• Children know they are loved.
• Children learn to trust and are trusted.
• Children are valued as individuals.
• Children’s natural creativity is fostered.
• Children develop a lifelong love of learning.
• Children and adults become a peaceful community of learners, sharing their joy and wonder.

Our Diverse St. Mark’s Community
As a ministry of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, we embrace the call for “Open Hearts, Open Doors, Open Minds.”  We welcome and enjoy families from a variety of cultures, faiths and backgrounds.  Our goal is that each member of our St. Mark’s school family begins to know and care about the other members.  For this reason, we ask for information about your family traditions, the part of the world that you are from, the way you live your daily lives and the languages you speak.  By sharing this information you help us create an environment where children experience inclusive activities and attitudes on a daily basis.

For young children who do not yet have a sense of history, we believe that religion is largely about caring relationships and the experience of wonder in the world around us.  We do not teach specific religious doctrine.  We celebrate Christmas as a celebration of the birth of Jesus and as a time for giving.  In our classrooms we present some of the symbols of the season.  We celebrate Easter in terms of the new life which abounds in the spring.  We try to minimize the commercial aspects of these and all other holidays.

We welcome opportunities to celebrate the holidays which are important for families of other religions.  We invite families to share their customs and traditions.  We try hard to make these celebrations age-appropriate for each group of children.