Our Preschool
Collierville United Methodist Preschool prides itself on providing a quality, nurturing learning environment for our children, ages 12 months-5 years. Beginning in the toddler classes, teachers incorporate a daily circle time, where students come together to read, sing, and review fundamental concepts such as colors, numbers, shapes, counting, and letters. Teachers offer students a wide array of learning centers/materials, such as blocks, dramatic play, art, play dough, transportation, and sensory play. An instrumental aspect of early childhood education is also learning through play. The art of "play" teaches children how to appropriately develop/navigate critical social/emotional development.
As students move into the 3-year-old classes, teachers begin to implement the "Handwriting Without Tears" curriculum which jump starts our early learners in pre-writing and letter formation. This is also an opportunity to increase fine motor skills such as crayon grip.
Our 4-year-old classes utilize the Orton-Gillingham curriculum to build a strong foundation for literacy through a multisensory, phonics-based method. This focuses on teaching the structure of language using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities to help connect sounds and letters.
Finally, our Junior Kindergarten class will continue the focus on Orton-Gillingham, as well as introducing the Heggerty curriculum, which is designed to provide a strong foundation for literacy in transitional kindergarten classrooms. This is designed to develop phonemic awareness, phonics, and writing skills - key building blocks of reading success. Additionally, teachers are incorporating math skills such as counting, number recognition, shapes, sorting, patterns, measurement, and one-to-one correspondence.
All students also participate in enrichment activities weekly through art, music, and Bible classes.
