* First United Methodist Preschool

For over twenty years First United Methodist Preschool has provided a quality preschool experience for two, three and four year old children in the Charlottesville area. We strive to provide a developmentally appropriate experience for each child within a caring environment.

Our commitment to quality includes ongoing staff education and training, and the use of a well-respected early childhood curriculum. We pride ourselves on our strong preschool community that encourages parent and family participation and community outreach through our scholarship program.

To find out more about our program click on the links to the right.

To receive application materials or for any other information please contact us at (434) 296-6682. You may also download an application (PDF format) by clicking here.

First United Methodist Preschool uses the High Scope curriculum. Based upon the teachings of Jean Piaget, children are encouraged to be active learners: creating, exploring and experimenting. There are three elements of High Scope that are distinct: planning, key experiences and child initiation. The lead teachers in our classrooms have received training from the High Scope Institute.

- Planning. Children are given an opportunity for planning their activities for a part of each day. The Plan-Do-Review sequence is unique to High Scope and allows children to choose, plan, do and then reflect upon their activities.

- Key Experiences. Teachers construct learning centers and plan activities that focus on eight key experiences:

language and literacy, creative representation, seriation, classification, music and movement, initiative and social relations, numbers, and time and space.

The key experiences nurture the whole child and pay attention to children’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical development needs.

- Child Initiation. Themes are child initiated with teachers supporting and extending the children’s interests. Teachers plan developmentally appropriate activities to bring to life the classroom themes. Some of the many themes enjoyed by the children this year were family, pirates, bears, friendship, and fire fighters.

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We believe that small classes and a small teacher to child ratio are essential to provide a productive environment and to offer individual attention. Each of our three classes has a lead teacher and an assistant teacher.

- Two year old class. Meets Tuesday and Thursday from 9 AM -12 noon. Ten children.

- Three Year Old Class. Meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 AM -12 noon. Fourteen children.

- Four Year Old Class. Meets Monday through Friday from 9 AM -12 noon. Fifteen children.

Children must be the age for the class in which they are enrolling by September 30th. Classes are open to children of all religious, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Toilet training is not required for admittance. The school year runs from September through May and follows the Charlottesville and Albemarle school schedules for holidays.

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All of the teachers at FUMPreschool are trained in S.T.E.P. (Systematic Training for Effective Parenting and Teaching). This approach encourages the child to make decisions, solve problems, be responsible, and be independent. Teachers help the children solve their problems. Classes and support groups are offered for parents as well.

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What will your child do at First United Methodist Preschool? Each day has a balance of structured and unstructured activities that are both child initiated and teacher directed.

Your child can play and learn cooperatively with friends, explore materials and learn at his or her own pace. Although each class routine varies, all children have a greeting time, structured small and large group activities, planning and review time, snack time and active or outside play. Children have access to dramatic play equipment, art activities, sand/water table, music and movement, building and manipulative toys, cooking, reading books, and nature/science materials. Classroom materials are constantly changing as new themes arise or activities are introduced.

There are also special days during the school year. Each class has a Thanksgiving lunch and a Christmas party. In addition, birthdays are simply and joyfully celebrated in the classroom. Three and four year old children, along with parent volunteers, participate in several field trips each year. This year we have been fortunate to have a fire truck visit our school, go apple and pumpkin picking, visit a local nursing home during the holiday season, and a grocery store. Family events also occur throughout the year such as parent coffees, family pizza night, and an end of the year show and picnic.

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Two full scholarships per class are available to qualified applicants.

Scholarship families are an important part of our preschool community and are encouraged to be as active in the preschool as possible. The school provides transportation assistance to scholarship families as needed and the church extends support to ensure the scholarship child’s well-being and success in the preschool program.

Information on scholarships can be obtained by calling the preschool.

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All of our staff have experience with young children and both lead teachers bring a wealth of teaching experience and professional education in early childhood to our program. To their classroom experience our staff brings skills from their own parenting, musical and artistic skills, church nursery director experience, and health education experience.

- Paige Lindblom. (Director and Lead teacher of 2’s).
- Chrissy Porco. (Lead teacher, 4’s)
- Megan Bisset. (Lead teacher, 3’s)
- Grace Williams. (Assistant teacher, 3’s)
- Marcella Kauffman (Assistant teacher, 2's)
- Kennedy Prentiss. (Assistant teacher, 4’s)

Classroom teachers work together as a team and have regular planning time to prepare for each class day. The entire staff meets monthly to address ways to constantly improve our preschool.

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To download an application for enrollment,
please click here (PDF format)