Faith Lutheran Church To Return Its Full Day Preschool Program

The preschool program at Faith Lutheran Church and School in Syosset is going from a half-day to a full-day program this upcoming school year.
Faith Lutheran Church has offered a preschool program since 1965, providing families in Syosset with childcare and early childhood education.
“We offer affordable, small class sizes,” Faith Lutheran Church Pastor Rebecca Sheridan of Faith Lutheran Church said. “Our biggest class size is 12 students and our curriculum is play-based. We focus on socialization.”
Faith Lutheran, Rev. Sheridan added, also focuses on getting children ready and excited when it comes to going to school.
“The goal is that they’ll love school,” Rev. Sheridan said.
There is a need for full-time preschool, Rev. Sheridan said, because many young parents in the community work and are unable to stay home with their children.
“To provide for flexibility for parents in the community, we’re happy we can provide full day care,” Rev. Sheridan said.
The Syosset Central School District now offers Universal Pre-K (UPK). But, at the Aug. 15 board of education meeting it was announced that their preschool programs were full and some families were wait-listed.
“We are also hoping to offer a universal pre-k class next year,” Rev. Sheridan said. “But we know that not everyone got a preschool, UPK spot, so that’s part of our mission to offer an affordable option.”
The preschool will begin Sept. 6, right after Labor Day. Before-care will also be offered for parents who need to drop off their children early.
“We have a toddler program, a preschool program and a nursery school program,” Nursery School Directory Leann Sigona said. “We do half days and full days.”
Children within Faith Lutheran Church’s program will not only learn their ABCs and 123s, they can also participate in dance and yoga movement classes.
“We’re also trying to get a teacher that speaks fluent Chinese to teach the children Chinese or help children who don’t speak English,” Sigona said. “We do curriculums, and lesson plans. It’s social-based, interactive play.”
By the time children finish the program, they’ll hopefully be ready for kindergarten.
Faith Lutheran Church is a faith-based school, so children will have chapel with Rev. Sheridan.
“We do a lot of parades and concerts for Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving and graduation,” Sigona added.
The program will continue an art show for the second year featuring works by children that were inspired by famous works of art such as “Starry Night” by Van Gogh.
Visit www.faithsyosset.org/school/ for more information about Faith Lutheran Church’s programs.