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Home > Learn > Preschool 24-25

Agudas Achim Preschool

 
 

 
 
Registration for the 2025-2026 school year
has begun!

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Contact the Preschool Director, Fran Besalel, at 703-998-6072 or send her an email.

Founded in 2005, Agudas Achim Preschool is a warm, welcoming, inclusive, nurturing community preschool. Our children’s experiences are guided by Jewish values and traditions and a developmentally appropriate curriculum. We cultivate an active, reflective, and creative learning environment, supporting the total development of each child: spiritual and moral, cognitive, social-emotional, and physical.
 
Throughout the day the children will explore nature and their classroom environments and make new discoveries about the world around them. They will create open-ended art and work on craft projects. They will engage in social and dramatic play with their friends and take part in teacher-guided explorations. They will sing and dance, run and jump, read and wonder. They will learn to love learning.
 
We welcome families of all faith traditions and levels of Jewish observance. 
 

Our Philosophy

We focus on the whole child, ensuring that all children are respected, supported, engaged, and challenged. We emphasize Jewish values such as: b’tzelem Elohim (we are all created in the image of God); derech eretz (common decency and appropriate behavior, literally translated as “way of the world”); kavod (respect for one another); and tzedakah (charity, helping others).
 
Our program is play-based and child-centered. Children need many opportunities throughout the day to playfully and joyfully explore their environment, discover new concepts, and practice new skills. Along the way they will feel success as well as frustration. As their teachers, it is our responsibility to create learning experiences for them that are challenging yet achievable. We aim to support every child on their developmental journey, no matter what their starting point.
 

Learning, Growing & Developing Skills

In our program, children develop:
  • social and emotional skills by gradually assuming more responsibility for themselves, their emotions and actions; becoming more aware of others’ needs and feelings; being part of a group; and building positive relationships with peers and the adults in their lives. 
  • problem solving skills by engaging with toys, materials, and their friends in new and challenging ways; and cooperation and collaboration skills by solving new and challenging problems, skills that are essential in today’s ever changing, technological world.
  • early literacy skills by participating in activities such as read-alouds; group discussions that build vocabulary and understanding; nursery rhymes and finger plays that teach phonological awareness (such as syllables, onset and rime); and recognizing and writing letters.
  • early numeracy skills by taking part in activities such as classifying and sorting objects by color, shape, and function; solving puzzles by applying logic and reason; counting; and recognizing numbers.

Our Facility

Our classrooms are spacious, well-equipped, and full of natural light. Our class sizes are small, and our teachers are experienced and dedicated.

Every day our children spend lots of time on our Jerusalem-inspired playground running, climbing, digging, and pretending. With swings and slides, tall trees and open grassy areas, it is the perfect balance between a traditional outdoor play space and a natural playground. 

The children also explore the synagogue grounds, tend to their Havdalah herb garden, and play in the Sukkah courtyard.

Special Programs & Events

Music and Movement classes are offered weekly. Our music teacher is a trained Rhythm ‘N’ Ruach instructor, and our movement teacher is an occupational therapist.
 
Ivrit (Hebrew) classes occur weekly. The children are introduced to conversational Hebrew and learn about Israeli culture. 
 
Our STEAM class offers the children opportunities to continue their exploration of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Collaborating with each other, experimenting, and creating, our children learn 21st Century skills that are essential in today's ever changing, technological world.
 
Families are often invited to attend special programs over the course of the year, including the Thanksgiving Community Feast, Purim Parade and Purimspiel, Storybook Day, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day). The preschool also holds at least two family Shabbat services/dinners annually.
 

Flexible Enrollment Plans

With our flexible schedule, creative programming, and commitment to teaching Jewish values and traditions, Agudas Achim Preschool is unique among early childhood programs in Northern Virginia.
 
Our core morning program, Gan Chaverim ("Garden of Friends"), operates from 9 am to 1 pm.
 
  • Children in our 2s program may attend 2, 3, or 5 mornings a week.
  • T/Th
  • M/W/F
  • M-F
  • Children in our 3s program may attend 4 or 5 mornings a week.
  • T-F
  • M-F
  • Children in our 4s program attend 5 mornings a week.
    • M-F
To accommodate the schedules of working parents, families may also sign up for these optional program elements:
  • Boker Tov ("Good Morning") from 8-9 am
  • Sha'at Mischak ("Play Time") from 1-4 pm
  • Erev Tov ("Good Afternoon") from 4-5 pm, Mondays through Thursdays 
These optional program elements provide flexibility and allow families to create a schedule that works best for them. You may sign up for one, two, three, four, or five days per week, provided your child has attended Gan Chaverim on that day.
 
As a preschool with extended hours, we follow a school-year calendar, and as a Jewish preschool, we also follow the Jewish calendar. Be sure to check our calendar to see when we have school and when we are closed for Jewish holidays, federal holidays, professional development days, and school vacations. 
 

Preschool Schedule & Hours for Gan Chaverim (9am - 1pm)

All children enrolled in the Agudas Achim Preschool participate in Gan Chaverim, our core morning program. Gan Chaverim, which translates as “Garden of Friends,” operates 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Throughout the morning, the children spend about an hour playing indoors and about an hour playing outdoors. They have meeting time, story time, and song time. They enjoy snack and lunch with their friends. They make arts and crafts. Most days every week they also have a special such as music, movement, Ivrit (Hebrew), STEAM Lab, or trike riding. Four hours go by very quickly!

Snacks and lunches are brought from home, though the preschool serves special snacks for special occasions: Shabbat, holidays, and friends’ birthdays. Since the synagogue is a kosher facility, no poultry, meat, or shellfish or foods made with poultry, meat, or shellfish is allowed. We are not a nut-free preschool, though we can make a classroom nut-aware if a child has an allergy.

We celebrate Shabbat every Friday. Challah (braided egg bread) and grape juice are served for snack, and before dismissal the class cohorts gather with the rabbi, hazzan, or shlichah (Israeli emissary). We sing songs and prayers, share stories and teachings, and welcome Shabbat as a community.

Wed, July 9 2025 13 Tammuz 5785