| Andrew Friedland Preschool News |
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| Diane Silberman |
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PRESCHOOL DIRECTOR'S ANNUAL MESSAGE
Given on June 13, 2010
It is my pleasure to be here tonight to tell you about this past year in the Preschool. Our registration at this time last year was about 60 children. Our current registration for next year is currently 64. I predicted 70 children for this past year, and we surpassed that number. I am confident that our prediction of 70 for next year will be met.
To what is this attributable? At the end of the day it’s all about communication and relationships, as well as having excellent programs. I don’t just email my Menschenings (weekly summary) to all Preschool parents and Board members, highlighting the past week and upcoming events. With few exceptions, I personally meet and greet every parent, every child, every day. My door is always open to parents. I give advice not just as a director, but as a parent and grandparent of a preschool aged grandchild. I can’t tell you how many times parents have come to me for advice. I’ve shared many touching moments with them. I find this one of the most rewarding parts of my job.
In addition, there is weekly communication between teachers and parents. Thanks to my VP Diane Gess, who donated folders and forms, each of the teachers send home these folders on Fridays with anecdotes about each child. This open communication serves all of us very well.
When I first arrived at TBR, the Preschool provided a free challah once a month to every Preschool family. This was a lovely gesture, but it had to be eliminated due to budget constraints. Instead, I now sell challah to any Preschool or temple member on a weekly basis throughout the school year. We have made a profit of $2427 this year with what has become a fundraiser for us.
It has always been my practice to have all of the Preschool children meet together on Fridays in the sanctuary with either the Rabbi, the Cantor or our music teacher Jane Koch. We will continue this practice again next year as it gives the children a feeling of being part of the synagogue. The only time we can’t do this is when we can’t turn the heat on and it’s too cold. In that case we meet in the Blau Chapel – not ideal because it is also our play room. In any case, the children love seeing the Rabbi and Cantor and celebrating Shabbat.
Last year I mentioned to Sharon Weiss an idea that I implemented in Arizona with elementary children. It was called “Ask the Rabbi”. Sharon loved the idea, and adapted it to be a program for adults. Thus began our educational series of Ask the Rabbi, which primarily focuses on Jewish holidays. This year the Ritual Committee even added learning to cook some holiday favorites. I look forward to having this program next year as well, although I would like to see it include Jewish life cycles, such as what is appropriate behavior during a shiva period.
We’ve always had Tot Shabbats a few times a year whether on a Friday evening or Saturday morning. Turn out was usually disappointing. This past summer Sharon Weiss, Stacy Frenkel and their committee met and came up with the idea of having Friday evening Tot Shabbats by age level. They added a free child friendly dinner before the service. We came up with child appropriate programs for the children to perform on the bima. These Shabbats were enormously successful, as each drew over 100 people.
Last year, I began a Grandparents Day in the Preschool. This year we changed the name to Special Person’s Day. This is another great success story as grandparents kvelled over their grandchildren, visiting in the classrooms and participating in a short Shabbat service. We had about 100 guests at this event and many grandparents thanked me for a wonderful morning.
We held our annual art show, themed “Seeing the world through Jewish eyes.” A conflict made us change our date to a Wednesday evening, which actually worked out well. Preschool parents, as well as congregants and visitors had an opportunity to see the quality of our children’s work and the creativity of our teachers. Thanks to the PTO who provided wine and cheese for the adults and snacks for the children. I’d also like to thank a dear friend, Herb Javer, in absentia. He volunteered to play the piano at the art show to make it a little more classy.
Our next big event was Special Man Breakfast. This was another successful event that filled the pre-function room with dads, grandpas or uncles sharing bagels and stories with their children. They also went to the children’s classrooms and finished the morning with a short service with the rabbi and cantor. Again, thanks to our PTO for providing the breakfast.
Our last big event was the four’s graduation. While the PTO gets the credit for a fabulous after party, it was the Preschool staff who prepared the children so well for their graduation program.
Make no mistake- these successful programs have become our best marketing techniques. It is by word of mouth that people are motivated to call me. Once I get a call, I arrange to give a personal tour of the school, giving each person an hour or more presentation of the Preschool and telling them why their child would benefit from our program. This is basically how all of our new students been brought in to our program.
It has always been my vision to establish a Kindergarten here at TBR. I was an integral part of building a very successful Jewish day school in Arizona which drew from our local Jewish preschools. When I heard that Kindergarten in local districts here are often ½ day, I thought this would be a great opportunity to offer a morning K followed by our KE afternoon program. With encouragement from my VP, Diane Gess, we decided to have the K program this year. The children that participated thrived. I got a lot of the Wyckoff School Kindergarten curriculum and ordered material using our state grant. Unfortunately we won’t be having a morning K next yr due to lack of interest, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. I look forward to trying this again in the future. We will continue to have a KE program.
This is the first year that we had vacation camps. They were held during the winter and spring vacations and will be held next week. We netted a profit of over $5000 for these 3 weeks. We also held a math club after school and offered our very popular karate club. These clubs added several thousand dollars more to our profits.
According to calculations to date, the Preschool made a profit of $62,442. All of the planning that I made last year for this year’s programs have come to fruition and then some. We have a talented staff, wonderful families and of course our delicious children, who are after all what Preschool is all about.
I am proud of this Preschool School and proud to be its Director. Thanks to all of those families who entrust their children to us. I look forward to another successful year is 2010/2011!
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Tot Shabbat: Our Thank You’s
Thank you to everyone who helped to make the Tot Shabbat a tremendous success.
To the Andrew Friedland Preschool PTO presidents, Allison Cohen and Nicole Cohen, thank you very much for your generous sponsorship. Your support is priceless.
To Rabbi Emert and Rabbi Olshanky for presenting such a wonderful “tot-friendly” program.
To our dedicated teachers Morah Barbara Trobunella, Morah Beth Plotzker, Morah Kymm Zak, Morah Hope McTague, and Morah Jane Koch for preparing the 2’s “All By Myself” Preschoolers for such an adorable presentation.
To our wonderful custodial staff - George Walton, Victor Rodriguez, and Tony Fonseca - for helping to make the event run so smoothy and effortlessly.
For Nanette Dwoskin, for arranging the drinks and the delicious desserts and Lynn Goldman for arranging for our dining supplies.
For Marty Baiker, Mindy Dondes, Julie Jacoby, and Michelle Nemiroff for helping set up the event.
Stacey Frenkel
Ritual Committee/Pre-School Liaison
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| September 2008 - School Begins |
| April, 2008 Preschool Photos |
| March, 2008 Preschool Photos |
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