Following a highly successful 2020-2021 in-person school year, and in answer to families’ requests, Gan Shelanu is adding more classes and more options for the coming 2021-2022 school year. The Adath Congregation’s award-winning preschool program provides a rich variety of learning experiences intended to stimulate the cognitive and social development of the child within a Jewish context.
The Gan’s comprehensive curriculum opens opportunities for students in a wide range of areas so they will achieve cognitive, social, emotional, and physical developmental milestones that will provide a strong foundation for their further education. The low ratio of staff to students ensures a great deal of individualization in a COVID conscientious environment.
What does a typical day at the Gan look like? There is no “typical” day! Each day is a wonderful special time of play, learning, stories, laughing, and community building. Students are exposed to a myriad of skill-building, hands-on learning activities—music, art, math, Hebrew, creative dramatics, cooperative play, large and fine motor skills, and more. Every “teachable moment” is taken advantage of.
The Gan’s Regio and STEM-inspired curriculum ensures that students thrive in all areas of child development. The school works cooperatively with parents to help students build the skills and confidence they will need for a lifetime of academic success.
Weather permitting, the students spend time outdoors every day year-round. The Gan has an on-site garden and, with the help of a naturalist and master gardener, the children plant, weed and reap the harvest while learning about the environment around them. A mud kitchen and water trough are recent additions to the preschool’s outdoor setting.
A Jewish preschool, the Gan provides Jewish learning in an inclusive setting respecting the diversity of the children and their families. The school places a strong emphasis on the importance of the concepts of tzedakah (charity) and Tikkun Olam (healing the world). A resource teacher provides students with an introduction to the Hebrew language.
Unique to the Gan are a “Science Resource Room” and an “Art Studio”. An innovative science curriculum is taught by a science specialist. Students have studied a real octopus, made volcanoes, and have taken apart a beehive. Drawing, coloring, painting with different media, collages, cause-and-effect, awareness of community and family are all forms of self-expression explored in the Art Studio.
Full-time and part-time openings are currently available for the 2021-2022 school year. The school’s hours beginning in September will be 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. For more information and to arrange a tour, call the Gan office, 952-545-8694 or visit our website at adathjeshurun.org/ganshelanu.
This article is sponsored content from Adath Jeshurun Congregation as part of TC Jewfolk’s Partnership program. For more information, check out our media kit.
