Early Childhood Curriculum
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"Fingerprints: Discovering Jewish Life," is an engaging curriculum that merges principles of early childhood education with principles of quality Jewish education.
"Fingerprints" focuses on Jewish holidays from Rosh Hashanah to Shavuot. Each holiday section contains background information (including rituals, customs and related Jewish values) and a myriad of age-appropriate well-organized activity suggestions that bring to life core holiday concepts.
Additionally, three themes are offered (food, birthdays and structures) that provide young children with concrete experiences that leave fingerprints-of-connections to upcoming Jewish holidays (for example, exploring building structures prior to Sukkot or focusing on bread prior to Pesah).
Originally designed for a community preschool, this curriculum is adaptable to other settings; it is best used with children ages 3 and older. This THIRD edition of the curriculum integrates the Ohio Early Learning and Development Standards; educators from states with other standards will still find it useful to their work with children.
"Fingerprints" may be ordered from the JEC Marketplace. Clevelanders - contact the Teacher Center for your cost, thanks to the Jewish Federationi and the JEC.
For a sample of this curriculum document, click below:
The JEC also created two early childhood curricula for part-time educational settings. Each is called "Me and You, Jew and Jew," but one was developed for PreK and the other for K. Both may be ordered from the JEC Marketplace.
Also, check out the JEC's Kesher Holiday newsletters for families with young Jewish children.
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