Classes & Teachers

We pride ourselves on the creative use of our warm, comfortable home within the synagogue. The building is an inviting space for young children -- a refuge from the clamor of New York City streets. Children see and interact with friends in other rooms throughout the day, creating a sense of community and warmth.

Classrooms

The Nursery School welcomes children into warm, inviting classrooms with roomy spaces for imaginative independent dramatic play. We offer a dynamic, thoughtfully-chosen array of developmentally-appropriate materials, games, manipulatives, and other skill-building elements in each room that encourage curiosity, hands-on exploration, and imagination. Each class has plenty of space reserved for blocks, since block building is a rich vehicle for learning in all classes at all ages in our school. Other areas in all of the classrooms include, but are not limited to, a dramatic play center, an art center including clay and easels for painting, a writing center, a sensory center with sand and/or water tables, a classroom library and listening center, a science center, and shelves filled with manipulatives for math and games, as well as model animals, people, and vehicles.

We use the Habonim Social Hall and Sanctuary as large indoor play spaces, with equipment designed to develop gross motor skills and inspire play and physical activity. The Nursery School has priority on scheduling these spaces during the school day. We offer structured, guided activities as well as time for children to exercise and play freely, by running, riding vehicles, shooting hoops, building, and creating in imaginative ways.

During the day, the School has priority on most of the spaces in the building. The clergy is right across the hall from our classrooms, and Rabbi Gelber interacts with the children in both formal and informal ways. Everything is in close proximity, giving children a sense of safety and place.