Our Philosophy
We believe that each child is valuable in the sight of God; therefore, the purpose of the school is to provide an environment conducive to developing the concept of wholeness in each child and to develop each child's mind, body and spirit.
By being respected as an individual, the child learns to respect others and this manifests a positive self-image. A child with good self-esteem will be aware of others' needs for love, friendship and security. The child learns through the example and role modeling of the teachers as well as through active participation in a child-centered, multisensory program appropriate for the child's level of development.
We provide an atmosphere for nurturing each child's body by providing play situations that develop physical coordination and by fostering good habits of personal health. We seek to develop cognitive potential. We nurture the child's spirit by encouraging a personal relationship with God and a sense of Christian community.
We believe that the school environment provides flexibility within a disciplined atmosphere. The teacher serves as an example and facilitator, and respects the child as an individual, providing a warm and loving experience that creates within a child a sense of trust and well being.
Our instructional goals include age-appropriate experiences in language arts, math, science, social studies, art, music and physical education as part of the general areas of intellectual, spiritual, physical, emotional and social development. We value parent involvement.
General Information
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GPP&K exceeds the MMSR (Maryland Model for School Readiness) guidelines for all of our 3 year old, 4 year old Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes.
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All of our Four year old Pre-Kindergarten classes are academically 'Kindergarten Preparatory' classes. They are designed to prepare children for Kindergarten.
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Chapel Time is held in the church sanctuary every Monday with our own music teacher. All 4 year old Pre-Kindergarten classes, and the Kindergarten participate by singing songs, learning prayers, and listening to Bible Stories. The Three year old classes have music with our music teacher bi-weekly, starting in January, to learn new songs. Activities with music are a part of the daily experience in all of our classes.
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The Preschool and Kindergarten will hold Parent/Teacher Conferences to give parents the opportunity to have a face to face meeting with the teacher to discuss progress and goals.
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Newsletters with general information, monthly curriculum objectives and calendar of activities are emailed home monthly. Calendar information is also included on the front page of this website.
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Once a month the preschool children make or bake their own snack. Kindergartners make their own healthy snack once each week. If a child has food allergies, the snack must be provided by the parent.
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Development of self control is encouraged by teaching and practicing respect for others, introducing activities that promote cooperation and by adapting the program for individual needs.
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The building is secure with all outside doors locked. Parents wishing to enter the building will push the call button to be let in.
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GPP&K is a 'NUT FREE' school! Due to allergies, we do not allow peanut butter or nuts of any kind in the school.
Snacks & Meals
Lunches are provided from home. We encourage all families to provide ‘healthy’ snacks and lunch.
Snack time is provided by the school and is an opportunity for our children to learn about eating healthy food and trying new foods that some may not normally eat at home! We teach the children to ‘Eat Colors of the Rainbow’, so we serve only fresh, healthy colorful food for children to enjoy for their snack. Families can expect their children to have red, yellow or orange peppers or cucumbers & carrots w/humus, yogurt w/blueberries or strawberries, sun butter filled celery sticks, apples, oranges, bananas or pears, or cheese & raisins. There are no boxed, preservative-filled, white-refined flour, salty-type snacks here, so no goldfish, animal crackers or pretzels!
We do not serve any ‘school food’ to children with a food allergy noted on their medical form by the doctor. The parents provide ‘safe food snacks’ for children with any food allergy. It gives the parents the peace of mind that their child will always be safe at school from the possibly of accidentally eating anything that they are allergic to.
All Preschool/Pre-K classes have at least one cooking project per month and the Kindergarten cooks every week. A few examples of what they make or bake for their snack would be; a veggie garden, smoothies where the children choose which fruit they want, but every child puts in a little spinach . . . . . because ‘why not?’!! For St. Patrick’s day, the classes make Irish Soda bread, during Apple Week in October it's apple crisp or apple tarts, Stone Soup in the winter, Pizza for ‘P’ week and of course a ‘Rudolph’ snack at Christmastime. Just to name a few!
Bad Weather School Closure Policy
GPP&K Emergency Closure policy can be found in your Parent Handbook, page 6.
We follow the Montgomery County Public School closures.
If MCPS is Closed - GPP&K will be closed.
If MCPS has a Delayed Opening - GPP&K will open at 10:00 a.m.
If MCPS has an Early Closing - GPP&K will close at 11:30 a.m. with no Enrichment Plus Class.
*Register for Montgomery County Text Alerts regarding School Delays and Closures*
I have nothing but good things to say about the preschool and Kindergarten programs at Gaithersburg Presbyterian. My son attended the 3-year old and 4-year old preschool programs and graduated from the Kindergarten program last year. He was one of the younger ones in the class with a mid-August birthday. We had always planned to do Kindergarten again in the public school system so that he would then be the oldest in the class. However, he was fully prepared for 1st grade and is excelling this year in his 1st grade class. He flourished while at GPP&K and I firmly believe he would not be doing as well as he is now if he hadn't gone to GPP&K for Kindergarten.
–Sarah