Updates – Sunflower Preschool LLC

We use this “Updates” space to post ongoing updates about the space and program.

Thursday April 30, 2026 — The Sun Has Begun! Let’s Talk Strategy.

Hi Families,

The sun is on the rise. Feels like a good time to review our strategies to block the sun.

First, we love getting doses of Vitamin D. *And* our licensing calls for sun protection when the UV index goes above “4” so that’s a key data point for our choices.

Second, last year we tried out a triple play — shirts, hats, and shade devices — and we’ll largely continue that this season.

the impact is immediate (we don’t have to wait 20 minutes for it to sink in)
the protection is discernible (we can scan across the play yard and quickly see who is protected, rather than the sunblock checklist)
the products don’t expire (we’re not allowed to put expired sunscreen on children; shirts and hats and umbrellas do not expire).

Third, if you want your child to have sunscreen on from the first moment of the day, please put it on before they are in our care.

Fourth, if you want us to apply a particular brand of product to your child’s skin, please provide it — a current product, labeled with your child’s name — and we’ll put it into our locked box. Sunscreen is considered a flavor of medication and so we treat it as such, getting medication forms signed and storing it out of reach of the children. On a related note, I’ll be going through all of our “tub of tubes” of sunblock either tomorrow or over the weekend to have an updated list. If your child has expired sunscreen in our bin, I’ll give it back to you (so you can use it!).

Fifth, we have a generic sunscreen on hand as the “Sunflower Sunblock” for those situations when we might need it (necks, noses, exposed, and if we don’t have anything personal in our quiver).

As ever, if there’s anything unique to your or your child’s needs, please reach out so we can have further conversation.

Best,
Meredith & Crew

Forwarding PFA Information about the Application Process (Thursday April 2, 2026)

Where do families apply?

Families can apply online at pfa.multco.us.
If families can’t apply online and need help, click here to find Family Navigators who can apply on their behalf.

Who is eligible for PFA?

There are just two eligibility requirements to participate in PFA. Children must be 3 or 4 years old on or before September 1 of the preschool year, and have a parent or legal guardian living in Multnomah County.
Unsure if the child is eligible? Use the eligibility form on our website to check!

How do my families apply for PFA?

To apply for a COC PFA seat, currently enrolled and attending families must:

Submit a Preschool for All application by April 30, 2026 at 11:59 PM.
List your preschool site as their #1 preschool option on their application.
Mark that they are currently attending your preschool site (Step 3 on the application).

Families can watch PFA’s video for step-by-step guidance on submitting applications. Access it in English and Spanish.

Can families apply at any point throughout the preschool year for a COC seat?

No. Families eligible for COC seats must apply by April 30, 2026.
Once the COC application and placement round is closed, any unfilled COC seats will be available to the general public.

What if a COC seat opens up after the preschool year starts. Can I fill it with another family already in my program?

If a COC seat opens after the initial placement round, it is converted into a standard PFA seat available to the general public for the remainder of the program year.
COC seats are only applicable during the initial round of placements made; once a seat is open to the general public, it remains a standard seat for the program year.

Where do I view my list of COC applicants?

Log into the PFA Provider Portal often to check and confirm any pending COC applicant verifications.
Need help? We have a video to show you how to do the COC applicant verifications in the portal. Watch it in English or Spanish.

What if a child is missing from my list?

Children only appear on the list if the family listed your site as their first choice AND marked your site as currently enrolled and attending on their application.

What is the deadline for COC applicant verification?

Providers will have until the end of day May 5, 2026 to verify COC applicants.
Every single one of the COC applicants for your site will be considered for a COC seat by our application system, unless you confirm they are not currently enrolled and attending in the portal.

Important: Being on the list of COC applicants does not guarantee a PFA seat. If you have more than one PFA preschool with COC seats, a list for each location will be available in the portal.

Please refer to the following resources for more information about COC seats and the COC verification process:

Preschool for All Policy: Continuity of Care in English, Spanish, or Russian
Email sent from [email protected] on Mar 27, 2026, subject: Provider Portal Training #2: COC Verification Video, Drop-in dates & Handbook.

For application, PFA Provider Portal or COC verification questions, contact [email protected] or call 503-988-7818.

Thank you!

Tuesday March 24, 2026: Preschool for All Application Process will be April 1-30, 2026

Hi Families,

I just finished up another Preschool for All (PFA) training. The PFA process will open soon (10am on April 1, 2026). YOU DO NOT NEED TO RUSH — all applications are considered the same whether you apply on April 1st or April 30th or in-between. Here is what you need to know about the Continuity of Care (COC) slots that are available for children who are currently enrolled and attending our school:

apply between April 1-30 (www.pfa.multco.us)
rank Sunflower Preschool as your #1 choice
mark that you are currently attending

Do all of those 3 steps. Then on my end I will verify that your child is already a student. Then PFA will float your application to the top of the applicants as a COC application. Our next “Pretzel Hang” is Wednesday April 22nd. Let’s call it a “Pretzels and PFA” theme — and we can talk more about anything that might have come up for you during the PFA application process.

Cheers!
Meredith & Crew

Sunday March 8, 2026 (Turn Clocks Forward!)(Some Notes On What We’re Seeing in the Group)

Hello. Over the coming weeks we’ll have Parent Teacher Conversations (I’m shifting from “Conferences” to “Conversations” because it seems more appropriate). I thought it’d be helpful to call forward a few dynamics from the Sunflower Preschool play yard.

WE ARE OUTSIDE A *LOT*

We are outside at least 1 hour per day. It’s typically more like 2-5 hours. By summer we’ll be outside for most of the day (~7 hrs), going inside only for rest and snack. I’m proud of this, especially in light of conversations with other teachers and parents who know of schools that are outside a *maximum* of 1 hour per day (!) . With the wet weather we’ve been having we’ve sent home quite a few bags of wet and muddy clothes. That’s just fine with us. And we’re glad you all are open to your child getting “gritty”. 🙂

THE CHILDREN’S PLAY STYLES ARE EVOLVING

Did you know that there are different play styles? Here are a few snapshots, general age ranges, and examples:

Unoccupied (infant): kicking, waving hands, grabbing toes
Solitary (3 mo-2yr): looking at books; stacking blocks; pouring
Onlooker (2-3yr): watching; making observations
Parallel (2+ yr): side by side, but not together; coloring next to each other
Associative (3-4yr): more overlap; playing with the same blocks
Cooperative (4+yr): working together with a common goal; building forts (together); role plays; etc

If you google “stages of play development in early childhood” you’ll find a quiver of articles. The main things to note that at Sunflower:

We are still coaching them on play cues (e.g. “Do you want to play with me?” or more specifically, “Do you want to be a dragon with me?” or whatever they are playing).
The children are moving into the “cooperative” play stage, coupled with flourishing imaginations.
There’s a fair bit of conflict. Which is great! It is through this play that they learn how to navigate conflict. Here’s an example:
- a child starts moving rocks from the rock tree to the cycle track. We’ll ask, “What’s your plan?” And they might reply, “I’m blocking the cycle track.” And then, if someone is starting to bike around the track, they might stop. And we might ask, “What’s your plan?” And they might reply, “I’m trying to bike on the cycle track. But it’s blocked.” To which we might ask, “What are your options?” And then, if they’re feeling stuck, talk them through their options:
  - could you turn around and go to the other way?
  - could you go around the barricade?
  - could you ask the barricade builders to remove their stones?
  - could you remove the barricade yourself?
  - we might ask the barricade builders, “Did you check in with the bike riders if they want a barricade? Maybe check in with them.” And if the bikers do *not* want a barricade, further brainstorm solutions,
    - could you remove half of the barricade, so one half is blocked, and the other half can have bike traffic?
    - would it be fun to have the “stop/slow” sign? And signal when bikers could go past?

