PRE-PRIMARY
18 months - 3 years
“I did it!” No phrase better reflects the goal of the toddler years. The Netivot Pre-Primary program offers toddlers the opportunity to work with delicate and beautiful materials in a peaceful and respectful environment and to experience the sense of accomplishment that is so vital to their development. Netivot toddlers enjoy an environment scaled to their size, featuring custom-sized tables and chairs, bookshelves and low mirrors. Breakable cups and dishes are provided, promoting self awareness and responsibility. Each activity in the classroom has a specific purpose which appeals to their natural curiosity and intrinsic sense of order. The children thrive with clearly defined limits and consistent and kind redirection. In a Montessori classroom, the child is not served but is shown how to become self-reliant or to ask older peers for assistance. Because our teachers are avid observers who customize the curriculum to the needs of the children, the work available to them grows and changes with their development throughout
the year. To interact with children, Pre-Primary teachers are sure to lower their bodies to the child’s eye level, treating each student with warmth and respect. Through social interactions, our toddler friends discover what it means to be a member of a group, thus learning how to communicate their desires and needs in a gracious and effective way. They are given the tools to develop not only their confidence but their midot, character traits, that will serve them—and their communities—throughout their lives. Both Hebrew and English are spoken in the classroom, with a strong focus on brachot, tefilot, chagim, and Jewish identity.
PRIMARY
3 - 6 years (Pre-School through Kindergarten)
The Netivot Primary classroom is an environment alive with exploration and discovery. Children select from a variety of works designed to cultivate and sharpen their senses and cognitive abilities and to help them develop focus and concentration. A cornerstone of every Montessori classroom, the practical life area includes activities such as pouring, tying, polishing, sewing and woodworking. These skills instill order and discipline and give young children a sense of mastery over their world. Nearby, sensorial works are available to refine the senses of sight, smell, touch, and hearing, and also to lay the foundations for math. The math area attracts children with colorful glass beads and natural wood materials, teaching number concepts and basic operations and laying the groundwork for more advanced concepts such as squaring and cubing. Manipulative and tactile materials permeate the language areas as well. Children prepare for reading and
writing by using their hands, tracing sandpaper letters and building words with a moveable wooden alphabet. At Netivot, Hebrew and English reading and writing skills are developed alongside one another, and the Hebrew language area has a full complement of materials to match the Montessori English sequence. In the Netivot Primary, children are constantly exposed to the stories and lessons of Jewish heritage. They learn the parasha each week and receive new works in the practical life, language and science areas in preparation for each chag. But Jewish content is not limited to these specific subjects. Just as the Montessori curriculum exposes children from a very young age to geography, botany, zoology, chemistry and physics in an effort to open their minds to the wonders of their world, Netivot embraces these areas of study as a way of instilling children with ahavat Hashem and yirat Shamayim, love and awe of God. Similarly, grace and courtesy, a focal point of Montessori education, are here framed as derech eretz, the critical Jewish value of treating others with respect and kindness.