SPECIAL SECTION
CAMP & SCHOOL GUIDE
East Valley JCC’s Early Learning Center includes
kindergarten starting next fall
SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
T he East Valley Jewish Community
Center (EVJCC) in Chandler opened
its Early Learning Center (ELC) in 1971
and currently has children anywhere from
6 weeks to 5 years enrolled. Next year, it
will add a kindergarten class for the 2023-
24 school year.

Pam Morris, ELC director, said that
after a number of inquiries from parents
with kids at the school about a kindergar-
ten option, it seemed like the right time
to add one.

Parents told her of their concerns when
it came to sending their kids from the safe
environment of the ELC to the big and
unknown world of public and charter
schools. They wondered if they would
have the same kind of close relationships
with new schools, teachers and even other
parents. Some parents whose children had
started at the ELC and gone on to a big-
ger school even complained to Morris
that the parents of their children’s new
classmates didn’t respond to the birthday
invitations they sent.

“This is a safe environment and their
children know it and feel comfortable,”
she said. Parents also appreciate the ELC’s
staff, which will add a new full-time kinder-
garten teacher. There will also be enrich-
ment programming including movement,
cooking, Israeli culture and Hebrew.

The new class will adhere to the ELC
standard of a student-teacher ratio of no
more than 1 to 12 and the curriculum will
be aligned with and utilize the Arizona
kindergarten standards. With the assis-
tance of the Arizona Tuition Connection,
the new kindergarten class will also be free
to those who apply.

The COVID-19 pandemic super-
charged parents’ fears and the ELC
became an even more protected and
prized space, Morris said.

“We’re a community and we found
we need to extend the community and
bridge the gap to that kindergarten year,”
Morris said. “We will continue with the
curriculum and get them ready for the
next stage of learning.”
The ELC is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

weekdays with both options for before-
and after-school care. It also offers camps
during the summer and other breaks in
the school year.

“This is a one-stop shop for many par-
ents,” Morris said. Parents will now be
able to bring their kindergartener when
they drop off younger siblings and with
the after-school care, some will feel they
don’t ever have to leave 908 N. Alma
School Road,” she quipped.

With close to 30,000 square feet, the
EVJCC certainly has the space.

“Our pre-K children already have, on
average, somewhere between 50 and 75%
of the knowledge that they would need at
the end of kindergarten when they leave
our pre-K,” Morris said.

The new kindergarten class will adjust to
meet the students where they are and get
them to the next level by combining indi-
vidualized and differentiated instruction.

It won’t be the first kindergarten class
the EVJCC has ever had. Many years
ago, the East Valley Jewish Day School
operated a kindergarten through sixth-
grade program. With the blessing of
the EVJCC, it moved to the campus of
Temple Beth Sholom of the East Valley
in Chandler and became Desert Jewish
Academy. Morris said she isn’t looking to have a
day school, however, and there is no plan
to add a first grade.

“We’re looking at having a kinder-
garten and one more year of protected
community before the kids go off to a
bigger school.”
Pam Morris poses in front of a classroom door at the East Valley JCC.

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asks parents to have a relationship with
other parents and families but also to call
and alert her staff if their child is out sick
or visiting a grandparent.

“We straddle both worlds of daycare
and school,” she said.

She’s excited about providing this safe
haven for parents. It also brings back
good memories from when she was a
preschool teacher at the ELC and there
was a kindergarten.

“Being able to give that next stage of
learning to our children and that safety
and security for the parents — I think
that’s just so important,” she said. JN
Instead, this class is a way to soften
the transition from what the children
and their parents have known to the
unexpected. “It’s that kindergarten piece; it’s that
‘my child is still a baby and I’m gonna
put them on a bus?’ piece,” Morris said.

Parents aren’t necessarily ready only to
accompany their kids into school the first
day and then leave them in the schoolyard.

At the ELC, parents have an app that pro-
vides a constant connection with pictures
and communication throughout the day.

“Parents feel they can almost touch
their children’s hands with this access to
the teacher and then suddenly it gets cut
off and they’re not ready,” she said.

Still, the ELC is a school, and Morris
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SPECIAL SECTION
CAMP & SCHOOL GUIDE
There’s a lot that’s new at URJ Camp Newman
MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
I n 2021, URJ Camp Newman, part of
the Union for Reform Judaism family of
camps and youth programs, returned to
its facilities on Porter Creek Road in Santa
Rosa, California, after a wildfire destroyed
81 of its 90 structures in 2017. One of
the few things spared by the flames was a
large wooden Star of David on a hill that
overlooked camp.

The 2018 and 2019 summer sessions
were held at the California State University
Maritime Academy in Vallejo and, due to
the pandemic, a virtual camp, “Zoomin’
with Newman,” was set up in 2020.

“Since 2017, thanks to the incredible
and generous support of the community
and State of California, we’ve been able
to reimagine our site with both functional
and accessibility upgrades in mind,” said
Rachel K. Slaton, director of marketing
and communications for Camp Newman.

The camp sits on almost 500 acres in
Northern California and attracts many
campers from the Greater Phoenix area.

In the last five years, they’ve rebuilt four
cabin communities (housing an additional
160 campers and staff), added a new din-
ing hall with indoor and outdoor dining
capabilities, a new Beit Am (indoor pro-
gram space), conference meeting rooms,
offices and health center. Currently,
construction continues on a 28-room
double-occupancy lodge for more adult
staff, faculty and families to stay at, which
is on track to be completed by summer
2023. Planned for the near future is a
new art facility, more cabins, upgrades to
the teen tent villages and rebuilding one
of the campfire amphitheaters, the Pinat
Tefilah, that was lost in the fire.

For summer 2023, Slaton said the camp
is incorporating some of the most popular
activities from Camp Newman’s sister
camp, URJ 6 Points West, which closed in
the fall of 2022. These include its Circus
Arts and STEM (science, technology,
engineering and math) electives, adapted
under the guidance of Jordanna Flores,
founding 6 Points West director, who is
now serving as the director of year-round
engagement for Camp Newman. There is
also a new 18-hole disc golf course and
low ropes initiative course.

Pre-fire, Camp Newman offered a
ceramics program including hand and
wheel forming and a fully functional kiln
SEE URJ CAMP NEWMAN, PAGE B8
Circus Arts is a new elective this year at Camp Newman.

COURTESY OF URJ CAMP NEWMAN
Love. Music. Resiliency.

An inspiring presentation of one man's
story of finding hope and love
in an all-Jewish orchestra in Nazi Germany.

6 p.m. Jan. 22
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
Tickets at ScottsdalePerformingArts.com
Presented by
and the ASU Center for Jewish Studies
With support from:
Scottsdale Arts
Arizona Commission on the Arts
Center for Jewish Philanthropy of
Greater Phoenix
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Phoenix Holocaust Association
Arizona Jewish Historical Society
Jewish News
JANUARY 6, 2023
B7