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Rivke
Spalter and some of her charges at Mequon Jewish Preschool,
where she teaches children the benefits of "doing
good."
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Where Rivke Spalter works, everything
is colorful and teeny weenie — chairs, sinks, tables — even the
pairs of shoes lined up outside the playrooms. Spalter is the director
of the Mequon Jewish Preschool, where love and joy are as plentiful as
construction paper and singing lessons.
Spalter is an absolutely serene woman,
though she has every reason not to be. Under her care at the preschool
are 45 children, from infants to K-4 kids. She’s also mother to 10
children, eight girls and two boys ranging in age from 6 months to 19
years. She insists that "when I had just one child she took up my
whole life. I think it has to do with how we divide our time."
Knowing what families need makes her
particularly sensitive to mothers who arrive in the morning feeling
stressed or guilty, both common states of being for all moms. Spalter,
teachers and staff greet parents and children at the door with hugs
and soothing comments to help everyone get off to a good day. How does
she do it?
Religion, family, friends and tradition
are the answers for her accomplishments. Faith permeates her life. She
lives among her family; her father is Rabbi Dovid Rapoport, head of
the Agudas Achim Chabad congregation. Her brother and husband are also
rabbis. Her parents started the preschool in a room of their house.
And as a testament to its success, last September the preschool moved
into its bright new building, part of The Joseph and Rebecca Peltz
Center for Jewish Life. Rabbi Rapoport often walks through, obviously
enjoying seeing the children.
Her parents came to Mequon in 1982;
Spalter arrived a year later. She had graduated high school in
Brooklyn, N.Y.; then spent a year in Israel. Her oldest daughter is
there now. International moves are nothing new to Spalter. Until she
was 7, the family lived in London. "I worked very hard to lose my
British accent because I wanted to be like other kids," she says,
a little regretfully.
She and the school staff have definite
ideas about what contemporary children and their parents need. They
take their mission very seriously, because, as Spalter says, "We
are educating children today to become tomorrow’s leaders.
"Children need to know and can be
taught at an early age that there is a higher power that loves and
cares for them and expects a lot from them," she says. "They
can be taught to be ethical and moral, and these are what will make
them strong leaders." Don’t expect a stern regimen to instill
these concepts; rather, Spalter takes the opposite approach.
"What we do is make every child feel special and unique. How
beautiful and wonderful each child is! We know they can do anything if
we nurture and give them positive direction. Children want to focus if
they are given concrete things to do."
Spalter and her staff don’t like
using negative words. Instead of telling a child "don’t
hit" they encourage him or her to "touch nice." Spalter
says, "If a child is doing good, they don’t have time to do
bad." The cumulative effect of feeling special and being good is
that the children "see how good it makes them feel and they like
that feeling."
Spalter has had a lot of experience in
the classroom. Of course, she, the staff and the school are certified
for what they do. In addition, Spalter taught Jewish subjects such as
the Bible, history and Jewish law at Hillel Academy for 10 years. She
also worked with very young children for two years in a Lubovitch
nursery school.
Each class has age-appropriate
learning, from the ABCs for the littlest to preparatory reading in
K-4. The staff coordinates themed learning for each week. A science
class might be organized around the story of Noah and the flood.
She says the terrible tragedy of
Columbine High School in Colorado cemented her desire to help create
an ideal learning situation. As she watched the reports of that
incident she remembers thinking, "I wish I could talk to those
who were responsible. Why, how could this happen?"
If the atmosphere she has created at
this preschool feels familiar, it should. Spalter would be most happy
if you agree it is like going to Grandma’s house. "Where else
in the world do you feel more loved and secure than at her
house?" Spalter asks.
Walking through the school and peering
into classrooms a visitor is overwhelmed by color, from closet doors
to mats on the floor. Large windows let in the sun from the wooded
area outside. Teachers are politely addressed in Hebrew as "Morah"
and traditional folk songs in the same language are sung. That
universal chant loved by kids everywhere, "Peanut
Butter/Jelly," is accompanied by energetic wiggling and giggling.
Spalter’s faith tells her that people
are meant to serve God with joy. She sees God as being "loving,
caring and protective" and as far as is humanly possible, she
intends to make the preschool a microcosm of those concepts.
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