Mission Statement

 

Heritage United Methodist Pre-School is called by God to provide a nurturing environment in which the young child feels loved, respected, and valued. Our Christian program is designed to promote the child's development emotionally, mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually. It is an outreach to our community.

 

 

Our Christian Program

 

As the director of Heritage United Methodist Pre-School, I try always to be very honest with the parents of prospective students by stating that our pre-school is not simply a “church-based” school, as are others in the area, but rather a distinctively Christian pre-school.  The opportunity to build a strong spiritual foundation for each boy and girl who enters our door is the “passion” of our staff.  But what exactly does that mean?  I’d like to share with you a few thoughts about what we do to accomplish this goal.

 

Love the Children

• Each member of our staff tries her best to be a reflection of God’s love to each child who enters our doors.  The patience, respect, value, care, concern, time, energy, and nurturing that is exemplified in each and every classroom on a daily basis is the result of an intentional effort to show God’s love.

 

Bible Verse

• Each month we focus on a Bible verse that corresponds with the particular unit that we are studying.  The teachers review the verse in the classroom, encouraging the children to say it together and explaining its meaning, and the individual who does chapel with the children reviews the verse there also.  Some children are able to say the verse from memory while others are not.  For this reason we never make it a competitive experience.
• We choose Bible verses that are age appropriate for the different ages we teach.

 

Prayer

• We pray with the children at snack time.
• We pray with the children at chapel time.
• Teachers incorporate prayer into their day using different methods:  a group prayer at the beginning of the day; spontaneous prayer on an individual basis as children approach them with prayer requests; incorporating individual “needs” into their snack time prayer.

 

Chapel

 

Chapel takes place once a week for approximately 25 minutes for all ages.

• An important part of Chapel is the presentation and review of the monthly Bible verse.
• Each week we do a Bible story in Chapel.  We try to greatly vary our presentation (puppets, flannel graph, dress-up, object lessons), including the children as much as possible. There are a few Bible stories that are the same at each age level.  Because we try to teach the Bible in chronological order so that it will make sense to the children, we always start the year with Creation, do Old Testament stories in the fall, teach about the birth of Jesus at Christmas, do New Testament stories in the winter, and teach about the resurrection of Jesus at Easter.
• Although a few stories are the same at each level, most are different.  The 2s and 3s will learn about Moses, David, Daniel, Jesus at the Wedding, Jesus’ Call to Peter, James and John, Jesus Healing by the Pool, Jesus Calming the Storm, Jesus Feeding 5,000, Jesus Walking on Water, Jesus Healing the Blind Man, The Good Neighbor, Jesus and the Children, Mary’s Trip to the Tomb, and The Big Catch of Fish.  The 4s and Pre-Ks will learn about Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jonah, Simeon and Anna, Jesus Calling His Helpers, Jesus and Nicodemus, Jesus Raising the Widow’s Son, The Good Shepherd, Lazarus, the Ten Lepers, Zaccheus, the Widow’s Mite, the Emmaus Road, Doubting Thomas, and Breakfast by the Seashore.
• Singing together is always a fun part of chapel.  The songs we sing are always about either the Bible story we are teaching or an important Biblical concept.  Just a few examples are:  “My God is So Big,” “The B-I-B-L-E,” “Jesus Loves Me,” “God Always Answers Prayer,” “Praise Him,” “I Can Do All Things Through Christ,” “Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord.”
• We conclude Chapel each week by making the Bible story applicable to the children’s lives and praying with the children.

 

 

Christian Principles for Living

 

     Another important component of our pre-school is the incorporation of Christian principles for living into the classroom.

• Since two of the most important teachings of the Bible are for each of us to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves, these are two of the concepts we reinforce right within the classroom on a regular basis.  We teach the children that God loves us and wants us to love Him in return.  We express this love by asking Him to be our best Friend, talking with God in prayer, singing to Him, and living our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him. We encourage the children to share, take turns, show compassion, have patience with others, and be kind, among many other Christian character qualities.  
• In addition we teach the children that God loves each of us so much that He made our beautiful world for us and wants us to take good care of it.  The various units that we explore (our bodies, fall, forest, weather, dinosaurs, polar life, farm, pond, ocean, rain forest) are studied from a Christian worldview – God created everything and has a perfect plan.

 

 

Love in Action

• A final component of our Christian environment is providing children with an opportunity to put their love for God in action.
• Each year we give the children several opportunities to “see” the needs of others and “act in love” to respond to those needs.
• For several years our pre-school has supported a little boy who lives in Immanuel Orphanage in India.  The children of the pre-school have raised more than $360 each year by contributing their own hard-earned money. 
• In addition we have encouraged the children to respond to the needs of particular families in our community as specific needs arise.
• The boys and girls of the pre-school also do little kindnesses for Heart Haven, which is a home for mentally challenged adults.  This home is adjacent to the pre-school property and houses 5 adults.  Throughout the year we pay them a visit with cookies and cards.

 

I hope that the above gives you a good view of why Heritage United Methodist Pre-School exists and what it is about.  The “Pre-School Mission Statement” that appears in our handbook sums it up well.

 

Heritage United Methodist Pre-School is called by God to

provide a nurturing environment in which the young child

feels loved, respected, and valued.  Our Christian program is

designed to promote the child’s development emotionally,

mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually.  It is an outreach

to our community.