What's Jewish in the Writing Center

This morning during center time the teachers in our four-year-old class displayed a variety of blue writing tools, white paper and triangles to trace, to create a Magen David (Jewish star). Watch this adorable video as one child cheers his friend on..........

Zehava and the Three Bears

This is a link to Zehava and the Three Bears in Hebrew. The children in our three-year-old program are comparing different versions of the story The Three Bears. This is a downloadable version from Israeli television - enjoy!

We also just purchased Pinchus and the Pig, the Klezmer version of The Three Pigs. (Thanks Max!)

New school year, new blog posts!

Jamie and Judy have been working all summer, and this coming school year will be filled with new posts about how the Vision is strengthening their schools. Just click on one of the links above to read about their on-going process of change. Get in on the conversation - comment and ask questions!

Welcome to the Vision Documentation Project!

We have so many resources to help us run our schools. Sometimes so many we find it hard to take advantage of them. The Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide was written by a group of early childhood directors and lay leaders in the Conservative movement. When it was mailed out, along with a Director's Manual, in October 2009 to every USCJ and Schechter early childhood program, there was much excitement. There were also webinars to help everyone learn how to use this new resource (recordings of the webinars are at http://uscj.org/Webinar_Schedule8167.html).
And now what? The Vision Documentation Project. If you have The Vision sitting on your shelf and you haven't yet started using it to bring your school further along its journey, or you'd like to be using The Vision to its fullest potential, then this blog is for you.

Two schools have agreed to go on a very intentional journey, and document their progress along the way. Each school is focusing on only one specific aspect of The Vision, in order to be able to be clear about their path. The schools and their foci are:
• Congregation Beth Shalom, Overland Park, KS, led by Judy Jacks Berman, EC Director - Focus : Use of the ethical behavior stories and awareness and integration of Jewish values into the life of the classroom
• Conservative Synagogue, Westport, CT, led by Jamie Klein, EC Director - Focus : Enhancing the Jewish environment

Over the next many months, the directors and teachers will be posting pictures and their thoughts about the process they have engaged in. Just click on one of the links above to read about their on-going process of change. We welcome (strongly encourage, really) your responses to and questions about their reflections.

And by the way, if you can't find your copy of The Vision, or you never had one, you can purchase The Vision and the Director's Manual from the USCJ Book Service (https://secure.uscj.org/bookservice/) or you can download them at http://uscj.org/Vision_for_Conservat8164.html.
Thanks for coming on this journey with us!
Maxine Handelman, USCJ Early Childhood Education Consultant (just call me Max)