The Gan program is designed so that children acquire knowledge and skills as well as a love of learning that lasts a lifetime. As a developmentally appropriate program, we incorporate a variety of teaching methods to address individual learning differences. Emphasis is placed upon teaching the "whole child"- spiritually, intellectually, socially and physically. We combine traditional and progressive learning approaches to provide a strong foundation in basic reading, language, and mathematical skills. Integral to the core program is the development of values, leadership, responsibility and good citizenship as members of the school and a larger community. In our center-based classroom, children engage in activities that encourage creativity and correlate with thematic units. Each of the subjects below is integrated across all areas of the curriculum.

Language Arts
Mathematics
Social Studies
Science
Art and Music
Physical Education
Judaic Studies
Library

Language Arts: The Story Box (Wright Group) program in Language Arts is an introductive reading program centered around carefully sequenced, written, and illustrated stories for early emergent and upper emergent readers. Children are introduced to reading through shared, guided, and independent reading activities. We offer a balanced reading approach that focuses on literature, language, and comprehension while guiding children to draw meaning from text, acquire phonological awareness, learn sound/symbol relationships, and improve word recognition skills. Utilizing diverse and effective teaching strategies, we meet the learning needs of all of our students as they acquire important language based skills and develop a love of reading.

Mathematics: Our comprehensive program encourages students to think creatively, develop their own problem solving strategies, and work cooperatively with their classmates. Active, hands-on lessons promote depth in mathematical thinking. Students learn that quantitative concepts and mathematical principles are powerful tools for understanding the natural world. The mathematic learning guidelines include numeration, operations, computation, patterns and relations, geometry, shapes and spatial sense, classification, money, clocks and calendars, data collection and analysis.

Social Studies: Our classroom is a laboratory of social relations where children, through daily experience, explore values and learn rules of social living and respect for individual differences. Compassion, flexibility, self-discipline, citizenship, and responsibility are the foundation for young children to build positive social values and attitudes which they will carry with them to become positive and productive members of our society. Through discovery expeditions we bring the children from an understanding of their own unique places in their family and community outward towards an exploration and awareness of the greater global community.

Science: Building on children's natural interests and sense of wonder, we fill our days with hands-on experiences to stimulate their curiosity and senses. Through community expeditions students explore, discover, analyze, hypothesize and predict. Utilizing resources immediately accessible, students have an opportunity to develop an understanding of both the physical and natural sciences, discovering the joy of experimentation and fostering critical thinking skills. The program covers weather, seasons, plant and animal life cycles, physical change, motion, action, machines, and more.

Art and Music: Our program has daily opportunities for children to challenge their imagination, discover their creativity and create original work. Art and music are central aspects of the curriculum - vehicles with which the children express themselves aesthetically, physically, and emotionally. A wide variety of materials and techniques are utilized to explore, experiment and introduce various art media and forms of music.

Physical Education: The physical education program at Kadima is held at the Haverhill YMCA. Certified instructors offer age based classes in swimming, rock climbing, gymnastics and floor games. In games and in formal instruction, children work on large motor skills at developmentally appropriate levels. As they play, students share space and equipment and learn the skill of working within a team. All games are chosen and managed in ways that enhance students' interpersonal skills. Daily activities at the playground and indoor gym help children develop large muscle skills, coordination, free expression, strength, flexibility, and endurance, as well as reinforce the concepts of team work, cooperation, and leadership.

Judaic Studies: In the Gan, children experience Jewish life and the Hebrew language as a natural part of their environment and a vibrant addition to their daily lives. Through craft projects, cooking, drama and song, children learn to recognize the Hebrew alphabet and acquire pre-reading skills. They listen to Hebrew children's literature, converse with each other, play Hebrew games and put on skits. The tefillah (prayer) program encourages questions about God, cultivates a sense of wonder, and conveys a vocabulary common to diverse Jews in synagogues around the world. In Torah, children hear and view weekly Hebrew stories from Genesis and Exodus, and produce an illustrated timeline of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs. Discussions challenge the children to connect details in the story to issues in their daily lives, as well as underscore such core values as respect for life and the wonder of nature, visiting the sick, and honoring parents. Numerous activities center around holiday observances and symbols.From building a fifteen room Purim castle to delivering Mishlo'ach Manot to the neighbors to making dioramas of the Four Sons, children come to appreciate the richness of Jewish tradition and the enduring values it brings to their lives.

Library: The Sifryah (library) program at Kadima supports the curriculum by fostering a love of reading, exposing children to a variety of topics and literary genres. Each week the librarian reads to the children in nursery - kindergarten and helps them choose books from the Kadima library to share at home.