In her first year, Tanya has created a family owned and operated preschool that does more than just take care of the young children of the community.

“We have done a family hayride and in November we did a family feast.”

Apparently, her hands-on approach to e d u c a t i o n along with the convenient location and family outreach has worked.

“Last year we anticipated a 50 to 60 percent enrollment, with the late start and delays in getting the building done,” said Tanya. “But we reached 83 percent and are 90 percent full for next year.”

Set on the southern corner of the newly built shops in the Falcon Safeway Plaza, the preschool houses three large classrooms and an outdoor playground. The facility is licensed for three to six year olds, offering a preschool program, a pre-kindergarten program, an extended care program and summer program.

The summer program included a week each of: “Diggin’ It With Dinosaurs”, exploring space through “What A Blast”, bringing the beach to the prairies with a “Hoola Luau” and wrapping up the summer with a “Crazy Camp Out”.

For Tanya, teaching the children is all about being hands on and involved. For the Hoola Luau, the children made grass skirts from paper bags, dug in the sand to find shells and played with sea creatures at the water table, while learning about fish, whales and their habitats.

“Science is a big part of our curriculum,” said Tanya. “We are very hands on. I tell the parents that the children are always exploring their environment so don’t bring them in their Sunday best.”

All of the programs run for two hours and 45 minutes with the extended care offered from 6:30am to 6pm Monday through Friday.

While the school does not follow one particular theory or curriculum, the teaching basics are geared to helping the children prepare for kindergarten. Pre-reading with phonics is taught as well as numbers, colors, life and social skills.

The maximum classroom size is 14 students with a teacher and an aide creating a seven to one ratio. Space is limited but interested parents or caregivers are encouraged to call for availability.

For information, call (719) 494-0758 or email TandCPreschool@aol.com

Lane Potts holds up the shells he found while playing in the ‘Sand Search’, a plastic box filled with sand and buried sea shells.