On Friday, June 5th, 12 curious and confident Pre-K students took to the bimah for their graduation. With family and friends looking proudly on, the graduates sang their favorite songs from Shomrei, accompanied by our incredible music teacher Morah Vivian. Each student proudly accepted his/her diploma and shared with the audience what they want to be when they are older. From soccer players to veterinarians, a mom to a construction worker, our graduates are certain to enter kindergarten in the fall, with bright futures.

Rabbi Greenstein, Sara Birnbaum, and Nick Levitin all spoke eloquently to the audience, and we look forward to this graduation marking the start of their Jewish journey at Shomrei, rather than a goodbye. We wish all the graduates and their families much mazal and happiness as they enter the next exciting phase of their lives!

“He changed the rules!” noted one student, after reading a book about Dr. Martin Luther King. Our students were fascinated as they learned about a time when children were divided up to attend different schools, based on the color of their skin. As they looked around the classroom, noting the range of similarities and differences they shared on the outside, one student noted that they were all friends. Continue reading →

Have you ever stopped to notice that children are in perpetual motion? They learn by doing, observing, tasting, and touching. They sing a song hours after you have tried to get them to sing along with you, when they are playing alone in their room. They notice a letter from their name on a cereal box, as they ride along in the shopping cart. A child’s mind is constantly processing, and early childhood experts will tell you a child’s brain requires movement to help them learn.  Did you know that?

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Around my house, I am known as an expert “finder.” Lost keys? I saw them on the kitchen counter. Missing puzzle piece? Under the bed, behind the discarded treasures from the Purim carnival! I also am a bit compulsive when it comes to crumbs. The handheld vacuum is my favorite toy in our house. Between two cats and two children, it gets used multiple times a day. I love the feeling of walking into a clean room, especially when that means not stepping on leftovers from breakfast on the floor!

Perhaps this is why I have always enjoyed prepping for Pesach each year. There is something quite therapeutic in the ritual of Bedikat Chametz, checking for chametz (products containing leavened grain) before the first seder each year.

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Several months ago, an article on the phenomenon of “Fakebooking” swept the Internet. The author asserted how Facebook is often a vehicle for lying to your virtual friends by only posting the most perfect posts and photos from your life. By omitting our more real moments (aka childrens’ tantrums, losing our cool, feeding our children less than “Martha Stewart-worthy” meals, or tidying up the background before taking a photo), we were creating a “fake” version of ourselves and creating an impossible set of standards by which our friends all judged themselves.

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My Facebook feed is cluttered with parenting articles stressing the importance of setting limits for your children. As a preschool director and a parent too, I view this topic through several lenses.

For me, setting limits with my children is done quite naturally through a Jewish lens. My 4 year-old and I often go to the supermarket together, and he is drawn to every cookie and sweet we pass in the aisles. While I also have an extreme fondness for sweets, we typically save “special treats” for Shabbat. I began discouraging his requests to add treats to our cart by pointing out that not all foods at the supermarket are kosher.

My parenting style and experience as an educator have taught me to address my children (and students) with empathy, before setting a kind, but firm limit. The conversation in the supermarket goes something like this:

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