One of the things we love about our staff is their growth mindset that matches our commitment as a school to constantly improving and making it the best for our students. Each year, we spend a week on professional development, team building and classroom set-up.
This year, the focus on learning and in our classrooms was on the Montessori method. It began with a session with Charlotte Lin, an experienced Montessori educator who gave an overview on the method and why it works. She explained many of the important works that the children in a Montessori classroom learn how to do.
We are grateful to Morah Sara Chaya, a Montessori educator of many years and a long time teacher at JPA for almost 18 years who donated a tremendous amount of Montessori materials and then demonstrated them for all of our staff.
Our classrooms are looking beautiful with the natural colors and beautiful aesthetic that Montessori and the Reggio Emelia perspectives are known for.
We also had workshops on topics like emergency drills, Kosher, a procedure based classroom, and the lunch program.