It’s fluid and evolves. We try to do lots of open-ended conversations and prompts to help them navigate themselves and their playing. There is so much learning that is done through this type of communication and conflict resolution.

THE FRIEND/PLAY CONVERSATION/AWARENESS IS STILL GENTLY PERCOLATING

The children will still occasionally ask, “Are you my friend?”

We try to redirect that to a more specific ask, “Do you want to play with me right now?”

And then try to add in a few softer statements, such as, “Even if someone doesn’t want to play with you right now, they are likely still your friend.” And, “You can try asking them to play again, later.”

RISK ASSESSMENT / RISK MANAGEMENT

The children are enjoying taking age-appropriate risks. They are climbing, jumping, running oh-so-fast. One area of interest has been the plank-placed-between-two-logs, or climbing on the play hive. Again, we try to narrate and coach with open-ended questions (if we think anything needs tweaking). An example of how a dialogue might play out:

I see you starting to walk out over that plank (or climb up the play hive). If you fell, what would you land on? (the bike)
Ahhh, and if you landed on the bike, how would that feel? (not good; it would hurt, both yourself and the bike)
Do you think you should move it? (they get off and move the bike)
Ahhh, now I see you starting to walk out over that plank. And if you fall, it will be smooth ground. Strong work. You can do dangerous things, so long as you do them safely. Keep breathing. <pause, as they make their way across the plank> Wow, you made it to the other side! How did that feel? <validate their feeling> <if they fall while making their way> “Wow, you fell! Nice fall. What are you going to do next?”
Things like that. Creating a safe space for them and the things and people around them. Talking about safety as a dynamic set of variables: there’s a different risk profile for crossing a plank on the ground v. crossing a plank at height v. crossing a wet plank at height v. crossing a wet plank at height while running, etc. Our work is to help them do risk assessment, and make commensurate cautious choices.

THE ANNEX FIELD IS SO MUCH FUN!

The plain grass field adjacent to the play yard — we’ve been calling it the “annex” or “field” — is so much fun. The kids have been loving running around on it, especially on sunny days. They roll. They jump. They chase. We play tag. We bought some stomp rockets and have been having fun popping them over the fence (and having other children collect the rockets with another teacher in that play yard). I showed them a cartwheel and they were thrilled.

It kind of cracks me up how much joy they are getting in that field; it could not be more plain: it’s a rectangle of grass, surrounded by fences. But they love it. Probably because we don’t normally get to go over there. Anyways, more adventures will unfold.

That’s probably enough for now. Onwards!

xo
Meredith

Friday January 30, 2026 (Whew! It’s really 2026.)

Dear Parents,

It’s been a minute since I wrote. Time for a few updates.

First off, yay for a strong and awesome team! We had a Team Meeting the other evening and it was so nice to look around the table and see such a warm and wonderful group of individuals. It is important to have a strong team in almost any work place environment, but it feels especially so in this context. I am psyched to be surrounded by such patient, kind, caring, communicative individuals. Check out our updated team page when you have a moment.

Second, yay for all of YOU! This is a great group of parents. You see us. You are kind and caring towards us. When you are feeling curious, you ask questions. And when you might be feeling critical, you find some curiosity. Thank you! And you are taking your child(ren)’s childhood(s) in stride. This is a tough chapter! You are doing great. Keep going. Thank you for your partnership in this journey.

Third, a few things going on at school. The main one is some talk and activities around love languages. Call it “curriculum” if you like. Hopefully it will build on all of the conversations about how friendships can be fluid. You can show love in so many ways! We’ve presented the main ones — language, acts of service, touch (in this context we’re talking about holding hands and giving consensual hugs), time together, and words of affirmation — with the poster on the right. And we’re putting them in action: we’ve created little bags for each child and will present some open-ended play cues (think: card stock, markers, heart stickers) around creating expressions of love for loved ones. We’ll assemble items over the next couple weeks, and put them into their bags as we go. We’ll send the bags home near Valentine’s Day.

Speaking of which, Valentine’s Day. If you *do not* want to create Valentines, THAT’S JUST FINE (I am not particularly crafty, nor was our older child, and it just seemed like a bad use of our time/money/energy when he was ages 2/3/4). And if you and your child *do* want to create Valentines, that’s great (our younger child, whom y’all know, is all about crafts and gifts, so cranking out a bunch of cards feels good to her). Anyways, I’ll send a list of all the kids’ names in the class via ProCare. Please DELIVER ANY VALENTINES BY WED FEB 11 and we’ll pop them into the bags mentioned above that will get sent home with the children. And if that’s not in the (ha) cards, no worries whatsoever.

Fourth, calendar. All of the following can be found on the calendar page of the website, but I figured it helps to have reminders.

We’re CLOSED Mon Feb 16 (President’s Day).
We’re hosting a Flashlight Night on FRIDAY FEB 20 (6-8:45pm; $35; RSVP via ProCare)(it’s fun for the children, but hopefully it’s really fun for the parents!).
Looking further ahead, we’re CLOSED March 23-27 (Spring Break).
Even further ahead, we have an early closing on Thursday April 9 (3:30pm), followed by being CLOSED Friday April 10th. This is a bit strange and doesn’t align with PPS (sorry). We spliced this into the calendar many moons ago as a placeholder to get our trainings done in preparation for Preschool for All and other licensing requirements. Hopefully with so much advance warning (and this reminder) it won’t mess up anyone’s schedule too much. For whatever it’s worth, if you’re looking for an outing, I’ve heard the Gilbert House Children’s Museum in Salem is amazing.

Fifth, we’ve got Parent Teacher Conferences on the horizon (March). For this round we’ll be carving out 30 minutes to connect with parents — 10-10:30am online or 4:30-5pm in person. Not much formal is planned; the goal is mostly comparing notes about what we’re seeing at school and what parents are seeing at home, and discussing any supports or strategies that might be helpful on either end. The sign up clipboard is located on the entrance kiosk.

Alrighty, that’s probably enough for now. Thank you, and onwards!

*On ProCare, I try to keep almost all communications in the “Classroom Chat” so that everyone on the team can see all messages. Sometimes ProCare switches my message from the “Classroom Chat” to the “Office Chat”. Sorry about that and any toggling needed on your end. Ahh, communication.

