New Schedule | 9/8 – 9/19
Clyde’s Corner | September 2025
Welcome to Clyde's Corner
🍂Shalom September🍂
Needing some prayers? We got you! If you would like our Big Red Barn Prayer Team to pray for something specific, you can submit prayer requests here! Remember no prayer is too big for our God and with community in prayer, anything is possible❤️



Monthly Updates:
- We are no longer using Emergency doors for daily access. Please use the front door for all class transitions (please use them in an emergency though)
- This is a reminder to make sure you are keeping up with your kiddos portfolios and checklists! We will be hosting parent teacher conferences this Fall between October - November! Jenny and Alicia will be checking in to help you get started starting September 2nd! 🙂
- Cell Phones:
- The ONLY reason for staff to be on their phones while students are active is if they have access to B.W! (Only 1 teacher does at the moment) When you get on your phone, you take yourself out of ratio....your #1 priority MUST the safety of your kids......that starts with your full attention 🙂
- Shift Times
- Please make sure to show up to your shift on time. On time means 5 minutes early so you can get situated and be ready in your classroom before or at 7 am (or whenever you start).On time does NOT mean pulling into the parking lot at 7 am. Students get dropped off starting at 7am----teachers MUST be ready before students arrive!
- We are transitioning to a walkie talkie app on the tablets this month! Ms. Jenny and Alicia will introduce this to all teachers in hopes that our communication throughout the day will be smoother.
- As a reminder here are the schoolwide allergies in each classroom. It is everyone's responsibility to know these in order to keep our children as safe as possible.
- Nora Simmons - Peanut, Cashew, Pistachio, Eggs, Mustard, Sesame, Shrimp, Banana *Has EpiPen*
- Kaia Gehlhaus - Peanuts, Eggs, Tree Nuts *Has EpiPen*
- Supplies
- Teachers are in charge of notifying Admin. when we are low or out of supplies (art, curriculum, and cleaning materials) If you notice something is getting low... LET ADMIN KNOW!
- Any materials that are taken from the storage room must be put back DAILY! These are shared materials:)
- Closing the BRB
- We are a TEAM! Teachers are in charge of the closing the classroom in which they were scheduled to be in. However, closing is a team effort, so whenever you can, help other classrooms close once you are done.
- Please make sure you are trying your best to HUSTLE during closing procedures. Every classroom should be able to be completely closed by 6pm (most days) if teachers are doing proper pre-closing items. Please let admin know if you have any questions or concerns about the closing duties 🙂
- New Licensing Rules: To comply with Colorado's new rules and Regulations for the 2025-2026 school year......
- Name-To-Face:
- We ask that all teachers now document a "Name-To -Face" attendance on B.W. after transitioning to a new location
- Match a child to their picture on B.W and post a "Name-To-Face" for that child identifying that they are HERE when in the classroom and AWAY when outside
- For Example:
- when line up to go outside (in classroom)- identify your students as "HERE"
- when you get to the playground identify students as "AWAY"
- when you come back into your classroom identify students as "HERE"
- We ask that all teachers now document a "Name-To -Face" attendance on B.W. after transitioning to a new location
- All teachers must document every time you apply sunscreen to a kiddo on Bright Wheel (B.W.)
- Post a "Name-To-Face" to each child's B.W. with a note that says "Applied Sunscreen" after you have done so.
- Name-To-Face:
- Please give a Dad/Corny Joke (on a piece of paper) to Alicia to let your admin team know you read your newsletter!
- Conscious Discipline Implementation Plan
- To help everyone learn and customize Conscious Discipline to fit the needs of their class, Ashley and Alicia will be coming in for classroom visits that will help us help you!!! We will focus on implementing Conscious Discipline in Frog Street and throughout your school day. We will also help teachers create and meet their personal goals to bring Conscious Discipline into every aspect of the Big Red Barn!
- Class Schedules
- Please follow your class schedules--they are created very specifically to support the BRB values, help the school run smooth school wide, and so classes don't mix in bathrooms and in our outdoor spaces.
- Give your students time to transition
- If you are on the grass from 8:00-9:00 but circle time begins at 9 am on your schedule (maybe leave the playground at 8:45 so students are sitting down for circle time at 9)
- Give your students time to transition
- Please follow your class schedules--they are created very specifically to support the BRB values, help the school run smooth school wide, and so classes don't mix in bathrooms and in our outdoor spaces.
- Extracurriculars:
- We are adjusting our extracurriculars to better fit the needs of the BRB. Please check out the google calendar to see those changes 🙂
- FALL IS NEAR!!
- Colorado is about to P.M.S. in regards to weather. Please make sure BOTH you and your kiddos are properly prepared and dressed!
- A HUGE part of who the BRB is how much we get our students outside in rain, snow, or shine! Getting our students outside in various types of weather helps build resilience and help kiddos become more comfortable in the uncomfortable:)
- When the FEELS LIKE temperature is....
- BELOW 20 degrees: STAY INSIDE
- BEWTEEN 20-30 degrees: 15 minutes max outside
- ABOVE 30 degrees: Go outside for your allotted time
- We even go outside when it's actively precipitating (Admin will notify you if lightening is too close for outdoor play)
- When the FEELS LIKE temperature is....
- Outdoor Time:
- Please leave your classroom "Tour Ready" before going outside. This goes for the playground too! (All toys must be cleaned up before leaving the outdoor spaces)
- Outdoor time is not for sitting......PLAY...DANCE...SING...RUN!! Your kiddos want you to engage with them...get active and GET SILLY with your students.
- Being active also helps you keep your students safe because you are able to move around to see all areas of the play spaces.
- Payroll update: As a way yo create better flow in our business, we will be switching our payroll schedule from biweekly to semimonthly. This change will occur in October, so please take a look forward and budget accordingly. Beginning in October, you will be paid on the 5th and 20th of every month. If these days fall on a weekend or bank holiday, Ashley will make sure to run payroll early and get you paid the working day prior. Please let me know if you have any questions, below I have laid out what the next month of payment will look like to help you better prepare.
- You will be paid like usual on September 12th for hours worked 8/25-9/7 and on September 26th for hours worked 9/8-9/21
- On October 5th you will be paid for hours worked 9/22-9/30
- On October 20th you will be paid for hours worked 10/1-10/15
- Moving forward from there the pay period will be set up like this:
- For hours worked on the 1st-15th of each month, you will be paid out on the 2oth of each month
- For hours worked on the 16th-last day of the month, you will be paid out on the 5th of each month
- We will also be switching our payroll system from Gusto to ADP, so please be on the lookout for needed items to accomplish this.
Thank You Ms. Kathleen:
A BIG shoutout to Ms. Kathleen, who has been with The Big Red Barn before our building was complete. Friday September 5th is her last day. Ms. Kathleen has been the back bone of our school and has been one of Ashley's biggest advocator for her dream. The Barn will never be the same without you, but we know you won't be far away ❤️ Thank you for supporting everyone of us and for putting your heart into this school. WE LOVE YOU MS. KATHLEEN! ❤️

