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a timeline of growth in our school

1964 : The JCC places an ad in the General American newspaper to ignite interest in opening a Jewish “ preschool. ” JCC preschool opens in a small house in Bellevue. 5 children ages 3-5 were enrolled in part time classes. Some of the children were Jewish and some were not.

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a timeline of growth in our school

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  1. 1964: The JCC places an ad in the General American newspaper to ignite interest in opening a Jewish “preschool.” JCC preschool opens in a small house in Bellevue. 5 children ages 3-5 were enrolled in part time classes. Some of the children were Jewish and some were not. a timeline of growth in our school 1965: The JCC preschool moves to a church in Clyde Hill. The school grew to include 2 classes (3-4 year old, and 4-5 year old). Shirley Schneider directed the school from 1965-67 and Eunice Port was the director from 1967-71. 1969: JCC preschool moves to the SJCC Mercer Island facility. Enrollment increased within the 2 existing classrooms. 1971: Brenda Swidler took over as director. The school grew to include classes of 2, 3, and 4 year old children. 1975:Betty Ann Richard becomes director of the school. 1978:Families ask for extended care and an enrichment program was added to support this request. Barbara Daniels becomes the director of the school. 1981: The enrichment program was replaced with an extended day program which combined all ages for after school care. A new ECS wing was added to the SJCC MI facility and a full day “daycare” program was opened for children as young as 6 months old.  Part time and full time programs were separated into two wings of the school. Approximately 75 children were enrolled at this time.

  2. 1984: In an effort to reach out to the Seattle Jewish Community, a Seattle “preschool” branch was opened. 1985:The Seattle Branch moved into Congregation Beth Shalom. 1986:Pearl Klineberger became the director of the school. 1989: The Seattle branch moved into its own facility on 35th street in Seattle. 1992:Nancy Franco becomes director. 1995:Dana Weiner becomes director. 1997: The “Childcare” and “Preschool” were integrated into one school. We began referring to the school as the Early Childhood School (ECS) rather than the Preschool. • 1997: ECS begins to take inspiration from the schools of Reggio Emilia. A few teachers began reading about the philosophy and started to transition two of our 16 classrooms: • Teachers began to create “home like” environment in the classroom. • Open ended materials were offered in classroom studios. This was the first time materials were offered to children without the intention of an end product. • Teachers started taking pictures of the children at work.

  3. 1998: The same two classrooms began to write “daily” stories and document the work of the children. Other classrooms began to take pictures and started transforming their classrooms to create a more “home like” environment and including a studio area. 2000:Began the journey of implementing Reggio inspired practice throughout the entire school • 2001: • Mission Statement is rewritten with core values of Reggio inspired practice. Small Group Meetings begin every other week. Investment in professional development expanded. • ECS Library Program begins • 2002: • Teachers continue to learn about Reggio Philosophy. One misunderstanding along the way is that less materials is better and some classrooms begin to look “naked” • Kindergarten Program starts

  4. 2003: The leadership of the school makes it clear that ECS is a Reggio inspired program and all classrooms and teachers need to incorporate it’s values. The director tried requiring teachers to create a certain amount of panels every month. All teaching teams received planning time and there was a shift from teachers planning through themes to supporting the natural inquiries of the child. 2004: Peter Blair becomes director. • 2005: • ECS hires an Artist in Residence • ECS brings on Clinician • 2006: • The infants and one year old pod gets overhauled. The classroom spaces are reorganized to meet the needs of each age group and more visibility is brought to the youngest children in the school. • Looping cycles begin- teachers loop with community of children year-to-year • Education Coorindator role expands: 1 full time, 1 part time

  5. 2007: • ECS Fundraiser (ECS-A-Go-Go) raises close to $40,000 for materials and scholarships for the school. We create the Materials Closet to store our new wooden, handmade toys while not in use and develop a check-out system to distribute materials evenly throughout school- no more hoarding! We begin to inventory all of our materials. • All classrooms are required to create portfolios for each child • Composting Program begins with passionate parent volunteers • 2008: Upon returning from a trip to Reggio Emilia, 3 teachers: • Create the Recycled Materials Studio (inspired by Remida) • Present the Cycle of Inquiry & Threads to the school as a way of researching alongside the children • ECS adopts Roots of Empathy project and receives local recognition • ECS teachers develop Colors of Empathy project • 2009: • One school, two campuses • The infants and one year old teachers attend small group meetings. • ECS co-hosts the “Inquiry” conference. • ECS adopts Seeds of Empathy project- we are pilot program for the country • Tzedekah Program begins • First “Gardening Day” and all school garden over summer 2009

  6. 2010: Helene Azose becomes the Director. 2010: The leadership team is restructured. There are now two full time Education Coordinators to support the teachers, children, and families. One Education Coordinator works with the infants, ones, and twos and the other works with the threes, fours, and kindergarten. Role of Pedagogical Coordinator is created. • 2011: • Kesher Community Garden is built • A group of leadership team members and teachers join the JEC Fellowship and begin to think more intentionally about the vision of the school. Develop core values, conversations about where our school is headed. • Drop-side cribs are banned and we ordered custom infant floor beds for the young infant room. There is now a sliding door between the older and younger infant room providing more fluidity to the child and families. The teachers also have more opportunity to collaborate as a result. • Eliminate Judaic Specialist position, Judaics are integrated in the day to day life of the classroom. Teachers are encouraged to articulate the values and traditions in their documentation. • Visioning as a whole faculty- what direction are we headed? What do we value? • First time anti-bias/diversity training is brought to in-house professional development. Sparks three year old and four year old program to reexamine ideas about identity and young children. • School examines part time vs. full time programming- segregation? • School fundraises for technology with the hopes to buy laptops

  7. 2012: • Final decision made to combine part time and full time four year old classrooms for 2012-2013 school year • Online Registration for the first time. A few kinks to work out for next year! • Fellowship reads: A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink & The Leader In Me by Steven R Covey • Revision of Self-Evaluation process • Exploring Reflective Supervision- began 1:1 meetings with teachers • We show “Race to Nowhere” at our Spring Community Night • We sent 5 faculty members between two campuses to the International Study Conference in Reggio Emilia, Italy • Welcome two interns from Bellevue College • Fellowship reads: Mind in the Making by Ellen Galinsky • Continue building a relationship with WWU: host visits of students, Skype into class sessions, finalize internship program that will begin Winter 2012 • Brainstorming ideas to maximize planning time and create a more autonomous model for our teachers- exploring three teacher model

  8. 2012 continued: • Thinking with Parent Committee about increasing participation on sub-committee level • Teachers working on Tevah project over the summer • Reorganizing Specialist Program for 2012-2013 • Faculty members attend the Summer NAREA Conference in Portland, OR • A Teacher Work Space is created and will be used for the coming school year • Teachers begin mentoring each other and working on projects and documentation for the summer. • As part of the Teacher Work Space teachers begin to gather resources for Jewish Values and Jewish Resources • Mercer Island ECS leads October Fellowship Retreat. 2013: Sarah Adams becomes the Director.

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