##VIDEO ID:3qaDJ6YWkws## [Music] Oho minetonka I'm David law superintendent of minetonka schools thank you for joining us for this episode of our district podcast aoy minona one of the exceptional parts of the minetonka school district is the robust preschool program here to share more about it and to share details about registration for it our coordinator of vonka preschool ECF and junor explorers Molly bonamin and ECF and preschool parent Mary Cornelius thank you for each of you for being here we'd love to know a little bit more about you and your connection to the district I'm Molly bonman and I'm the coordinator of minetonka preschool ECFE and Junior explores this is my ninth year in the district I'm in my third role and I really enjoy this one the most so far um I have a fourth grader at exceler elementary school and a sixth grader at minetonka Middle School West as well awesome Mary I'm Mary Cornelius um I'm communication specialist for the district I've been working here for five years but today I'm wearing my parent hat I am also the mom of a four-year-old and a 2-year-old so my four-year-old son is currently in the outdoor adventure preschool class and then I have a 2-year-old daughter as well um where we're excited to have her be joining the ECFE program for next year awesome thanks for taking time to be here Molly uh I've had the chance to be in these classrooms dozens of times but from the perspective of someone who supervises this part of public education what makes our program so unique our teachers we have licensed teachers in all of our classrooms um who are really experts in child development and early learning they love what they do and it shows uh when I give tours to parents the first thing that they say is I really like the way it feels in here it's got a really good vibe um we are unique in that we work together with all of the people in the building who are servicing the family so our Junior explorers program our preschool program and our early childhood special ed program we're all one team circling around a family so for a child their experiences we're just all the adults who love them when they come to school some kids are with us all day our childcare program is open from 6:30 in the morning till 6 o'clock at night and so they may go from explorers up to preschool then maybe to an enrichment class and back down to explorers and we don't want them to feel like they're moving from space to space to space we just want them to feel like they're in their building doing the things that they do well I have when I walk in I notic that you know it maybe the public perception for preschool is there's a teacher with 15 students it's rare when I'm in a classroom when there aren't three or four adults in the classroom H how I mean are our ratios pretty standard it seems like we we staff very well to support our students we are a 1 to 10 ratio most of our classrooms are 1 to n a lot of times when you're seeing a lot of of adults in a classroom it's because it's an integrated classroom so there's a student in there that may be receiving special ed services and so they have additional supports in there um if it's a non-integrated classroom there'll be two adults to 18 kids good lots of support for Young Learners so um tell me about ECFE compared to preschool for there are parents out there who maybe are expecting them for their first child and these jargon in education what's an ECFE versus a preschool classroom so ECFE stands for Early Childhood family education it's a state funded program set up to help parents be their best selves um for babies up until 1-year-old parents and children come together and stay together for the whole class there's a parent educator who's licensed through the state of Minnesota and an early childhood educator who also holds a license and then often also a par in the room um parents are playing with their kids with the adults to kind of better understand what's happening when they're playing uh kids learn through play so we're trying to help parents find ways to engage with their children to know how when they're doing certain things they're actually teaching them early literacy skills and early math skills and early social skills um it's really nice for the parents because they get to meet other people who are at the same life phase as they are they can um talk about what it's like to be Sleepless at night as we know happens when we have little kids or what we do when our kids start biting or if we're having hard time with potty training or the joys that we have watching the things that they do the first step that they take the first time that they sleep through the T night in a long time so it's really meant to be a support system for the whole family the main um statement of ECFE is that parents are the first and most important teacher and we're just there to reassure them that they are sometimes grandmas and grandpas or a family uh friend has to be the escf mom or dad is I mean that's acceptable in ECF yes we have ants that come we have nannies that come we have moms and dads that come together we every adult is welcome to come because what it means is that kid is getting a very very great Village wrapped around them and does ECF is that a like one night for two hours a week what are the how does that meet throughout the week what are the options we offer for Early Childhood family education so typically ECFE classes meet one day a week um if it's a non-separating class it's an hour and a half if it's a separating class it's an hour and 45 minutes um we have some classes that allow for parents to come with multiple age children so an example EC for everyone is for a class where maybe there's a 2-year-old and a four-year-old and a parent wants to come with both kids and they can be in class together and then the parent leaves and goes to parent education time and the kids stay back and play with the child educator and during parent education time we're talking about really um similar things for each age and Stage so sleep toileting eating um Behavior how do we parent with support how do we find support as parents how do we develop who we want want to be as parents and it's really the parent educator leading a group discussion you want to talk a little bit more about your experience I have one other question Mary before I get to you do I have to live in the minona school district to attend preschool or ECFE nope and you don't have to complete the open enrollment information either it's open to anyone it's when you decide that you would like to open and roll into kindergarten that you would need to fill that paperwork out through the state of Minnesota okay now I'm going to kick over to Mary who has experienced ECFE in preschool Mary what what's it been like to come through this program through both of those programs yeah so I my first class that I did with my son Norman who's now four we did an ECFE class when he was 18 months to two years old and it was um so he is a 2020 baby um really just in an interesting cohort you know parenting in the middle of the pandemic with so many changes and so being able to I think like Molly said just being with other parents is always important who