Early Childhood Education Program | Oak Grove Methodist Church

Early Childhood

Education Program

Community Preschool and Ministry of Oak Grove United Methodist

Early Childhood

Education Program

Community Preschool and Ministry of Oak Grove United Methodist

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Preschool Application

Oak Grove Young Children's School... Developing lifelong curiosity.

We are a nurturing and engaging early childhood education program for ages 1 through Pre-K (5-6 years). Since 1959, our success is rooted in providing an environment where children learn through play.

Specific program goals provide:

Positive examples that reinforce Christian principles and pro-social behavior.

Daily discovery-based play experiences that help children form healthy lifelong friendships.

An environment that encourages children to grow in confidence, competence, and personal autonomy.

Encouragement of creativity, exploration, and problem-solving in academic, artistic, and socialization experiences.

A language-rich environment where each child can expand effective expressive and receptive language skills.

Daily experiences enhance each child’s sensory-perceptual, visual, tactile, auditory, fine, and gross motor skills.

An environment that encourages connections to promote the development of reasoning skills.

Finally, an environment that celebrates the JOYS of LIFE.

Our Philosophy

Since 1959, the Oak Grove Young Children's School has been an outreach ministry of OGUMC, striving to offer the community a high-quality early childhood education program steeped in love and care for all children. By creating a nurturing environment where each child is valued for who they are, we can provide support to families in parenting's important task.

“The essence of our effort to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different – to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind and spirit he or she possesses.”

John Fischer

Curriculum

The Oak Grove Young Children’s School uses the Creative Curriculum by Teaching Strategies, Inc. as a curriculum guideline for all ages. Lesson plans are based on seasonal themes, socialization activities, and age-appropriate skill development. Each day begins with defined lesson plan goals which “emerge” in response to the children’s curiosity and interests.

Other curriculum resources include

Itty Bitty Book Worm (3’s), Zoo-phonics (Pre-K), Handwriting without Tears (3’s & Pre-K), Gryphon House (toddlers)
Weekly specials for all ages are: Music and Art
3’s and Pre-K attend chapel once a month
Playground or gym time is an everyday essential for all ages

At YCS, learn through play is child-centered and self-initiated. Classroom environments are planned to promote discovery. Lesson plans and learning activities grow from observation of the children’s interests and assessing each child’s skills and needs.

Children learn best when they can interact with their environment. Multisensory opportunities are available for seeing, touching, tasting, building, creating, exploring, and self-expressing. The teachers’ primary role is to set the stage by offering experiences that stimulate their senses and curiosities. Our curriculum promotes language development, gross and fine motor skills, social skills, phonemic awareness, hands-on math and science skills, problem-solving, and character development to prepare children for Kindergarten.
Our goal is to partner with parents in supporting the developmentally appropriate growth of the whole child.

Our program emphasizes the socialization skills of young children and uses a discovery-based approach to learning. Recognizing that children grow and develop at different rates, a broad range of developmentally appropriate learning experiences is provided daily.

The YCS curriculum is designed to foster the growth of the whole child – physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual. Allowing the interests of children to drive the curriculum creates a rich and meaningful learning experience. Children need affirming relationships to grow in self-confidence, curiosity, and the capacity to cooperate with others. The Oak Grove Young Children’s School is a Christian environment of kindness and encouragement, helping each child become aware of God’s love personally and grow in understanding Christian principles. Together with caring and creative teachers, each child is encouraged to discover their God-given gifts, personality, and talents while exploring the world we live in.