Once in a while, we receive some kind words from our member families. Here’s what mom Amy Hagstrom said recently about DCP:

“Singing and dancing, artwork, learning to listen and take turns, playtime inside and out – what could be more fun for my 2.5 year old daughter and myself?

We’re enrolled in the 2’s class and have been with it for a couple months now.  It has been very fun and helpful for my daughter, myself, and my husband.  Often the day before preschool my daughter will be saying throughout the day “tomorrow is preschool!” with steady enthusiasm; she definitely loves it.  Now during bathtub time at night she often gathers her ducks in a circle for “circle time” – just like at preschool.  And then we’ll sing songs together learned at preschool.

It is great to be there myself one of the two days a week; my daughter gets a chance to be on her own some, and I get a chance to be involved and watch and learn from the teachers, parents, and kids at the same time.  Duvall Cooperative Preschool works extremely well for us.”

Thanks Amy! It is our privilege to have you in our preschool!

Our annual fall trip to the Green Haven Pumpkin patch on a surprisingly beautiful day. Always a fun experience!

Ms Christine and a few of the Pre-K kids sitting down for a picture.

Feeding the calves – always a fun (and funky) experience :)

Our school president Susan picking out a good one.

The kids found some fuzzy wuzzies on the way.

It was a fun – and busy! – field trip for all.

Dear friends of DCP,

Wow, have we been busy this summer! Things are ramping up towards are new school year but we wanted to share several pieces of news with you in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of setting up our program.

We have a new teacher join our staff this year and she’s none other than Ms Kelly Richards. Ms Kelly will be teaching our Threes class. You can read all about her in our About Us page. Welcome to our little school, Kelly!

The teachers and board (especially the teachers!) have been working hard these last few weeks setting up our school at the Duvall Community Center. Other than the physical improvements and upgrades we’ve been putting in place, we’ve also made some other changes in our curriculum.

For one, our Twos class have been extended a half an hour from 9.30am to 12 noon.

We’d also like to update friends and families on the who’s who of our 2009-2010 board:

President: Susan Bhavsar. Susan served as our Treasurer the last two years and is a DCP vet!
Vice President: Suzanne Siko, also a returning family of twin boys.
Treasurer: Karen Vowels, a returning family with her son
Secretary: Jennifer Tai, who was VP for two years now in charge of taking notes and then some!
Registrar: Amanda Kindregan, our hardworking registrar and returning parent
Twos Parent Leader: Brianna Grant, a new parent joining us this year and already stepping up to the plate as a new boardie
Threes Parent Leader: Jennifer Stott, a returning parent with her lovely twin boys
Fours Parent Leader: Shannon Knowles, an alumni parent joining us from Redmond Cooperative Preschool

The board and teachers will be having our first meeting of the year Aug 24 5pm at the school. Board meetings are open to member families, so please feel free to attend!

We will also be planning an Open House in the first week of September so spread the word! Please bookmark this blog or subscribe to our feed to get the latest updates.

Last but not least, we have uploaded our calendar for 2009-2010. Please feel free to save a copy.

Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you this September!

Yours
Jennifer Tai, Secretary

DCP will be closed for the summer. If you’re interested in our program, please contact our registrar Amanda Kindregan at akindregan [at] gmail.com or call her at 425-533-6617.

You can also access more information about DCP through this blog, learn more about our 2009-2010 program, read more about our facilities and teachers and download paperwork here.

Have a great summer!

Come visit our booth on June 6th for some fun activities for your kids AND our Rummage Sale at the school which will be happening Saturday June 6 from 11am-4pm and June 7th Sunday 7-12pm.

We have started collecting items for the sale! Please bring your lovingly used items to the school Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during school hours. There’s plenty of space in the basement for storage! All proceeds go to DCP and tax receipts are available upon request.

Check out our DCP Summer Fun Enrichment Program!

Two weeks of activities geared towards 3 – 5 year olds, this program also earns you one parent education credit through Lake Washington Technical College.

Dates: June 8-11, 15-18 (four days a week for two weeks – parents work two days per week)
Times: 9.30am – 11.30am
Fees: $60
Registration fee: $15 per family, includes a DCP t-shirt!

