By Joan Janzen
If you venture into the United Church at 502 Main Street, and head downstairs, you will be in for a treat. There you will find a spacious play area filled with everything children love … colourful tables and chairs, books, toys, games and bright decorations.
More importantly, you will find smiling, happy three and four-year-old children actively playing and participating in all kinds of activities. However, all this would not be possible without the leadership of their teacher, Roxanne Atkinson. While it’s true, the children look forward to coming to their class and enjoying all the fun, they also look forward to seeing their teacher.
Roxanne explained that playschool is often the first organized activity the children are involved in, so it’s more important than many people realize. As their teacher, Roxanne acknowledges the importance of her young students, and does her best to make their first classroom experience both memorable and enjoyable.
Every Monday you’ll find Roxanne in her happy place, preparing lessons and games for the upcoming week. She says she tries to bring variety into the activities. Even the abundance of snow invited some unexpected fun as the kids enjoyed an old fashioned snowball fight.
Roxanne has been teaching the playschool kids for the past five years, but she never gets tired of it. “I love the excitement, the fun, how proud the kids are of their crafts, and how glad they are about their special day when their mom and dad get to see them!” Roxanne said.
Parents get to come to playschool too! Once a month each child’s parent volunteers and brings a snack for the kids. It’s a great opportunity for their children to show their parents what playschool is all about. Parents also get invited to the annual Halloween parade and playschool graduation.
Two playschool classes run like clock work daily from Tuesday to Friday. Although classes are now limited to eleven children per class, Roxanne noted this was not always the case. Kindersley Playschool first began in the 1970’s, and Roxanne described what registration day for playschool looked like back then. She said parents began lining up at 7:00 in the morning to be sure they could enroll their kids in playschool.
Although many things have changed since Kindersley Playschool first began, Roxanne continues to offer the perfect balance between play and learning, and that is quite an achievement. She also has the support of seven board members who meet once a month to ensure everything continues to run smoothly.
Kindersley Playschool qualifies for a grant from the Town of Kindersley during the year. They also conduct two major fundraisers during the year to help keep tuition costs affordable.
“I love teaching the kids!” Roxanne says. And her young students love coming to see her at playschool class every week.
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