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<p><font color='#666666'>Our philosophy is to provide an educational community for families from all over the world living in New York.
<p>We believe a small school our size with no more than thirty children present at one time gives young children a better chance of feeling safe and nurtured.
<p>Through our curriculum we celebrate the diversity of all the different nations and cultures the children in our school represent.
<p> Every month the children study the countries they come from -- through music, songs, dances, books and learning words in different languages. Art work reflects a celebration of all the nationalities. We introduce the children to food from a variety of countries. Sometimes parents bring in food, music, books and interesting items from their country of origin. The children enjoy celebrating international holidays as well.
<p>It is important to us that each child and family feels that his or her language and culture brings a wonderful addition to our program.
<p> We believe children through this rich international environment combined with art, music, dance, yoga, readiness and play will develop their social, emotional and physical skills fully and become prepared for the global world we live in.</font>
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<font color='#703BDB'><B>ART</B></font>
<p><font color='#666666'>
In art class the children are encouraged to use their creativity in their own special way.
This happens through painting and drawing. The children paint with tempera and watercolor using small and large brushes.
The children make their own pictures as well as they participate in group projects.
They also make collages and sculptures using many different types of materials such as clay, magazines, straws, glitter, construction paper, wood, buttons, paper cups, egg cartons, paper roll holders, pipe cleaners, colored tissue paper, and old broken toys.
<P>
We do not believe in precut art but for each child to choose form, shape and colors.
The children participate in art classes every day.
<P>
Art classes are offered up to four times a day, Monday through Friday.
<P>Parents are invited once a year to our annual Art Show where every child in school has paintings, drawings and reading-readiness work hanging up for everyone to see.
Also group projects and projects related to a certain theme are displayed.
The Art Show is a special time for children, parents and teachers to get together.
Please read about our annual Art Show's at <A href='http://www.hamptons.com/News/School-News/16917/The-Childrens-International-Workshop-At-Union.html#.T7fDVr9Ylvl' target='_blank'>www.Hamptons.com</A>
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<p>DANCE<br>
<p><font color='#727272'>
Dance / Creative Movement Class:
<br>
In dance class the children have a lot of fun exploring how their bodies bend, move and stretch. While dancing to music from all over the world, the children learn to dance with each other and independently. Using songs, sounds and games they learn how to isolate and articulate movement in the various parts of their bodies. The children learn how to balance and jump as they dance with ribbons and leap over blocks. Using their imaginations they move like animals and elements from nature to evoke qualities and relationships. <p>
Through dance the children develop coordination, strength and flexibility. They gain self-awareness as well as how their movement can effect others in the space; how dance is about expressing as well as listening. The class is not centered in one particular tradition or classical technique, but introduces the children to many forms of movement styles, qualities and possibilities using repetition and a class structure that is demonstrative and guided.
<p>
It is amazing to watch them gain confidence as well as physical capacity. They emanate a joy that comes from moving and shaking to music with their friends.</font>
<p>Music class includes a combination of different activities to work towards a rounded music experience.
These activities range from tonal memory games to basic piano lessons, basic music theory and frequent exploration of the instruments of the orchestra, utilizing Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.
</font><font color='#666666'><P>
Using the xylophone, students learn and sing the notes of the scale, sing along to songs led by their peers, and enjoy free time to explore the instrument.
Older students often take turns with basic keyboard lessons, learning scales with one finger and practicing finger isolation to build technique, but also enjoy time to play around on their own.
<P>
Students learn the note values, remembering the difference between whole, half, quarter and eight notes.
<P>
Students practice drawing the different note values, clapping out rhythms and playing games involving note values.
The students favorite activity by far is acting out the story of 'Peter and the Wolf' by Sergei Prokofiev. We identify the sounds of the violin, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn and bass drums.
<P>
Music tells a story, and through acting out the different characters of Peter and the Wolf, students learn how their imagination can grow and thrive in a musical environment. It also adds an element of theater, which is always a fun time.
<P>
Music is fun! It's most important that every child feels encouraged and supported in their exploration of music. We try to teach every child that they have something special and valuable to bring to the table, and this inspires confidence and happiness all around.
