JOIN OUR TEMPLE BETH SHOLOM EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER FAMILY!

• School starting at 18 months
• Grown-Up and Me classes starting at 3 months
• Enrichment classes including:
  Yoga/Mindfulness, Hooray for Hebrew, STEAM, Music and Sports
• Shabbat with our Rabbis
• Challah Baking
• Air purifiers in all classrooms
• Before and After care available

​Refer a friend to the ECC, and when enrollment is completed, you will each receive a credit of $150 per family.

Our Philosophy

Our Early Childhood Center has provided outstanding, developmentally appropriate secular and Judaic education for decades in a warm, safe and nurturing atmosphere. We strive to help our children become enthusiastic learners. We encourage children to be active and creative explorers; trying out their ideas and thinking their own thoughts. Our goal is to help children become independent, self-confident, and inquisitive learners. We take pride in teaching them how to learn, not just in preschool, but all throughout their lives. We allow children to learn at their own pace and in ways that are best for them.

What makes our school day Jewish?

• Children learn core Jewish values such as tikkun olam (mending the world) and tzedakah (which we collect every week), and concepts like rachmanut (compassion) and reyut (friendship).
• We use Hebrew words and songs in context to introduce the Hebrew language to the children, i.e. traditional greetings, counting, Shabbat blessings and songs, singing “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew, referring to teachers using the title morah (teacher).
• Children say brachot (blessings) before lunch and snack time.
• Shabbat is celebrated every Friday in school. We sing songs, light candles and say blessings. Occasionally the children bake challah.
• We explain what it means to do a mitzvah and practice this important Jewish value during our “Mitzvah Week” before Thanksgiving by donating food for the homeless and hungry on Long Island
• Children in the 3’s & 4’s participate in our Hooray for Hebrew program with Sharon Solomon, Education & Engagement Director. Yeladim (children) learn the Hebrew words for numbers, colors, family members, and more. Hebrew letters and labels are present in the classrooms. Children of all ages listen to Hebrew music.
• Children in Pre-Kindergarten welcome a new week with Cantor Barnoy leading Havdalah on Mondays.
• We teach the traditions and rituals of each Jewish holiday, including songs, blessings, special foods, and ritual objects (i.e. the shofar, menorah/hannukiah, Seder plate).
• The hallways and bulletins boards are decorated for each Jewish holiday with children’s artwork.
• A presence of Israel is visible in the school. The Israeli flag is in every classroom, the children are shown maps of Israel, and classroom library contain books about Israel. Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, is a much anticipated school-wide event.