Early Childhood Education

(3s-Kindergarten)

In the early childhood department at GHA, our teachers and director are bound by a covenant (brit) with our families: To SEE, CARE for, and EMPOWER each and every child in our program.  SEEing each child’s divine potential (tzelem Elokim) and CARING for every child with affection and kindness, we at GHA set out to EMPOWER each child to reach his/her social, emotional and intellectual potential. In so doing, we ensure that children are ready for the schooling ahead of them as well as for the demands and opportunities of life in the 21st century.

Guided by the Jewish idea that we must educate each child in his/her own way, we offer children varied, creative opportunities to explore the world around them, utilizing the hundred multi-sensory methods appropriate for young children, including music, movement, writing, art, stories, dramatic play, cooking, games, manipulatives, discussions, block play, computers, physical education, and gardening.  Beyond this culture of discovery, ours is a culture of inquiry, with parents and teachers poring over educational and Jewish texts, partnering to chart the future of our program.  In a parallel process, children in our program are immersed in a literacy-rich environment in which their learning is fueled by their own curiosity.

To find out more, please visit our early childhood blog!

To learn more about our exciting Infant and Toddler Village which is scheduled to begin in the 2009-2010 school year, please click here.

ECD Director Anna R. Hartman is a fellow in a national mentoring and training program in Jewish early childhood educational leadership, a joint initiative of the Covenant Foundation, the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI), Bank Street College of Education, and Harvard University.  Before coming to GHA, Anna trained and mentored teachers at Emory University’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel, and taught Hebrew and Judaics in the early childhood department at the Jewish Primary Day School in Washington, D.C.  Anna lives in Toco Hills with her husband Noah and their children Josiah and Juniper.

For Judaics see the ECD section under the Judaics menu.