Stove Prairie preschool tightens bonds
By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News
Stove Prairie Elementary School preschoolers were marking Abraham Lincoln's
birthday by building tiny Lincoln Log cabins and gluing together Popsicle-stick
log houses on construction paper.
Teacher Brooke Pilkington told the rapt circle of nine preschoolers surrounding
her in a cozy corner of the media center how fortunate they are compared
to the 16th president. "He wasn't lucky like you to have a school so close,"
she said.
"We are lucky the preschool is up here," agreed parent Kristin Colard,
who was volunteering to help out Pilkington. Stove Prairie has come a long
way, she notes, since her father-in-law was a student there when it was
still a one-room school in the 1940s.
Stove Prairie Elementary continues to make progress with the new preschool
that has further bound together the already tight-tight mountain community
while better preparing its children for kindergarten.
And Stove Prairie will take another large leap into the future this summer
with an addition that will provide the painfully cramped school with a
new media center, classroom, office, small-group instruction rooms and
much-needed storage space.
Sponsored by the nonprofit Before and After School Enrichment Camp program
in cooperation with Poudre School District, the preschool operates during
school hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Preschoolers either ride
the school bus or are dropped off by parents. Ten already are enrolled
with room for another five.
The preschool program provides 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds a broad range of
activities to stimulate their academic, social and physical development.
Kathleen Edmiston, kindergarten and first-grade teacher for 10 years at
the school, said the preschool gives the children a real advantage when
they enter kindergarten. "I think it's going to make a big impact," she
said.
Perhaps equally important, the preschool provides an opportunity for the
community to come together in a place where neighbors often are few and
far away. "It helps us get together as parents," said Colard.
A teacher for seven years, Pilkington said she appreciates how the community
participates in the school. "The parents are all really involved. You wouldn't
get this in town," she said. "It's a very close group of people. If I need
a volunteer all I need to do is make a call."
In that regard, Pilkington is calling on "anyone with something to teach"
to participate in an after-school enrichment program sponsored by the school
district Tuesday through Thursday.
Reservations also are being accepted for free early childhood developmental
screening, which will be offered on the afternoon of April 1.
To make a reservation for the screening, volunteer, or get more information,
call Pilkington at the school 484-1482.
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