Preschool Curriculum

Adat Shalom Preschool blends the HighScope Preschool Curriculum with the skill requirements at Fox Chapel School District in Pittsburgh, PA to create a curriculum that will best prepare your child for elementary school. Our developmentally-appropriate curriculum provides your child with a variety of opportunities to stimulate growth and learning in a caring, relaxed, pleasant, and fun-filled atmosphere.

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Our Curriculum

  • Your child will learn, thrive and grow in our child-initiated, active learning play-school environment.

    • Individual, small and large group activities, quiet and active play, and a variety of materials and experiences allow your child to grow in all aspects of development – cognitive, social, fine motor, gross motor, language and self-help skills.

    • We emphasize creativity and self-expression throughout all areas of the classroom, including: music, art, cooking, science, math, physical education and more.

    • Hands-on opportunities to explore, experiment and make choices are provided throughout the day. We provide support activities to help each child develop his or her individual interests and skills.

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  • Your child receives the individual attention he or she deserves with our small class sizes. Our classes have a maximum class size of 12 students to two teachers.

  • Highly-qualified teachers guide your children to learn and grow each day. Our head teachers have degrees from accredited colleges and universities and have thousands of hours of experience in working with young children.

  • We help children feel comfortable with our daily, predictable classroom structure. Our program provides children with a consistent framework for the day. Daily, children perform the plan-do-review sequence. Children plan what they will do, carry out their ideas, and review their activities with other adults and children at the end of the day.

  • We emphasize the positive, helping your child develop confidence and a positive self image.  We always emphasize the positive, letting children know what they have done well rather than what they have done incorrectly.

  • Get feedback from teachers about your child at our January parent-teacher conferences. At the end of January, you will have a personal, private meeting with your child’s teachers to learn more about their classroom achievements. All children are assessed in writing across several defined benchmarks. Additionally, our teachers and director are always available to answer your questions and address your concerns.

 

Our Enrichment Programs

  • Musical Movement

    In addition to the music students experience in their daily classroom routines, we also have a musical movement specialist, Kathy Beiber, work with the children. Kathy leads children to explore rhythm instruments, songs, and creative movement exercises designed for preschoolers. She visits twice monthly for the two-year-old, three-year-old and pre-k classes.

  • Science

    Celeste Janosko, our Super Science Specialist, bring hands-on, age-appropriate science activities to our pre-k students.

  • More Exciting Visitors

    Throughout the school year, we bring special visitors to the classroom to help educate children about animals, healthy living and safety in a fun way. Our visitors include: the Pittsburgh Zoo, safety expert, Buckle Bear; a pediatric dentist; a police officer; the local fire department and more!

  • Pre-Reading & Math

    Our Pre-K Plus program teaches children pre-reading and mathematical skills to better prepare students for Kindergarten.

  • Arts & Culture Development

    Our Kreative Kid program teaches children about different countries around the word.

  • Field Trips

    Our older students enjoy participating in field trips away from the normal classroom, including a visit to a pumpkin farm.

 

How We Blend the Jewish Culture Into Our Curriculum

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  • A weekly, age-appropriate Shabbat observance with Rabbi Lehrer, who is the “challah monster.”

  • Celebrating the Jewish holidays both as individual classes and large groups.

  • Sharing stories, songs, cooking and games of Jewish content to make Judaism a part of the living experience of each child.

  • Regular visits to our Israel Room which helps introduce Israel as a country important to all faiths. Hands-on lessons allow your child to visit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, and many other places.

  • A Tot Shabbat playgroup on Friday mornings for babies, toddlers and their caregivers.