About

Activities

Goals

License & Accreditation

Curriculum

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Activities

First English Lutheran Preschool provides a safe environment for children, both in and outside. We utilize an enclosed outside play area that encourages large-motor skills, such as climbing, running and riding wheeled toys. Trout Hall provides similar options when indoor play is necessary. Every classroom is inviting and includes well-defined areas for different kinds of activities, such as art, music, blocks and toys, quiet reading, etc. Each age group spends time maneuvering through the Minds-in-Motion course, a research-validated program designed to stimulate a child's visual processing, auditory processing, as well as their motor skills. The outcome is a better integrated and balanced child who will perform better in school and at home. The staff at First English Lutheran Preschool encourages children to gain independence as the year progresses. We practice ways in which children can take care of themselves, such as in the bathroom, serving snacks, working out conflict, expressing themselves appropriately, and signing in.

Goals of the Preschool Program

  • To provide opportunities for early loving interaction among children and adults outside of the family
  • To provide new opportunities and activities, fostering a healthy self-concept
  • To promote growth in visual, auditory, and tactile perception
  • To help the child relate to others and be a part of a group
  • To enhance creative abilities through materials and experiences
  • To increase awareness and control of the physical body
  • To assist the child in a gradual adjustment from home to school life
  • To identify the child's developmental stage
  • To encourage each child to reach his potential
  • To ready children for their elementary school education

License/Accreditation

First English Lutheran Preschool is accredited by NAEYC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children. This accreditation means that our preschool meets the highest standards in early childhood care, including: staff qualifications, materials available, activities offered, quality curriculum, large motor room and playground, nutritional snacks, and family partnerships. Since 1986.

Early childhood programs accredited by the NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation have voluntarily undergone a comprehensive process of internal self-study and improvement. Each NAEYC-Accredited must meet all 10 of the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards. NAEYC Accreditation is considered to be the mark of quality in early childhood education.

Curriculum

Our curriculum is based upon High Scope philosophy and the Indiana's Early Learning Foundations. The goals of our program are implemented by a daily schedule consisting of the following:

  • A balance of self-directed learning and teacher planned experiences
  • Large group, small group, and individual instruction
  • A wide variety of experiences at different levels of difficulty at individual rates of progression
  • Interaction with other children and adults
  • Flexibility combined with routine
  • Play as an important role of learning
  • A combination of active and passive, noisy and quiet activities
  • A happy, loving, Christian environment...it's fun here!

We also implement the Plan-Do-Review sequence (planning time, work time, recall time). This three-part sequence includes a time for children to plan what they want to do during work time (the area to visit, materials to use, and friends to play with); a work time for children to carry out their plans (or shift to new activities that interest them); and another period for reviewing and recalling with an adult and other children what they've done and learned.

At First English Lutheran Preschool, we follow High Scope philosophy. We provide planning around children’s interest, use Plan Do Review with our work time for intentional play experiences (see above), children participate in small and large group activities while the teachers using the Child Observation Record to document the learning and development of each child. Parents then have access to the documentation taken regarding their child via an online portal.

Staff Qualifications

The teachers at FELP possess college degrees and attend continuing education training in addition to hours spent within the classroom. All staff members have been trained in CPR and First Aid/Universal Precautions.

To allow for more individual attention, reducing the time and effort devoted to classroom management, and reducing the number of stressful interactions, the ratio of teachers to students is:

2-3 Year Old Class:

1:4

3-4 Year Old Class

1:7

PreK Class

1:9