Sunday November 2, 2025 (Daylight Savings!)

Hello Parents,

Here are a few updates in bulleted fashion with the important bits in bold.

Wow that Halloween event was so sweet. We got so lucky with the weather! My heart was soaring as I biked home afterwards.
It’s daylight savings time! If you haven’t yet already, turn those clocks back and watch it get lighter in the mornings (and darker in the evenings).
Thanks for being so awesome! We’ve been working with an early learning specialist at the school and she commented, “This is a special place.” She called forward specifically our offerings of sensory activities (so many), the children’s communication patterns (talking things through), our social-emotional language work (naming feelings), and steadiness of the team and community (such a team effort). Anyways, I’m certainly proud of what we’re creating in this space but it felt good to hear from someone else, especially someone who sees so many other programs.
The children are overall thriving. We hope you see this in the photos we try to send each day. We’re planning Parent-Teacher conferences for mid-January through February to share specifics with you on your child. More details to come. If you want to connect earlier please let us know and we’ll carve out time before the winter break.
Risk. It is so important to experience risk as a child so that they can learn/experience safety. As a childcare provider it is a delicate dance to offer risky play in a safe manner. Lately many of the children have been seeking out balancing behavior. They placed the Trex board across two low stumps and then carefully shuffle across. Others have been standing up on their bicycle seats (while the bike isn’t moving). Another example is climbing crates that a teacher had stacked into a tree shape for knocking down. In most cases we let the children play out the situation, or give a short, “stay focused” direction, such as the bicycle seats. In some, such as the crates, we’ll ask questions to help them do a risk assessment e.g. “Are those crates locked together or slippery?” (they were slippery) and “If you fall down where will you land?” (on a scooter). In that example, with those prompts, the child decided to move the scooter, lock in the crates to their ridges, and *then* resume climbing and jumping. When engaging in risky play, we’ll say, “You can do dangerous things, so long as you do them safely.” So if that expression makes its way home, that’s the origin.
Responsibility. Similar thing: it is so important to learn/experience taking responsibility. We give the children age-appropriate responsibilities. For example, we’ve been having the put their own bedding onto their cots, then put it away after rest. Or if they make a mistake such as spilling something in the kitchen, we’ll hand them a blue rag and ask them to clean it up. (We’ll sometimes model how to clean it up by spreading out our fingers.) I often say when a mess has been made, “It’s okay to make a mess, so long as you clean it up.” They seem to enjoy the responsibility. (And yes, we often do a deeper clean afterwards. But still, the responsibility and accountability muscles are building.)
Friendship. Playing. These are a big topics, and very much in their minds. “Are you my friend?” Is a common question currently. The other day we presented the concept of the elasticity of friendship the other day, using a rubber band and a bunch of different toys (a wooden duck, a stuffy, a wind up skeleton, etc). I first pointed out how the duck (the main character in this demonstration) most of all needed to be a friend to himself. The duck’s friendship could also be with others (stretching the elastic) to include the other toys. Also, the duck might be friends with the others, but the duck might want to play with only some at that time. You can be a friend so someone, but still want some space. We’re still building out our quiver, and as much as I don’t like screens I’m tempted to present some Daniel Tiger or Ms. Rachel on some dreary afternoons this winter to keep giving them tools (songs, awareness) of the fluidity of friendship. In the meantime, here are some things we say:
- “You can ask them to play. They will either say yes or no.”
- (If they say no) “It can feel hard when someone says they do not want to play. Maybe they will want to play later. Do you want to do x in the meantime?” (validate. provide a path forward. redirect.)

Final thing on this exceptionally long post: I’d like to call forward the possibility that we try to keep our dollars in the community, especially through the holiday season. It is SO easy to click on things online…. and I know lots of small stores in the area would appreciate those dollars.

A dollar spent at a local business recirculates more into the community’s economy compared to a dollar spent at a big box store, thanks to the local multiplier effect. Studies show that roughly $0.67-$0.70 of every dollar spent at a local business stays in the community, compared to about $0.30-$0.40 at a national chain. This reinvestment happens through local employees, suppliers, and charitable donations.

Two places I’d like to highlight are:

MomentsHaveYou in Woodstock. It’s in the BiMart parking lot. I don’t enjoy shopping, but I had a rare extra moment and went in on a whim (the bicycle outside called to me) and found myself delighted with so many lovely gifts and art, for all ages and stages. Scarves, cards, lego books, jewelry, funny socks, beautiful lanterns, calendars, books, puzzles and more, all tastefully arranged. I admired some of the art on a card and it turns out the owner, Nina, had made it! Anyways, if you want to get all of your shopping done in one place this might be it.
Shami Cafe at 72nd between Harold and Reedway. It’s across from the Mt. Scott Community Center (newly updated and oh so nice!) next to Space Monkey. It’s a “fast-casual restaurant in the Mt. Scott Arleta neighborhood serving fresh, delicious Syrian street food. Menu offers sandwiches, bowls, beer, wine, tea, Arabic coffee, etc. Incredible kids menu, family friendly.” It’s run by Wael and Nico, who are alum parents from Mud Pies Preschool. If you’re hungry after a swim or roller skating session (or just looking for delicious food), head there.

If you run (or know of) a small business locally that you’d like to promote in this community, please let me know so I can share details. Alrighty. Thanks for reading and see y’all on Monday!

Meredith

Sunday October 5, 2025 (a lovely fall day)

Hello! That was so much fun to have lovely weather on our “Pretzels and Cider” hang on Friday. Thanks for coming out. And the clothing swap will evolve.

CALENDAR RELATED – Closed 10/10; RSVP for Flashlight Night 10/17

Reminder – We are CLOSED this Friday October 10, 2025.
Reminder – We have a FLASHLIGHT NIGHT scheduled next Friday October 17, 2025. Can you please send an RSVP via ProCare if you plan to send your child? You pick up your child per usual, then drop them back off at 6pm (with jammies, toothbrush/toothpaste, and a flashlight) for glow sticks, dinner (likely pizza and veggies), books, and some gentle movies. Pick up by 8:45pm. It costs $35. It’s pretty fun.

HEALTH RELATED – Wash Hands!

Please reinforce handwashing technique with your child heading into the fall/winter — get those suds all over hands and between fingers *before* rinsing off. Here’s the visual in our bathroom (from the “Welcome to Preschool” book. As children head to the bathroom we say, “Pull up your sleeves” as the verbal cue to get them to start, as that’s the first step. Let me know if you’d like a copy for your bathroom at home.

GEAR RELATED – 20% off Cleverhood!

I ordered colorful anoraks for our teachers and a few more capes for the kids (they are so easy to throw on and effective for biking). I asked the company, Cleverhood, if they would give our parents a discount because our parents (and children) are so into walking and biking. They said YES! But they asked that you please not share the code with anyone else because they are a small company and rarely do sales. So shhhhh! If you go to Cleverhood and make a purchase, use the CODE “SunflowerPDX” for 20% off your order (!). They have all kinds of nice gear.

I think that’s it for now. Onwards!