Upcoming Events:
- We will be CLOSED September 1st in observance of Labor Day
- As you all know, 9/5/25 is Ms. Kathleen's last day 🙁 Please help us celebrate MS.KATHLEEN and all she has done to help build this school from the ground up! On Friday (9/5/25) we will be going to Thirsty Bear Bar and Grill after work (starting around 6:30!) to celebrate her
- Grandparents Day Tea Parties will be held on September 15th from 3:30 - 4:30 pm.
- Our annual Oktoberfest and Chili Cook Off will be held on October 4th and will start at 4:00 pm!



Staffing Updates:
- This month, we are saying goodbye to Ms. Denise and Ms. Kathleen...but wish them the very best!❤️
- Please help us welcome Ms. Yay who will be in the Duckling classroom with Ms. Carmen! 🐥🥳
Upcoming Student Birthdays!🎂
Mirah | 9/9 Archer | 9/17 Ava | 9/18
Upcoming Staff Birthdays!🎂
Ms. Kathleen | 9/10
New Schedule | 8/25 – 9/5
Clyde’s Corner | August 2025
Welcome to Clyde's Corner
🌻 Welcome to the 2025-2026 School Year 🌻
Needing some prayers? We got you! If you would like our Big Red Barn Prayer Team to pray for something specific, you can submit prayer requests here! Remember no prayer is too big for our God and with community in prayer, anything is possible❤️