are at that same life stage but especially for us parents who are becoming new moms in 201 20 really having that time to come together and like just you know talk about the challenges and what we're going through was so powerful and it was really fun to see my son for the first time engaging with other kids and starting to build friendships and figuring out like what does it mean to take turns and um oh you're playing with the toy so how do I like manage my emotions about that and even you know in that 18mon to two-year-old range the parent educators are working with kids for you know the the skills on how they can um be building friendships and working together um so that that was a really just nurturing you know it was a whole year that we were together September through May um and those friendships that I built with that group of of parents was really wonderful and it's fun now because in the four-year-old preschool class where Norman is I think five of the kids who are in his class were actually in that that um ECFE cohort so they're moms that I'm like I remember being at your kids 2-year-old birthday party and now here we're all apply you know we're going through the process to register for kindergarten together and so it's just really fun having that buil-in community that you know we've been together you know even though our kids are young that we've been together for a while and that's been really special and and then I one more thing I was thinking about when you're talking about can anyone come to ECFE in that year um I would go sometimes with my son my husband would go um and my mom would would take him and everybody who went felt really welcome and really felt like they learned a lot from the the experience that's amazing now I I know that we're in the window of time where kindergarten is happening has there been some Kindergarten transition help through preschool yeah you know I think the biggest thing for me that I it's been you know it's it's really nerve-wracking getting ready for that life change even when I it's been amazing for me watching cuz my he's a June birthday and so I you know on the younger edge of the cohort and so I was really nervous like is he G to be ready for kindergarten that's a big change um and it so funny talking with Molly she's like Mary like the whole point of preschool and especially minetonka preschool like we know we're preparing kids to be in minona kindergarten and I have really seen those skills in him like just Blossom like whether it's some of the social emotional learning like how again like how do I share how do I take turns how do I engage with my peers um and you know when we're having conflicts um hearing him talk about they have Wednesday Friends Day in his class where they'll um they'll pull like popsicle sticks and they they get paired with a different student and that's their friend for the day who they get to just practice those those skills with um and then the early literacy stuff too has really been amazing it just blows my mind when he comes home talking you know they learned about syllables and so he was you know I guess the activity they were clapping out how many syllables were in different words so we're driving home and he's in the back of the car he knows Mary Captain Underpants five syllables I'm like you're right five so well I uh Molly when I come back to I asked about ecfp for preschool what are the options for families to choose how many days a week how many hours a day you referenced Junior explorers on the raon service but for the actual program if I'm a parent who's just going to come and drop off my student and pick them up what what are those options so we have a section for prees so for kiddos that miss that September 1st cut off um they can come for two days a week for two hours and then once they are three by September 1st they can come two three or four days a week and those classes are 2 and 1 half hours long and then once they turn four so September 1st they can be three four or five days a week for three hours um we ask parents to register for just one preschool class if they need all dayare to utilize Junior explorers as a way to wrap around we have morning and afternoon classes most of our three- old classes are in the morning we do have one afternoon option that's good for kiddos that are non-nappers right or just some kids are just slow to get up in the morning and they just need some time to be kids before they can attend in the classroom because when they're in preschool we're doing a lot of work it's looks like play and it is play but it's really structured play and it's structured in a way that's like friends day Wednesday you pulled that stick we're buddies so this is what's going to happen today and that can be a lot of work for a four-year-old so we want to be really cognizant of that and that's why our class lengths are the times that they are are there open house opportunities for parents ahead of preschool yep our open house is on Saturday Jan January 25th from 9:30 to 11:30 and it's a come as you want there will be two presentations one at 9:45 and one at 10:45 that just kind of give an overview of here's what we do here here are things you can expect here's how you register and then it's a lot of answering of questions it's very confusing for parents as they go to register because we create the junior explorers registration to be all aart so we know we have families whose grandparents watch a day of the week and so we want you to be able to get everything you need but it means that you have to kind of know what your preschool schedule is and then work around it with Junior explorers and it can be confusing so we're there to answer those questions I know parents are probably asked um like maybe Mary you can remember when you go through the process do you get your first choice do you feel like there's a rush it you know so it's online registration and I think it it just the nature of the Beast is it's a little stressful you know you get online at 8:00 whenever it opens up and um we we so my son right now is in the nature Adventure class for four-year-olds um which they spend in this you know fall and spring they actually spend the whole day outside um the winter time right now they start the day outside and then they move to an indoor classroom but when we first registered um that class had a waiting list and so we picked another class that was at a time that worked well for our family and I think the nice thing for me is I was like you know I I knew it was going to be a spot where he was going to grow whether he was in that class or a different class but um yeah so there we were on the waiting list for a little bit and then there was a spot that opened up in that class Molly I know there's she mentioned the nature Adventure class there there's other specialty programs within preschool aren't there yep so in our afternoon classes for our four-year-olds we have three specialized classes we have true preschool which is 3 days a week in the afternoon um we have Spanish Immersion preschool which is four days a week in the afternoon and we have a new class that we're starting this um upcoming school year that's full steam ahead so