Sunday September 14, 2025 (a soggy day)

Hi! Two quick things:

We’re sliding the Pretzels and Cider and Clothing Swap from Thursday October 2nd to Friday October 3rd (4:30-5:30pm). Please update your calendars.
For the clothing swap portion of that event I’m figuring out the best way to do it (and I’m sure it will evolve over the years). I think if everyone brings in their too-small clothes/shoes during the week, then we can sort-and-display them by Friday. If someone is looking for clothes and they cannot make it, just let us know and we’ll pull some options out. NOTE: there are 4 babies in the group (siblings of children in our program) so I think it makes sense to keep the options broad — let’s say 18mo through 6T as fair game? Personally, as a parent, we have benefited from neighbors that passed on their used clothing/shoes so it’s been so nice to not buy any clothing for our children. I am more than happy to facilitate the hand-me-down economy in our community (please mark the clothes once you have claimed them!). It will be a little bit of clothing chaos for a week, and then things will settle, as they do. And our “extra clothes” bin will be full.

Alrighty, onwards.

Monday September 1, 2025 (Labor Day)

Hello! Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend. Friday was a busy day at Sunflower with all the team present and sprucing up the place. You and your child will experience some improvements/updates in the play yard and inside. 🙂 We hope you are enjoying how it gets better and better each week/month, just as we do. We have come so far in this past year!

LICENSING
We are in the process of renewing our current license. A few rules have shifted. The ones most relevant to you are:

Parents need to review/update their child’s enrollment paperwork each year, and sign. So that paperwork will be in your cubby this week.
Unexplained cases of vomiting and diarrhea now require 48 hours of exclusion.
The rest of the usual exclusion criteria — fevers over 100.4 being the most common — still require 24 hours of being fever-free without the use of over-the-counter medication.

ENROLLMENT
We welcome two new children this week. One is a sibling of a current child. Another is a neighbor just a few houses down. I so love the community feel of our space. We’ll welcome a third new child the third week of September, and then we plan to hold steady at that level for a while.

As we said goodbye to our first graduate, we stumbled upon what might evolve into a tradition. She painted a picture on a giant cake board, signed it, and then we mounted it onto the far wall of the lower play area. I could see this becoming a “thing” — where anyone graduating our program would paint their own cake board and then their legacy, captured in artwork, could populate that far wall of the lower play room over time. 🙂 We shall see.

ACTIVITIES/LESSONS/GLEANINGS
On a somewhat related note, we’ve been doing some projects lately, and the children have wanted to participate. For example, they were very excited about assembling the big new excavator in the sandbox. So I invited them to “help” provided they didn’t touch the pieces (it would have been too bananas). I focused on the lesson under the lesson: from my vantage point they weren’t learning to assemble the excavator, but rather project management skills. I pointed out the first step of any project is to get organized (in this case we cleaned off our big project table). Then we focused on the fundamentals of getting it done: following directions! The same process happened when we assembled the giant shade umbrella together. And most recently the new water table base. We looked at diagrams. We examined the shape of parts and matched them to the diagrams. We counted screws. When we messed up, we backtracked and re-followed the directions, all the while I narrated/modeled successes, “Hey look! We did it! That looks great. Let’s keep going.” And failures, “Whoops! I made a mistake. Let me figure this out. I got it to step 4 okay, and then something changed. Oh, there it is! I missed that screw. Okay. I fixed my mistake. Here we go, onto step 5.” (I wish these mistakes were fabricated, but no, every time I assemble something I am humbled and re-learn to slow down and follow directions.)

On a related note, as I’ve been mounting more shelves (and new artwork!) I’ve needed to find studs. So we’ve talked about what they are behind the wall, and why you need them. And I showed them as I moved the stud buddy around on the wall, looking for framing hardware with its magnet.

Navigating feelings is an ongoing lesson: naming them, moving through them. We did a fire drill on Friday (as we do once per month) and gathered around the gate. Afterwards we debriefed and talked about how we practice things so that we can do them later, more easily. And how if there was a real fire, they would know to pay attention to their trusted grown up, and to keep breathing through any feelings of fear. So the lesson once again shifted: we’re not teaching them to walk to the gate but rather the deeper take home messages — practice tasks that might feel hard; when scared find someone you trust and pay attention; keep breathing; you can do hard things. On some level I believe these lessons are sinking in.

In sum, basically they are doing things that I finally learned in my 20s and 30s — identifying/navigating feelings, finding studs, and following directions to name a few — as 2-, 3-,and-4-year-olds. I am in awe of your wonderful, curious, and capable children.

CALENDAR/SCHEDULE
September can feel a little shaky, especially as new children adjust to our space. We’ll do our best to ease any transitions with all of our tools (e.g. offering to write a note; figuring out the best way they soothe; being consistent and steady and warm; etc). On the calendar front, looking further ahead, we posted a giant magnetic/whiteboard/calendar in the lower play area so you can see events on the horizon. Those include:

September – We are treading gently this month and don’t have any “formal” activities planned (not that we’ll ever be that formal!).
October 1st – Tuition goes up 3%. Thank you.
October 3rd – Pretzels and Cider (this is a FRIDAY). (rescheduled from Thursday the 2nd)
October 10th – We are CLOSED for a training (this is a Friday).
October 17th – Flashlight Night! We are planning to host a flashlight night for families from 6-8:40pm (this is a Friday). If new families are interested and want more details, please reach out. It’s basically evening childcare with glow sticks, food, jammies, and a short movie.
October 31st – Halloween Event (4:30-5:30). Something gentle and easy, like last year’s “trick or treat” stations (this is a Friday).

On a personal note, I have three logistical commitments that I’ll be navigating. First, throughout the fall I’ll be aiming to pick up our younger child (you know her; I’m just hesitant to post names online) from kindergarten most days at 3pm. I’ve figured out the staffing schedule so that I can honor this commitment most days and then be back at Sunflower for the 4pm-close section of the day. That should work out well. Second, I’ve agreed to coach our son’s 5th grade ultimate frisbee team for the fall season. It is so rewarding! And it stretches me a bit thin. Practices are Tuesday evenings so I will not be at Sunflower most Tuesday evenings for the next 11 weeks. Third, my mother is planning a visit and I will not be on site Monday Sept 15th. No action is required but I just wanted to let everyone know.

DISMOUNT
If anyone has any questions about anything at any time — the site, the children, my schedule, finances, safety, improvement projects, etc — please reach out and I will carve out time to connect. That should be enough for now. Thank you for reading. Onwards, with gratitude for this sweet community.

Meredith & Crew

Wednesday August 20, 2025 – Note to Preschool for All Listening Session

[Context: There was a PFA listening session. At the risk of getting backlash from PFA (they have this reputation with providers), I thought that it was worth sharing a few constructive ideas with them. I submitted the following.]

To Whom It May Concern,

I understand there is a Listening Session this evening regarding Preschool for All (PFA), and that written testimony is welcome in lieu of a speaking spot. I’d like to help PFA continue to improve on its journey to help families access free preschool in Multnomah County. I write from the perspective of an owner of two preschools — one currently with PFA slots and one that is awaiting slot allocation — and from watching PFA’s evolution over the past few years.

