Temple Beth Am

TBA Preschool is a NAEYC (National Alliance for the Education of Young Children) Accredited school committed to providing high-quality educational services to young children and their families. NAEYCs national standards compliance requirements go well beyond the state health and safety licensing requirements.

TBA Preschool is also the recipient of the Gold Seal Quality of Care award presented by the State of Florida Department of Children and Families Child Care Services.

Literacy development is encouraged through a whole-language approach where children experience the various aspects of language through all sign systems such as: music science math art drama dance reading and writing. We do not use reading and writing instruction that emphasizes isolated skill development. Instead we encourage and accept the childs best attempt at reading and writing in a meaningful context. In this way we encourage the children to take risks in their learning knowing that their work will be accepted and valued. The curriculum that results from this philosophy is open-ended and based on the childrens choices. The curriculum is dynamic in that it changes with the interests and needs of the children.

Our goal is to provide a developmentally age-appropriate environment which facilitates the development of self-confidence initiative and positive self-image as well as a feeling of belonging love and respect. A small student-teacher ratio enables the teachers to individualize instruction to the needs of each child.

Conscious Discipline is a comprehensive classroom management program and a social-emotional curriculum. It is based on current brain research child development information and developmentally appropriate practices. New data are providing fresh insight into the relationship between brain development and behavior. Schools can use conscious discipline techniques to help wire a child’s brain for moral development cooperative problem solving and social success. Conscious Discipline can provide children the internal controls necessary to learn to control their own behavior and to learn social-emotional intelligence in perceptible ways.

The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy focused on preschool and primary education. The Reggio Emilia approach to teaching young children puts the natural development of children as well as the close relationships that they share with their environment at the center of its philosophy. Early childhood programs that have successfully adapted to this educational philosophy share that they are attracted to Reggio because of the way it views and respects the child. They believe that the central reason that a child must have control over his or her day-to-day activity is that learning must make sense from the child’s point of view. The curriculum is characterized by many features advocated by contemporary research on young children including real-life problem-solving among peers with numerous opportunities for creative thinking and exploration. Teachers often work on projects with small groups of children while the rest the class engages in a wide variety of self-selected activities typical of preschool classrooms. Projects begin with teachers observing and questioning children about the topic of interest. Based on childrens responses teachers introduce materials questions and opportunities that provoke children to further explore the topic. While some of these teacher provocations are anticipated projects often move in unanticipated directions as a result of problems children identify. Thus curriculum planning and implementation revolve around open-ended and often long-term projects that are based on the reciprocal nature of teacher-directed and child-initiated activity. Many topics emerge from the childs and teachers interests.