The Temple B地ai Israel Early Childhood Center


Welcome to the Temple B地ai Israel Early Childhood Center. For over thirty years our school has been a leader in providing quality early childhood education to children in the Clearwater area. We are delighted and excited to include you and your child as part of our school family.

Our mission is to provide developmentally appropriate activities and enriched experiences in a safe, nurturing, Judaic environment that encourages all children to explore and discover their expanding world, so that they may successfully transition to school.

We believe that our early childhood program is unique in the Clearwater area. Through careful planning, the use of a broad based curriculum, and flexible scheduling, we strive to meet the different individual needs of our children and their families. Our low teacher-child ratios and warm, family-friendly classrooms enable us to provide a nurturing environment sensitive to the needs of your child.

Our program is based upon a core half-day preschool program that utilizes developmentally appropriate activities to encourage children to explore their expanding world. The philosophy behind our curriculum is that children learn best by doing. Our children participate in many exciting areas which allow for individual creativity, such as cooking, creative arts, music, science, dramatic play, fitness, early literacy, computers, outdoor play, and a special focus on the holidays and Judaic values. Our core day also includes "Music with Mar", Fit and Fun, a preschool aerobics program, and for our Pre K students, Hebrew. Beginning in August 2005 we started accepting students participating in the state funded Voluntary Universal Pre K program.

Our extended day enrichment programs offer opportunities for your child to participate in specific activities of interest such as dance, gymnastics, drama, crafts, hands-on science, a Book Club, computers, Global Games featuring multicultural art and activities, sports, Spanish, Hebrew and ASL. Our Transitional K enhanced learning is available for qualifying four year olds. All activities are planned specifically for the preschool child and provide a rich array of experiences for your child.

Whether your child attends half day, extended day, or utilizes our full day program including before and after care, our school will provide an atmosphere that is stimulating and encouraging.

At the Temple B地ai Israel Early Childhood Center, we encourage children to learn at their own pace and in the way that is best suited to them. Our goal is to help your child become an enthusiastic, confident learner, not only here at our school, but throughout his/her life.

The Temple B地ai Israel Early Childhood Center is NAEYC accredited and a Florida Gold Seal School. All our staff are certified in CPR and first aid. Our Director holds an Advanced Director credential. Our lead teachers have at least two years of classroom experience and an AA degree or higher. The center is also an approved State VPK pre-kindergarden provider and accepts CCC.

We are extremely proud of our outstanding program, our wonderful facility, our energetic and talented staff, and our eager preschoolers. Please call today for a registration packet or to set up a tour.

We look forward to having you and your child with us in the coming year.

Philosophy

The philosophy behind our curriculum at the Temple B地ai Israel Early Childhood Center is that "Children learn best by doing." In their early years children explore and experience the world around them through their senses. They see, touch, taste, feel and hear everything and everything is new and wonderful.

Learning to a young child means listening to everyday noises in the classroom, to rhyming words, to birds singing on the playground. It is detecting likenesses and differences in sizes and in the shape of things. It is giving meaning to terms such as larger, smaller, under and over. It is tracking from left to right, making patterns and recognizing sequences, critical pre-reading skills far more important than simply knowing a letter. It is strengthening big muscles and developing the fine muscles of the eyes and hands to prepare for their working together in reading and writing.

Learning is also social interactions, developing the social and emotional attitudes so necessary for success throughout life. It is making choices in a supportive, loving environment that allows for mistakes. It is being cared for in a respectful way so that a child learns to respect and care for others.

At the Temple B地ai Israel Early Childhood Center, it is our philosophy to provide a rich, full environment of experiences so that our children will have a foundation upon which all other learning can be built. Recent research of a child's growth and brain development indicates that learning at the preschool level takes place through play. Play provides the building blocks for academic or "school learning". Through structure and play we will achieve the key goals of our curriculum. Play is the work of young children.

Positive reinforcement is always stressed so each child can reach his or her potential for cognitive, physical, social, and emotional growth. It is our purpose to challenge each child to progress at his/her own rate of development through self-direction in a grounded framework. We will provide a quality education in an atmosphere of security and love.

Click here to view the 2008-2009 Temple B地ai Israel Early Childhood Center Calendar.