Noa's Early Childhood Programs

Is this Program for Me?

Individual Sessions

Children Wokshops

Summer Camp

Family Activity

For Workshop Participants

Educational Philosophy

Bio Brief

Testimonials

Noa's Early Childhood Programs

Workshops, Summer Camps, and Individual Sessions

Is this program for Me?

Noa’s Early Childhood Programs offers unique children workshops, summer camps, and individual sessions. Each program has different focus and specific activities but its ultimate focus is each and every child.

Workshops and Summer Camps
These programs are for children who want to meet and play with new friends, spend time outdoors, and are not afraid of some creative artwork. Children of different ages and strengths (abilities) usually form more cohesive groups with less competition and deeper relationships, which are key benefits of inclusion. Inclusion means that children of all ages and abilities interact with each other, as it is in politics, banking, science, and any other slice of life, only children do it usually better. It is often the case that typically developing children benefit from participating in inclusion programs as much or more than children with special needs.
Through playful and creative enriching activities set outdoors, the program promotes social skills, effective communication, openness, self confidence, and fine motor skills.

Individual Sessions
Individual sessions are ideal for children who are not ready yet to benefit from group settings. Following a meeting with the child and the parents, Noa develops a work plan tailored for the individual child with specific goals and measures of progress. The goals vary from child to child, but behavioral and social issues are primary focus. Building on the child’s unique interests and strengths, Noa incorporates games, stories, arts and crafts, outdoor activities, a puppet friend, and other ways to form a meaningful relationship that engages the child. Expanding this relationship as a bridge to include supervised play-dates and exposure to more crowded settings (for example, playground, zoo), Noa increases the comfort of the child in these settings and his/her ability to participate and enjoy social interactions. Based on encouragement Noa empowers the child to handle challenges more effectively.

Procedure and prices for Individual Sessions: Procedure
Application Form for Assessment: Please complete and email it
Registration Form for Individual Sessions: Please complete and mail by post

This site is being updated frequently - please come back to check it out

Children Workshops:

* Meet Me in the Forest (registration is now open!)

Children’s Workshop Focused on Social Skills Set in Nature (Ages: 5-8, 7 meetings)
-Sat: Apr 3 to May 15: @ 1:00 to 3:00 PM

A Flyer and Registration form is found here: Please print, complete and mail Registration Form by post (PDF; Adobe Reader is needed)
(If you don't have Adobe Reader: Flyer and Registration Form)

* Feelings Have Shapes Too (registration is now open!)

An Inclusion Workshop Focused on Creative Expression (Ages: 5-8, 7 meetings)
-Sun: Apr 25 to Jun 6: @ 1:00 to 3:00 PM

A Flyer and Registration Form is found here: Please print, complete and mail Registration Form by post (PDF; Adobe Reader is needed)
(If you don't have Adobe Reader: Flyer and Registration Form)

What Do Parents of Participants Say:

"This is one of the most unique and special workshops that xxx has ever taken (and we have done many types of classes). She loved this the most. Noa's attention to detail and special effects are priceless. You make every child feel important, empowered and facilitate group camaraderie better then any instructor I know."

"Thank you Noa! You are truly wonderful and very special to us!"

"I'll recommend the workshop to others."
To hear Directly about the experiences of past participants, just ask for references!

Summer Camps:

* Summer Mushrooms *
Inclusion based summer camps, set in nature, filled with imagination, discoveries, and friendship (Ages: 5-8, 1 or 2 weeks)
-Session 1: Mon to Fri: June 28 to July 2: @ 9:30 am to 1:00 pm
-Session 2: Mon to Fri: July 5 to 9: @ 9:30 am to 1:00 pm
-Session 3: Mon to Fri: July 26 to 30: @ 9:30 am to 1:00 pm
-Session 4: Mon to Fri: Aug 2 to 6: @ 9:30 am to 1:00 pm

A flyer about this summer camp is found here: Please print, complete and mail Registration Form by post (PDF; Adobe Reader is needed)
(If you don't have Adobe Reader: Flyer and Registration Form)

Another thing to do with your family:
Here you will find a few activities for your family. I hope you will try and enjoy them. If you would like to share your comments and suggestions - please email me.

* Winter: Tell the squirrels that the winter is almost over" (PDF)
* Spring: Saving Frog Poets, Inventors, and maybe Princes" (PDF)
* Summer: Biking Together to Nowhere" (PDF)

Educational philosophy:
Being a teacher for over twenty years, the children have taught me countless lessons and have shaped my educational approach. I have learned to present educational themes through self-experience and hands-on activities that enrich and promote social skills in an open and accepting atmosphere. I have learned to motivate and empower students to question, explore, experiment, and find their own answers and solutions. I have learned that activities set in nature release feelings, impediments, and allow children to relax and connect to others and to themselves in a most meaningful way. I have learned the enormous benefits all children recieve while interacting in a diverse group. Finally, I have learned to allow the children reshape my plans based on their interests and needs. Mix these lessons (which I still study), with my interest and long experience in teaching creative arts, nature, and especially in inclusion and special education and you may begin to understand where I am going. My workshops incorporate some of the best lessons I have learned over my twenty years experience as a teacher (and a mother). This enables me to facilitate every individual child so s/he feels at home and can be himself, while participating in enriching and enjoying activities

Brief bio:
I was born in Israel and as a teenager I became involved in caring for children. After high school I volunteered to serve as a counselor for children in a community with socio-economic problems for a year. I was selected to the highly competitive Counselor-Guide Program of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. Before long, I became a counselor (and a certified Tourist guide) teaching children, teenagers, adults, and leading groups on hiking trips (up to six day long). I enrolled to study and became a certified teacher for elementary schools and shortly afterwards earned my Bachelors degree in special education (Tel Aviv University, Israel). Since then, I have worked with children with special needs and typically developing children in different frameworks. I have also worked as a counselor in summer camps for the blind and for children with Down Syndrome, and was a director of several summer camps. With my family I moved to Tucson AZ. I have continued to teach young children (part time) throughout the years my own children were young. Currently I have developed an inclusion program and teach four-five year old children in a preschool in the DC area.

For Workshop Participants:
Welcome to the Workshop! For all summer workshops, please send your child with a hat and a water bottle.
If your child carries an EpiPen, an inhalator, or requires medical attention during the workshop, please make sure that Noa knows where the medication is and how it should be administered.
The Workshop takes place in nature, rain or shine. We have shelter that protects us from rain. Only in heavy storms will we move the activity elsewhere (details will be given). Send your child with clothes and shoes that may get wet (extra clothes, shoes and a rug in your car might be a good idea). Please do not send valuable items (such as electronics or jewelry) to workshops.
The program is focused on each and every child, so not all will have the same outcome of every activity. If your child doesn’t hold a project like his friend, it is probably because he has chosen a different activity without a product. You will be pleasantly surprised to hear what actually he did.
I look forward to meeting you... in the forest.