Milk and Bookies
January 2017
Children and books go together like milk and cookies – and on a Thursday evening in December 8 we brought them ALL together.
...Read more...
Reflective Practice
November 2016
The Early Childhood Center is deeply committed to reflective practice. Teachers spend time thinking about the children in their class, 
discussing the...Read more...
teacher's workshop
October 2016
Our faculty has been involved in deep learning and reflection. As teachers improve their practice, our students and families...Read more...
Roots and Wings
June 2016
Parents and educators know that we are responsible to give our children roots and wings. We want them to have a deep foundation, a solid grounding, and then the capacity to fly off on their own.
As we witness our four- and five-year-old children prepare to leave our school, we feel fulfilled...Read more...
The ECC and The Community
May 2016
Our school is a natural extension of the synagogue community. We use all the special places in the building , such as the chapel and...Read more...
Art is the way children Express themselves
Loris Malguzzi, the founder of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, wrote a poem called The Hundred Languages of Children. In it he explains that children have a hundred ways of doing many things and a hundred ways to create and explore their own worlds. The Reggio approach stresses the importance of letting children learn in their own way and express themselves in a “language” of their choosing.
Art is one way that children express...Read more...
February 2016
In his book Last Child in the Woods, author Richard Louv writes about his concern that as we raise a generation of children so connected to electronics, they are losing their connection to nature. A connection to nature is deeply important to all of us. Nature provides the opportunity to calm our senses and experience the world in its purest form.
This year, our fours classes have committed to become Forest Explorers and spend long...Read more...
Kindness Journals
December 2015
Many of the lessons we want our children to learn will be taught over and over again through the elementary school years. Identifying shapes and colors, forming letters of the alphabet, and understanding the celebrations of our...Read more...
November 2015
As we wrapped up our fall holidays on Simchat Torah, a wise woman wished farewell to her friends with the greeting – Happy Chanukah. We never stop celebrating and as we finish one holiday we begin to prepare for the next one. Soon, we will be turning to each other with the all too familiar “I can’t believe it’s Chanukah already.” So, let’s take some time to think more deeply about the holiday before we get caught up in latke...Read more...
Awe and Wonder
Spring has sprung after a long and challenging winter. The winter weather brought us snow days off from school, icy roads and limited time for outdoor play. Very often it is within our challenges that new ideas and thoughts are developed. Difficult challenges open up opportunities to...Read more...
art installation at ECC
Each week our children go outside to check on the progress of our one lone pumpkin
growing in our garden. The fall cleanup and the growing season may be coming to
an end, but new excitement came to our garden...Read more...
Izzy the iguana
November 7, 2014, Written by Geula Zamist
The Early Childhood Center at Congregation Agudath Israel is a warm environment and we always enjoy welcoming guests. Parents are invited to join us for Shabbat celebrations, cooking in the classrooms,...Read more...
Buckets Full of Kindness
September 2014, Written by Geula Zamist
Back To School
Each year the ads on TV and displays in the stores announcing the “back...Read more...
June 2014, Written by Geula Zamist
Traveling to Israel involves many, many hours on an airplane, a large expense and other great challenges if you are only four or five years old. So, instead of going to Israel, we brought Israel to our Early Childhood Center in honor of Yom Haatzmaut, the celebration of Israel’s 66th anniversary.
...Read more...
June 2014, Written by Geula Zamist – Printed in NJJN June 2014
In 1913, in a small school in Greenwich Village, Caroline Pratt did an educational experiment. She created a program she called...Read more...
February 2014, Written by Geula Zamist
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”
― Martin Buber
Very often when a teacher sits down to present an idea and share a new thought with her class, she finds that the conversation goes in a completely different way than she thought it would.
A wise teacher listens carefully to what the children are thinking about and talking...Read more...
January 2014, Written by Geula Zamist
So Many Sources of Knowledge
As we continue to learn together, and create exciting learning experiences for our children, we speak...Read more...
December 2013, Written by Geula Zamist
Children’s artwork has many values.
* It offers opportunities for self-expression and individualism. Some children do not communicate their feelings well through verbal language; however, they are able to express themselves through art media.
* Art activities offer the opportunity to enhance their skills and develop their...Read more...
November 2013, Written by Geula Zamist
A story is told of a merchant who brought his son with him to sell his goods to people living in another town. As they were traveling, their horse suddenly stopped because there was a large pile of rocks in front of them. The young boy tried every which way to move the rocks; he pushed, he pulled, he rolled them…but finally, exasperated, he turned to his father and said he could not move...Read more...
October 2013, Written by Guela Zamist
How Does our Garden Grow?
Hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz - Each week when we join together to make the blessing on our challah, we thank God for bringing forth bread from the earth. Most of our children think of bread coming from the bakery. Now, we will have the opportunity to show children first-hand how things grow from the ground.
In late August a...Read more...
September 2013, Written by Geula Zamist
Twenty one teachers from eight schools in two states gathered for seven hours on one day in July to study a program for teaching the foundation of mathematics and number sense for children. CAI ECC was honored to host the full day workshop this summer for early childhood educators to learn and explore the methods of Stern Math – Structural Arithmetic. The program drew...Read more...
ECC Directors Blog
At the Early Childhood Center of Congregation Agudath Israel, we are committed to ongoing professional development and being current and thoughtful about the latest trends in education. We are constantly reflecting on our practice to assure that we provide the best learning environment possible for all of our children.
Please read the Directors Blog to see some of the things we are thinking about now.
Read more...