“I’m thankful for remote controlled trucks.”

“I’m thankful for my sister.”

“I’m thankful for my lovey.”

Thankfulness and gratitude are cultivated in our school and community as we play, read, and discuss in preparation for Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Values are embedded in our curriculum and environment in hope that they are then internalized by our children and become part of their identity. Values, however, are important for more than character development.

As advocates for a better future, our goal is to give your children experiences that guide them to be agents of change in the world around them. With this in mind, values such as gratitude, fairness, and respect are internalized as our young children develop their identity, and hopefully externalized throughout life as they interact with those around them. As parents and educators, we are not just raising individual children – we are giving them the values they will use to shape the world as they grow.

The Torah teaches us, “tzedek, tzedek tirdof” – Justice, justice shall you pursue. By pursuing the values we have internalized throughout life, we become agents of change and advocates for a better world.

Our parent body has been instrumental in partnering with the school to take these values and put them into action. Through this, our children are given real opportunities to see themselves as agents of change in the world around them. I am amazed at the depth of our community’s commitment to this end, and want to highlight some of the many values-based initiatives we are involved in. They are pasted below.

How will your child use values as they grow older? What experiences do they need now to orient them towards social justice in the future? This is our work together, in partnership as parents and educators.

Happy Chanukah and Thanksgiving,

Noah