BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer
NORTH BRUNSWICK – The nursery school at the B’nai Tikvah temple held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday to celebrate a new playground designed to please anyone who is young at heart.
Funded through several events to raise money for the new playground equipment, fence and mulch, the courtyard will service the 60 students participating in the various nursery programs offered by the school, located on Finnegans Lane.
“It was time to revamp everything,” director Phyllis Denenberg said.
Since the school was instituted in 1975 to accommodate newborns to 5-year-olds, the renovations were necessary to make the environment more conducive to students when learning outside of the classroom.
“We want them to be happy to come here. They develop self-esteem, independence and socialization. This is where they learn the basis of life. Out here they get to play with friends and do a lot of dramatic play,” she said.
She added that even in colder weather, if the students are dressed properly, they have the opportunity to run around outside and get some fresh air to stimulate themselves.
“We get everything going – the mind, body and soul,” she said.
The kids seemed to agree, playing on the new jungle gym, riding in toy cars, digging in the sandbox and flying down the slides.
“It only had this little car and a bouncy thing and this house over here and a sandbox,” Anna Hoffman, 7, said of the previous setup. Attending the temple now for Hebrew School, she said the additions are much better for playtime.
“It has more slides and everything else. It has games, little speakers, [and] it has red things to go up instead of steps. It’s just fun,” she said.
Jake Rosen, 5, a graduate from September, also enjoyed the new equipment.
“I like it because it looks a lot different,” he said.
He noticed the new cars and ponies, but liked the jungle gym the best.
PHOTOSBYJENNIFER AMATO Top, after 30 years of holding nursery school programs, B’nai Tikvah Temple, North Brunswick, raised enough money to add a new jungle gym, mulch and a fence to its courtyard playground. Above left, Anna Hoffman plays on the new equipment on Sunday. Above right, South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese takes a shot during a 1-on-1 basketball tournament against Councilman Charles Carley during the ribbon-cutting festivities. “I do like the blue tunnel and I do like the slide,” he said.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, performed by Denenberg, temple President Dan Greenberg, South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese and Councilman Charles Carley, Denenberg presented the mayor with a check for $90 for the expansion of the township’s new library. She also had a check for $90 for the Ronald McDonald House, on behalf of North Brunswick Mayor Francis “Mac” Womack. Gambatese and Carley then proceeded to have a 1-on-1 basketball tournament, each making four baskets and officially calling it a tie.
The temple offers a Mommy & Me summer program, Mommy & Me Yoga, a summer day camp, and an autumn Mommy & Me Toddler Fun Club. There is also a newly expanded early/late stay program where children can be dropped off at the temple from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The nursery programs focus on prescience, math, history and writing subjects. There is some religious curricula applied, as in prayers for the food, Jewish songs and a Friday Shabbot party, but the Jewish traditions are not the main focus of the classes.
“This is a Jewish-oriented school, but we cater to the whole community. We have people here from all walks of life, and it’s very good for [the students] to learn how to deal with all walks of life,” Denenberg said.
Contact Denenberg at (732) 297-0295 or www.bnaitikvah.org/nursery.html for registration information.