Activities include Circus, Imaginary Monsters, Water Water Everywhere and Ocean Fun!

Please contact our registrar Amanda at akindregan@gmail.com or come visit our booth at Duvall Days on June 6th to sign up!

DCP will be having its first Auction this coming Friday Apr 17 at Cedar Crest High School from 6pm.

As such, there will be no Parent Ed Apr 20th 2009.

See you tomorrow for the Auction!

Join us on Fridays for Family Fun!

This class is for siblings aged 0-3 years and meets at the Duvall Community Center on Fridays from 9:30–11:30 am.

Come and join us for music and movement, sensory experiences, science exploration, artistic creations and free play! Form networks with other parents in the community, enrich your parenting skills through monthly parent education opportunities and earn credits from Lake Washington Technical College. 

Enrollment is $50 per family, monthly fees are $40 for the first child, and $10 per sibling. 

To enroll, please call or email our registrar Amanda at akindregan@gmail.com | 425 420 7063.

Scientific American’s Melinda Werner wrote an article recently about the importance of play. 

This is the core philosophy of our cooperative preschool where 50% of our classroom time is alloted to the “imaginative and rambunctious” play to which the article refers. Children are allowed to move freely through our four stations, which are equipped with a variety of fun activities, choosing what they’d like to do, from art to sensory to playdough blocks and dramatic role-playing. 

We’re glad someone agrees!

As our co-op (the Duvall Cooperative Preschool, you might’ve heard of it ) heads towards its third year, I thought it’d be a good time to talk a little about our setup and my own experience before I put it off again.

Some of you might remember about three Mothers of Duvall Preschool Fairs ago, a lady from Lake Washington Technical College came and participated in our fair to check out interest for a cooperative preschool. She got 50 names and mine was one of them.

Before I knew what was what, I was roped into setting up an entire preschool from scratch. Together with two other ladies, Sara and Ana, we looked for sites, negotiated leases, wrote organizations for grants, interviewed teachers, collected donations of furniture and then lugged those chairs and tables and cabinets halfway across the county to our school.

As you can imagine, it was challenging work for three women who had no experience setting up a school (two of us aren’t even from here!). But our different backgrounds, tied together with our determination to make the preschool a reality, gave a surprisingly strong momentum to the setting up of DCP.

Looking back, I think I must’ve lost my mind a little. What a huge endeavor it was! But when we were there, knee-deep in wooden blocks and glue sticks and emails and time away from our families (unpaid!), it never for a moment occurred to us that it couldn’t work. It HAD to work because we’d already spent so much time and energy on it, and we were not about to throw it all away.

All new projects have teething problems, unfortunate situations that crop up due to any number of reasons. And in a small city like Duvall, these problems tend to be magnified and sometimes, blown out of proportion. It’s expected, though. We can only focus on the things we can control, fix or improve, and I believe that’s the right approach not just to survive, but thrive.

And through it all, our first board, and then our second, our SUPER-dedicated teachers and our extraordinary member parents – our cooperative thrived.

Two classes, 26 students, 20 families. It’s more than we could’ve asked for so I would call it success, because the friends my child has made, and the connections I’ve fostered with some of the parents – they’ve become more than fellow co-op members and neighbors. They’ve become my very close friends, family I can depend on in a crunch, which is something I appreciate beyond words being a foreigner here.

I think aside from being very affordable (something we can use during these tough times), DCP offers quality preschool education that focuses on social development and letting kids learn through play. We have a great location at the Community Center thanks to the generosity of our city, where we will most likely stay for a while unless someone is kind enough to lease us a good space for a low rate (have you seen our fees?!).

Most importantly, we have the best preschool teachers whom I think are Duvall’s best kept secrets.They are committed, dedicated, pillars of our community and our preschool, while boards and members will come and go with each year.

If you haven’t considered a place for your child, come visit us this coming Monday Feb 23 from 7-8pm, or give our registrar Amanda a call to schedule a visit during one of our school sessions. She can be reached at (425) 420-7063 or akindregan@gmail.com.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how far we’ve come.

Thanks for reading and all the best,
Jennifer Tai