About Ohr Chadash
Ohr Chadash is a dynamic and innovative Orthodox Jewish Montessori School in Rockland County, NY providing a warm and nurturing space for children to safely explore and expand their natural desire to learn.
Torah Centered
Our school uses an integrated approach to learning, using the weekly Parsha as the base to explore and help our students experience and internalize a genuine love for their Yiddishkeit and to strengthen their commitment to Jewish values and tradition.
Independence
Our classrooms are designed for the use and exploration of the children, allowing each child to experience the excitement of learning by her choices rather than a pre-determined curriculum. “Help me to do it on my own” is a guiding principle for our teachers working with each child. The children receive individual and small group lessons throughout the morning, followed by large, uninterrupted blocks of time during which they can practice their lessons at their own pace with hands-on materials to reinforce each lesson.
Intrinsic Motivation
An important goal of early childhood education is to nurture the natural desire to learn that all children possess. Young children are eager to explore their world and to participate in the daily life they see around them. Starting with our youngest students at age three, we provide attractive and enticing materials that draw their attention and provide the means to achieve independence. With each new lesson and skill mastered, the children are motivated from a deep internal desire to want to learn more. That desire propels the children to seek out new challenges and new lessons.
Movement
More than ever children are leading sedentary lives. Young children need opportunities for purposeful and varied movement in order for their brains to function optimally. The Montessori classroom is designed to encourage movement throughout the day. The children are free to work at tables, on rugs on the floor, and even at small floor tables. Some children even work at tables seated on physio balls to allow for wiggles. Children must walk about the classroom as they select their materials, choose a place to work, and then return everything to its place when they are finished. Bending, twisting, lifting, balancing, reaching, and stretching are literally built into each activity helping build stronger neural connections to enhance learning. Additionally, we have daily gym class followed by a minimum of one hour outdoor time each day all year long!
Kindness and Connections
At Ohr Chadash, building strong and healthy relationships with others is important. Adults model respectful communication by speaking calmly and quietly and will often be seen bending down close to the children to facilitate conversation in a comfortable manner. Children are helped through conflicts with grace and courtesy. Teachers help children develop the ability to listen to each other and to state their own needs as each party works through being heard and offering comfort in times of disagreement. Using our “vered shalom”, children as young as three years old can be helped to state their needs, listen to others, and reach a peaceful agreement with their classmates.