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Preschoolers get a jump on learning Crayons & computers By DIANE TURBYFILL, LTN Staff Writer Dec. 14 - It’s Tuesday morning and around the corner from the chapel, a portion of the church building is alive with activity. Young children sing familiar melodies. Parents help teachers serve snacks as pupils pray over their food. Brightly colored paper mobiles flutter, and little coats hang from hooks by the doorway. First Presbyterian Church’s Preschool is in session. “It has a loving, Christian environment,” says Kristen Willis, the mother of a current pre-schooler and a graduate of the program that will soon celebrate its 30th anniversary. “I always feel like my children are safe here.” Safety, education and religion have been in the lesson plans since the school began. “We try very hard to have a Christian background,” says Lesa Ritter, director of the preschool which operates weekdays from 8:30 a,m. to noon. Elements to achieve that goal have become a part of the curriculum. Students attend chapel once a week and work on projects to promote community awareness regularly. The 47 students recently participated in a canned food drive for Christian Ministry of Lincoln County. Ritter’s van was filled to capacity with all the food collected by the children. “We’re trying to teach them about community awareness,” Ritter says. “And we’re trying to teach them Christian values, but not necessarily the Presbyterian religion.” The program currently serves children ages 2 through 4. But they are forever moving upward and onward. Beginning next year, 5-year-olds will also have a place at First Presbyterian, in junior kindergarten. The preschool’s board of governors saw a need for such a program, says board chair, Terri Cochrane. Children kindergarten age often have maturity issues or birthdays close to the cutoff for enrollment age in public school and may not be ready to take the step into an all-day program, says Cochrane. First Presbyterian’s junior kindergarten program will begin in the 2002-03 school year and run from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily. Ritter says that according to North Carolina law, kindergarten attendance is not required. “So parents have that year as an option,” she said. Registration will begin in January for the upcoming year. Twelve children will be accepted for the class. And if the other classes are any indication, there will be a waiting list. Rebekah Leonard, a certified teacher, will teach the new class. Ritter says there’s plenty of room in the center; a multipurpose room will be converted into a classroom. The preschool will also add computer classes — entitled Cyber Kids — for all their students beginning in January. Parents, teachers and administrators agree that the driving force behind the center is First Presbyterian Church. The key to success has been “the support we receive from our church and the standard of excellence that this program has demanded for years,” says Ritter. The First Presbyterian Church Preschool began in 1972 as a private kindergarten. When kindergarten became more mainstream in public education, the church began adding classes for younger children. Ritter says the program has come full circle. “We have parents who came here as children and who are now bringing their children here.”
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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