it's focusing on science technology engineering arts and math and that'll be three afternoons a week as well um what percentage of our preschool classes fill how How likely is it a parent might say I'm worried that I'm not going to get in um our specialty classes tend to fill quickly because people are choosing that and there's not another option so there's one section of each of those um over time our 5day a week classes fill um we last year our pre-re class filled right away so we opened an additional section so we try to where we can create more room when we see demand we can't create more room for nature Spanish or the steam class just simply because of uh the time that they're offered and they're specialized earlier you mentioned enrichment classes part of a students day what what does that mean for parents so preschool and ECFE are part of the Community Education Program in the district and so we partner with our youth enrichment and youth recreation um program managers to offer opportunities in the building during the day so preschool age students can do um Spanish class or art class there's um amazing athletes there's dance there's soccer so if you choose to sign up for an enrichment class in addition to your Junior explorers and your preschool day we will help make sure that they get to and from that class and all those are within like an 8 to four time frame um yeah sometimes a little bit later in the afternoon too so sometimes a child will go to that and then Mom and Dad will pick up at um dance rather than at explorers but we help them get their dance gear on and walk them to class and then watch because it's adorable so tell me the time frame you said there's an open house coming up this month when does the registration window open and when should parents start logging in and looking sure so again the open house is on Saturday January 25th 9:30 11:30 no registration is required just come you can bring your kids we will offer Child Care during the presentation so that you can listen more intently Mar remembers from last year um we also have activities for kids so we do some face painting there's some temporary tattoos they can hang out in our gym our PTO is there so they can meet some parents and ask questions directly of parents of why they chose us and what they like and then registration will open on Thursday January 30th at 7:30 in the morning so we Rec recomend for families especially families that would like to take a specialized class to set up their Leo account so that they're kind of ready to go and we recommend that you register for your preschool class first um you get an instant um registration confirmation for preschool and then when you uh register for explorers you'll get a email that lets you know that you have a contract request in and that will stay that way for a while because it's a puzzle that we have to put together so you'll automatically be enrolled in your preschool class and know you have that spot and you're more than likely going to get your Explorer um request approved we just have to wait till we see who's needing what care so I'm going to double back down what's the window of time where registration starts they should set up an ELO account ahead of time so they can just log in and click and that's all on the community ed website is that correct correct and what's the date and time it's um Thursday January 30th at 7:30 a.m. perfect okay you said something else in there that parents probably didn't pick up PTO and PTA for preschool what what do they do they have dance parties and a spring fair and they support our teachers in our classrooms so you know a lot of times there's specialized toys that kids are really interested in but it's not something we would necessarily have as a toy in our classroom but would be a great learning tool and so our teachers will put a request into the PTO and the PTO will help to purchase that with the monies that they fundraised they do amazing things for the teachers to support them and show them that they care and they support me in getting the word out about minetonka preschool and why people should choose us there are a lot of options out there a lot of great options out there right so well as we're wrapping up is there anything about preschool or early childhood family education or Junior explorers or specialty programs that I didn't ask that you'd want to make sure we share with the public I would just say that our ECFE class registration will open in May this year which is different than in the past we have found that people don't really know exactly what they're doing with an unborn baby in January for September so we're just pushing the date back a little bit to give people more time to kind of figure out what they want to do but that the classes will be published and sent out and registration will open in May awesome I think I just want to give a shout out to the junior explorers team I know like well I just want to Echo everything you said about the teachers because our experience with the teachers have been so amazing and you know we've just been so caring and so full of insight for how we can really um just nurture our kid with you know all of his special you know interests and unique characteristics but the junior Explorer staff is just they've been really um helpful for us and you know my son he goes to his preschool class and then Junior explorers at the end of the day before I pick him up after work and he just even though he only goes for an hour and a half he feels so welcome and they um they're you know they're just amazing so I wanted to shop them out a little bit we don't have a lot of Staff turnover so that makes for a lot of consistency for families so we'll have families that have three kids that have all had the same teacher and Junior explorers which is pretty great that's awesome so Molly you talked about the open house where is that happening so minetonka preschool ECFE and Junior explorers are located at the minetonka Community Education Center which is 4584 Vine Hill Road right next to deep Haven Elementary School so the minona Community Education Center is really unique in that we have our own designated gym space we have a motor room we have space for for those Community classes I talked about we have a dance studio we have um a wonderful playground that was built just a couple years ago that the kids really love and then we also have an outdoor classroom or an Outdoor Learning Center which is where our nature preschool class takes place and we're surrounded by Burton Park which is a beautiful wooded area so we're able to take nature hikes and explore the woods around us it's a school I mean it it's an old school you walk in it feels like this is those preschool and early childhood students school yeah awesome thank you both for for being here and thank you for joining us for this episode of Oho man aanka where we learn about preschool Early Childhood family education and Junior explorers don't forget that January 25th open house at our early childhood family education center and MCC building on Vine Hill Road and the 30th is the day that registrations open up for preschool thanks for joining us we'll see you around [Music]