Monthly Updates:
- The new 2025-2026 school year calendar items have been placed on our employee calendar! You can access this on the staff portal and every staff member has been invited to add it to your personal google calendar. It is the lead teachers' responsibility to make sure they are keep up to date with deadlines listed on the is calendar. Please become familiar with using this calendar as a resource!
- Our new drop off policy of 8:30 am has been going well for the most part. Please let administration know if there are families that are consistently late and if it is effecting you class in any way
- This is a reminder to make sure you are keeping up with your kiddos portfolios and checklists! We will be hosting parent teacher conferences this Fall between October - November!
- Please make sure you are using your admin text groups for all communication. This helps our administrative team stay organized and helps us better know how to support you.
- Shit Times and Clocking In and Out:
- Please make sure to show up to your shift on time. We have had way too many staff members arriving between 10-30 minutes late everyday which is unacceptable. On time means in your classrooms ready for children at your allotted time, not clocking in and making coffee at your allotted time.
- Staff members are not allowed to clock in more than 5 minutes prior to their shift unless explicitly okayed by administration.
- 15 minute breaks mean 15 minutes! We have had a lot of staff members extend these by 5 minutes which pushes our breaker back and sometimes limits other staff members for their breaks. Please help us stay on track by taking only 15 minutes.
- Please also make sure you are taking your full hour lunch break and not clocking in early, you deserve the break and need the time so take it!
- We are no longer allowing staff members to release children from the playground unless their parent is present. This means no allowing children to run up the stairs to their parents. Parents must come down to physically take their child.
- Please make sure you always have your walkie talkie on you! We will be phasing these out over the next few weeks and moving to a walkie talkie app, but in the meantime these are important in case of an emergency!
- Now that we have run out of our initial smaller paint bottles Ashley will be purchasing large gallons. These are not to be taken into the classrooms as they are shared by all classrooms. Please use the dixie cups stored on the same shelf to take what you need and try not to over pour as we want this paint to last as long as we can. Thank you!
- As a reminder here are the schoolwide allergies in each classroom. It is everyone's responsibility to know these in order to keep our children as safe as possible.
- Cohen Rogers🐓 - Dairy Intolerance
- Colin Johnson🦙 - Peanut, Cashew, Pistachio, Milk, Eggs *Has EpiPen*
- Nora Simmons 🦙 - Peanut, Cashew, Pistachio, Eggs, Mustard, Sesame, Shrimp, Banana *Has EpiPen*
- Kaia Gehlhaus 🐤 - Peanuts, Eggs, Tree Nuts *Has EpiPen*
- Storage Room:
- Ashley spent a good chunk of time over the last few weeks and during the break to reorganize and clean up the storage room! Please make sure to help keep it looking clean and organized
- Any materials that are taken from the storage room must be put back DAILY! These are shared materials and it is too often that we can not find something because it hasn't been placed back in its spot
- If you don't know where something goes ASK! Please do not just throw materials in places if you do not know where they go because that is how the storage room becomes cluttered and disorganized.
- All bin materials on the East wall are in alphabetical order so it is easier to find things. Please put materials back in this same way.
- The 2025-2026 School Year Employee Handbook has been updated. Please make sure to read over the new handbook and once complete please see Jenny or Alicia to sign off that you acknowledge the changes! To make it easier since I know the handbook is quite long I have broke out the specific changes that were made. Please let us know if you have any questions!
- Section 1.5 | Classroom & Ratios - We are officially relicensed to have 9 toddlers aged 1-3 years old in the Duckling classroom!
- Section 3.1 | Required Trainings - All staff are now required to be trained on how to use a fire extinguisher and must have 1 credit hour in child development.
- Please watch this short video on how to use an extinguisher and tell either Alicia or Jenny the acronym used to remember the proper steps of using an extinguisher.
- Section 5.2.3 | Paid Holidays and School Breaks
- Our summer break will now be scheduled annually for the weeks prior to Jeffco Public Schools. These dates will be released annually and are now posted on the Employee Calendar.
- Moving forward, beginning with the 2025 Winter Break, staff will now be paid 50% of their salary for our 2 week closures (summer and winter breaks). In full transparency, I can no longer afford to pay out full salaries without significant impacts on the business. Please make sure to plan accordingly for these week breaks! However, as a benefit to longevity with the company, once you hit 3 years with us you will recieve 100% of your salary for these weeks off.
- We have also added 2 teacher planning and prep days into our school closure list🥳 These will be days where children are not attending, but staff are required to be in person for training, deep cleaning, classroom and curriculum prep and planning, etc. For the 2025-2026 school year these dates are October 13th and February 16th.