Our swimming classes take place at the YMCA on 14th street between 6th and 7th avenues. Our teachers take the children to and from the Y. The instructors at the Y teach the children how to swim. This activity is offered to the children ages 3 1/2 and up. Your child must be toilet trained. Swimming takes place every Friday from October through June. The children leave the school 9 AM and return around noon. In order to participate in this Friday morning activity, it must be part of your child's schedule. The fee is $360 for three months.</font>
<P><img src='ART/OtherActivities3.png' width='598' height='121' alt='O_activities'>
<p><span class='subtitle'>SOCCER</span><br>
A very popular activity in our school is soccer. The children are offered this activity every day. Learning how to manipulate the ball, to take turns kicking and being goalies stimulates their gross motor skills. Eventually the children play two teams against each other and they experience the feeling of winning and loosing as well as the camaraderie of playing together.</p>
<span class='subtitle'>VEGETABLE DAY</span><br>
Every Friday we have vegetable day in school. We buy our organic produce from Union Square Farmers Market. The children are introduced to a new vegetable every week. Participating in buying and cooking a vegetable makes the children eager to eat and experience new tastes. At the end of the day the children make a poster where they draw and paint the vegetable using their artistic talents. The children often try out and eat vegetables they normally never eat at home. This is a great way for them to explore new foods among peers.</p>
<p><span class='subtitle'>PARK</span><br>
Twice a day a group of twelve children together with two teachers go to the local playground in Union Square. The teachers use a rope that the children hold on to when walking to and from the park. The children might go on little neighborhood walks instead of going to the park e.g., the Farmers Market, Barnes&Noble, the pet store, the fire station or just take little walks around the park. </p>
<p><span class='subtitle'>TRIPS</span><br>
When the children are graduates between the ages of four and five, trips become a part of their schedule. They start out in the fall visiting neighborhood places and gradually adventure further away. Among some of the places they go are Central Park zoo and carousel, museums and galleries. Sometimes we ask parents to participate on these trips.</p>
<p><span class='subtitle'>CELEBRATION OF NATIONS</span><br>
Every month the children study the countries they come from. This is done through music, songs, dances, books and learning words in different languages. Art work reflects a celebration of all the nationalities. We introduce the children to food from a variety of countries. Sometimes parents bring in food, music, books and interesting items from their country of origin. The children enjoy celebrating international holidays as well.</p>
<font color='#703BDB'><B>READING-READINESS</B></font>
<p><font color='#666666'>In reading-readiness the children learn about
the alphabet and the sounds of letters through pictures, songs, games
and letters. The children practice writing their names and identify
shapes.They also review the concepts of counting, opposites, rhyming
and colors through drawings, talking, <br>
and making collages. </font></p>
<p><font color='#666666'>The children also learn about the planets in
our solar system, city and country, animals and dinosaur skeletons,
different types of animals from under water animals to insects, the
four seasons, plant life and the food chain. The children also spend
a lot of time doing puzzles, tracing letters, building with shape blocks,
playing matching games, reading books and drawing their own pictures.
The children learn how to cooperate, share, listen, communicate with
each other, taking care of supplies and clean up after themselves. </font></p>
<p><font color='#666666'> This class prepares the children for the tests
they have to take at age four when applying to private school or the
G&T program in the public school. </font></p>
<p><font color='#666666'>The reading-readiness program is offered already
at age two and a half. At age three the children need to participate
in this class three times a week, at age four, four times a week. A
portfolio is kept for each child from age two and a half with all their
work. Parents are welcome to look in these folders and discuss their
progress with the readiness teacher. </font></p>
<p><font color='#666666'>The ERB test when applying to private school
is administered at our school usually in November of each year.</font></p>
<font color='#703BDB'><B>YOGA</B></font>
</p>
<p>Yoga at Children's International Workshop involves music, drama, movement
and, most importantly, imagination. The children and yoga teacher gather
in a seated circle on the rug where they begin with a song and chant
Om, vocalizing the sound for as long as possible. This is done as a
way of starting their time together in yoga. </p>
<p>Classic poses such as Lion, Cobra, Sphinx, Mountain, Archer (Warrior
II) and Basket (Bow pose) are practiced. The class goes on imaginary
trips together where yoga postures are incorporated into the story.
