Washington DCJCC Preschool
a full-time preschool for children ages 2–5
Our Preschool has a few openings in a few of our classes. If your child was born between January 2007-December 2008, please contact the Director. We are still accepting waitlist applications to admit families for all other classes if spaces become available. Thank you!
Admissions have begun for the 2012-2013 school year. We will contact families in order of sibling priority and date of application about availability for their child.
Spaces Available in the J's
Preschool
The J, a full-day program with a Reggio-inspired
emergent curriculum, has a few openings created by families who got last-minute
notice that they were admitted to area public/charter schools. Limited spaces
are available for kids born between January 2007–December 2008. If you are
looking for a great preschool for your child (almost three through five years
old), please contact the Director, Sarah Rabin Spira at 202-777-3278 or
sarahr@washingtondcjcc.org.
What makes our school different?
There are many attributes that combine to make our school stand out:
- One unique facet to our school is the "Today We" email we send to all Preschool parents letting them know about their child’s day. This is a great tool for fostering communication between parents and children, and between parents and teachers and the school. Read a sample.
- A Family Fitness Membership is included with your tuition. We are pleased to be able to upgrade your family to a full Fitness Membership for the same required 16th Street J community membership fee included in your monthly tuition. Your family will have access to all of the fitness facilities—pool, gymnasium squash and racquetball courts, locker rooms, fitness center—and a wide range of group exercise classes free to Fitness Members. That’s a savings of $1,300 each year! As always, your 16th Street J membership gives you substantial discounts on camp and other programs.
- We are open 7:30 am-6:00 pm, which fits the needs of working families. We consider ourselves a "preschool with daycare hours."
- We are housed in a community center with a thriving arts program. We have access to the gallery, theater, and music and literature festivals. The 16th Street J also boasts a swimming pool and six indoor play spaces.
- Our unique urban location gives our children more opportunities for exploration and learning. We are between Dupont Circle and Logan Circle, and we have easy access to parks, public transportation, museums, local shops (who support our class visits) and more to make frequent adventuring in the city easy.
- These, of course, are in addition to the Reggio-inspired curriculum, warm and professional teachers, commitment to parent involvement and more that you’ve come to expect from our school.
I’m sure you’ll agree that the 16th Street J has a lot to offer your family.
It is our intention to foster a nurturing environment of open-ended exploration, curiosity and growth for children, teachers and parents that deepens our connections to Judaism, the community and the world around us.
The Washington DCJCC Preschool is proud of our commitment to a Reggio Emilia-inspired program for our preschoolers. This “project approach” comes from childrens' interest and teachers' planning. Children can communicate in a “hundred different languages” with the written and spoken word, drawings, paintings, sculptures in clay and other materials, block construction, light, dance, music, movement and more. We are committed to values based on an image of children as curious, competent and capable of co-constructing knowledge.
In our Preschool, the PreK class is children are creating intricates marble chutes, using found materials and developing physics skills; four year olds are experimenting with watercolor and creating "wax resist" artworks; three year olds are learning about many other countries during presentations by their parents, and the two-and-a-half year olds are learning to swim.
Our caring teachers collaborate to help the children express themselves. Through observation, our teachers design in-depth investigations that emerge from the children's ideas and interests. Documentation shows the process of the children's work and highlights the discoveries that have grown from their explorations. This includes samples of the children's work, photographs, drawings and transcripts of their conversations.
Our environment itself provides the message that our program values the quality and instructive power of space. Our rooms are warm and welcoming and provide carefully designed spaces that encourage active exploration and creativity as well as areas that encourage reflection and concentration. We encourage them to use all of the available materials in their discovery process. In addition to these, our facility includes child-size bathrooms, a spacious gym, a movement area with soft play equipment, a dance studio and a swimming pool.
We invite you to visit our classrooms to see the children at play and to view the documentation of their processes and products. The children love seeing their progress, and you will, too!
Our program provides a day full of learning, enrichment and fun for children ages 2–5, from 7:30 am–6:00 pm year round. A child must have had his/her second birthday in order to start preschool.
Preschool tours are available Monday–Friday before 12:30 pm by appointment. Please contact Sarah Rabin Spira, the director, at (202) 777-3278 or sarahr@washingtondcjcc.org for a tour.
Meet the Teachers
Preschool Daily Schedule
Preschool Open House
We prefer offering personal tours to all interested families. Preschool tours are available Monday–Friday before 12:30 pm by appointment. Please contact Sarah Rabin Spira, the director, at (202) 777-3278 or sarahr@washingtondcjcc.org for a tour.
Occasionally, we will offer open houses on Sundays. We will post the schedule here, so please check back with us.