GESHER GOES BROADWAY – The Gesher Summer Program in Livingston held its family dinner and camp show for its Galil unit, children in grades three through six, on July 29. Each bunk performed a song from a Broadway show with lyrics by the staff to fit the bunk’s personality. Shown are third-grade girls and boys. The Negev campers, in grades one and two, will have their show on Monday, Aug. 11.
August 7, 2008
Registration has begun for a program designed as a successor to Yaldeinu, an education program for children with special needs that was put on hiatus as organizers searched for new funding.
The new program, Children’s Jewish Education Program for Special Needs, will begin Sept. 7 and run for 18 Sunday afternoon sessions. It will provide children with special needs between the ages of five and 14 a curriculum that will enable them to engage with Judaism according to their individual abilities.
The program is sponsored by JCC MetroWest and Lay and the Professional Advisory Council of MetroWest, which includes representatives from all Jewish community agencies serving the special needs population.
Yaldeinu ended with the 2006-07 school year when its sponsor, the Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, discontinued its Center for Special Education.
Each bunk performed a song from a Broadway show with lyrics by the staff to fit the bunk’s personality. Shown are third-grade girls and boys.
The new program has new teachers and topics, but “it is following that model,” said Amy Sigona, JCC’s director of special needs services. The JCC and its partners have been working to find and support a fitting replacement to Yaldeinu since its closure, Sigona added.
Response to the new program has been brisk, with the registrations of some 18 families now being processed. Yaldeinu served 12 children in its final year.
Classroom topics for the new program will include Jewish holidays, Jewish values and customs, tefillot, and Torah stories. The program will address Hebrew letter and word identification. The teachers will offer therapeutic approaches to learning, including art, music, and social skills training, according to a JCC news release.
Reena Maman, the program coordinator, has been trained in Applied Behavior Analysis therapy and has taught religious school at Mishkan Shalom, a synagogue in Philadelphia. Most recently, Maman completed an assignment as an Americorps VISTA volunteer at a community center in Philadelphia, where she organized and led several recreational and educational programs for youth.
The program will be held at the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, West Orange. For more information, and to register, contact Maman at 973-530-3455 (rmaman@jccmetrowest.org); or visit www.jccmetrowest.org and click on the “special needs” tab to access the department’s August newsletter.
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