New Schedule | 1/13 – 1/24

Clyde’s Corner | January 2025

Monthly Updates:

Our Staff Christmas party was a blast, thank you everyone for coming and have a good time!
Throughout the next couple of months we will be revamping our Extracurricular programs! These 8 different extracurriculars were always meant to be a staple at The Barn and something that sets us apart. That being said, we are finally in a position to create more structure around these. We will be bringing on more professionals for each of these programs and will begin to offer them daily, instead of sporadically throughout the months. This will be a process as we find the best fit professionals so be on the lookout for more updates. We are also in the midst of creating new classroom schedules to accommodate these daily. Over the course of this month, teachers will be trying out new schedules and we will send finalized ones once we find what works for the center as a whole.
In order to help keep our furniture in good condition and to last longer, we are asking that all teachers refrain from sitting on tables or shelving units. Please only use chairs to sit on and if you need more to accommodate, please let admin know.
We will now be deep cleaning our tables and chairs nightly with a bucket of hot soapy water and a rag prior to sanitizing them for the night. This will help get off any leftover gunk from lunch, snack, sensory play, and art. Please make sure to fully wipe down all tables and chairs top, bottom, front, back, and sides. There is a bucket in the cleaning closet and you all know where the rags are, let us know if you have any questions!
Closing playgrounds: Please make sure that when we are closing playgrounds we are making sure that we are leaving them neat and clean. The below items are what should be completed nightly to properly close these down:
- Sanitize all toys
- Cover all shelving units and close sensory bin lids
- Park all cars
- Put away ALL toys
- Lock gates
Our next MANDATORY staff meeting will be held on Tuesday January 28th from 6 - 8 pm. Please let Ashley know if you have any conflicts.
It was so much fun to display your student's artwork at the Belmar Library and if you did not get the chance to stop by and see it, you can check it out below!

Exciting News!

As many of you know, Ms. Alicia has been working very hard over the course of the past 6 months to gain her credentials and some experience on the administration side of ECE. A few months back she received her Large Center Director Qualification and has been taking classes to gain more knowledge on coaching ECE teachers. She is an incredible educator and I am trilled to announce that she will begin to make her transition into the fulltime director role at The Big Red Barn. This will be a slow transition as we find the best fit replacement within the Porcupette room to partner with Ms. Emily, and do not worry Ms. Alicia will never be far from our classrooms. Please make sure to give her a big congratulations the next time you see her as this has taken a lot of hard work and dedication.

New Schedule | 12/30 – 1/10

New Schedule | 12/16 – 12/27

Clyde’s Corner | December 2024

Monthly Updates:

Thanksgiving Dinner Sensory Style was a hit! Thank you all for helping make this such a fun event for our students and parents!
Our Halloween costume winners are.......... Winnie the Poohs and Piglet! Congrats Jenny, Alicia, and Hailey and thank you all for making Halloween a a fun event! All the costumes looked great!
Our Staff Christmas Party will be held on December 21st🎄 Time and location TBD, Significant others are welcome!
The Big Red Barn library mural will be up for the entire month of December! Make sure to stop by to see all your hard work come to life! Thank you everyone for helping create amazing art that truly embodies what we are all about. I am so excited to show it off to our Lakewood community!
The Christmas Recital🦌 will be held on December 7th at 2:30 pm. We would love to have you all attend and help support your children through the recital, but this is not a requirement. Please let us know if you will be able to make it! If possible, staff are welcome to come by around 2:00 pm to help with set up. Thank you Ms. Dom for all your hard work in organizing this!
- Location: 9142 W Ken Caryl Ave, Littleton CO
We will be CLOSED December 25th - January 1st for our winter break. We will also be closing early on December 24th at 3:00 pm. Merry Christmas and enjoy your break! Just a reminder, you have to be with us for 90 days in order to get paid for holidays or school closures. If you call in the day before or the day after a closure, your forfeit your holiday pay.
Classroom Christmas Parties will be held on December 24th from 10:30 am - 11:30 am. We will have a special visit from Santa Claus himself🎅

Expansion Updates

Due to a few permitting issues, The Little Red Barn expansion has been slightly delayed. We hope to still be open by February, but it all depends on the city and how quickly they process things. We will be in touch with any new big updates, but for the time being we are on a slight hold. On a more exciting note, Ms. Jayna is coming back to prepare for the expansion and Ms. Dom will begin her transition out of the classroom! We will have a lot of transitions over the next few months and will need all hands on board to make it go smoothly! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns

Reminders:

Please make sure to shake ALL FOOD off of plates and bibs prior to placing them in the dirty dish bins. This will take a few seconds in the classroom, but will help significantly for the staff member who is cleaning the dishes. Please also make sure all milk cups are poured out prior to placing in bins as well.
Laundry schedule reminder (we as admin will also start being better about brining laundry bins up on these days). Laundering soft toys will help reduce germs and hopefully get this sickness out of The Barn!
- Monday - TODDLER soft toys
- Tuesday - PRESCHOOL soft toys
- Wednesday - PRE-K soft toys
- Thursday - all INFANT laundry (soft toys and sheets)
- Friday - Sheets and blankets for Toddlers, Preschool, and Pre-K
Please do your part in helping keep our staff bathroom clean. We all use it, so we can all play our part! We have cleaning supplies in the bathroom at all times, so even it it is just a quick wipe down of the toilet seat or sink it will help a great deal when we go to deep clean! Also, if you notice we are low on toilet paper, paper towel, or soap please help us restock. Thank you!
Please make sure all material bins get put back nightly in the correct alphabetically ordered spot!
If you have read this newsletter please bring Alicia a piece of red paper.
Make sure playgrounds are being disinfected nightly, so we can keep up on germs outside as well as inside our classrooms.
Make sure to keep up with checklists WEEKLY and save examples of work WEEKLY to make sure we are staying on top of conference items. This will save you all in the long run and make it easier the next time parent teacher-conferences come around
Please do not let anyone inside The Big Red Barn that you do not know! If there is someone walking in at the same time, or you see someone at the door when walking past, please make sure to grab someone from the Administrative team. There have been times that people sneak in with classes or staff members and then are left waiting at the front desk. NO ONE that we do not know should EVER be left alone in our building AT ANY TIME.
Also, popcorn is now outlawed at The Barn (thanks Kathleen!)😂

