2/2/2024
Preschool Sunday (January 28, 2024)
Good morning. My name is Jessica Slessman and I am the director of Soapstone Preschool. I am honored to speak with you today for our annual Preschool Sunday, a time in which we celebrate the work of our sweet preschool ministry with the members of our church congregation and a time that allows me to share and brag upon exactly what it is that we do at the preschool. I stand before you in my 4th full year as director of this school. Soapstone Preschool is my second home, my passion, and my service in this ministry has truly been a calling from God.
Before I launch into my annual love letter to the preschool, I’ll give you a brief run-down of some numbers. This year we are so lucky to work with 122 students, aged 15 months through 5 years old – that is 101 families and 21 sets of siblings that we serve. We stay busy in the summer, holding 2 weeks of summer camp that average around 40 children each week, and many of our preschoolers attend Vacation Bible School at Soapstone as well. We have 24 staff members that include our age group classroom teachers, along with our music & movement, yoga, and science teachers, and last but definitely not least, my right-hand office woman, Mika Scarlett. We are supported by the Soapstone’s Preschool Advisory Committee, chaired by Sarah Coggins. We opened our enrollment period for the 2024-25 school year a week and a half ago and I’m thrilled to report that we are capped in all age groups for the next school year, with waitlists for each class.
But as I say every year, numbers do not reveal the beating heart that truly defines this preschool ministry.
“A faith-based, play-based preschool located in the heart of North Raleigh”. If you go to our website, you will see those words at the top of our homepage. That’s what we are, and we are proud of who we are. Our play-based learning philosophy allows us to emphasize social and emotional growth and development. At the end of the day, our job at this preschool is to ensure that each child who walks through our doors feel both safe and loved. At the end of the day, the children at Soapstone Preschool are allowed to be exactly who they are – children.
I also invite you to learn about what this preschool does by visiting.
Come visit and watch a morning meeting in a classroom – you will see the kids wish each other well if someone is sick, sing a good morning song to unite, and practice intentional breathing to center themselves on the day and to help them self-regulate as they have their big feelings.
Come visit and watch an older classroom during center time -as they engage in play-based learning activities that help them tackle the letter of the week, an art or sensory activity to help them with fine and gross motor skills, or even a board game to help them learn math, while also teaching them the art of waiting and taking turns.
Come visit a classroom and watch Toddlers and 2’s explore language, colors, cradle baby dolls, learn to sit and eat independently, and play alongside their friends.
Come visit during a preschool chapel day and watch with wonder as they listen to a bible story with Mr. Danny, and together sing songs and say a prayer.
Come join us for a Christmas Chapel or Spring Sing performance to see the magic that happens when you pair children with music and dance moves.
Stop by our new science classroom and see the kids elbows deep in hands-on learning, or tiptoe into a yoga class as the children move, breathe, and connect with their bodies.
In addition to the work we do in classrooms, the children are also immersed in other types of interactive learning, from fire truck visits to field trips to the pumpkin patch or public library. We provide speech, language and vision screenings, and the kids smile brightly for the camera for fall and spring pictures. We partner closely with Wake County Preschool Services, Project Enlightenment, and individual therapists to ensure children who need those supports are able to receive it while they are in a school setting. We want to make sure we are meeting the needs of the children – exactly where they are.
We have an amazing resource of parent volunteers who make events like Trunk-or-Treat, Field Days, holiday parties, and mystery classroom readers happen. This parent community understands that teachers are very much like preschoolers – we get cranky if we are hungry – and they have gone overboard to supply us with drinks and snacks to help us through our days. They show up with Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A orders, chocolates and cookies. We have a parent community who inherently trusts us with their children, and if that is not a humbling thing, I don’t know what is.
I’m lucky to be surrounded by 23 passionate teachers who feel the same about preschool and it’s humbling for me to observe their God-given gifts and talents and how they use them to impact the lives of children and families. These teachers never rest on their laurels – even though this teaching staff is overflowing with them. Instead, they continue to push themselves to learn more and create deep connections with students and families. These teachers are no joke, y’all. They work nights, weekends to plan for these kiddos. They stay awake worrying about the children who may have been a little lost that day. They support each other with overflowing love, presence and fellowship. Teachers – if you are here today, please stand up!
We take the work we do as a ministry to this church very seriously and are grateful for the partnership that we share. This year, the church and preschool worked together to fund and complete a major outdoor capital improvement project – the renovation of the Busy Bee Garden. In a space that was once quite unusable due to poor drainage and limited space to grow grass, it now boasts new drainage, artificial turf, and a new sidewalk to each outside classroom door, and the opportunity to extend play and classrooms to an outside space again. I am so excited about the completion of this project and how it will impact both the preschool and church – I want to shout it from the roof. I am here to give you, the congregation of this church, to thank YOU as your tithes and offerings helped make that space possible.
This year we have also partnered closely with the church’s Mission Committee, with the creation of the Preschool Mission Committee, led by Peg Feely, our Toddlers lead teacher. The Preschool Missions Committee hosted a Coat, Hat, Mitten drive, and two food drives that have supported North Raleigh Ministries and our Backpack Buddies program with Baileywick Elementary.
We are grateful for our favorite Boomers and members of the Trustees committee who work diligently to fix things that break or things that need sprucing up around the preschool.
Most importantly, we are a shared vessel for growing a children’s ministry and new membership in both the church and the preschool. We are thrilled to welcome preschool families to our church, either as new members, guests, new Kids’ Rock attendees, and VBS campers. Likewise, we happily meet and greet new church members to join our preschool family as well. That’s how I started in the preschool back in 2015, and you can’t seem to get rid of me 🙂
And now, as we prepare for our time of offering and as you pass the fellowship pad down your row, please enjoy a slideshow that will show you way better than I ever could about the magic of our preschool and the way God works through these children each day. It’s an honor to do the work we do – thank you for your continued support.