Is 22-months too young for pre-nursery?

lucy

Tue, Sep 20 2005, 8:10 pm

Proudmom: what do his teachers say, does he calm down after a few minutes or is it the whole day? Maybe this is considerered sneaky but I would ask another teacher who works there that you know to take a peak at him during the day. Or if another mother drops their son off later than you then to see how he is. It could be just the change of the building/environment. Are there any boys there that were with his in Beth Rivkah?

He*Sings*To*Me

Wed, Jan 04 2006, 2:30 am

Five mornings a week--9 am to 11:30 am--I am an Aleph-Beis morah at our shul's school...I have 4 little girls in there.
I wouldn't consider myself a career early childhood educator---this is not my trained field of expertise---BUT, I have been taught much by my little ladies each day. This has been my experience:
*The minds of children absorb so much more than we give them credit for...one of my girls was only 13 months old, came every day with a sussie, and cried for the first full week for the first 20 minutes at a full wail. Every day I would hold her on my lap by the table as the others sat, and I read to them, gave a letter a week, and when I reviewed the letters with them, one-on-one with work sheets I'd designed the week after Yom Kippur, she knew EVERY ONE OF THEM! I'd say, "Chaya, point to the Aleph, and she would...she knew EVERY LETTER that I taught at a rate of one per week, up to that point in time! And, I had them out of order on the sheet!
*Parallel play, side-by-side, with peers, rather than siblings who are of graduated ages, is healthy in small settings...I've observed deliberate acts of sharing, compassion, cooperative play that I had nothing to do with...they were interacting on their own...I was amazed!
*Warm & Loving Settings can positively reinforce what children learn at home while mothers have an opportunity to be child-free for a short while. If children see that others lives are similar to theirs, they grow to feel very secure, become more open and expressionate, and develope in ways they may not have otherwise.
Again, child development is not my area of expertise, but these are things my girls(students) have taught me by their little examples!

Motek

Thu, Jan 05 2006, 3:12 pm

He*Sings*To*Me wrote:

Five mornings a week--9 am to 11:30 am--I am an Aleph-Beis morah at our shul's school...I have 4 little girls in there.

do you mean you are a morah to 4 girls? seems so, since you have 3 girls!

that's quite unusual, just 4 girls, isn't it?

I don't think most pre-school classes consist of only 4 children!

He*Sings*To*Me

Thu, Jan 05 2006, 5:29 pm

I was home sick today with a sore throat...strep is going around.
You're being a bit contentious, today, aren't you, Motek?
Considering the fact that where I live only has about 8,000 Jews, and all 5 synagogues have preschools, no it's not.
The majority of the Jewish population here is reform, there are two reform temples here. The next catagory is conservative; there are two USCJ-affiliated congregations here. There is one orthodox congregation, ours. The vast majority of the congregants in our shul are age 55+.
Until 20 years ago, when our Lubavitcher rabbi arrived, pioneered a Chabad sometime thereafter, and a few young, frum families relocated here (most of the husbands work for the OU and travel regionally), the shul was losing young married couples/families to the less observant congregations.
I wasn't here when they arrived; the history is an occasional topic of discussion, as we'd like to have more frum families relocate here.
Our Torah Academy has a total of 25 students: 4 18-24 month olds (my class), 4 36-48 month-olds (my son's class), kindergarten-grade 6. In some grades there is only 1 child. Some grades are combined in one room, and individual instruction is often one-on-one. Our academics are taught by 2 retired public school teachers, who are with us out of a love for teaching, not for the money---there isn't much. Our Judaica is taught by Lubavitcher mothers who, rather than earning a paycheck, daily volunteer to defray school expenses/payroll budget/reduce their family tuition expense. I chose to do the same in exchange for an adjustment in tuition for my children.
I DO get to bring my infant with me, too.
What exactly were you trying to insinuate, Motek? Please DO tell?

He*Sings*To*Me

Thu, Jan 05 2006, 10:21 pm

It's such an individuality thing...some are ready, others are not. In the case of the little one crying in my classroom, Mommy was in the next room over teaching Hebrew and couldn't come to "rescue" her, as she was put in my class, more or less, as an alternative to being babysat at home while her mother and older siblings were at school. Other children may need "rescuing" and there may not be a need to have them enrolled at such a tender age.
Some children, however, are resistant to change initially. They'll go with the flow once they acclimate to a new routine. She did and reaches for me now!
I thoroughly enjoy watching my little students blossom... Flower

PS: A good student/adult ratio for children 3 and under is no more than 5:1...the law may say differently from state-to-state...the lower the ratio, the better. Most facilities, from what I have read, cannot operate with less of a ratio than 4:1 and meet payroll budgets.

raizy

Thu, Jan 19 2006, 10:33 pm

motek I just read what u wrote. what does my Profession got to do with anything.

and I was refurring to a almost 3 yr old child .. not an almost 2 yr old child.

why do u always have to take my words and twist them and distort the truth. that even I am shocked at it.... I would prefur if u wouldn't answer to anything that I write.. I dont give u permission to answer or quote anything that I say or write......