New Schedule | 12/2 – 12/13

New Schedule | 11/18 – 11/29

New Schedule | Week of 11/11

Clyde’s Corner | November 2024

🍂🍁 November 🍁🍂

November is a month that reminds us to be grateful for all that we have and this year there is definitely a lot to be grateful for! Not only are we coming up on our 1st Anniversary of operation, but we also have an exciting expansion on the horizon! This year has flown by and so many core memories have been created here at The Barn. Make sure to count your blessings and tell those around you and in your classrooms how thankful you are for them!

Monthly Updates:

Our 1st Annual Oktoberfest and Chili Cook Off was amazing! Thank you to those staff members that were able to make it and we missed those of you who couldn't!
- Drumroll please🥁....... Congrats to the Wiles family for taking 1st place🏆 in our Chili Cook Off 🥳 Coming in second place we have the Wolfe family! Thank you to everyone who participated, we ended up having 9 chilis!
Truck-Or-Treat🎃 was also a hit! Costume winners to be announced after we collect parent votes, so stay tuned!
Parent Teacher Conferences are just 2 days away! Thank you all so much for all your efforts to prepare for this! You all did an amazing job and I am so excited for you to share your portfolios with your parents! Please let us know if you have any last minute questions!
Please let admin know if you would ever like to work a Parent's Night Out. We will compile a list and rotate through staff when needed!
Thanksgiving Classroom Parties🦃 will be on November 27th at 3:30 pm, parents are invited! We will be hosting a Thanksgiving Feast🍗, but sensory edition👃🤚👁️👂🍴! Get ready to get messy in a mashed potato sensory bin, or get your noses ready to guess your favorite Thanksgiving scents! This may be the best ever Thanksgiving Party to be hosted, so get ready!
Our Staff Big Red Barn Thanksgiving Dinner🍴🦃 will be on November 17th from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Ashley's house!
- Location: 1661 S Cole St Unit B4 Lakewood CO 80228
- Please fill out this linked sheet with your name and dish that you will be bringing!
- I would like this event to be more intimate with just our Big Red Barn staff family. Significant others will however be invited to our Christmas Party!
We will be CLOSED on Thursday November 28th and Friday November 29th for Thanksgiving. Enjoy your long weekend!
We shared an expansion update with the families so everyone knows about The Little Red Barn! Please let me know if families ask you any questions so I can follow up with them

Speaking of The Little Red Barn........... we have a big announcement!!! Ms. Dom will be taking over the Director role at The Little Red Barn Nursery. Ms. Dom was made for this role and after being an infant teacher for 4 years, an Infant Nursery Supervisor for 3, and The Big Red Barn's Assistant Director for the past year, she is finally ready to take the reigns herself! She is so excited to be taking this next step, and with Ms. Dom running things, you can guarantee the infant program will continue to thrive in our new location. Please help us welcome her into this new role, and feel free to stop by the infant room at any time for a quick congratulatory hug (or fist bump if you more into that😂)

Reminders:

I think we have gotten into a good routine closing wise with our new 4 10s schedule! Thank you to everyone for being patient while we ironed out the details! Just remember to be working on as many closing duties as you can prior to losing all your kiddos so we just have mopping at the end!
Even though we have our new mops, please make sure to continue to use your small classroom mops throughout the day (ie. after snacks and lunch, after sensory play, etc.)
Since we have all our staff closing every night, we will continue to rotate asking for help with dishes and toys! Now that we have Harold and Anna onboard we will have much more flexibility rotating through all classrooms for this. Thank you to everyone who has been helping with this the past few weeks!
Make sure you are taking your full hour break
I have been very impressed with how much you all are getting done in the mornings, please keep up the amazing work!
Although parent teacher conferences are soon to be over that does not mean weekly observations and checklists stop! Keep up with these items so the next time conferences come around they are easy to prep for!
Please do not let anyone inside The Big Red Barn that you do not know! If there is someone walking in at the same time, or you see someone at the door when walking past, please make sure to grab someone from the Administrative team. There have been times that people sneak in with classes or staff members and then are left waiting at the front desk. NO ONE that we do not know should EVER be left alone in our building AT ANY TIME.

Upcoming December Events:

You are invited to The Big Red Barn's Winter Recital❄️ As you all know Ms. Dom has been working with the kiddos to prepare them for their winter recital! We will be doing Music with Munchkins weekly for the next 2 months to prepare for our kiddos for this event. All of our children will be participating, so make sure to reserve Saturday December 7th from 2-3 pm, we hope you all can make it, but it is not required of you all to be there.
SANTA IS COMING TO TOWN🎅 Our Christmas parties will be on Tuesday December 24th and we will have a special visit from Santa himself!
We will be CLOSED for winter break from Wednesday December 25th through Wednesday January 1st and will have an EARLY RELEASE on Christmas Eve, Tuesday December 24th, where we will close at 3:00 pm!
Staff Christmas Party🎄will be held on December 21st so save the date! Significant others are invited, time and place TBD.