The Early Childhood Center at Community Synagogue of Rye
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Community Synagogue’s Early Childhood Center (ECC) is a fully licensed, nursery school in Rye, NY. We have been welcoming families to our diverse, warm and respected preschool for over 60 years. Our developmentally appropriate, play-based program is taught by highly trained and experienced teachers who are sensitive to the changing needs in early childhood education. We are proud to play an important role in providing our students the skills they need to successfully enter Kindergarten. This includes being socially confident, emotionally resilient and intellectually curious. We seek to understand, nurture and support each child as an individual while encouraging them to be active members of our loving community.
Our licensing grants us the opportunity to provide a longer school day for children aged 3-5 years old. Children may stay with us until 2:00 pm, four days a week. Hot lunches are available as well as afternoon enrichment classes. Our 2’s program is designed to be flexible and supportive offering classes three, four or five mornings per week. For the very, very young, we offer Toddler Time, our mommy-and-me program. To schedule a tour or to learn more about our program please contact Dale Oberlander, ECC Director at 914-967-7698 or doberlander@comsynrye.org. |
What's New at the ECC?The Great Outdoors
We are extremely fortunate to have a large, private, outdoor space that supports a variety of plants, animals and insects. We have a thriving vegetable garden where we grow organic vegetables and herbs the children start from seeds in the spring. We are particularly excited about the “spinning gourds” we planted this year. Our new butterfly garden features an array of host and nectar producing plants designed to attract all sorts of butterflies and moths. We recently completed a renovation of our playground replacing old equipment with beautiful structures that complement our natural environment. Drawing is Important to Us
Our curriculum recognizes that language plays a key role in a young child’s education. We recently made drawing one of the foundations of our program because we see its value in supporting pre-literacy skills as well as sensory and emotional growth. Drawing enables children to tell a narrative. It provides an additional language for children and a means to express thoughts, emotions and observations. Children’s use of language, either verbal or visual, plays a key role in their intellectual development. Simply, drawing helps children see details, make choices and tell stories. While drawing is an activity that many children do naturally, it is often not supported or encouraged. Throughout the creative process teachers, parents and caregivers can offer guidance and instruction to make the experience meaningful and productive. We have been teaching the children to think about what they draw beginning with their own faces and body parts. Later we teach them how to embellish faces with expression. Examples include drawing eyeballs to indicate where the character is looking (up, down sideways or straight ahead), as well as the shapes of mouths and eyebrows. We also talk about environment and clothing to encourage and support the storytelling attributes of their picture. We are committed to providing children an opportunity to draw on a daily basis and encourage parents to support this practice by having crayons and paper available. |
Resources for Parents2023-2024 Enrollment Form
2023-2024 Tuition Information Parent Handbook School Calendar 2022-2023 (updated 3/22/2023) Special Needs Innovative Programming |
Guiding Principles of Our Curriculum
All of our programs are designed to support the following areas of early childhood development:
Social Development
How children interact with their peers and adults, share, negotiate, cooperate, follow direction, self-regulate, as well as adapt to transitions.
Intellectual (Cognitive) Development
The ability to think, reason and solve problems. form concepts, remember ideas, recognize objects and apply new information.
Language Skills
The ability to listen, understand, speak and expand vocabulary and organize thoughts and ideas which eventually lead to reading and writing.
Emotional Development
The ability to self-regulate, express feelings and to consider the feelings of others all leading toward positive self-esteem.
Gross and Fine Motor Physical Skills
The way that children use their large and small muscles, including how they run climb and play as well as their ability to feed and dress themselves construct, draw and write.
Social Development
How children interact with their peers and adults, share, negotiate, cooperate, follow direction, self-regulate, as well as adapt to transitions.
Intellectual (Cognitive) Development
The ability to think, reason and solve problems. form concepts, remember ideas, recognize objects and apply new information.
Language Skills
The ability to listen, understand, speak and expand vocabulary and organize thoughts and ideas which eventually lead to reading and writing.
Emotional Development
The ability to self-regulate, express feelings and to consider the feelings of others all leading toward positive self-esteem.
Gross and Fine Motor Physical Skills
The way that children use their large and small muscles, including how they run climb and play as well as their ability to feed and dress themselves construct, draw and write.