Pre-school

Billy Dalwin Pre-School (BDPS) Notes

5781 is off to a great start at the Billy Dalwin Pre-School of Temple Emunah! Our teachers are thrilled to be back, our classrooms opened without a hitch, the children made an easy adjustment to school and a good time is being had by all!

The High Holidays were particularly meaningful and joyful this year. The staff worked closely with Rabbi Lerner and Rabbi Kling Perkins to move much of our Yom Tov curriculum outside for the first time. The new outdoor site for Shabbat Sing and for these holiday experiences has been at the traffic circle near the courtyard (which we have named Dizengoff Circle)! Rabbi Lerner joined us to talk about Rosh Hashanah and blow the shofar for us. Rabbi Kling Perkins explained the meaning of the lulav and etrog and demonstrated their use. We gathered (appropriately distanced, of course!) in the Temple Emunah sukkah with Rabbi Lerner to shake our home-made lulavim and etrogim and shook our own bodies like a lulav! And we concluded the fall holidays with an outdoor Torah parade carrying a real Torah and student-crafted flags. Throughout this special season the rabbis and the teachers brainstormed together to ensure that our holiday celebrations would not be compromised by the COVID restrictions that we currently face. I can honestly say that each of these Yom Tov experiences were deeply felt and thoroughly enjoyed.

Since the last edition of the bulletin, the Billy Dalwin Pre-School received final approval for our reopening plan and completed our bi-annual relicensing from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (drumroll please…) with no “non-compliances” or issues to be “fixed”! Given the number of items on the reopening and relicensing checklists, we are very proud of this accomplishment. Our EEC licensor was especially impressed by our indoor classroom design, by our re-designed playgrounds and by our outdoor classrooms in the wooded areas. I want to acknowledge the creativity and effort of our BDPS teachers and say a big todah rabah to our extraordinary volunteer landscapers, Jeremy and Gabriel Marin who worked so diligently to prepare our outdoor spaces. I also want to thank Susan Rubenstein for helping with many aspects of our reopening and for continuing to support us now that we are up and running!

We are very excited to announce our newest BDPS program initiative for toddlers and preschoolers! Moms, Dads, Bubbies and Zaydies, if you would like your children to be part of our Billy Dalwin Pre-School community but are not yet ready for them to be in an on-site program, check out “Ba’bayit,” our new BDPS online program for children between the ages of 2-5! (See box on next page.) Nareeluck Stephenson, BDPS teacher, BDPS alumni parent and Temple Emunah member is leading this new initiative and it has been very well received. We currently have five children enrolled in Ba’bayit and have room for a few more. If you would like more information, please contact Liza Shirazi, BDPS Board Member at lizabk@gmail.com or contact me at the Pre-School office at srossman@templeemunah.org or 781 861-0708.

We have some wonderful substitute teachers at BDPS and we would like to expand our sub list. Teaching certification is not required~just a love of young children. If you want to learn more about joining the BDPS sub list, please contact me at the preschool office.

Very limited space is still available on-site for our current BDPS school year. On-site program options include half-day (9 am-1 pm) and full-day (9 am-3:30 pm) for toddlers (ages 2-3 years of age) and preschoolers (3-5 years of age). We also offer Early Birds from 8-9 am daily.

We are now accepting applications for the 2021-2022 school year. By the fall of 2021 we hope that many, if not all, of the COVID safety restrictions will be lifted and that BDPS will be able to reinstitute Keshet Plus. Keshet Plus extends our programming from 3:30-5:30 pm, Monday-Thursday afternoons. If you would like more information about the current on-site school year, or the 2021-2022 school year, please contact me by email at srossman@templeemunah.org or leave a message on the BDPS voice mail at 781 861-0708. L’Shalom, Shelley Rossman, Pre-School Director 781-861-0708; srossman@templeemunah.org

Above: Rainwater transforms playground slides into water slides with extra speed enjoyed by the children.

Left: K’lavim class students explore the “adventure space.”

Unprecedented times call for creative solutions.

The Billy Dalwin Pre-School proudly introduces BDPS Ba’bayit our new virtual preschool program for children between the ages of 2-5. Every week Nareeluck Stephenson leads three “live” morning meetings on Zoom, one-on-one Facetime visits with each child and a schedule of suggested activities based on a different theme. Additionally, our Ba’bayit students are treated to “Shabbat Sing” on Zoom each Friday morning with Tova Weinronk. For more information or to enroll in Ba’bayit, contact Liza Shirazi at lizabk@gmail.com or Shelley Rossman at srossman@templeemunah.org.

Billy Dalwin Pre-School (BDPS) is now accepting applications for toddler & pre-school classes for the 2021–22 school year.

Children may enroll in our half-day (9 am – 1 pm) or full-day program (9 am – 3:30 pm) Monday–Friday. Early Bird hours are offered from 8–9 am daily. Information on late afternoon hours and Gap Camp is available upon request.

Come learn more about our wonderful teachers, extended outdoor programming and facilities!

For more information or to receive an application packet, please contact Shelley at the Pre-School office: srossman@templeemunah.org or 781-861-0708. Geller family members rolled Torahs to bring to the homes of teens reading Torah during the High Holy Days. YAD Outdoor Learning

Rabbi Lerner visits with David Slate, whose family dedicated the Book of Genesis in the Sefer Haftarot in memory of Eleanor Slate.