As I look through the PFA Program Guide v.04 I have targeted some items that stand out.

COMMENT 1: Late Pick-ups (p. 47) – I want to commend PFA for shifting its policy to allow programs to charge late fees outside of its contracted hours. That had felt awkward to not be able to do so.

COMMENT 2: Children of PFA Site Owners & PFA Staff. I am grateful that grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family members can have children in their family attend their own program in a PFA slot. Currently only parents of preschoolers who own their program are restricted in where they go (see p. 45). This part of the policy forces program owners who are also parents of 3- or 4- year-olds in Multnomah County to decide between PFA funding or having their own child in their own program (and, if they are working at that program, essentially seeing their child). I’m curious if PFA has considered allowing parents to have their own children in their own program in a PFA slot — and perhaps simply alerting PFA of any familial relationships. Perhaps this section of the policy could shift to language such as: “PFA Site Owners and PFA Staff: Preschool business owners shall inform PFA of any family members — of self or on team — that are in PFA slots.” This would allow for equal access for parents *and* provide transparency within the PFA program.

COMMENT 3: Slot Allocation (p. 63). I understand that PFA’s goal is to have universal preschool by 2030, per the ballot measure. It needs to grow its slots. I imagine PFA makes projections regarding slots and budget well in advance, and has some boundaries as in it cannot go above its budget. When adjacent PFA programs in our community have been closing, and we’ve asked to increase our slots for the upcoming contractual year (thus absorbing some of those lost slots) we’ve been told “no” due to budget constraints and logistics. I’m curious if it would be worth PFA’s time to identify the barriers to increasing slots in individual programs (when other programs’ slot numbers have gone down), and remove those barriers, in order to keep its net growth trajectory on track.

COMMENT 4: Complexity. My broad observation is that over the past few years PFA has built out a vast network of information and requirements that far exceeds what the ballot measure directed. Licensed programs — by their nature of being licensed in an incredibly heavily regulated business — implicitly do at least half of what is enclosed in PFA’s 73-page handbook. If PFA would be interested in streamlining its handbook, I know a handful of Providers that could quickly form a working group and get that done. An ancillary benefit could be that PFA could focus its operations on getting the taxpayer dollar money more efficiently into the hands of the parent/childcare community.

Thank you so much for your consideration of the above comments and suggestions.

Meredith Sorensen
Owner of Mud Pies Preschool (2019-current) and Sunflower Preschool (2024-current)

Thursday August 14, 2025 – Sweet Mealtimes, and Heavy Equipment as Our Love Language

Hey Parents,

Just taking a rare quiet moment to organize a few thoughts from the week.

First, mealtimes have felt extra sweet. During mornings we often talk about what’s happening during the day (who is coming, what activities we might do). Usually at some point the crows caw and we say, “Hello, Crow”. Things like that. We’ve talked about the new children who have joined our program, and friendly ways we can show up for them (e.g. “Would you like to play with me?” or “Would you like to see the fairy fort?”). We talked about how you usually have to feel safe and secure, and then you start to play. The empathy muscles are growing.

Second, I’ll say it: heavy equipment is one of our love languages. <3 Yesterday we got two new medium-sized excavators and dump trucks. The children were thrilled! And then we unboxed the Big New Thing: a ride-on excavator that stays in one place. It’s a scooper-and-dumper with levers that move a bucket, and the whole thing swivels around 360 degrees. So many things happened/are happening with this piece of equipment, bulleted out here:

We put the new excavator scooper together. Once again the lesson wasn’t the actual thing of putting this particular excavator together, but rather the skills underneath:
- making a clear work site when we cleared off the big table (getting organized)
- looking at the instruction booklet (following directions)
It’s a whisker too big for some of them!
- We talk about how they could ask another classmate to help them lift it (working together).
- We talk about how they are getting bigger and stronger, and if they keep trying they *will* one day be big and strong enough to operate it (growth mindset).
It is SO desired
- The “asking for next turn” muscle is getting further strengthened (communication).
- When children really really want a turn and they have to wait, we validate (that is such a hard feeling!) and point out that their patience muscle is growing (patience, navigating discomfort).
- We coach the children to that they can let the next child know they can have the next turn (communication; keeping warmth in the voice while holding a boundary).

Alrighty, onwards with another beautiful day.

Monday August 4, 2025 – Group Parent Teacher Conference!

Hello! We’re holding our first ever “Group Parent Teacher Conference” this week (Tues August 5th from 4:30-5:30pm). If a household cannot make it, no worries — we’ve written most of the content out (below) so that everyone can stay on the same page.

First off, the purpose: connection and communication. We do our best to send out daily photos, and messages. We did individualized parent-teacher conferences last fall. These were wonderful! But they also took a lot of time. We’ve also had 1:1’s with parents when requested. At this juncture we’re trying to get a bit more streamlined (everyone all at once) while also going deep on each child (we’ve spent many hours writing up more detailed notes about each child). The vision is that we’re trying to go wide (everyone at once) and deep (individualized notes), quite quickly, and if any household wants an individualized session, we’ll carve out time for that as well.

Second, the format. On Tuesday August 5 from 4:30-5:30pm, Katie and Corinna will be in the play space with the children, while Meredith and Isaiah will be in the brown front patio (out of sight!). Approach the school from the south — Knapp — so your child does not know you are here. There is admittedly not much ambiance, but it is larger than the laundry room. 😉 Come for as much or as little as you are able. By writing things out ahead of time, we can then use the Tuesday time for more discussion.

Third, the content. Here’s what we want you to know, in outlined-and-lyrical fashion.

A. SAFETY

Orange door: it’s a grown up job to open/close the orange door. Please do not let your child know the code. (We will change it soon.)
Same for the magnetic latch on the gate: it’s a grownup job. (If/when your child can reach it, do not let them operate it.)(We’ll need to raise it up eventually.)
Sunscreen / Sun Protection. We purchased a bunch of lightweight fabric, long-sleeve shirts that can cover arms. Plus we have our quiver of hats. We’re going to shift to these options — kind of like smocks — with sunscreen for any remaining revealed skin when the UV index is over 4 and going up. Sunscreen is great, but coverage might be even better (especially for those afternoons that we’ve been coming out and the UV index has technically been 4, but the sun is blazing).
Emergency Supplies. Mt. Rainier has been active. I see that as a reminder to take a moment and double check your emergency supplies. a) For water, baseline recommendations are typically 1 gallon of water per person per day, for at least 3 days. So a household of four humans should have at least 12 gallons of clean water. b) Consider throwing in some glow sticks. c) Perhaps some shelf-stable food. d) Remember your pets. e) Maybe a box fan with a 20″ x 20″ air filter, too, for your own homemade air filter. Okay. I’ll stop there. Happy to explain any of these things. Not looking to instill fear, but rather caution.
Financial Safety. We’ve been operating for about a year and have clawed our way out of debt and started to build a tiny reserve. This is to say that if you are ever tight on tuition on the 25th some month, just do what you can and send a note on when you can settle up. Trying to add a stress release valve.
Do Not Leave Children Unattended In Cars. This is especially aimed at households with babies/littles: you cannot leave your baby/little one in a vehicle, even if it is moderate temps and they are sleeping and you’ll be gone just a minute and the carseat is just so heavy. Message us via ProCare and we’ll get your child to the gate for you!
Risky Play. It is so dangerous to let children *not* experience risky play. Balancing on logs. Hopping off rocks. Climbing. Jumping. Hanging. Wrestling. Tipping over logs. Carrying big rocks. Throwing balls. So many interactions with themselves and others. We embrace this risky play, done safely. We will ask, “What’s your plan?” We will coach with direction, “You may throw rocks towards a tree,” and “I need you to keep my body safe.”

