Preschool: Mission and Purpose

MISSION STATEMENT

While the emphasis at St. Paul Preschool is on building character and curiosity, our priority is to teach God’s word and how our children can apply it to their lives.

PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY

Since it began in 1981, the St. Paul United Methodist Church Preschool has been an outreach of the church. The purpose of the school is to offer the community a program which includes the highest standards in early childhood education within a Christian environment of love and support. We believe the family is the framework for children to learn socialization and cognitive skills.  Our goal is to continue this process by emphasizing the growth and development of the whole child in a warm and loving environment.  Therefore, St. Paul Preschool is dedicated to promoting spiritual, social, emotional, intellectual, and physical growth so that each child may reach his or her highest potential.

St. Paul Preschool includes children 2 months through 4 years old and offers the child a natural step from home to school. Throughout the school year, emphasis is placed on the growth and development of the whole child with God’s love as our central message. This includes the intellectual, spiritual, emotional, social and physical aspects of the child. Recognizing the fact that children grow and develop at different rates, learning activities appropriate for the children’s developmental level are provided.

Caring and qualified teachers and caregivers communicate this message continually in a creative program that is responsive to the needs of the child and parent.  In a non-pressured manner, children are invited to sing, play, develop language and motor skills, learn basic school readiness concepts, and discover oneself in a creative nature. We believe in giving the child a feeling of personal worth and a positive self-image.

PRESCHOOL GOALS

While the emphasis at St. Paul Preschool is on building character and curiosity, our priority is to teach God’s word and how our children can apply it to their lives.  Our young children learn how to develop a sense of self as well as how to share and relate with others by playing with manipulative toys, hearing stories, role playing, listening to music, enjoying playground time and sharing snacks. More specifically, program goals include assisting the child in development of:

  • Expressive and receptive language skills
  • Sensory-perceptual skills, especially visual and auditory
  • Reasoning skills or the ability to use prior bits of knowledge or learning to solve new problems
  • Fine and gross motor skills
  • Interpersonal skills necessary for effective interaction with others
  • Intra personal skills necessary for building independence

TEACHING METHODS

Our Toddlers Program provides our 12 – 23 month olds a warm, accepting, and safe environment designed to promote healthy attitudes toward social interaction, language development, and physical skills. The staff provides singing, dancing, body movement, listening and rhythm skills. Age appropriate art activities and experiences with puzzles and manipulatives are provided. Books are out in the rooms and teachers read to the children during each school day. St. Paul Preschool provides a language-rich environment to encourage language development. Our program also stimulates large motor development.

As children grow from toddlers to beyond, the scope of the program expands to provide age-appropriate activities for every child. At St. Paul Preschool, we believe that a child’s play is a child’s work. Toddlers learn how to develop a sense of self as well as how to share and relate with others playing with manipulative toys, hearing stories, role playing, listening to music, and enjoying playground time and sharing snacks.

  • Manipulative toys chosen for age appropriateness, these toys build skills that help little fingers grow to accomplish more complicated tasks. These activities become more challenging at each age and include play dough, puzzles, finger painting, sand, water play and more.
  • Pretend is one of the ways children learn to socialize, respond appropriately to situations and find security in themselves. It is also an opportunity to let their imagination and creativity run free.
  • Story time is where memory and imagination are nurtured and a child’s young world is broadened.
  • Playground time includes slides, swings and climbing toys. These activities let children challenge their young bodies with a friend at their side.
  • Music is magic to a child. Singing, moving and listening foster attention span, coordination and creativity.
  • Art activities give young hands a chance to be creative while making a colorful splash and having fun. Meanwhile, children are learning important fine motor skills needed later for writing and drawing.
  • Chapel and HISstory classes give children time to grow spiritually by voicing their thanks to God
  • STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) provides for a period of exploration in our STEAM room designed for creative thinking.

CURRICULUM

St. Paul Preschool offers a well-rounded, developmentally appropriate curriculum integrated with creative play. At St. Paul Preschool, we have developed our own unique hands-on, child-centered curriculum designed to promote and develop the emerging skills of our 2s, 3s, and 4s. It includes the use of creative arts, dramatic play, math and manipulatives, language arts, science and sensory exploration, music and movement, as well as outdoor activities. Our curriculum reflects the belief that children need a balance of child-initiated and teacher-facilitated activities each day. Themes are used to introduce information and learning takes place as a child explores and manipulates real objects and events.

Along with our curriculum to guide teachers, we make sure teachers and classrooms are equipped with the tools needed to help children grow in these areas:

  1. Physical development:  focusing on development of fine and gross motor skills.
  2. Emotional development:  building a positive self image.
  3. Social development:  exhibiting respect for ourselves and others while developing trust with other children and adults. Intellectual development:  developing a positive attitude toward learning while keeping an age appropriate curriculum.
  4. Spiritual development:  providing a spiritual foundation for children by promoting the love of God.

OTHER ASPECTS OF OUR CURRICULUM

Chapel:  Chapel is a special time for our 3s and 4s.  During Chapel, Grace Bailey, Director of Christian Education, teaches children information related to Christianity in our historic Illges Chapel.  Iconography and symbolism are explained through stories and prayer on a level that children understand.

Music:  Children are involved with music in their classrooms. These opportunities build on a child’s natural love of music.  Children sing, dance, and play instruments while developing motor skills through rhythm.  Songs vary in theme from nursery rhymes, Bible stories, body parts, counting, letters, seasons, holidays to many more.

HIS-story: Unique to our school, the children will hear an age appropriate bible stories and make them “come to life” through the use of interactive props.

STEAM: “What would happen IF…?” St Paul Preschool creates STEAM experiences that encourage children to be curious, to wonder, to be innovators and to learn through hands-on play. We want to enrich their lives and expand their vocabulary. We set the activity out and then the children spin it their own way, enriching the lesson in more ways than we could have ever imagined.

GENERAL INFORMATION

St. Paul Preschool is a member of the Georgia Preschool Association as well as the North Georgia United Methodist Church Preschool Directors Association. We continuously monitor the progress toward our goals. This serves to assist our program in offering the highest quality education while ensuring the foremost goals of St. Paul Preschool since its inception in 1981.

St. Paul Preschool office is open during school hours from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (706.327.7452). After 1:30 p.m. please leave a message on voice mail and your call will be returned the next school day.

Schedule & Tuition: Our program meets Monday-Friday, 9-1 during the school year and Tuesday-Thursday during our summer program.

Summer Program (2023):

  • 3 Days: T, W, Th ($475 for 7 week program)

School Year Program (Fall 2023 and Spring 2024)

  • 2 Days: Tuesday/Thursday- $225/mo
  • 3 Days: Monday/Wednesday/Friday- $265/mo
  • 5 Days: Monday-Friday- $315/mo
  • 5 Days (TK): Monday-Friday – $325/mo

*Early drop-off is available at 8:30 with 24 hour prior notice. Late pick-up is available until 1:30.