Byron Center Christian Preschool Program

Preschool at Byron Center Christian is a joyful place! Our teachers promote a love of learning through intentionally planned, inquiry-based, active learning experiences. Through play, preschoolers develop relationships, explore, negotiate, and learn in a Christ-centered environment which prepares them for lifelong service in the world as a child of God. 

Place-Based Preschool

At Byron Center Christian School, all grades and teachers utilize the Teaching for Transformation (TfT)  framework to ensure an excellent education that is rooted in God’s Word and prepares our students for service in God’s Kingdom. TfT is the tool we use to provide an authentic Christian education for students to both see and live God’s story. In preschool, along with TfT, we also use The Creative Curriculum to ensure all learners develop in play-based learning environments. 

In place-based preschool, most of a student’s day will be spent outdoors and engaging in outdoor learning. They will also have learning experiences in other places including their traditional indoor classroom, places at our East Campus (the woods and other various ecosystems surrounding our East Campus), places in our local community, and beyond! In essence, place-based preschool takes TfT practices and our preschool curriculum and allows students to learn outdoors or in whatever place best enriches their growth. 

Place-based preschool is: 

• OUTDOORS, where students will spend much of their time, utilizing natural resources to enhance preschool curriculum. 

• EXPLORATION of other learning spaces, including our elementary campus, local businesses, and more!

• DEEPER LEARNING through hands-on, inquiry-based activities. Placed-based preschool is much like our current preschool environments, but students learn in a variety of locations.

Preschool Staff 

Special Events

We have several opportunities throughout the year for families to enjoy special events with their preschooler. In preschool, we have a Grandfriends event in the fall that invites grandparents to attend a partial day of preschool with their grandchild. We have a special Valentine’s Day party with our parents that allows our preschoolers to show their parents how much they love them! We also appreciate parent involvement in our Christmas parties. Students will have one to three field trip opportunities throughout the school year.

Through our Teaching for Transformation framework, teachers intentionally connect learning to God’s Story while inviting learners to see real problems, interact with real people in the classroom, and do real work in order to foster deeper levels of learning.

What is my child learning through dramatic/imaginative play?

• Use of oral language in a variety of situations

• Social skills appropriate to group behavior

• Self-help skills

• Skills in both leading and following

• Working cooperatively

• Problem-solving skills

• Discovering socially acceptable and unacceptable behaviors

• Matching pairs, sorting, and classifying objects

• Making decisions

How does the curriculum foster my child's literacy?

• Informal conversations - talking with peers and adults throughout the day

• Songs, rhymes, finger-plays, and movement activities

• First-hand experiences - hearing new words and describing what they are doing

• Read aloud - listening to books and talking about new words in stories

• Clap out individual words/names or syllables during circle time

• Explore print in their names and peers' names

• Provide authentic opportunities to interact with words in their surroundings - they realize print carries message, spoken words can be written down and read, print follows convention (left to right, capitalization)

• Discover the wonder and joy of books and their pictures

• Discover that books have common characteristics - title, front, back, author, illustrator

• Allowing time and space for them to respond to a story by commenting or asking questions

Facilities

Our preschool classrooms are fully licensed by the State of Michigan and have spaces and materials that support all types of learning and development. We have areas for imaginative play, sensory exploration, artistic expression, quiet reading, large muscle play, and small-group and whole-group learning. 

Features

• Enclosed outdoor natural playground dedicated for preschool use

• Gymnasium

• Library

Safety

• Building is secured with automated locks

• Guests must enter through locked doors by the main office

• Guests are required to sign in

• All classrooms and outdoor activities are monitored by an adult

• Students may only be picked up by people listed on parent-approved pick-up list with proper identification