by Joyce Handran, Messiah Preschool Director | "We miss you and want you to know how much you are loved!" This is the message the preschool team hopes all Messiah preschool students and families hear loud and clear.

We at Messiah Preschool believe that the best learning methods for preschoolers are play-based and experiential. Socialization and developing critical thinking is essential and happen best in a group setting. However, with the closing of the preschool due to COVID-19, the focus has become the exploration of new and creative ways to provide emotional support to our students and help them stay connected to their teachers and classmates.

How this ends up playing out may look different for each class and age level, but some teachers may offer Zoom-based experiences as well as activities, projects, and chapel sessions uploaded to YouTube. Messiah's teaching teams have started collaborating to formulate a plan and familiarize themselves with the technology needed to accomplish their goals. The parent/guardian conferences originally on the calendar for the last part of March will be offered through video or phone conferencing for all of our Pre-k families.

Messiah has offered to refund all preschool families their tuition back to the date of the preschool's closure. The virtual opportunities are being offered to all preschool households free of charge; the funding is coming straight from the generous donations of tuition received from our preschool families thus far. Messiah Preschool is truly blessed.

"Hope" is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all. -Emily Dickinson

Joyce Handran, Preschool Director