InSiteFul Journey: Beginnings Nursery School

May 6, 2025 at 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm EDT
In Person: 130 E 16th St, New York, NY 10003
Free
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Join us for a tour of Beginnings Nursery School and a chance to shop at their Materials Center. The Jewish Education Project will provide a small stipend for each school to shop at the Materials Center and bring materials back to their classrooms. 

Beginnings Nursery School, founded in 1983, is a progressive preschool inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach. They engage in a collaborative process of study, as children work together in small groups to make discoveries or achieve a common purpose.  Teachers pay close attention to the classroom environment which they consider “the third teacher.” Teachers are therefore intentional in their selection of multisensory materials and spend time displaying them in beautiful ways. 

Teaching Beyond the Square’s Materials Center lives on the top floor of Beginnings and serves as a resource to teachers across the region. It houses found and natural materials gathered and donated by New York City residents and businesses. These materials, objects from our everyday lives that are often discarded, are daily repurposed or transformed into something new by the children, encouraging their creativity, problem solving, and action. 

The Jewish Education Project and Teaching Beyond the square
Jennifer Carvajal
Jennifer Carvajal

Jennifer Carvajal is the Senior Educational Director of Teaching Beyond the Square and is on Board of Directors. Jennifer has a passion for literacy, emergent curriculum, and open-ended learning experiences. She has coached for Teaching Beyond the Square since 2013, leading professional development workshops and partnering with teachers and directors across the country as they strive to take a more progressive approach to education. She has partnered with The Jewish Education Project, The Paradigm Project, and ElevatED to lead special projects and cohorts, and she has presented at several conferences including the JCC Manhattan’s Come Learn with Us Conference, the Jewish Early Childhood Association's Long Island and Manhattan conferences, Miriam Beloglovsky’s Loose Parts Summit, and the National Art Education Association’s annual conference. Jennifer taught at Beginnings Nursery School from 2002 to 2009 and participated in a study group in Reggio Emilia, Italy in 2007. She received her B.S. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA and her M.S. in Education, with a concentration in Literacy, from Hunter College in New York, NY. When she's not chauffeuring her twin daughters around to basketball practice and voice lessons, Jennifer enjoys finding adventure in new places around the world and beating her family in competitive games of Slamwich.

Details

Setting

  • Early Childhood

Target Audience

  • Early Childhood
The Jewish Education
Project Content

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