Upcoming Events:
- We will be CLOSED September 1st in observance of Labor Day
- Grandparents Day Tea Parties will be held on September 15th from 3:30 - 4:30 pm. Please have supply lists for gift to Ashley no later than August 15th!
- Our annual Oktoberfest and Chili Cook Off will be held on October 4th and will start at 4:00 pm!



Upcoming Student Birthdays!🎂
Colin | 8/5 Maeve | 8/12 Kuba | 8/22
Upcoming Staff Birthdays!🎂
Ms. Silvia | 8/9
New Schedule | 8/11 – 8/22
New Schedule | 7/28 – 8/8
New Schedule | 7/14 – 7/25
New Schedule | 7/7 – 7/11
Clyde’s Corner | July 2025
Welcome to Clyde's Corner
We are Back😎
Needing some prayers? We got you! If you would like our Big Red Barn Prayer Team to pray for something specific, you can submit prayer requests here! Remember no prayer is too big for our God and with community in prayer, anything is possible❤️



We want to give a HUGE thank you to all our amazing donors. Our Natural playground has been one of our greatest additions and has brought so much to our program! We could not have done it without you all rallying together and supporting our cause and I will never be able to say thank you enough. For those who haven't seen our tribute on the stumps, I encourage you to check it out! Your legacy will forever be burned into our natural playground❤️ Also a big thank you to Ms. Alicia for taking the time to wood burn the stumps!




Monthly Updates:
- Field Day will be held on July 9th from 9:00 - 11:30 am! Pizza and popsicles will be provided and families are more than welcome to come!
- We are going to start hosting Splash Day's weekly starting on July 15th! Following July Splash Day dates: July 23rd and July 28th. Parents are to pack a swim suit, swim diaper if their child is not potty trained and water shoes (optional, they can be barefoot if they want). We will have sprinklers and fun water stuff set up for the kiddos and these will be held on the natural playground during your extracurricular times.
- We will be CLOSED July 4th in observance of Independence Day.
- Our New Toddler Classroom and The Little Red Barn Nursery are now up and running and we hope to get back to being fully staffed and enrolled by August for the new school year! If you know of anyone who has a passion for teaching littles please refer them our way🥰
- Natural Playground: As we are trying to nurse our grass back to life please do not sit on the concrete curb as that grass is looking a little sad! Please also keep children from playing in the swampy areas of the grass!
- Our new drop off policy of 8:30 am has been going well for the most part. Please let administration know if there are families that are consistently late and if it is effecting you class in any way
- Heat Alert! With the hot days it is extremely important that we are checking the temperatures of the slide, sand, bricks, and toddler playground tiles to keep our children safe from burns! If it is too hot for your hand the children should not be allowed on it!
- This is a reminder to make sure you are keeping up with your kiddos portfolios and checklists!



Upcoming August Events:
- Graduation will be held on August 1st! Due to many of our graduates leaving prior to the summer, we do not have as many as many August Graduates as we thought we would, so we will host an afternoon party during the school day to celebrate them! We will not be hosting an actual ceremony. Families are welcome!
- We will be CLOSED August 4th-8th for Summer Break
- Our New School Year will start when we get back from vacation on August 11th. Be on the lookout for new classroom rosters for the new school year!



Staffing Updates
Ms. Jenny will officially be transitioning into her Assistant Director role upon her return from vacation and will begin the role fulltime with the new school year on August 11th. We are so proud of all of her growth over the last year, and and can not wait to see how she touches all the classrooms. Ms. Jenny was our founding teacher in the Rowdy Rooster classroom and has pour her whole heart into those Pre-K students. She has such a passion for making sure every student feels seen and supported and this is why she will make an incredible administrator!


Meet Ms. Whitney! Our new lead Pre-K Teacher🥳 Check out her Bio here.
Meet Sharon and Jordan! Both are nursing students and have quite the passion for caring for others❤️ As support teachers they will mainly help with daily lunch breaks and subbing!


Meet Mr. Jonah! While he can only be with us for the summer until he has to get back to his 3rd grade class, Mr. Jonah has been such a light to our Preschool and Pre-K classrooms!
Upcoming Student Birthdays!🎂
AJ | 7/5 Serena | 7/8
Lyncoln | 7/17 Benji | 7/21 Niko | 7/28
Upcoming Staff Birthdays!🎂
Ms. Jenny | 7/3