The children are also invited to make up their own poses and the whole
group then tries them. </p>
<p>At the end of class the children lie down on the floor for a brief
relaxation time-- allowing the opportunity to focus quietly and stay
within one's body. Then the group sits together in a circle once again
and everyone greets each other with Namaste (the light in me greets
the light in you) as a way of closing their time together.</p>
<P>
<font color='#27ADBC'><B>POST GRADUATE PLACEMENT ASSISTANCE</B></font>
<p>We offer ERB testing on premises.</p>
<p>Our reading readiness program prepares the children for tests they have to take when applying to private schools as well as gifted and talented programs.</p>
<p>During parent-teacher conferences in May future options and appropriate schools for children are discussed with the parents.</p>
<p>Children in our school attend private and public schools as well as gifted and talented programs.</p>
<p>Many of our students attend The United Nations International School, Grace, Friends Seminary, Little Red, St. Luke's, City & Country, Village Community School, St. Ann's, Columbia Prep, Brearley, PS 3, 11, 40 and 41, and many of the gifted and talented programs.</p>
TEACHERS AND STAFF<font color='#666666'>
<P>Jackie Marks, originally from South Bend Indiana, earned her BA in Early Childhood Education from the University of Indiana.After college she left for San Francisco and continued her education with a fifth year in English literature at San Francisco State University. Upon her arrival in NY Jackie worked in special education for several years. A lover of the arts, Jackie collects art work from around the world, especially from Central and South America.
A member of The National Arts Club, Jackie is very active in the New York art scene.
<P> In 1978 Jackie bought the loft where the school is now. She renovated the former mattress factory into the four thousand square foot loft it is today.
<P> <img src='ART/Jackie2_5765.png' width='186' height='236' style='margin:0px 20px 0px 0px;'align='left' alt='jackie'>After the birth of her son in 1980 she realized there were no preschools for young children around the Union Square neighborhood. Jackie decided to create her own preschool, one that could accommodate the influx of out of state and international families moving to New York, and started off teaching a small group of less than ten children. <br>The school grew astronomically to the seventy-five children there are today with no more than 30 children in school at one present time. This beautiful loft on the top floor of this landmark building is an amazing space with high ceilings,skylights, huge windows and flooded with natural light. The views are spectacular, with the north facing windows gazing towards The Empire State building.
<P>Jackie carefully selects teachers with international backgrounds who excel in teaching their passion. She believes in a team work approach where teachers get to spend time with all the children while they work closely together. Jackie has created an international preschool in NY that has so much to offer as all the children get to shine and grow while they are stimulated and nurtured socially, physically and emotionally. The international aspect of the school is very important to her as she strongly believes in preparing children for the global world they'll grow up in. </font>
Astrid Naess always loved working with people being old people or children from an early age. She worked in preschools and nursing homes every summer and other holidays before pursuing her nursing degree. She comes from a big family of six children and was brought up in a very social environment. She was born in a little town just below the Arctic circle in Norway. When she was five years old her family moved to Oslo. Between high school where her main emphasis was languages (English, French and German) and Betanien college in Oslo where she obtained a BS in Nursing she attended a year at a boarding school named Sagavoll folkehøgskole where she was able to use her creativity in many different ways being weaving, painting, knitting and ceramics.
<P>After she arrived New York City in 1985 she decided to work with preschool children and ended up at The Children's International Workshop. She enjoyed it so much so she decided to complete her masters in early childhood education from University of Phoenix.
<P>Astrid overlooks the daily activities and the program in general. As the assistant director she is able to use her many skills, one of them being art. Her Norwegian background combined with her travels to many countries, her education combined with adjusting to New York city has made her appreciate and value the global perspective and the importance of children being taught from an early age about different cultures and languages.
<P>She believes the younger the children are learning about this the bigger the chance of growing up with a natural sense of belonging in a multicultural world.</font>
<p>Born in St. Louis, MO.
<br>Erin Kelly attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and New York University. She has a BA in performance, media production and communications.
<p>
Erin is a professional dancer and teacher who has presented work with various collaborators and directors in the United States and throughout Europe, including: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain.
<p>She has choreographed the movement and performed in an ongoing series of video installation pieces with artist Mariam Ghani that have been filmed in Germany, the United States, The United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan, and have been presented in those countries as well as Korea and China in many galleries and museums including MoMA in New York. She is trained in modern dance, gymnastics, physical theater, Chinese Qigong, and Japanese Butoh.
<p>Erin has worked at The Children's International Workshop for the past four years.</font>
<p>Born in Shanghai, China.
<br>Xia Zhen Zhou (Janet) speaks Mandarin and English. <br>Before moving to The United States Janet worked in Shanghai with clothing design and businesses. She traveled to other Asian countries for years in her job. Traveling has remained one of her favorite things to do. She often introduces the children to Mandarin through play and games. In art class Janet often mixes her Asian background into the art work. Janet also runs The Children's International Workshop's "soccer team" and teaches acrobatics.
<p>She has a BA in Business and Design from the University of Shanghai.
<p> Janet has been working at the school since 1991.</font>
<p> Born in New York City, NY. <br>
Coming from a Belgian and Colombian family, Jessica Van Itallie speaks both French and Spanish.
<p>Jessica worked for several years in the world of design before realizing that she would rather be working with children and teaching yoga. She has had the honor of studying with several of New York's most well respected yoga teachers: Alison West, Ellen Saltonstall and Mia Borgata (the last for prenatal yoga) as well as Shakta Kaur Khalsa and Shari Vilchez-Blatt for children's yoga. Her love of art continues and when she is not practicing yoga poses with the children, Jessica sneaks over to the art table to do an art project with them instead.
<p>Jessica has a BA in History from Connecticut College, CT.
<p>Yoga certified, she teaches yoga and art and she has been working at the school since 2003.</font>
<p>Julie Kuntz was born in Hong Kong.
<br>Her parents are from Switzerland. Julie attended the Untied Nations International School where she formed friendships with people from different backgrounds; this acquired a strong sense of a global community. Growing up in Brooklyn and spending five years in Madrid, Spain to work and study, Julie is adaptable and comfortable in an international community.
<p>She has a BA in Communication and Spanish from Saint Louis University, Madrid, Spain, and a Masters in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College NY expected 2013.
<p> Julie teachers yoga and art. She speaks French and Spanish.
<p>She has been working at the school since 2011.</font>
<p>Born in Newark, NJ.
<br>Nicole Mercer was four years old when her parents moved to Austria. Her father, an opera singer, worked for the Graz Opera in Austria for several years. She remembers vividly how she in the beginning refused to speak German and could not understand why the other kids could not speak English! Then one day Nicole came home from kindergarten speaking in fluent German, with no trace of an American accent.
<p>She holds BS in Music ( vocal performance) from New York University.
<p> Nicole teaches music and has been working at the school since 2011.</font>
<p>Born in Hartford, CT.
<br>Sarah Folsom has Spanish, Polish and English heritage.
<p> She holds a BS in Music (vocal performance/ music and theatre) from
New York University.
<br>She studied French in Paris through NYU. And she has studied multiple languages. She sings in French, Spanish, German and Italian. Sarah has traveled to Australia, Italy, England, France.
<p> Sarah teaches music and has been working at the school since 2010.
<p>Vindyia Dean-Etwaroo was born in Guyana, South America.
<br>As a child immigrating to The United States she remembers attending schools with far less acceptance of cultural diversity than now. These experiences made her appreciate, embrace and welcome cultural differences within her classroom. A variety of activities such as learning new words in different languages, singing and listening to stories from around the world combined with celebrating cultural events and holidays motivates students to learn and value different ethnicities.
<p>She has BA in Business from Pace University, NY. Masters in Early Childhood Education, University of Phoenix.
<p>Vindyia teaches readiness as well as Indian dance. She has been working at the school since 2003.</font>
<p> Zina Goodall was born in Oakland, CA.
She has been teaching art to children for many years, working with students of all ages and in a variety of communities. She teaches performing arts, visual arts and was a reading specialist at PS 4, The Duke Ellington School before coming to Children's International Workshop.
She has traveled to Europe and Central America and enjoys keeping an active passport.
<p>She has a BA in Theater and Education from The New School, NY.
<p>Zina teaches art and readiness. She has been working at the school since 2008.</font>
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