Welcome to the Congregation B'nai Israel
Early Childhood Center
A warm, nurturing environment for children from birth through age 5

2710 Park Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06604
203-335-5058

Our Philosophy

At Congregation B'nai Israel Nursery School we believe children thrive in a nurturing and stimulating environment. Our Nursery School curriculum focuses on experiential learning that helps each child develop their physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social development.

Our teachers provide a warm, caring setting enriched by music, art, manipulative materials, cooking and outdoor play. Jewish life, culture and holidays are also an integral part of your child's experience.

Our school allows the opportunity for each child to develop at his/her own rate, and we encourage the development of each child's unique potential.

The opening of our Nursery School was encouraged in 1987 by B'nai Israel to support children in their earliest years of Jewish learning and to educate parents through their child's activities, thus enriching the family as a whole.

Reflecting on our goals

The beginning of this school year coincided with the holiday of Yom Kippur, a time of not only looking ahead in anticipation of the new school year, but also a time to reflect on the past.

One of the ways Jewish early childhood educators reflect is to look at goals we had hoped to accomplish with the children we teach. Some were easy to convey, others more challenging.

The goals for Jewish children in a Jewish early childhood setting, as well as their families, are in many ways the same goals teachers have for children everywhere - we want children to develop positive self-images, feel safe and love learning. But, in our synagogue school we strive for more. We seek to give our children the gift of their Jewish heritage. As Jewish early childhood educators we have the ability to nurture within children a love for Jewish learning, a fascination with Jewish holidays and a passion for approaching the world in a Jewish way. At B'nai Israel, we design the curriculum, secular and Jewish alike, to be suited to the specific children's families we serve. We enable the children to become curious and creative with strong Jewish identities and a sense of belonging to a synagogue community.

Gail Weinstein
Early Childhood Director