1001 Plandome Road 
Plandome, NY 11030
(516) 627-6274 Email: rsns@optonline.net
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Synagogue School
As parents and educators, we know that our children develop and thrive best when we create a nurturing and stimulating environment for them -- one in which we can share our dreams and hopes for Jewish living and a better world. It is our goal to establish an ongoing relationship with our students, their parents and all members of their family. The values of our Reconstructionist community are best transmitted when children see their parents participate in living Jewishly, whether it be in the synagogue, in the larger community, or at home. We hope to create memorable opportunities for our students and their parents to experience the richness of Jewish tradition.-- Jodie Siff, Assistant Rabbi and
Sylvia Jacobs, School Administrator
It is our goal to support your desire to raise your child(ren) with a deep appreciation, understanding, and excitement for Jewish life in its various manifestations - religious, cultural and communal. We strive to create a climate of acceptance and security, where all questions are honored and each child is appreciated. We seek to create within our school that which we look for throughout the congregation - a caring community. We hope to provide each child with the tools to lead full and productive Jewish lives.
Children are taught to love and honor the language of our tradition as they learn the alef-bet. Through song, prayer and stories they deepen their knowledge of Hebrew. In addition to basic vocabulary, children learn both the Friday night and Shabbat morning liturgies, troupe, as well as selected holiday prayers.
We focus on Jewish civilization through a holiday based curriculum - using cooking, art, music and literature to supplement the culture, ethics, history, and religion component - in a dynamic, interactive curriculum that flows from individual Jewish identity to an awareness of the larger Jewish community and the world.
We teach Torah as a living document that serves not only as a record of our people's experiences, but as a blueprint for our lives today.
SYNAGOGUE SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY
Tours of Ellis Island and the Lower East side. Making mezuzah holders in arts class and volunteering at soup kitchens. Building sukkahs rather than just teaching about Sukkot. Does this sound familiar? It should. Here at the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore our Synagogue School has been living this model for years. A January edition of Jewish Week states that the newest initiatives in Hebrew Schools focus on culture along with literacy. This type of program is at the center of our curriculum. Our goal is not only Jewish literacy but Jewish community and culture as well. “The students should know that being Jewish is something positive. They should identify positively with their Jewish learning experience, with a love for the holidays,” one rabbi propounds. We want our Synagogue School to do this and more. We want our children to feel good as Jews and to have knowledge about what it means to be Jewish. We want them to learn the traditions, the observances and the feeling, the feeling of what it means to be a Jew.We as a synagogue can't do it alone. Supplementing your children's Jewish education at home is an integral element to this experiential model. We hope that you utilize the resources that are available to you here at RSNS and if there is more information that would help your family to grow together as a Jewish unit please call. Why not borrow a book from our children's library to read with your child during the February break? We would appreciate all your input. Please join the Education Committee and have your voice heard.