First touch ministry is the preschool division of our church for age’s Birth
through Kindergarten.
Preschool Ministries Director: Karen Mitchell
WELCOME TO WEE
We are Safe…..
We are Loving….
We are Clean…
We are Biblical…
The Preschool Ministry has one Primary Focus:
Teach the children “WHO” God is and reveal His Character to them through
lessons, activities and play, music, drama, art, and most importantly,
simply through Love.
Our Wonderful Preschool Facilities
We are located in the Children’s Building, Ground floor, with easy access to
parking and a covered breezeway.
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Parking attendants are available to assist you and provide “taxi” service to and
from your car if needed.
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A Secure building with one main Doorway and only one other Exit which is an
emergency exit only
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Twelve, large, colorful rooms with age appropriate materials, furniture, and
play items
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Private Breastfeeding room, adjacent to
our Newborn Nursery
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Birth up to age 3 are promoted developmentally; Newborns, Creepers, Toddlers,
Younger 2’s, Older 2’s
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Each room is equipped with a “just my size” potty and restroom, or diaper
changing area, an intercom system, a window view in each door, outer windows,
and individual cubby holes for each child
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Our outside playground is equipped with a fun jungle gym, large play area,
riding area, and coming soon----A Highland Park Play “Community” for children to
play and experience home living activities.
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Teachers and Workers have access to a fully equipped Resource Room, Laundry Room
and Pantry.
WHAT, WHEN
The Preschool building is usually open 30 minutes prior to all services and
events for which child care is provided.
Childcare is provided for age’s newborn through Kindergarten
8:00 am
Wee Worship
9:15 am Sunday School and Music
10:30 am Wee Worship.
Sunday Night:
Childcare
is provided for age’s newborn through Pre-K
3 year olds through Pre-K
Scripture Warriors
**Once a child
begins Kindergarten, in the fall, he/she will attend Sunday night worship with
the parents
Wed Night:
Childcare is provided for age’s newborn through Kindergarten
3 year olds through Kindergarten
Preschool Choir and Hand
Monday Community Outreach and Designated Special Events:
Childcare is provided for Newborn through Kindergarten age.
Monday nights the preschool will open at
Please label
all cups, and bottles.
We provide water, apple juice, white grape juice and juice box drinks. We
request you bring your child’s own cup.
We typically feed the children a snack of Goldfish, vanilla wafers, graham
crackers, animal crackers or fruit snacks. Creepers are provided with Puffs and
Goldfish.
If you would like to send a snack for the entire class, please contact the
teacher for that hour and make arrangements.
Bed Baby, Creepers, and Toddlers classes are prepared to feed your child any
food or bottles you bring.
Paging System:
You will be provided a pager to carry with you to attend in-house church
activities. If needed, we will page you by vibrating the pager. When you
initially register your child, we will assign you a permanent pager number.
Safety & Security:
All pastoral staff, office staff, deacons and regular teachers and workers are
required to submit to a background check.
We take the responsibility of providing a safe and protected environment for
your child as a top priority. Each time your preschooler attends a preschool
activity, they must register at the welcome desk through our computer system.
Your child is provided a coded security name badge and the parent or guardian is
provided with a matching coded badge. These badges must be matched
to gain access to the child once left in our care. Please do not send older
children to pick up younger siblings. It will be at the discretion of the
Director of Preschool to grant permission for a child under 18 years old to pick
up a sibling in the preschool, even with the security badge.
Preschool Annual Events
VBS
June, 2008
Preschool VBS begins at age 4
Nursery is provided for workers children
Preschool Teacher Appreciation Banquet
This is done at the end of the SS year with a nice meal with white table cloths,
flowers…. We chose to do ours immediately following the morning worship services
and I feel that helped with the attendance. We provided child care and spouses
were invited as well as all extended care workers, occasional workers, deacons
and the pastoral staff. We decorated the entire room with a theme. We had the
children make thank you cards to their teachers and they are all placed in
baskets on the tables for all to read with Payday bars. Funny awards are given
with fun prizes to go along with them. I made a video of all the pictures we had
taken throughout the year, adding music and played it for them…it was absolutely
precious! Each teacher and helper was given a small gift. I gave a little talk
about how very special and appreciated they are. Our Senior pastor and Education
pastor gave a brief appreciation talk, as well. 250 invitations were sent out
with an attendance of 120. We requested they RSVP. Our kitchen staff prepared
the meal. This was an expense but well worth it. We kept costs down as much as
possible.
