It’s been a year unlike any other for the Mary’s Little Lambs preschool in Estevan, but the children, their families and teacher Patty Ksenych have handled the adversity as well as could be expected.
Owner Mary Lawrence said they have 24 students in their four-year-old class who will graduate this year from the pre-school and move into kindergarten in the fall.
“This year, of course, has been quite different for our graduating class. We always have a spring concert and graduation ceremony that parents and grandparents come to, and Patty has taught the children about four or five songs.”
Then the graduates will receive their diploma. It’s been tough not having the ceremony this year, but the pre-school made changes to recognize their students.
“It was a different one (this year), but I was thinking of it as we were working on getting things together,” said Lawrence. “We’d be having all of the parents and the grandparents here, and the songs are so cute. It’s just too bad they didn’t get to perform them.”
This year the school had to have their graduation on video, so they prepared it in April, printed off all of the diplomas, attached a photo of the student to the diploma, and provided a few words on how the student did during the school year.
Both Lawrence and Ksenych believe that this year was a wonderful group of kids.
Before COVID-19 came to Saskatchewan in mid-March, their school year was going well. It was the first time in 10-15 years they didn’t have full classes. Often their classes are full, and they have a wait list. The ongoing economic challenges facing was a factor, Lawrence said.
And with the school divisions in town offering preschool classes, it has started to chip away at Mary’s Little Lamb’s enrolment.
Their capacity is 30 kids for their four-year-old age group. And they can have up to 20 three-year-olds; they had 18 three-year-olds this year.
Four-year-olds come twice a week for a two-hour class on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Three year-olds get one two-hour session a week on Wednesdays.
Their school year runs from early September to late May.
Lawrence praised Ksenych for her work with the children.
“She worked in the school system quite a few years ago, before we started. So she knows what the children need when they’re entering kindergarten, and she understands what they are expected to know, so she structures her classes for getting them ready for kindergarten,” said Lawrence.
When COVID-19 came to Saskatchewan in March, they were already hearing some concerns from parents about whether the preschool would remain open.
“Once they announced that all of the schools were closed, we closed, too,” said Lawrence.
Mary’s Little Lambs went to the parents to say they were willing to finish the school year online through some videos. Ksenych was will to teach the class without any children present.
Then they had to decide how they would get the videos to the parents. Ultimately they opted for a YouTube video, which meant the videos had to be private and parents needed an account.
“We decided we would make a monthly package for the parents with worksheets and art supplies, and we planned the whole month of classes and sent them everything they would need as far as supplies or sheets would go. And then we did a video once a week for the four-year-old class and the three-year-old class,” said Lawrence.
Ksenych went through the whole schedule as she normally would, reading to the kids, saying hi to them all and singing songs she had been teaching them.
“It was a lot more work for us, but it seemed to work out well. A lot of parents were really appreciative that we had done this.”
At the end of the school year, the kids also received a DVD, created by Teresa Stovin, with music and photos taken by Ksenych during the school year.
Parents have been very supportive throughout this situation, Lawrence said, sending pictures of children doing worksheets at home, and telling them how much they enjoyed the videos. And the children have done very well, too.
