A Little Boy and His Wooden Spoon

Hey everyone -
I have to tell you all about one of my little guys in the child care and his love for this wooden spoon. Everyday when he is dropped off, one of the first things he goes to find is the spoon. And then he proceeds to carry it around most of the day, talking to it or about it with me. Its really the funniest thing. And then at the end of the day when his parents pick him up, he has to put the spoon away and he usually gets super upset about that. Poor guy - we're trying to help him understand that its okay and that he'll get to play with the spoon again the next day :)

On a much more serious note, please check out this link:
www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=169935
It states that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is banning the manufacturing, selling and reselling of drop-side cribs. It is good information to read and be aware of for any drop-side crib owners out there. They will obviously be banning these from all in-home childcare facilities as well.

Have a great day everyone - thanks for reading!
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids

Lesson Planning

I've had so much fun lesson planning for the preschool. I subscribe to "The Mailbox" - which is a great magazine resource for teachers of young children. I get the preschool edition of the magazine. It is full of great games, activities, snack ideas, science lessons, crafts, time management ideas...I really look forward to receiving it in the mail every other month! I don't get into magazines too much, but this one I love!

Anyway, it is a great resource for me as I plan for upcoming lessons. I've started to plan for the month of January. The first week's theme will be evergreens and the letter of the week will be "P". We'll spend our nature and science time studying pine cones and pine needles. There are gobs of arts and crafts centered around pine cones and needles that I can't wait to incorporate. My husband will be leading the kids in art projects and we've found some really cool ones involving needle art! One thing I did struggle with was finding some good stories about pine trees. There are many books out there about Christmas trees, but I really have been looking for ones that just have a fun story about an evergreen in general. I found a couple and will continue looking for some more.

Well, time to get back to it. Thanks for reading, and as always, spread the word about Monarch Kids Preschool. Its a blast!

Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool Teacher

Parker Fieldhouse

Hey there -
Today the kids and I went to the Parker Fieldhouse for a quick field trip. They have an indoor play area that is especially designed for younger kids. It's a great place because this time of year the weather can keep you indoors. The fieldhouse is fantastic for burning off some energy - plus its free!

Monarch Kids will be closed Thanksgiving and the day after. Have a great holiday and enjoy time with your family and friends!

Take care -
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids

Storytime!

Hello there -
The kids and I ventured out to the Parker Library today for storytime. It was packed today, which is a good sign that lots of people love reading and singing with their kids (plus its free!). Today's topic was "Things you Eat" - in preparation for Thanksgiving next week. We read some fun books and sang some fun songs. One fingerplay we did was about the 5 monkeys swinging in a tree teasing the alligator. My kids LOVE this one and just lit up when all the kids and adults started chanting it too! After storytime we walked around the children's literature area and checked out a couple of books for the next couple of weeks.

We had a great time this morning. Hope you all are having a great day - take care!

Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool Teacher

Wildlife!

Hello there -
Today, the kids and I went for a short walk to burn off some energy and get some fresh air. We bundled up and headed out - and boy am I glad! We saw many prairie dogs and a coyote! The coyote was pretty far in the distance but the older kids caught a view of it. They are so well camouflaged but we were able to spot it. The prairie dogs were right outside of their holes barking at us and letting us know that we were not welcome to be right by their home. The kids asked several questions about the prairie dogs, which was a great lead into a discussion about them.

Another fun day at Monarch Kids!

Take care,
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids

New walker!

Hello there -
Thanks for reading and spreading the word about Monarch Kids Preschool. As always, I'd love to hear from parents about enrolling their child in preschool here - check out my website for all the exciting things that are offered!

Yesterday we went to the park and one of my little guys had a blast walking all around the big field. He's a new walker and you can see on his face that he's so proud of being able to walk! He even walked quite a distance, stopped, turned around and kept going - pretty impressive!

Not much else to share at this point. I hope you're all having a good day and enjoying another beautiful day here in Colorado!

Take care,
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids

Random thoughts

Hey there people!
I hope you all had a great weekend. There isn't a ton to report but the kids and I have certainly enjoyed the nice fall weather lately. It could change at any moment so we're taking advantage of it while we can. We're planning on taking a trip to Colorado Springs sometime this week and visiting the Garden of the Gods. Its a beautiful park and its free! We'll go for a nice walk there and then maybe stop for lunch somewhere and head back home.

Please keep spreading the news about Monarch Kids Preschool - I'd love to talk with anyone that is interested in enrolling their child.

Take care and thanks for reading -
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids