FAMILY LIFE
LEFT. . Alexandra Sherbow, 8 months, plays on the carpet in the
Temple Emanu-El nursery.
ABOVE: Rena Cohen and Michaelyn Silverman help Benjamin
Potter with a game.
RIGHT: Jordan Zuppke, 6 months, checks out a favorite toy. In the
background is one-year-old Orian York.
`Classes' for the youngest set
get mothers back to work.
AP E R
ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor
G
oing off to school
starts early for 12
youngsters attend-
ing Temple Emanu-
El's nursery pro-
gram in Oak Park.
The 12 youngest members of
the school's 205-toddler stu-
dent body range in age from
three months to two years.
They are part of a growing
trend as mothers return in
greater numbers to the work
force.
"The population has gone
from moms who don't work to
at least 40 percent who do
work," says Michaelyn Silver-
man, co-director of Emanu-
El's nursery. The day care
program for the youngest
"students" began in
September. "At first we were
going to start at one year of
age, then six months, and now
it's three months," says
42
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1989
Silverman. "People take a
leave of absence from work,
and they need to get back or
they are left in limbo."
So what does a six-month-
old or year-old baby do during
the day at school? Nap, of
course, for two hours after
lunch. And the youngest ones
have a quiet place on one side
of the nursery where they can
get additional sleep.
"A few nap in the morning,
despite all the tumult," says
Silverman. "A section of the
room has the lights off."
The more active youngsters
have a full program prepared
by head teacher Anita Ross
and assistants Charlene
Szugyi, Kim Resnick and
Laura Rodden. Russ uses tape
recorded music and stories,
and the tots have the use of an
indoor gym, art projects, water
table to splash, toys and even
cook.
The little ones watch the
older nursery students on the
school's playground and
generally "follow the action,"
says Silverman.
"This is a whole new thing
for us," she says. The only
similar program sponsored by
a Jewish agency in the area is
at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield.
"We never contemplated this
program, but the needs of the
Jewish community are chang-
ing."
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