Dear Families of the Apple Tree Ministry,
We are writing to inform you that the board of Trinity United Methodist Church of Whitesboro made the difficult decision to immediately close its long time Apple Tree Preschool ministry. Although the preschool has been a blessing to so many children and families since its inception, our current leaders cannot provide the level of oversight and support required. We have moved to prioritize our church missions for our congregation and those most in need in the community.
Our Apple Tree Ministry will officially close this month and will not open for the 2024-2025 school year. Please know that our board took all things into consideration when making this tough decision. The immediate impact is heavy on our hearts with the displacement of the staff, children, and families of Apple Tree. We prayerfully came to the conclusion that in order to best align our church leaders and congregants with Trinity’s mission and vision, closure of a ministry that we can no longer provide the required oversight for, has become necessary. All tuition fees paid to Trinity UMC for the upcoming school year will be returned promptly to parents/ guardians.
Please contact our church office if we can assist you in referrals to other childcare agencies. Also, please reach out to our office if you have any questions. We are very appreciative of your family’s participation in our Apple Tree Ministry and wish you all the best.
**Note- This letter will be sent to families through Apple Tree. Once we have gathered records of tuition paid for each registered child, a refund check will be issued by our church office and mailed to each family.**
Sincerely,
The Board of Trinity UMC, Whitesboro
Our Mission
The mission of The Apple Tree Preschool Ministry is to provide a safe, stimulating, and educational atmosphere, which will promote the social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and physical development of the children. The Apple Tree Preschool places emphasis on the development of the whole child. Social, emotional and spiritual development, as well as academic readiness in areas of language development, listening skills, building basic quantitative concepts, and physical development are skills that will be stressed in the daily structure of the classroom.
Our Goals
The most important goal of our curriculum is to help children become enthusiastic learners. This means encouraging children to be active and creative explorers who are not afraid to try new things and to think their own thoughts. Our goal is to help children become independent, self confident, inquisitive learners. We are teaching them HOW TO LEARN.
Our curriculum identifies goals in the following areas:
Social
Help children feel comfortable in school, trust their new environment, make friends, and feel they are part of the group.
Emotional
Help children experience pride and self-confidence, develop independence and self-control, and have a positive attitude.
Physical
Help children increase their large and small muscle skills and feel confident about what their bodies can do.
Cognitive
Help children become confident learners by letting them test their own ideas and experience success. Also, we assist them by helping them acquire learning skills such as the ability to solve problems, ask questions, and use words to describe their thoughts and feelings.
Spiritual
Help children feel confident and open in their spiritual formation. Children have a profound sense of God and growth in their love for God is very important. The Apple Tree Preschool does not offer a complete spiritual program. It is designed to enhance that which is taught at home and in their church.
Our Philosophy
The philosophy behind our curriculum is that young children learn best by hands on activities. Learning is not repeating what someone else says: it requires active thinking and experimenting to find out how things work and how things in their world relate to them. The activities introduced to the children have been created to promote self- awareness, language development, auditory and visual discrimination and sensory-motor skills. At The Apple Tree Preschool, children are free to explore and learn at their own pace. The children are encouraged to make their own choices, explore, create, use manipulative materials, and to express their own interest and opinions in both structured and unstructured formats. Apple Tree will provide a sensitive and warm environment in which the child feels secure enough to open their mind to new and exciting things.
Two & Three Year Old Program
In most cases, this will be a child’s first experience with being away from home in a school setting. It is important the experience be positive and growth producing for children and parents alike. Our supportive environment will encourage social growth in the two & three year olds. A high adult to child ratio will help to develop trusting relationships with other adults and enables positive social experiences with children of the same age. Separation from parents is made easier by the presence of additional adults and by the individual attention given each child. Our new children will be receiving special attention in helping to smooth out the transition from home to school.
Four Year Old Program
A four-year-old child’s natural desire to learn and increasing need to develop friendships will bloom and grow. They will begin to function more independently in a group setting and will expand social and learning skills in anticipation for success in school. Fun and appropriate prekindergarten activities provide individual preparation for school by offering choices in degree of creativity and amount of time spent on each activity. Goals for prekindergarten classes are oriented towards enhancing developmental skills that will build on readiness for kindergarten.