The Benson Memorial United Methodist Church Preschool and Kindergarten Preparation Program has been serving children and families in Raleigh, NC, for over 50 years. We offer a school-year program, a summer program, a parent-led playgroup, and drop-in care for childrens ages 1 through 7. Our preschool staff are committed to providing an effective program which takes into account and provides for the emotional and educational needs of young children. We make every effort to enhance each child’s self-knowledge, self-esteem, and inner discipline. Our preschool is a safe and secure environment where children are encouraged to be social, independent, and creative.
Winner of the 2021 WRAL Voters' Choice Award
Among thousands of nominees, our very own Benson Memorial UMC Preschool won the WRAL Voters' Choice Award for Best Preschool! Congratulations to our Preschool Team who provides an excellent educational experience to the children enrolled, and thank you to all the voters who made this recognition possible.
Shannon Luxford, Director of Preschool
Our Director, Shannon Luxford, has been with the preschool since 2000. Shannon earned her BS in Child Development from Meredith College. Her varied experiences in the field of early childhood include positions serving students with a wide variety of needs. Shannon lives in Cary. Her sons attended the preschool.
Read the 2025-2026 School Year Information. Please review the information and sign digitally acknowledging that you understand and agree with the registration information and school policies.
We will introduce our students to the Letterland characters and provide the ideal foundation for kindergarten and the Letterland phonics program offered by the WCPSS.
We engage children in activities for visual learners, auditory learners and kinesthetic learners.
We enhance oral language development and phonemic awareness.
We offer poems, rhymes, and alliteration while learning about each letter in the alphabet.
We experiment with a variety of writing activities and opportunities.
We use songs, dictations, stories, poems, and finger plays to enhance both oral and receptive language development.
We use show and tell, webbing, and brain storming to enrich vocabulary.
We collaborate while problem solving and critically thinking as a team. This allows the children to acquire mathematical concepts while enhancing their communication skills.
We offer a variety of experiences and activities to encourage familiarity with letter sounds. This includes having a letter of the week in the fours program.
We incorporate literacy rich experiences in all facets of our program.
We begin to introduce sight words to our pre-kindergarten students.
Do you offer enrichment programs?
To enhance our curriculum we offer a variety of enrichment programs:
Music Class Each week, all students attend music class. In music class, students are introduced to basic music appreciation involving an understanding of the elements of music, musical forms, musical styles, and the enjoyment of participating in class.
Spanish Class Five-day students three and older participate in Spanish. They are introduced to greetings, family members, body parts, numbers, colors, common everyday items, days of the week, and much more.
STEM Class Students in the threes class and older will participate in this hands-on class covering topics such as sinking and floating, life cycles, static electricity, and others in a small-group environment.
Chapel Chapel is a time to share stories from the Bible that will enrich children from any religious or non-religious background. Our intention is for each of our students to know they are loved by God and Christ without any judgment.
Letterland/Literacy Students will participate in a literacy enrichment activity designed to expand the literacy curriculum beyond the classroom.
Movement Class This is a gross motor activity class. Students in the threes class and older will enjoy activities such as parachute games, ribbon stick dances, scarf dances, and obstacle courses, just to name a few.
Occasional Programs Occasionally, on-campus visitors will also be scheduled. We like to have the NC Museum of History teach about times past, and the Raleigh Parks and Recreation staff teach about native flora and fauna, just to mention a few.
Field Trips Parents of children enrolled in the four-year-old program and transition class should expect field trips. There are typically four to six field trips planned in a calendar year.
WHAT WE TEACH
We practice a child-centered, emergent curriculum, providing intentional, meaningful learning experiences, with a strong focus on literacy. Our curriculum addresses the following developmental domains: social/emotional development, physical development, cognitive development, language development, and communication skills.
We incorporate strategies from Dr. Becky Bailey’s Conscious Discipline into our curriculum. Conscious Discipline is a comprehensive classroom management program and a social/emotional curriculum. Our staff members received ongoing Conscious Discipline training.
Many of our teachers have also been trained in Handwriting Without Tears, which they skillfully integrate into our curriculum. Handwriting Without Tears is a developmentally-based handwriting program. Our program offers students the ideal foundation for kindergarten and the Letterland phonics program offered by the WCPSS.
We have different levels of tuition based on the number of days you choose to have your child enrolled during the week. For a complete breakdown of tuition and fees, please download our 2025-2026 Preschool Registration Packet. In it, you will find not only information on how to register, but also details about our curriculum and enrichment programs, policies, enrollment forms, and much more.
How do I register my child?
Please download our 2025-2026 Preschool Registration Packet first. Read carefully through the policies and information, fill out the forms in the packet, and return the filled in, signed copies to our preschool office. The mailing address is Benson Memorial UMC Preschool, 4706 Creedmoor Road, Raleigh, NC 27612. If you have any questions, please call our preschool director, Shannon Luxford, at 919-781-3310.
Can you help me register?
If you have any questions or need further assistance with the registration process, please contact Preschool Director Shannon Luxford at 919-781-3310. You may reach Shannon outside of school hours at 919-906-5353. Email Shannon at preschooldirector@bensonmemorialumc.org.
Though our calendar may share some similarities, we do not follow the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) calendar. We switch over to a summer schedule June through August, and our fall semester begins in September. Here are the remaining dates of our 2024-2025 school calendar:
