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If you have any questions, feel free to contact the preschool director Debbie Hogan - Preschool Phone Number is 321-728-4709
Our Philosophy |
GLP strives to provide a rich, warm and joyous Christian environment for discovery and learning. We offer this in a positive and fun atmosphere which encourages social, emotional, intellectual and physical development and growth.
Our school environment is safe, nurturing and non-competitive. Through the preschool experience, the children learn to interact positively with new adults and children, develop social skills through play and classroom experiences, and learn the fundamentals of caring, sharing and communicating ideas and feelings. Our goal is to assist our students in the development of the skills that will enable them to be successful in elementary school. These skills are school readiness skills. We view school readiness as the ability to successfully cope with the many challenges of the elementary school day while learning the required concepts and curriculum. We strive to pull together the pieces of sound early childhood education practices to create the best possible environment for children to reach their full potential in school readiness. To this end, we have based our program on developmentally appropriate practices. As the development levels of our students vary, so do the classroom experiences and activities. When choosing the experiences, activities and concepts to expose the children to, we rely on two main sources. The first is our GLP “Aims” document which we created using several well respected early childhood educational resources to form our own set of developmentally appropriate practices for every age level in our school. The second source is the Florida School Readiness Performance Standards. This document, developed by the Florida Partnership for School Readiness and the Florida Children’s Forum, was created to enhance and help toward standardizing early childhood education. We then take the developmentally appropriate skills and concepts from our GLP “Aims” and the Florida School Readiness Performance Standards and blend them into our thematic units of study such as oceanography or community helpers. Our teachers are masters at combining skill instruction, thematic concepts, and best teaching practices to create developmentally appropriate, exciting and enriching classroom experiences. |
Preschool Programs |
GLP offers classes from 9:00am to 12:00pm, Monday through Friday, meeting either two, three or five days a week, depending on the age level of the student. We operate on the Brevard County Public School schedule. When the public schools are in session, GLP is also in session.
Two Year Old Classes Children must be at least 24 months old to attend. Two-year olds experience an explosion in both receptive and expressive language. Consequently, we support language development in our very busy two-year old classrooms with lots of opportunities to speak, listen and sing! We encourage learning through parallel play. There are 8 children in a two-year old class. Three Year Old Classes Children must be at least 36 months to attend. The three-year old classes look more "school-like" in classroom arrangement. Here we expose the children to concepts such as one-on-one correspondence, sets and number concepts. We explore fine motor work to prepare for learning to write. The children transition from parallel play to cooperative play and we see the formation of real friendships. There are 10 children in a three-year old class. State Funded Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) Classes Children must be at least 48 months old to attend. At this level, the window of school readiness opens wide. The children explore beginning writing skills with paintbrushes, markers, crayons and even finger-paint. Fine motor skills are developed through lacing, scissors work and other manipulatives. VPK students begin experiences with letters and the sound/symbol connection. The development of social skills accelerates. The children learn about responsibility, cooperation and fairness. There are 10 children in a VPK class. |
Before and After School Programs |
Early Bird Program
We offer a program designed to accommodate families who prefer an earlier drop-off time. A teacher will be on duty at 8:00am each day to receive students in the entrance way to the Worship Center for relaxed playgroup activities until school begins.
Lunch BrunchThis is a relaxed, unstructured opportunity for preschoolers to continue their day at Grace and is offered to children who are at least three years old and completely potty trained. Two dismissal times are offered: 1:30pm and 3:00pm, five days a week.
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Educational and Developmental Screening |
The explosion of recent research on brain development has alerted us to the fundamental importance of the first years of life to virtually all later development. Early problems, left unaddressed, can compromise the foundations upon which later learning must build. By the same token, early intervention to address developmental problems often resolves the concerns completely. But it is clear that early detection and early intervention are key.
The Florida Legislature has mandated that childcare providers periodically screen the children in their care for developmental delays. (F.S. 402.3207). Grace Lutheran Preschool provides age appropriate educational and developmental screening for all students. The information gained through this process is vital to both parents and teachers as we strive to provide each child with all the opportunities necessary to reach his/her potential. The type and number of screening instruments utilized will vary from child to child dependent on the child’s age and specific needs. Areas for screening may include: Articulation - Screening of a child’s speech production Cognitive/Language - Screening for verbal concepts, visual discrimination, logical relations, and basic school skills Motor - Screening for gross and fine motor movement skills Problem Solving - Screening for problem solving abilities and skills Classroom Observations - Observation of classroom behaviors and functioning, including personal and social skills In accordance with Florida Law, Grace Lutheran Preschool childcare professionals conducting screenings have been specifically trained in behavioral observations and assessment. |
Religious Philosophy |
At Grace we believe life is a gift of God. For us, the development of these gifts is a religious matter. Children will become familiar with numbers, letters, words, and learn to work with other children, and trust an adult other than mom and dad. Preschool experiences are the groundwork for their service in future vocations as engineers, plumbers, doctors, electricians, teachers, businessmen, parents and so on. Such service to others is what God has called people into being for, which makes service in daily vocations a religious matter.
Our desire to be developmentally appropriate means that we do not teach abstract concepts associated with our religious beliefs such as sin or death, love or faith, right or wrong, good or bad. Nor do we introduce preschool children to the Bible. Instead, we establish a secure environment wherein they experience Godly respect, fair treatment and help with new discoveries from other adults, and wherein they experience Godly working together, boundaries, and manners with other children. In addition, preparation for religious education in their later years occurs through naming actions and story-telling. A 15-minute chapel session is conducted one morning a week. The children sing and learn to pray in the language of a child’s experience and to thank God. |