AlefBiographies of The Alef Teachers
Maggie Cooper has returned to Alef-Bet as an Alef teacher, after thirteen years as our revered Director. She has been with Alef-Bet almost from its inception and has been reinventing it ever since. She left for a short interlude of rest, reflection and personal space, which had been in short supply during her tenure here. Just as Maggie appreciated, allowed and stressed the importance of each individual staff member being the unique person they were, she does the same with each child. Maggie merges the exuberance of a child's interests into the learning and the curriculum of the classroom. She is as comfortable on the floor as she is up and dancing about with the children. It was seeing the light in Maggie's eyes when with the children, that Judi proposed the idea that Maggie rejoin us at Alef-Bet. How fortunate we are to have her. Maggie is always available for collaboration with a teacher about curriculum ideas, encouragement or emotional support or a chat with a parent who had a concern. With parents and children alike, she had the ability to set things aside and attend fully and with sincere attention to the person who needs her at the moment.
Maggie is extremely devoted to her community and family.
Maggie recently celebrated her daughter Elizabeth's marriage.
Maggie's formal background includes a BA in English and a M.ED. in Special Education as well as additional course work in early childhood Jewish education and administration.
She tries to be observant of mitzvot and treasures Jewish tradition, continuously learning about Talmud and Torah.
She is a member of a women's Torah study group.
Though she maintains her own strong convictions, she has been open to listening to other points of view, which makes for an intellectual liveliness and relaxed appreciation of Judaism.
Indeed, she has modeled an example of tolerance and inclusion so that families representing a wide variety of levels of observance and immersion in Jewish traditions feel comfortable and welcome in our community.
How unusual and what a blessing for us. We value Maggie more than words can express and know that it is because of her that Alef-Bet became the warm family it is Maggie is EEC Lead Teacher and Director Certified. (7/8/1988)
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"Sam" Frydman brings with her a rich and varied background in the Jewish educational field. If you don't see Sam when you enter the Alef classroom, it's probably because she is on her elbows involved in a creative arts activity. Her ideas, whether regarding traditional or Judaic curriculum, seem endless. She smiles and communicates as much with her eyes as she does with her voice. Curious as to the endless boundaries of a child's understanding, one never knows where her explorations will take them. Her soft spoken nature and calm pace make her a safe partner on these journeys into the yet to be discovered. She is the classroom's musical alchemist in 'reading the children' to know exactly what music to play to put the children in a great mood.
In addition to working at Alef-Bet she teachers Hebrew School and tutors children for their Bar / Bat Mitzvah. Like several of our other teachers, she has worked with children from toddlers through elementary school. Sam has a BA from Emerson College in English with a double minor in psychology and Hebrew language and culture. She also attended the University of Tel Aviv. Sam is EEC Lead Teacher Certi-fied. (9/2/2003)
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Crystal Oliver Alef-Bet welcomes Crystal Oliver as a part-time assistant. Many of you have seen Crystal in the Alef / Bet room since September adeptly playing with, enjoying, and supporting many of the children. Her intuition and natural skills in positive guidance and play were quickly noticed by our staff. "Can we hire her?" was the unanimous chorus. Crystal will now be working in the BET room during the first hour of the morning, Mondays through Thursdays. {This will mean pulling Sara Beth away from the children to now be in the office at that time, where I need her too.}
Crystal has four younger siblings and has been taking care of them, and other children since she has been very young. She has been very involved with her sister who has autism. Crystal feels this has contributed so much to not only her understanding of child development and learning, but also to her patience, and ability to communicate in different ways.
In High School, Crystal was in the Early Child Care course, where she worked in a child care program, including doing curriculum planning, group and individualized activities in the classroom. She has been a nanny/sitter for three families for four years. One of her great interests is animals, as evidenced by her "extended family" of two dogs, five parakeets, a rabbit, and fish. The Alef-Bet children love hearing her stories about them. Crystal?s interests are very family oriented, as her brothers and sister are a large part of her routine and life, which means sports, animals, reading, and their other interests.
Crystal is looking forward to a career in early childhood. She is CORI'ed and DEEC Teacher Qualified. (11/2005)
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Rita Shandalov
has been called the "secret treasure" of Alef-Bet.
She has been a mainstay of the Alef class for the last 16 years.
Rita emigrated from the former Soviet Union and says that she learned her English along side the children.
Her first career was as a piano teacher in a conservatory of music where she taught both adults and children.
We have recently been successful in enticing her to play the piano for us again.
As our resident grandmother-she now has three grandchildren--Rita's wisdom is invaluable to us and we routinely make use of it. When we want to know if a child has a temperature,
we ask Rita for her opinion before we go for the thermometer;
when we want advice for how to sooth a particular child or put him to sleep, Rita's advice can be key.
It is not unusual for the newer younger children to be seen sitting on her lap, or pointing in her direction, "RRRiiiiita!".
She is able to see the individual temperament and pay appropriate attention to each toddler and, at the same time, maintain a vigilant awareness about what is going on in the whole classroom or playground.
In other words, she has the proverbial eyes in the back of her head.
When she is not at Alef-Bet Rita enjoys spending time with her family; taking walks around the lake in front of her home; reading novels; cooking and visiting friends.
Rita is EEC Teacher Certified. (10/14/1988)
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Carole Wald
is well known as one of the premiere kosher caterers in the Boston area.
Before raising her four children she attended Boston University School of Liberal Arts.
(Her youngest child was in a nursery school class that Maggie taught many years ago and after attending Yeshiva University, is now a Graduate Student at the University of Hartford.)
Carole is a dedicated "learner:" She attends many classes to extend and deepen her commitment to Torah and mitzvot.
Not surprisingly, Carole is well known in Newton for hosting as many as 20 young people at her Shabbat table.
Carole exhibits strength, solidity and warmth.
When she is around, one feels a sigh of relaxation and a realization that things are going to be OK. She attends to every toddler with sensitivity, interest and appreciation of their individual temperament.
Under her guidance, Alef children have had the opportunity to make many delicious foods with her like latkes, cakes, cookies and of course pizza.
When Carole is presenting a cooking project the children are rapt with attention.
They sit quietly, each looking on as they wait for their turns to mix (ten strokes per child).
Carole is our resource when we have a question about Kashrut as well as other aspects of Jewish tradition, which she treasures.
It needs to be noted that Carole is quite generous to other teachers, coming up and asking what she can do to help when she sees that one of us is busy with school tasks at naptime.
Carole is EEC Teacher Certified. (9/5/2000)
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