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New nursery to use Italian-honed approach
It all started with a crumpled dollar bill. It happened to be in the pocket of a preschool student at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center. The student mentioned his find to his teacher, who set out to create a teachable moment.
The dollar bill - and almost anything even tangentially connected with it - became a nearly two-month class curriculum, and students played a key role in crafting it. As the lesson unfolded, it touched on monetary matters, math, presidents, U.S. history, civics and tzedakah, or charity, with the students engaging in lots of critical and collaborative thinking, and raising more than $300 for the Capital Area Food Bank.
And there you have it: an example of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education in action. That philosophy is the basis the new Temple Emanuel Nursery School (TENS), that is scheduled to open this fall at the Reform synagogue in Kensington and will offer part- and full-day programs to children ages 2-5.
The head of the new school, which had been discussed for several years, is Madeline Lowitz Gold, the...