B'Tzelem Elohim and the Potential of Each Child

B’Tzelem Elohim and the Potential of Each Child

Emily Gould | Executive Director of Children, Youth & Family

Our Early Childhood Education Center teachers and staff are pleased to notice the children’s growing interest and curiosity around learning and academics. We saw the children beginning to make stronger connections between letters and the sounds they make. To meet the children where they are and encourage their interests, we decided to expand their language arts activities and begin a writer’s workshop. The workshop discusses how writers first think about what they want to write about, then they draw pictures, and last, they add words. In addition, the children have now requested to play alphabet bingo during language arts.

To guide the children in their independence we added multi-step activities. The children now get their sign-in book from their mailbox, which is above their cubby, in the morning Monday – Thursday when they arrive. They take their sign-in book to the writing desk and write their name. When they finish writing their name, they put their book in the yellow tray. We have noticed an improvement in the children’s writing skills and their overall confidence in writing.

B’Tzelem Elohim, or Divine Image, is a Jewish value that honors the Dignity and Potential of each person. Similarly, the “Image of the Child” is a core principle of the Reggio Emilia approach to Early Childhood Education. This concept recognizes that children are capable, resourceful, powerful, and full of potential. Through this lens, we have noticed the children’s growing confidence in their writing skills. They have learned they are capable of reading and writing through drawing pictures and expressing in words what they have written. Making connections between what they put on paper and what they want to say helps strengthen their early emergent writing skills even further.