You'll find answers to many frequently asked questions listed below. If you would like to talk in greater detail about our program, please call us. We would love to meet you and your child.

What is your philosophy?

Children are explorers. They learn best by hands-on experience and they learn at their own pace. Our job as Christian early childhood educators is to provide a rich, stimulating and secure environment that fosters their development and is interwoven with basic biblical concepts. We celebrate curiosity and encourage children as they develop the skills of responsibility, cooperation, problem-solving and obedience. Most of all, we believe that children develop best when they are secure, knowing that they are loved and valued.

Tell me about your staff.

All First Covenant Preschool staff are committed Christians who are actively involved in local churches and dearly love working with young children. All staff members meet or exceed the State of California requirements for education and experience. All staff are certified in pediatric CPR and first aid, trained in universal precautions, fingerprinted and have both criminal background and child abuse index clearances.

What is your curriculum based on?

Our kindergarten-readiness curriculum is based on monthly themes that are familiar to the children. Our teachers plan the classroom environment and their daily learning activities around these themes incorporating math, science, literacy, movement and social science skills into each month. Each month we learn a new Bible memory verse, emphasize a different color and shape, and for the older children, discover 3 new letters. Our phonics program is full of hands-on experiences with each letter, including cooking, touching, shaping, writing, hearing, and remembering. We teach the skills necessary to learn HOW to read and write including visual tracking and discrimination, visual, auditory and tactile letter identification, and pencil grasp practice. Each day your child will have free choice time, circle time, activity time, snack and outside time. Each component is planned to provide your child with opportunities to learn while having fun. We emphasize biblical character traits, such as honesty, kindness, truthfulness and obedience.

What is kindergarten-readiness?

Kindergarten-readiness means having the skills necessary to be successful in kindergarten. It does not mean learning formal kindergarten concepts early, such as reading or writing, before a child is developmentally ready. Kindergarten-readiness skills include:

• an expanded attention span.
• able to sit and listen for 15 minutes.
• can follow multi-step directions.
• is responsible for own belongings and self-care.
• able to take turns and deal with frustrations and disappointments by making second choices, waiting for a turn and/or self-comforting.
• can verbally express needs to peers and adults.
• can demonstrate critical thinking and adaptive learning skills.
• understands basic literacy and math concepts including letter and number recognition, that letters form words that express ideas, that numbers represent distinct quantities and can demonstrate one-to-one correspondence.
• can demonstrate small-muscle control and eye-hand coordination to properly grasp a pencil and make basic strokes and shapes on paper.

Is it too late for my child to start preschool for this school year?

We believe that even a few months of preschool can benefit any child! If there is space available and we can meet your child's needs, your child can start at any time during the school year.

What is Super Twos?

Super Twos is an early learning program for older toddlers transitioning into three year-olds. Designed to meet the needs and abilities of younger children, these once-a-week sessions are taught by two credentialed teachers who offer a rich curriculum that successfully introduces them to the preschool environment.