B. SERVICE

For anyone who has ever wondered why “Safety, Service, and Play” are our guiding priciples, I wanted to take a moment and explain the “service” piece. We didn’t clearly know what it stood for when we started Mud Pies (our first preschool) but it felt important. It was only when the pandemic shut down our operations that we realized that “service” is implicit in our business: we provide good jobs, a safe space, high quality jobs, top notch child care, and community.

It is with this backdrop that I want to share that over the past year I have been experiencing an exceptionally high level of joy. Frankly, I don’t quite understand it; my “to do” list is so wide and so deep. And yet I am so pumped with my life path. I feel so lucky each day to be living this life — each and every part of it. Some parts are clearly more fun than others, but I am grateful for every part, if that makes any sense. A huge part of my day-to-day experience is caring for your wonderful children. So anyways, thank you for sharing your child(ren) with me. With us.

On a related note, we’ll have the September 2025 draft contact sheet/roster ready on Tuesday — it is rewarding to see our little community grow! We can also talk about schedules. In general we are staying somewhat smaller for another year, with only 10 children per day (sometimes creeping up to 11). (We had thought that a couple more older children would join us and then they pivoted to programs closer to their homes.)

C. PLAY

Alrighty, saving the best content for last.

Impulse Control and Boundaries. A lot of the work the past year has been around impulse control and boundaries. We continue to coach the children to “pause, ask and listen.” (And for children whose boundary had been broken, helping them advocate, “I need you to check in with me.”)
Navigating “Next Turn” / Power. Two of the most popular items in the play yard are the two smaller balance bike. They are coveted. One side of me wants to just buy more of these bikes. But then the other side of me realizes that the navigation of using these bikes — asking for next turn; waiting until one is available; experiencing joy at getting the bike; experiencing disappointment when it is not available; finding a different activity; etc is a huge part of the work and learning.
Sensory Play. There is a lot of sensory seeking in this group so we’ve built out our quiver accordingly. The crash pad (with its new soft cover). The pickler triangle and slide. The swing(s). The jiggler machine. Etc.
Crossing the Midline! So important to do activities that cross the left-brain and right-brain. We’ll have some examples on Tuesday.
Cooperative Play. They are ready for some more specific games that encourage cooperative play. Same thing — more on Tues.
Behavior. There is so much LANGUAGE in this group! They are able to navigate so many situations using their words. There is so much IMAGINATION in this group! Fire trucks, lava, job sites, yucky stew, dragon medicine, oh my.
Some broad notes to remember
- All behavior is communication. If they are tired/hungry, they might not be able to use their words.
- In general, they’re seeking connection. If you are seeing a challenging behavior, try and slow it down and see how to redirect / start focusing on the behavior you DO want to see. On a related note, what you give your attention to grows.
- Things we say:
  - “You can ask for next turn. That means when they’re all done with it, it’ll be your turn.”
  - “Try 3, Then Me“. If they are trying to figure something out, we want them to keep trying (tenacity!). But if they then still need help, we are still available (comfort/care).
  - “That’s a tool, not a toy” (if there is a boundary on an object).
  - “What’s your plan?” if we’re watching them about to make a choice, and you don’t exactly want to say no, but you do want them to pause.
  - “I’ll help you with my words,” is something we say when they can totally do something (say, put on their shoes) but they need/want help. We’ll then use short, brief phrases: “Line up; open wide; foot in shoe.” Things like that.
  - Checking in is, “Are you okay?” And if they say no, “Do you need anything?“
Some specific resources for your parenting quiver:
- Janet Lansbury: podcasts. You can sort by topic and age range. She does a lovely job of peeling back the layers of behavior and emotion — in children and their caregivers. https://www.janetlansbury.com
- WBUR “Circle Round”: great podcast stories! https://www.wbur.org/podcasts/circleround
- Generation Mindful: social emotional resources and toolkits. https://genmindful.com
Embrace the struggle as the work and learning. Here’s an example: the two smaller balance bikes are SO coveted on the play yard. There are races to get to them. We have to very much remind the asking for next turn. The other day I was contemplating buying a few more of these coveted bikes…. and then I realized that *this* is the learning. It’s not the riding a balance bike; it’s the asking for a turn, negotiating limited resources, waiting, then using and enjoying. They are learning how to be in this world, and be with others.

That’s probably enough for now. You all are doing a fantastic job of staying connected to your child — that’s 93% of parenting, so good job! Everything else is gravy. (And yes, I totally made up that statistic.). Hope to see you Tuesday, anywhere from 4:30-5:30 (come as you are able/interested) — and remember to come to the FRONT (SOUTH) of the property (the brown patio).

Cheers,
~Meredith

July 25, 2025: Public Shout Out to Zae

Coming up on one year ago, Isaiah started at Sunflower. We had met in April of 2024 for an interview over lunch. What struck me was that he was early (I got there 5 minutes early and he had already been sitting there for a while) and was wearing an on-brand shirt (it had a sunflower collar). He came across as steady, warm, and thoughtful.

A year later I can attest that he is these things and so many more: unflappable, dependable, caring, organized. August 2024 was a bit nuts with all manner of jobs in true start-up mode fashion. He was an awesome wingman. Side by side we: chose paint colors; patched walls; battled blackberries; painted walls and ceilings; and found cool shelving units that he then turned into organized masterpieces. I would give him a little bit of direction and he would make it happen. We had a funny “IKEA shelf-construction-team-building” moment when we realized that he was stronger at installing shelves on one side and I am stronger at installing them on the other; he is a righty and I am a lefty.

In September, Katie joined the team, too. With the space mostly developed and fully licensed, Isaiah, Katie and I settled into more of a rhythm as our focus shifted to the children in our care. That’s when Zae’s unflappable presence and calm demeanor really came into play. It is hard work to usher a large handful of children through the day. Isaiah does so with such grace. He can see their energy. He figures out the root of the behaviors. He can see the arc of their development. He gently coaches the children (and the other teachers and parents) on how to show up. Somewhere in late October he said, “You know, you could come in later in the morning if you want a couple hours off.” And while it was hard, in a way, to not be on site, I so needed that break. I came in mid-morning and had a smile on my face. It was *so nice* to be able to be gone and trust that everything would get done.

