The History of Gan Katan
Gan Katan began in 2011 with 5 children (one being Ms. Katy’s own) in Ms. Katy’s house as a last minute solution after another teaching job fell through, this was the first of many times Katy had a plan but as always God had a better one. Year 2 (2012) started with 10 kids and ended with 16, above CVS in the old Young Israel of Bal Harbour building, it was at this point that Katy began to look for a suitable partner to help her grow the Gan as it had become obvious that the children and their parents wanted to stay at Gan Katan as long as possible! As fate would have it Ms. Sharone had been Ms. Katy’s daughters teacher that year and was herself looking for the next stage and approached Katy for advice at which point Katy grabbed Sharone for herself and they began to plan for the future.
Year 3 took Gan Katan to a small house and the first time moving further south into North Beach and having 2 separate classes/age groups. Year 3 saw that turn into 3 classes at which point we were outgrowing our 3rd location and began looking for the next “home” to accommodate our growing Gan. our search led us to our current location at Ohev Shalom in Miami Beach. As families "demanded" we continue to Elementary school age groups we slowly grew our Elementary division that has been very successful. We are now at a capacity of 4 preschool classes from 18 months through 5 years old and 4 Elementary age classrooms (KG-3rd Grade) and our mission has always been that as much as possible every child and their family gets the same individualized love, care and attention as those first 5 got in 2011.