the end of Session 2?!

We had a short, but fun week over here at Camp Simchah!

We are CLOSED tomorrow, Thursday, July 4th, in observance of Independence Day. We are open for our regular hours on Friday, July 5th. Happy 4th of July and safe travels to all who are heading out of town!

This week at Camp Simchah, our theme is Red, White, and Blue for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday!

The first week of Camp Simchah Session 2 was full of excitement - tie dying, swimming, dinosaurs, strawberry jam, and more. We were thrilled to see so many returning faces and are so happy to see new faces joining us!

We are ready for Session 2 and Dinosaur week at Camp Simchah!!! 🦕 🦖

It's the end of Superhero Week AND the end of Session 1 of Camp Simchah. Though many campers are returning for Session 2 and/or 3, for those who are not joining us we say l'hitraot (until we meet again). Thank you for sharing your camper with us this summer!

For the last week of Camp Simchah Session 1 … superheroes!

Week 2 of Camp Simchah was a short but fun-filled week! Our weekly theme was Animals and it was perfectly complimented by a visit from The Creature Teacher! Scroll through the pictures to see the delightful little friends we got to meet!