That feeling has broadened and deepened. I have been so grateful to have Isaiah as my wingman every step of the way. And so on this day, the eve of his birthday, I wish Zae the happiest of birthdays and a wonderful next lap around the sun.

Please join me in thanking Isaiah for all they do for the Sunflower Preschool community.

~Meredith

Update from June 30, 2025 Meeting from Shelly Jackson, Preschool Partnerships Supervisor

Shelly Jackson asked me in to connect further following my meeting with Ashlee and Keinya. She’s the Preschool Partnerships Supervisor, in the Preschool & Early Learning Division (PEL), which is within the Department of County Human Services. I’ve attempted to summarize our conversation. She said she would not put anything in writing so I just did my best with my notes, below.

I checked in on how she’s doing, given that Preschool for All was significantly challenged in an Oregon Senate Bill last week. And Governor Kotek gave Multnomah County a deadline to ‘fix’ Preschool for All. It sounds like a lot of pressure. Shelly said she was fine.

Shelly explained a little bit more about the process to allocate spots to preschools:

STEP 1: APPLICATION. The preschool applies and PFA scores the application. Scores of 70% or above go to the next step. For the regular process this step will now occur in July, fourteen months in advance of the start of slots. For mid-year slots it will begin in January.

STEP 2: QUALIFIED POOL. This is the stage when PFA spends about a month verifying the following for each school is:

licensed;
offers a schedule that PFA supports (school day/school year; full day/full year);
has experience (at least 3 years of experience operating); and
serves meals.

STEP 3: ALLOCATION POOL. This is when the application gets allocated slots. For the regular process these announcements are made in early December. For the mid-year slots it happens in early June. It sounds like there is a lot of discretion on the part of the decisionmakers on who gets slots how many slots.

STEP 4: FACILITY READINESS. This is when the preschool verifies all of the above, and also needs to have the proper insurance in place. For the regular process this step occurs mid-February. For the mid-year slots the readiness deadline is July 8, 2025.

She talked about how challenging it is to add a new school to PEL’s system. If an owner operates one business with one employee identification number (EIN), and then opens up another preschool with a different EIN, that is very hard to add. Or if ownership changes, that would be a challenging situation.

STEP 5: CONTRACT. The contract finally gets signed. For the regular process this step occurs in March (for slots in September). For the mid-year slots the contract gets signed in November or December.

I called forward the fact that a couple of schools are closing — Songbird for one, and Little Hands, and I’ve recently heard of a couple more — and that those slots were theoretically budgeted within PFA’s budget. So what would be the barrier to opening those slots at a new school? (Specifically, Sunflower. I showed her my spreadsheet with the 5 current eligible families, plus the 3 that we could transplant from Songbird, adding 8 slots to offset the slots they are losing through closures.) She replied, “No, it’s a process.” She further explained that many preschools approach her with openings, and she has to say no, she can’t just go adding licensed preschools because “it slows down the process”.

Anyone who is reading this, please re-read the above sentence. Then go back up and read the cadence of their onboarding and contracting process: their typical timeline requires 11-14 months to complete. If anyone has expertise in contract management, perhaps reach out to them? It doesn’t seem like it should be this hard to add qualified programs into their database.

What if families don’t like the PFA schools they are offered? Why *not* offer them a choice that they *do* want? She didn’t have an answer for this. She asked if the Songbird had visited the schools and I replied yes, at least one had and did not want their child in the environments that they toured, but I didn’t have more information to offer than that.

What if preschools that don’t meet the readiness deadline of July 8th falter; could other qualified preschool Providers step in to help keep numbers up for the January slots? No. They would need to wait till September 2026. And even if they are qualified we might not issue them seats.

I asked if PFA has ever considered focusing more fully on getting their dollars into the hands of parents of 3- and 4-year-olds in Multnomah County? Like more of a voucher system whereby the parents can make the choice of where to go (rather than the intense April matching process)? That kind of a system would a) would alleviate the barrier that Ashlee and Keinya identified — that PFA had been funding programs that did not have seats filled; b) allow parents/schools to onboard on their own timeline; c) allow PFA to prioritize the children that they want prioritized; d) avoid the awkward continuation of care (COC) dance whereby, after the first year of participation, schools have to make the tough choice of carrying forward children in their care or kicking them out to make room for PFA slots. She said no. Change is hard and slow. Also, schools might turn down children.

What about quarterly onboarding of preschools? Still go through the process, but perhaps even out the workflow throughout the year? Have a list of qualified preschools. Have a list of prioritized households. If you are forcing yourself to be matchmaker, than stagger it out a bit, perhaps? No. We cannot do that.

At this point I didn’t get the sense that any solution I presented or idea that I pitched was going to land on open ears, so we wrapped up and said goodbyes.

I’m sorry, Families, I tried.

I have so many mixed emotions about PFA. I think it’s a great concept! It seems like their scope of work has drifted a bit from the 2020 ballot measure. It represents a huge windfall to households! A contract with PFA has the potential to restrict how a school cares for its children. Maybe we (Sunflower Preschool) should try extra hard to show them the possibility! Maybe we should dodge the program altogether until it’s truly offered to all children and all certified & registered preschools (and it would be nice if PFA allowed us to work 1:1 with children, and retain our intellectual property). I’m holding space for all the feelings and experiences and impacts.

Here’s their contact information in case any parent wants to learn more directly from PFA.

https://multco.us/programs/preschool-all
Enrollment team: [email protected]
Call: 503-988-7818

Update / Info from Preschool for All — Including Ideas Presented to Support Songbird Playschool (and of course Sunflower Preschool families)

On June 18, 2025, I met with Ashlee Agtuka (our Preschool for All Specialist) and Keinya Kohlbecker (our Inclusion Coordinator) to further understand the onboarding process for preschools in the Preschool for All (PFA) system.

SOME BACKSTORY

Mud Pies Preschool (the first preschool we started in March 2019) became a pilot program of PFA in September 2024. We opened its sister school, Sunflower Preschool, in September 2024. We were told by PFA in November 2024 that we would almost certainly get slots for the 2025-26 school year. In January 2025 we learned we received 0 slots because of an infraction on Mud Pies Preschool’s record (a child had stepped into the neighbor’s yard for 1 minute and we self-reported this violation). We were reassured that we would likely get mid-year slots for January 2026. We learned in early June 2025 that we received 0 slots for January 2026.

Wondering if I was missing something, I lined up a meeting. Ashlee and Keinya were super gracious and spent more than an hour helping me try to understand how it all works. This summary tries to capture the conversation. I’ve broken it into a few parts, with the bold text being my questions, the regular text being the responses I heard, and the italic text being some follow up research. I’ve sent this text to Ashlee and Keinya on 6/19/25 for their feedback/input to make sure I understood everything correctly. In the meantime I hope this is helpful for Sunflower Preschool families and others.

PART 1: GETTING RE-ORIENTED TO GOALS

What are the goals of PFA?

Universal preschool for all 3- and 4- year olds in Multnomah County by 2030.

And how are you doing with achieving that target?