Preschool Teacher/Worker Annual Orientation and Training
One time a year, 4 hour program to review all about preschool from literature to
taking kids to the bathroom. We provide lunch and snacks throughout the program
Grandparents Day
Pre date, a video is made to present during the services on Sunday am. We use
3-4 children and ask them various questions about their grandparents. This is a
HUGE hit and always gets the laughs!!
Choir Specials:
About once every quarter the children will sing and or perform with hand bells,
during a worship service
Birthday Party for Jesus:
We celebrate in various ways within the
preschool. The Sunday prior to Christmas Day the children ages 3-K will all
dress up in Christmas boxes (actual boxes with neck and arm holes cut out) and
sing the song ‘Happy Birthday Jesus”. This is absolutely precious and always
makes me cry!
Baby/Child Dedication Ceremony
Bro Ted, Senior Pastor, presents a brief commitment ceremony for parents and
guardians
Dedications are done several times a year and dates and times will be made
available.
Thanksgiving, I am Thankful, Parade
All the preschool children and workers form a parade, bearing signs and pictures
of things we are thankful for. The parade is held during the morning worship
services and is quite a favorite event at our church! We have someone sing the
song “thank you”. Our congregation LOVEs it!!
Christmas Missions Project
We collected shoes for an orphanage in
Adopt a Soildier
We have adopted Blake Thomason, who is in
Christmas Choir Presentation
The children
will prepare for a special birthday celebration for Jesus, which they will
present at Christmas time during the morning worship services.
Easter/Spring Event
March Easter Egg Hunt. We are planning to have a hunt for creepers through 1st
grade. We will have multiple age group divisions. We will decorate the outside
campus and set up games, crawling contests, face painting, etc. Children ages 4
and above will go into our gym where the youth have set up a live Easter scene
for a presentation they do for the public called “ Sounds of the Crucifixion”.
For the Easter Egg Hunt, they will only be “on display” with Jesus and the 2
thieves on the crosses and then a scene of the open tomb and the angel. We will
present the Easter story to them at this time using visuals and or the Easter
Eggs. All attending will complete a registration form for outreach purposes.
Illness Policy
We strive to keep the preschool as clean
and germ free as possible. We want to protect your children, other children and
the workers from unnecessary exposure to illness and disease. If uncertain or if
you have any questions please feel free to contact the Preschool Director, Karen
Mitchell.
The following are reasons your child should remain at home
Fever of 100.4 orally within the last 24 hrs
Vomiting or Diarrhea within the past 12-24 hours
Runny nose with any colored nasal drainage. Clear nasal drainage is okay.
Croup
Persistent coughing
Any unexplained rash
Any skin infection: impetigo, boils, ringworm, broken skin areas with drainage
Head and or Body Lice: your child must complete an entire treatment regime
before returning
Eye infections: eyes are reddened, swollen, itching with drainage. Please do not
bring until on antibiotics for at a minimum of 24 hrs or with any eye drainage
still present
Any communicable disease
Should your child develop any of these symptoms while in our care, we will
contact you immediately
Correction
& Discipline Policy:
The preschool ministry has 3 basic rules:
Obey
Be respectful
Be kind
We utilize positive approaches as much as possible and reward good behavior. If
required teachers will use disciplinary actions such as “time out”.
If a child is disrespectful to an adult, refuses to do as asked, is directly
defiant or injures another person, he/she will be taken to the Preschool
Minister, and the parents informed.
What Parents Can Do
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We ask that you provide us with any pertinent information regarding your child.
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Please inform our Director of any situation you may be concerned with regarding
the care and safety of your children.
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Help us to help your child in times of need by
informing the Director or teacher if your child is experiencing a
difficult adjustment or change in his life that may affect his behavior such as
illness, parent illness or hospitalization, abuse, neglect, family death, loss
of a beloved pet, moving, unusual stress in the home, new sibling, etc.
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Send one person into the preschool hallway to drop off and pick up your child to
help keep down the hall congestion
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Follow up and reinforce with your child
the lessons they were taught in Church
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Serve on the extended care team to serve in the preschool as a helper for one
service per month