“What matters are not buildings. What matters are education and teaching and teachers. That is what allows a civilization to endure. Without education all else fails.”
“Schools are where we make children our partners in the long and open- ended task of making a more gracious world.”
Rabbi Dr. Sir Jonathan Sacks
OVERVIEW
OZ Full Circle Preschool is the way Ohavi Zedek cares for and nurtures the youngest in our community. We offer high-quality, holistic care and nurturing for infants through five-year-children in five classes. Our program centers on child-led learning and exploration, along with Jewish values of kindness, generosity, and community from the youngest ages. OZ’s Full Circle Preschool is Jewish in content, character, and calendar, while also whole-heartedly welcoming interfaith, non-affiliated, and non-Jewish students and families. Inclusion, warmth, and kindness are the foundation of all we do.
PEDAGOGY + PHILOSOPHY
At OZ Full Circle Preschool, we embrace a Reggio-Emilia emergent curriculum. We respect the child’s need to generate their own questions and aim to help children make sense of their experiences. Using the project-based approach, we encourage teachers, children, family, and other members of the community to collaborate in ongoing projects based on the children’s interests. Children’s work is deeply respected, and is used by educators and families to better understand children’s development and thinking processes. Children are fully supported in their expressive and creative endeavors. Children are encouraged to reflect on their work and the works of others, and to lend words and meaning to their creative processes. We believe strongly in providing children with inviting spaces that encourage creativity and exploration. We believe that in order to provide children with opportunities for independent and collaborative learning, we must ask open-ended questions and provide children with the proper language and materials to further explore their innate curiosities. While the Reggio Emilia approach is specific to the region in Italy, we understand that our approach is uniquely based upon the values, needs, and resources of our Burlington community, and the Jewish teachings interwoven throughout our daily learning experiences.
JUDAISM
Judaism holds education as an extremely high value. Through the preschool, Ohavi Zedek provides a place for our youngest to form their identities at a synagogue, feeling safe, supported, loved, and nourished in the context of Judaism during their formative years. Our Jewish values of chesed (loving kindness), tikkun olam (healing the world), and knesset (community) will all be woven into the curriculum, helping young children develop strong values and ethics from the very beginning.
We employ a “Jewish council” created by Rabbi, Hebrew School Director, Executive Director, and lay leaders to support with the ongoing Jewish content of the preschool. Each of these people shares time weekly to support the Judaism element of the program, leading songs, telling stories, and sharing holiday celebrations with the children.
NATURE CONNECTION
At OZ Full Circle Preschool, we believe children are born scientists and explorers with innate curiosities about the natural world around them. As children make sense of their surroundings, it is essential to help them understand the natural world and how they fit into it. We believe that offering inviting outdoor learning environments is an important way to support children on their quests to explore beauty, natural elements, life cycles, and open space. We strive every day to connect children to the outdoors by creating environments rich with natural materials, plant and tree life, and sensory opportunities to enhance learning, engagement, and active play while offering opportunities for scientific exploration and discovery.
Children’s direct interactions with nature in modes like gardening, observing insects, smelling flowers, exploring flowing water, working with mud, watching the clouds, and building forts among trees and shrubbery all contribute to a connection with nature and place while encouraging nourishment, mindfulness, and respect for all living things. By providing children with these early experiences outside each day, OZ Full Circle Preschool helps instill an enthusiasm for nature that will positively impact the way children regard, respect, discover and explore the natural world while strengthening their abilities to take risks, develop more self-awareness, and foster a lifelong appreciation for the Earth.
TEACHER BIOS
Erika Geremia: Program Director and Lead Preschool Teacher
Racheal Ouellette: Lead Older Toddler Teacher
Caley Gervais: Lead Infant Teacher
Izzy Rose: Lead Young Toddler Teacher
Izzy is a born and raised Vermonter and a recent graduate of Keene State College, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education and Psychology in 2018. At Keene State, Izzy developed practicum and internship experience working with children from birth to grade three. She was also involved in one of the largest student organizations on campus serving their executive board as the hospitality coordinator. Izzy has a shared passion for the Reggio-Emilia teaching philosophy, as she embraces an emergent curriculum with the children in her care. She is committed to outdoor nature based education and assisting Full Circle in developing a stronger outdoor education philosophy. She is overjoyed to serve as OZ Full Circle Preschool’s Lead Young Toddler teacher.
Martha grew up in the woods and fields of Trumansburg, New York just a quick hop from Ithaca. She graduated from Juniata College in the country hills of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania with a degree in English Literature and a deep interest in box turtles. Although she came to Vermont with the intention of completing a Master’s Degree in Literature she left her program in order to pursue a truer love – connecting children with nature. Thus, she is working towards her Teaching Certificate; the first step in her journey of becoming a Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher in the 2021-2022 school year here at OZ Full Circle Preschool. Martha’s experiences working as a Children’s Summer Reading Program Coordinator, a wilderness camp counselor, and a nanny have all taught her that life’s truest joy is the endless pursuit of curiosity and human connection! Martha currently serves as our assistant teacher.
OZ FULL CIRCLE PRESCHOOL MONTHLY TUITION RATES FOR 2019-20
Infant + Young Toddler Rooms (3 months-2 years)
DAYS/ WEEK | SCHOOL DAY (9 am- 4 pm) | EXTENDED DAY (8:00 am- 4:30 pm) |
5 | $1150 | $1283 |
4 | $925 | $1032 |
3 | $735 | $815 |
2 | $525 | $578 |
1 | $250 | $277 |
Older Toddler Room (2-3 years)
DAYS/ WEEK | SCHOOL DAY (9 am- 4 pm) | EXTENDED DAY (8:00 am- 4:30 pm) |
5 | $1075 | $1208 |
4 | $865 | $972 |
3 | $690 | $770 |
2 | $505 | $558 |
1 | $235 | $262 |
Preschool + Pre-Kindergarten Rooms (3-5 years)
DAYS/ WEEK | SCHOOL DAY (9 am- 4 pm) | EXTENDED DAY ( 8:00 am – 4:30 pm) |
5 | $850 | $983 |
4 | $685 | $792 |
3 | $540 | $620 |
2 | $380 | $433 |
1 | $190 | $217 |
*We are a religious organization, and as such do not qualify for Act 166 funding. However, we are working with the state on receiving income-based reimbursement for preschool. Please let us know if this would be applicable and useful for your family.
TO APPLY:
Here is the OZ Full Circle Preschool Admission Form. Please fill out and remit to [email protected] along with the registration fee of $75.
If you have any questions regarding the program, email communication is preferred. Please email Erika, Program Director at [email protected].
Full Circle Preschool 2020-2021 Calendar
August 2020
August 31: First Day of the New School Year
September 2020
September 7: Labor Day, school closed
September 18: Rosh Hashanah, early dismissal (12:30)
September 28: Yom Kippur, school closed
October 2020
October 12: Indigenous People’s Day, school closed
November 2020
November 25-27: Thanksgiving break, school closed
December 2020
Please note: All through the month Full Circle will close at 4 pm on Fridays in observance of Shabbat.
December 23-December 31: Holiday break, school closed
January 2021
Please note: All through the month Full Circle will close at 4 pm on Fridays in observance of Shabbat.
January 1: New Year’s Day, school closed
January 18: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, school closed
February 2021
February 22-26: Winter Break, school closed
March 2021
No Closings
April 2021
No Closings
May 2021
May 31: Memorial Day, school closed
June 2021
No Closings
July 2021
July 5
August 2021
August 26 & 27: Teacher In Service, school closed
August 30: First Day of New School Year