Preschool

Our curriculum is based on the knowledge that children learn through play. A typical day for our children includes free play, circle time, music and movement, crafts, playground time, games, language development, sharing, and snack. We offer chapel with music and bible stories and music class each week.

AUMC preschool loosely follows the Wake County School System’s traditional calendar for holidays, teacher workdays, and inclement weather days. We begin our school year in early September and end the last week of May. Classes start at 9 a.m. and end at 12 p.m., with the exception of our 2-year-old classes that dismiss at 11:45 a.m. Beginning in October, an optional Lunch Bunch program is offered to the 4- and 5-year-olds on Wednesdays and Thursdays providing them an opportunity to stay for lunch which extends their school day to 12:45 p.m.

All of our teachers are carefully selected for their backgrounds in education, their experience, and their love of children. All classes have a teacher and an assistant. Our 2-year-old classes have 10 children, 3-year-old classes have 12 children, and 4- and 5-year-old classes have 14 children. We try to balance the classes as evenly as possible with boys and girls.

Registration for the 2023-2024 Preschool year is complete. We have a few openings in the Preschool that will be filled on a first come first serve basis.  We do maintain and work from wait lists. To inquire about openings or add your child to the wait lists,  please call the Preschool office at 919-362-7118 or email us at preschool@apexumc.org

Please watch our Video Tour as this does a great job capturing a day in the life at Preschool – unscripted.

Click here for a video tour

Click here for Registration Paperwork for New Students

*A copy of your child’s immunization records is due by the first day of Preschool.  You can bring it with you to Parent Night, Meet the Teacher day, or email it to us preschool@apexumc.org.

You can pay in person or mail payments. Online payment is also available.  Pay online now.

Please note that if you pay with a debit or credit card there is an additional fee.  You can pay online and avoid incurring a bank fee by paying with ACH draft from either your checking or savings account.

The class offerings listed below are for the 2023-2024 Preschool year and show the monthly tuition rate.  More details below.

AUMC Preschool Tuition and Payment Details

If you have an invoice or a financial related question, please contact:

Kelly Debevec, Business Administrator  kelly.debevec@apexumc.org

If you have an enrollment or a non-financial student question, please contact:

Amanda Donaldson, Director preschool@apexumc.org

Please keep in mind that it can often take a few days for payments to process and go through.  If you choose to have recurring payments, please designate an end date after your April tuition payment, since May has been pre-paid.

Tuition payments are due by the 1^st of each month.

A $10 late fee will be assessed for payments received  after the 5^th of each month.

AUMC Preschool is open between Labor Day and Memorial Day.

We generally follow the WCPSS Traditional Calendar for Teacher Workdays and Holidays.  The calendar for 2023-24 Preschool Year is below.

January 11, 2022

Please click on this link to make a request for a year-end receipt should you need it for tax purposes.

Our Business Administrator works for the Preschool part-time, so please allow up to two weeks to process. If you have any questions please email preschool@apexumc.org.

• AUMC Preschool is a front-door ministry of Apex United Methodist Church.
• We firmly believe that children learn through play.
• Our staff is experienced and chooses centers and activities to facilitate the development of gross and fine motor skills and provide opportunities to share, take turns, follow directions and more. The children are learning but just think they are playing!
• Each class has a Lead Teacher and a Teacher Assistant and class sizes are limited to 10 in the 2’s, 12 in the 3’s and 14 in the 4’s and 5’s.
• We have a dedicated staff of Christian women who are here because they love working with preschoolers and have great love and passion for children this age.
• We use the age cut-off date that WCPSS uses for class placement – August 31.
• For the most part, we follow the WCPSS traditional calendar – we may make occasional exceptions, but holidays and Teacher Workdays usually line up.
• Children must be up-to-date on immunizations and a copy of their immunization record is due by the first day of Preschool.
• Preschool hours are 9 am – 12 pm, with our 2’s dismissing at 11:45 am.
• “Specials” include Music and Chapel weekly. We have a Music teacher that meets individually with each class weekly and leads music during chapel.
• For Chapel we follow the Preschool Curriculum that our Sunday School uses and our Pastors and Children’s Ministry Director come share the Bible stories with us.
• We use carpool drop-off in the mornings and everyone parks and walks in for dismissal.
• We provide each child with a red Preschool bag that will have a class tag and his/her name on it. Each class has an animal name, and this helps us know where each child belongs.
• Each class has snack, circle time, center time, and playground time daily with music and chapel weekly.
• Snack is done on a rotating basis. When it is your child’s turn to bring snack, he/she brings enough for the class, other days you don’t worry about it but will still need to send in a water bottle/cup daily. No nut products are allowed.

2’s

This is an opportunity for children to learn to be away from mom and dad and interact with children their own age in a group setting. This is often the first     time learning to follow directions from someone other than mom or dad, and learning to share, take turns, make transitions, etc.

• They do not have to be potty trained and teachers will work with you if this process happens during the preschool year. We have teeny-tiny potties on the 2s/3s side of the hallway so they may show interest after seeing some friends use it.
• They do not have official circle times, as asking a group of 2 year olds to sit and focus is a bit much, but many children are ready for it so it may happen periodically, as classes are ready. Teachers often read or talk to them as a group while they are eating snack – a captive audience.
• Classes make transitions and go places (playground, music, chapel) either by holding hands with a friend (“two by two”) or holding on to rings on a rope to help guide them along.
• Students begin learning some responsibility and throw their trash away after snack and help clean up toys.

3’s

• Children must be independently potty trained starting in the 3s. There are bathrooms in the classroom they can use at any time and our 3s take a class/group trip to the big lobby bathrooms mid-morning for everyone to go.
• Circle time is introduced with an age appropriate length of time with visuals, songs, stories, etc. to capture their attention.
• Specific centers become more defined than in the 2s (kitchen items stay in kitchen, blocks on a rug in specified area, etc.)
• Students learn to line up and walk together in a line when they go places.
• Independence is encouraged and students hang up their own school bags and coats. They are encouraged to put coats, art shirts, etc. on independently and are taught how to do so.

4’s

This is a big year to prepare for kindergarten…. but it’s still preschool!

• Circle time gets a little longer, but is still age appropriate.
• More independence and “jobs” in the classroom.
• We use Handwriting Without Tears as our handwriting curriculum and the classes have a letter of the week.
• We also introduce them to Second Step, a social skills curriculum, that allows for additional instruction, transition, and lessons.
• Students are encouraged to write their own names and receive assistance to write other things when they show interest and are ready.
• Once the school year in underway and the children are settled, we offer an optional Lunch Bunch for our 4’s and 5’s that extends the day to 12:45 pm on the days we have it.
• Parent-Teacher Conferences are held in January to discuss progress and kindergarten readiness.

5’s/Transition

This class is for children who are age-eligible to go to kindergarten but for either social, developmental or academic reasons are being given the gift of another year of preschool.

• More independence is expected.
• The children often receive more individual instruction and the teacher can meet them where they are academically.
• Handwriting Without Tears is continued and each student gets the workbook to use, taking it a step beyond what they did in the 4s.
• Children gain a lot of confidence that helps them be more successful in kindergarten and thrive as they grow and mature.