Teachers Tassie Becker and Emily Probert get the attention of their four-year-old students and tell them to choose an activity. The bright, colorful room with its pint-sized furniture is quiet for a moment, and then mayhem erupts briefly as the children scoot in different directions.

A girl and a boy go over to the dollhouse and promptly put two dolls into action. Four girls gather at the nature table, fingering patches of fur, listening intently to a sea shell, or examining seed pods. Two boys, one with a plastic hard hat and one donning a tool belt, head for a workbench.

That dynamic is typical of the Creative Curriculum — the educational approach introduced this year in the Early Childhood Services of the Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey, which has an enrollment of 150 in its classes. The director, Robin Brous, describes it as a “180-degree turn” from the ways things were.

"It's not that it's a new concept, but it's a big switch for us," she said. Each of the classrooms is divided into different areas of activity and interest, and the children select what they want to do. Rather than have the teachers in the center, addressing the class as a whole, they circulate among the areas, providing guidance and encouragement and gently moving their charges from one activity to another.

"The basic idea is that children learn through play, rather than through work," explained Brous. She was the JCC's camp director for a number of years before taking on this role, and — having recently completed a certificate in administration at Fairleigh Dickinson University — welcomed the chance to move into education.

The change, she said, began with a reconsideration of the physical environment. It was agreed that the early childhood classrooms needed repainting and refurnishing. To help create a welcoming and comfortable setting, the JCC staff and lay leaders met with Lindall Miller, a consultant working with the JCCs Association. Miller showed them slides of preschools all over the world to illustrate what works and what doesn’t. From that, they went on to choose paint colors, tables, chairs, charts, carpets, and various kinds of skill-building equipment.

Even the drop-in room underwent a revamping. A library has been established in the room, full of books for the children. New tables with plastic chairs of different sizes were brought in to accommodate children brought in for short visits or staying for after-school care. The youngsters now have in the drop-in room — as they do in the classrooms — everything they need to explore the natural world, play at housekeeping, or construction, or art, or counting — with or without computers.

"If the environment is set up appropriately, the kids have the freedom to move around and explore," Brous said. In the process, they develop confidence and the manual, intellectual, and social skills they will need as they move ahead with their education. "They enter kindergarten loving learning, knowing how to ask questions, and comfortable with asking adults for assistance."

Robin Wander, who was a kindergarten teacher, is coordinating the program. Once a week she brings all the teachers together for a half-hour meeting to compare notes and share ideas. Becker and Probert both said they have thoroughly enjoyed the new approach.
"It's working very well," Becker said as she gathered her children in from their various activities to participate together in a pre-Shabbat celebration round the knee-high table. Much of what they do, she said, also gives them hands-on ways to become familiar with Jewish holidays or values — for example, learning about Sukkot through play with fruits and vegetables and pretend planting and harvesting.

Brous said, "For the most part, the teachers are very pleased. Their professional development is ongoing, and that’s a very important piece of this approach. Working this way is exciting and very invigorating."

Brous introduced the parents to the new curriculum over the summer with a PowerPoint presentation describing its philosophy and practical implementation. They were also provided with the development charts that the teachers would use to track their children’s progress, so that if "red flags" arise during the year, they are not caught by surprise or unduly disturbed.

"Most of our parents would agree that playing and socializing are of paramount importance in a preschool experience," Brous said. "They have high expectations, and this curriculum sets high expectations."