Preschool and Prekindergarten
3 and 4 year olds
 

Hours

Three-year-old Preschool*
Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30–11:15 am (morning) or 12:30–3:15 pm (afternoon)
*Must be three years old by September 1 and potty trained

Four-year-old Prekindergarten**
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 8:30–11:15 am (morning) or 12:30–3:15 pm (afternoon)
Optional Learning Through Literature add-on course, Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30–11:15 am
**Must be four years old by September 1

Eden's Early Childhood program is developmentally appropriate, sensory-rich, and a fully engaging experience. Designed to nurture and challenge the whole child, our curriculum is theme-based and encourages a Christ-centered exploration of the world.

Typical Day

Each day begins with child-guided activities, fine-motor challenges, and dramatic play opportunities ranging from "pizza shops" to "outer space travels". In step with the most recent neurological/educational research, these activities nurture your child's sociological and executive function development. We take a guided-play approach to the introduction of the alphabet, basic math concepts, and other foundations for later learning. Bible stories and memory verses are a favorite part of each day, as are biblical principles that guide your child's social interaction and development of self-regulation. Respecting a preschooler's need to be active, many movement experiences are woven throughout the day.

Specials

Because Eden’s early childhood program is not a stand-alone preschool but is fully integrated with the lower school (grades 1-6), your preschooler will benefit from attending physical education, art, and music classes taught by specialist teachers who are certified in these areas. (3-year-old preschool attends physicial education and 4-year-old prekindergarten attends physical education, art, and music) In addition, children enrolled in the Learning Through Literature course (see below) also attend Spanish class each week.

Events and Activities

We love celebrations in preschool and prekindergarten! In addition to birthdays, we celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter as well as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Grandparents’ Day in honor of the special grown-ups in our lives. There will be field trips to fun places like the Latodami Nature Center in North Park, Volunteer Fire Company, and Carnegie Science Center that coincide with classroom learning. And beginning at four years old, your child can participate in intramural soccer!

Looking for a five-days-a-week option for your four-year-old child?
 

Learning Through Literature

As a supplemental add-on to the regular four-year-old prekindergarten class that meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Eden offers Learning Through Literature (LTL) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Designed to make books come to life for pre-readers, this course focuses on preeminent children’s authors and their works. It will introduce your child to the elements of a story as well as use story to build “literacy” in language arts, science, math, social studies, and Bible. The emphasis on pretend play and creative expression ensure that your child will have so much fun “learning through literature,” she’ll forget she is learning at all! There is an additional fee for the LTL program. Previous preschool experience is preferred before enrolling in LTL.