About Us

Please feel free to tour our school anytime during regular school hours.

PRESCHOOL (Student/Teacher ratios: 2-year olds 1:6; 3-year olds 1:10; & 4-year olds 1:12)

At Trinity United Methodist School (TUMS), we work hard to insure that each child’s individuality is recognized.  Our curriculum goals are to have our children emerge from our program with a very positive self-image, a respect for the differences that exist between themselves and their classmates, and the feeling that they can accomplish whatever task they wish to pursue.  It is Trinity’s purpose to provide academic excellence in a Christian environment giving children the tools to develop a healthy self-respect and to appreciate the worth of all God’s creation. 

Our curriculum provides a variety of developmentally appropriate hands-on activities for children. We use the Saxon Early Learning Program for Reading Math, Science and Social Studies and begin introducing the children to phonetic skills through the use of  Spalding, The Writing Road to Reading. Every learning opportunity is explored in order to achieve the following goals:

1. Foster positive self-concept
2. Develop social skills
3. Encourage children to think, reason, question, and experiment
4. Encourage language, and physical development
5. Encourage and demonstrate sound health, safety, and nutritional practices
6. Encourage creative expression and appreciation for the arts
7. Respect cultural diversity

All students receive Spanish, music, and motor skills, with staff specialists.

Routine tasks are incorporated into the program as a means of furthering children’s learning, self-help, and social skills.  These tasks are handled on an individualized manner based on developmental needs.

Small class size and monthly units allow us to plan our curriculum around the familiar world of each child as a unique individual.

Highly trained staff, a warm nurturing environment, small teacher-child ratios, and open involvement with parents, augment the success of our Preschool program.

ELEMENTARY (Student/Teacher ratios: Kinder – 5th Grade 1:15)

At Trinity United Methodist School (TUMS), we believe that a child must understand the environment he/she lives in, be stimulated to learn more about that environment, and be given the proper tools to pursue their quest for knowledge. We acknowledge the need for fulfillment of God’s unique plan for each child, while creating an atmosphere conducive to the development of responsible citizens who are conscious of their role in God’s world.

Learning occurs best in an environment that allows children to take chances.  When children feel that they can trust their teachers to give them positive guidance encouragement and support for their questions and actions, a thirst for education will always follow.

At TUMS we teach the “Whole Child”.  To make sure that each child succeeds to their capabilities, our program boasts:

1. Fully credentialed teachers
2. Small student/teacher ratios
3. An accelerated curriculum
4. Individual monitoring to insure that each child is progressing at an acceptable rate
5. Parent involvement both in the classroom and at home
6. Field trips, Spanish, Latin, Computer Technology, Art, Drama, Health, Physical Education, Library, developmentally appropriate hands-on activities and outside resource people, are used to enrich and support the general program.

When balancing and integrating all areas of curriculum (language arts, math, music, physical education, reading, phonics, science, social studies, Spanish, Latin, computer literacy, and spelling) we are able to make learning exciting.

ACCREDITATION
TUMS is fully accredited by the Texas Alliance of Accredited Private Schools (TAAPS).  TAAPS is under the auspice of the Texas Education Agency.  Therefore, the accrediting standards and expectations are determined by the Agency.  These standards and expectations must be met and maintained by the member school.

KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM
The curriculum for our Kindergarten program includes a phonics reading program that uses the Learning to Read, Write, and Listen series (Lippincott Phonics) by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Publishing and Spalding, The Writing Road to Reading.  Through the use of individual workbooks, each letter is introduced one at a time to the students throughout the school year.  As each letter is introduced, the child is learning and building major reading skills and concepts.  The beginning letter book activities provide continuous development and review of all skills introduced throughout the program.  Health, science, language arts, social studies, and art are all correlated with the letter books.  Math concepts are taught using the Saxon Mathematics series.  This series is an excellent program involving the children in “hands-on” learning.

FIRST THROUGH FIFTH GRADE CURRICULUM
The writing of child-authored stories and the reading of classic children’s literature, along with the use of the MacMillan Connections reading series, and the Spalding phonics program will foster a love for books and reading.  Children’s literature is the core of our reading program.  We rely on a wide variety of literature to develop and master phonics skills, learn decoding and comprehension skills.  Students are taught the correct process of handwriting, spelling rules, and proper grammar using Spalding; The Writing Road to Reading and Phillips Easy Grammar.  This will aid them when writing their own stories.

Creative writing will flow naturally from each student’s school and home environment. An emphasis of the program will be to write to “a prompt”, rewrite, and revise their work.  We will read and act out stories that we have read in the MacMillan series.  We will perform plays and write books in our classrooms.  Each child will be able to express his/herself in many different ways.

We use the Saxon Mathematics series for math in the 1st through 5th grades.  Saxon Math’s unique approach to math instruction ensures that students not only gain but also retain essential math skills. It is exciting for a child to learn how to decode their environment through the use of many different mathematical concepts.

For our social studies program, we use the McGraw-Hill series as our foundation, with community resources as enrichment.  Discover the Wonder science series by Scott Foresman is the basis of our science curriculum.  The program focuses on life and physical sciences and integrates math and literature into all units.  As in all our curriculum, it is a “learning from doing” approach.  We take advantage of any and all situations (field trips and resource people) that will help a child to understand more about the world in which he/she lives.

Our Spanish program is a diverse one ranging from exposure to language in Kindergarten, to acquisitions of language in grades 1-3, continuing with the study of grammar, vocabulary, culture, reading, speaking, and writing in grades 4 and 5. Latin is added in 5th grade.

Our technology center consists of fifteen computers equipped with Windows XP.  For the younger children we utilize the computers to reinforce a variety of learning concepts including: reading, writing, and math.  With the older children, we teach Excel, Word, Power Point, Access and many other technological skills. Keyboarding is taught at all levels. Our fifth graders are responsible for their graduation Power Point presentation and the yearbook layout

Our Spanish, computer literacy, physical education, health, drama and music classes meet at least twice a week with staff specialists in those areas.

We believe communication between parents and staff members is a vital part of the education process.  Parents should be informed of their child’s daily learning activities.  A newsletter will be published on a regular basis. You are always invited to come and visit our classrooms.  The early years of your child’s education sets the pattern for the rest of his/her academic life.  TUMS recognizes this and strives to create an environment that will foster feelings of self-worth and pride.  By establishing a program that nurtures and guides the whole child, we will continue the “I AM, I CAN” attitude that is so important for the success of each child.