FOCUS ON YOUTH
Federation Star
October 2020
CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF NAPLES
33
www.chabadnaples.com / 239.262.4474
Preschool of the Arts welcomes children back to school By Ettie Zaklos, Preschool of The Arts Founder & Director
I
n August, we welcomed new and returning families for our milestone 10th year at Preschool of the Arts. We set out to embark on a year like no other, taking on the many challenges needed to open our doors safely for our children and community during the current pandemic. During the summer, we pushed through the challenges to open for our children, who had been at home for months. The successful program gave our staff and families a taste of what inperson education could look like during COVID-19, allowing us to practice new guidelines, tweaking and updating as necessary. The overwhelmingly positive experience allowed us to open this year with confidence, with dozens of new enhancements that will keep our community safe and healthy during this time, while still offering the full scope of our top-notch program. Our motto this year is to Maximize Learning and Minimize Risk. We are so grateful to our families, who have supported
us and are trusting us with the core responsibility to keep their precious children safe. We are committed to giving our students the very best. While many aspects of our program have been modified for safety, our staff ’s nurturing care and love has not changed at all. If there is one thing we have learned in the past six months, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that none of our regular routines can be taken for granted. Our school community has been through so much, and we have never been more delighted to greet our children on that first day of school. It is thrilling to be surrounded by a full campus once more. Every day, as I walk around the campus and hear the happy sounds of children playing, learning and laughing—swinging and climbing in the playground, shopping in our Preschool Marketplace, cooking up muddy messes and building forts in the Outdoor Nature Classroom, singing in Spanish, experimenting and creating in art—I have never felt more
blessed. This is what our preschool is all about. The sweet smiles and eagerness on the children’s faces, as they begin to explore their new classrooms and make new friends, never fails to tug at my heartstrings. I give thanks every day that we are able to give this gift to our children right now. Thank you to our amazing teachers and staff for their support and dedication. We could not ask for a more loving team. I am so grateful to our devoted educators for all of their extra hard work and commitment during these challenging times. They are true heroes for our children! We are so proud of how far we have come in these past 10 years—how we have grown from a fledgling preschool to the top-quality program that has welcomed hundreds of children through our doors and thousands in our summer camps. This past month, we were deeply honored to learn that we won Gold in the 2020 Naples’ Choice Awards in child care and education services. This is the ninth year in a row that our growing
preschool has won this prestigious award. We are humbled and grateful for the support and trust of our incredible community for so many years, but especially this year! Even during COVID-19, we are proud to continue to offer our extensive Specials programming, which includes music and performing arts, visual arts, sports, dance, gardening, STEAM, Spanish and Shabbat Celebrations. Our one-of-a-kind curriculum is specially designed to maximize our school’s wonderful facilities and resources, such as the Outdoor Nature Discovery Classroom, state-of-the-art playground, Marketplace, Garden of the Arts and indoor and outdoor art studios. Our innovative programs and incredible staff are an open Naples secret, and our award-winning preschool is growing exponentially every year. We are excited for the school year ahead and look forward to sharing our highlights along the way. For more information or to schedule a tour, please call 239-263-2620.
MixMingle &
Are you Jewish, single and 55+? If yes, this group is for you!
Are you in your forties or fifties, single and Jewish?
Sign up by emailing:
rbialek@jewishnaples.org
to meet other Jewish singles.
Sign up now by emailing: rbialek@jewishnaples.org to meet other Jewish Singles
Read our weekly eblast to find out when the next activity will be.
Read our weekly eblast to learn when the next activity will be.
OF GREATER NAPLES
OF GREATER NAPLES
