First Presbyterian Preschool
Full Day Preschool and Child Care in Downtown Gainesville
Child Development through music, dance, and the visual arts
|
VPK Program First Presbyterian Preschool participates in the State Voluntary Prekindergarten Program (VPK). Children who are four years old on or before September 1 are eligible for this free program and will receive the same quality education as our other children with an emphasis on emergent literacy. The goal of the VPK program statewide is to prepare children for success in school. Contact the Alachua County Early Learning Coalition at 374-0946 for more information about VPK program. VPK hours are from 9:00 am to noon each day with extended hours available. Accreditation First Presbyterian Preschool is proud to announce that it is now accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. To achieve NAEYC accreditation, preschool programs must meet rigorous standards of health and safety, offer a high quality and developmentally appropriate curriculum, and employ well-trained and qualified teaching staff. To find out more about NAEYC accreditation, go to www.naeyc.org. |
Why a School of the Arts for Preschoolers?
Children learn through experiencing the world around them. If a young child experiences beauty through the arts and through the natural world, then she or he will learn the language of beauty. Children learn to paint by painting; they learn music by singing and playing instruments; they learn to dance by dancing. And they do all these things with the guidance of skilled and caring teachers and parents. Young children live in the world of imagination Ð they learn easily once their imagination has been captured. Our children learn the basics of literacy as they sing their favorite songs, listen to their favorite books and poems, draw and paint their favorite stories, and respond in many ways to the beauty of the natural world. First Presbyterian Preschool is located within the First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, a church that has long been known for its marvelous music. In this environment our children are surrounded by loving, caring people, by beautiful music, and by the traditions of almost 45 years of preschool.
In Our Classrooms....
Our youngest children, 18 months to 3 years, learn by exploring fine toys and art materials, such as easel paints, paper and glue. They sing and dance every day, listen to stories both traditional and modern, and they play, play, and play some more. Our 3-year-olds begin to experiment a little more systematically, learning about color and the mixing of colors, modeling with dough and clay, cutting, gluing, and coloring. They sing daily in their classrooms, and weekly with our music teacher who teaches songs from many cultures and traditions, as well as teaching dance and movement to music. Our 4 - and 5-year-olds are quite sophisticated in their artistic abilities; they choose from a variety of media to express their creativity. Often they arrive at school with an idea in mind that they want to express and a plan for expressing it. They too work with paints, paper, clay, 3-D materials, and they sing, dance, and explore the natural world in many ways.
But do they learn the basics?
Our arts-based curriculum is very successful in teaching children everything they need to know to be well prepared for kindergarten. Indeed, many of our children are so excited by the wonderful stories, songs, and poems that we present to them that they learn to read before they leave First Presbyterian Preschool. We do not pressure children to learn letters and numbers, but rather offer them the excitement of knowledge, the joy of learning new skills, the wonder of finding out about the world.
First Presbyterian Preschool offers....
A broad curriculum with an emphasis on teaching School Readiness and Literacy through the Arts
High quality preschool education in a faith-based setting
Small class sizes and excellent teacher/student ratios
Qualified, degreed teachers who specialize in Early Childhood Education
Multicultural, multilingual program Part-time or full-time options
Newly renovated facilities
Year-round program for 6 months to 5 years from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm
Please call Patti Dubose, Interim Director, at 376-1818
for more information
or e-mail preschool@1stpc.org
License # 01-51-00172
Pumpkins and Paintings!
 |
 |
