Day Care vs. MPCS Preschool: What's the Difference?

Inside the quaint and cozy Sewell Cottage at Mount Paran Christian School, the preschool staff works enthusiastically to provide an exemplary instructional program which sets MPCS students up for success as they advance to kindergarten. We are often asked how MPCS preschool differs from other early-childhood programs offered in the local community.

Love and Safety First

Students at the MPCS preschool are met with warm greetings and hugs to begin every single day. The morning is filled with reminders of God’s love for each child through songs, Bible verses, and lessons. Whether in art or science, lessons of God’s handiwork and love for His creation are evident. Children feel known and loved in an environment where Jesus’ love is taught and modeled, and mistakes are welcomed as a part of growing up. Parents can be confident that when their child is at school, they are well cared for and deeply cherished. MPCS teachers nurture the social and emotional needs of each one of our young students.

Comparing the Difference

If you visit the Sewell Cottage, there is no doubt you will feel the difference immediately as you observe the interaction and engagement in the classrooms. We are confident that MPCS preschool provides a loving environment and a solid spiritual foundation while ensuring the age-appropriate academic rigor and self-confidence needed for the student’s academic success. Below we have listed the comparisons and identified distinguishing academic differences between the MPCS preschool and other pre-kindergarten programs.

How Does MPCS Stack Up?

Within the preschool classroom, every activity is intentionally planned to accomplish readiness goals. Utilizing degreed and Georgia-certified teaching staff, research-based best practices are implemented. Small student-teacher ratios allow individualized instruction intended to meet every developmental level. Because the best predictors for how well students read in later years are phonemic awareness and letter knowledge (Share et al 1984), our preschool program focuses heavily on literacy skills, including utilizing the Science of Reading and skills learned through our Orton-Gillingham training.

Through on-going formative classroom assessments, as well as quarterly summative evaluations, there is documented evidence that preschoolers enrolled in the MPCS preschool demonstrate a higher level of kindergarten readiness than students entering kindergarten from other programs.

In annual summative assessments of both current and prospective rising kindergarten students entering the MPCS kindergarten, data collected reflects the following mastery levels for kindergarten readiness:

A Full Range of Opportunities

Our preschool program incorporates a total-child educational approach to achieve kindergarten readiness skills. Through research in child development, teachers incorporate instruction and structured activities which allow for maximum skill development. Every day children have the opportunity to be involved in one of the five elements of our Enrichment Instruction, which includes Art, Spanish, Music, STEM, and P.E. The importance of gross and fine motor development is incorporated in the classroom as well as through fun and engaging sessions led by our Occupational Therapist. These OT sessions are offered to all students once a week. MPCS Preschool also employees a full-time Speech/Language pathologist to support the development of all students, as well as serving those who need extra support in this area.

Penny Harrison spent fourteen years in the classroom as a teacher in Kindergarten, First, and Fourth grades. Penny also served in full-time ministry as a Children’s Pastor for eighteen years, before returning to education. Penny now serves as the Head of Preschool at Mount Paran Christian School. 

To learn more about how about the MPCS preschool programs, please click here.
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