We have about 2300 slots in the community. You should check out the audit that looks at the scope and sequence of our operations.

Follow up: Here is the audit. https://multco.us/info/preschool-all-program-largely-achieving-its-equity-goals-needs-address-risks-expansion

How many slots is your target? Like how many 3- and 4-year olds are in Multnomah County? What are the projections?

We don’t know how many 3- and 4- year-olds are in Multnomah County so we don’t know how close we are to our goal. But we try to keep growing each year. Our higher ups (managers) know these numbers.

What are the barriers to achieving those goals?

First, we aim to support existing preschools with wraparound services.

Second, also want to develop and build a workforce. So we’re partnering with Portland Community College (PCC), Portland State University (PSU), and other educational programs to further develop high-school and college graduates who want to get into the childcare space.

How many preschool spaces are currently in Multnomah County? The way I think of it there’s an existing preschool presence — with x number of spaces. And then you’ve converted at least 2300 of those spots into PFA spots. What is the x? How many more do you have to go of existing preschool spaces that could be turned into PFA spots?

We’re not sure.

Follow up: I like data. So I went to the Oregon Health Authority database. I downloaded the 2024-25 info. Looks like there’s 487 preschools in Multnomah County. I cannot get the enrollment column (column D) to add up but once I do we could have a rough sense of the number of children in care with existing preschools (with wiggle room for different ages, or children from different counties). Then we could look at how many of these schools have been converted into PFA sites, and the number of slots per site. I don’t have the time to do these calculations or research that would be my strategy to get to those numbers. Or perhaps they are readily available elsewhere.

PART 2: REVIEW OF REJECTION LETTER

We then segued into looking at the letter together (see “June 3, 2025” entry below). Ashlee and Keinya said that only 300 slots were available for January 2025. They explained that even though Sunflower meets those two bullets, there were many facilities that had been awarded slots back in November, but then didn’t meet the readiness criteria in February. So now they were prioritized (and they will need to meet the readiness criteria by July 8, 2025). They agreed that the second bullet didn’t make much sense. And acknowledged that I am not a “Provider” at Mud Pies Preschool but explained that it needed to be worded that way. (In this context the title “Provider” means the person that holds the license.)

What’s the barrier to offering more mid-year PFA slots for January 2025? Why only 300?

They identified three barriers:

Typing. It takes a lot to physically type in the names of each new business.
Filling slots. Last January they offered slots to facilities that then didn’t fill those slots. PFA does not want to pay for slots that are not filled. (A program gets compensated regardless of how many slots are filled.)
Contract preparation. It takes Portland Early Learning (PEL, the administrative body of Preschool for All) many months to draw up the contracts for the slots.

This part of the conversation made me pause for so many reasons. I can only imagine how hard it is to figure out slots *and* it seems like these barriers could be surmounted. And I thought that it was the Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon (MESO) that drew up our contract, but perhaps that changed.

PART 3: DECISIONMAKING

Who makes the decisions about which preschools get slots?

Shelly, Kimberly, Brooke, Leslie, and a mix of community partners and PEL staff.

And how are those decisions informed? Specifically, how do they decide to whom to allocate slots?

The application is not a factor (they do not look at the staff profiles, nor student body profiles).
The Specialist, Inclusion Coordinator, nor Coach are asked for input.
Instead, they look at the profile on the licensing portal.

Here is the licensing portal: https://www.oregon.gov/delc/families/pages/child-care-safety.aspx

And what are they looking for when they look at a school’s profile on the licensing portal?

The location of the preschool.

They also feel like they “know you” from their experience with your other school.

I spoke with Shelly a couple times in the summer of 2024: there was a mixup with their use of the words “Provider” and “Owner” that we resolved together quickly. I met Brooke in 2021 or so at OMSI. I don’t believe I’ve interacted with any other of the decisionmaking team.

Is there a transparent rubric? Where you can see how your school scored? Or a map where schools were prioritized if that is the driving factor?

Not so much.

PART 4: CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY

I understand that Songbird Playschool is closing. They just announced it this week — with 2 weeks notice to families. I am scrambling to see if I can offer any of their children spots at Sunflower Preschool. I know a couple other schools that have spots (and were denied mid-year slots for PFA). Songbird was a PFA slot. Is there any possibility that there could be a success story in this challenge? PFA is losing those slots at the Songbird program, but could it pivot and figure out how to allocate slots to preschools that are already licensed and up-and-running?

Possibly. Families have a voice! There is a chance there is flexibility. Maybe a transfer spot?

It sounds like parents have some say! Here is some contact info:

https://multco.us/programs/preschool-all
Enrollment team: [email protected]
Call: 503-988-7818

June 3, 2025 – Notice from Preschool for All, And Other Updates

We recently received this notice from Preschool for All.

After careful consideration of allocation priorities, Sunflower Preschool LLC will not receive Preschool for All slots for the 2025-2026 program year. The number of Preschool for All (PFA) seats awarded during the mid year application window is very limited and is intended to support providers who:

Had a facility that did not meet a previous facility readiness timeline,
Did not have receive seats in their program previously

As a current PFA Provider, you will be able to request additional seats for this site for the 2026-2027 program year this September.

Please reach out to your Preschool Specialist if you have any questions.

Thank you!

The Preschool & Early Learning Division Team
Preschool and Early Learning Division – Preschool for All
Department of County Human Services
Multnomah County[email protected]

It’s a bit puzzling — and disappointing. Sunflower didn’t get spots for September 2025 because of a violation at Mud Pies (which was part of their readiness criteria and evaluation). And we did not receive seats in our program previously. I’m going to reach out and see if something is incorrect in our application or file.

OTHER NEWS IN BULLETED FASHION – tuition rates, caterpillars, and more.

Our tuition rates effective in the fall are posted (see our tuition page). These were posted in May, but I did not send out any notice to existing families. So note that incoming families will get the bump up in September, and existing families will get it in October so that I honor the 3 month notice.
The caterpillars are all turning into butterflies! We’ll release them within a week.
This is the last week of Meredith coaching the spring league of ultimate frisbee for our older child’s team. It’s a rewarding role *and* I’m looking forward to a few more hours in the week.
The children are thriving!

March 30, 2025

Whew! Coming off of spring break there are a few things to note.

PRESCHOOL FOR ALL (PFA)

I checked with our “Navigator” and she alerted me that we could apply for a mid-year start (January 2026) of PFA. So I applied for Sunflower now that we have 6+ months of operations. If we are allocated spots, they would start in January 2026, and eligible children — age 3 or 4 by Sept 2025 who live in Multnomah County — who are already enrolled at Sunflower would be likely get “continuity of care” spots (basically priority seating). So that’s a possibility. I have requested the timeline for when we will know if we receive slots for January, and when the enrollment process for January slots would occur. I’ll keep you posted.

It seems worth calling forward that the open enrollment for Preschool for All happens this month (April 2025) for September 2025 slots. We are supposed to encourage all eligible families to apply — so if your household is eligible, consider applying! If you apply, you will not see Sunflower Preschool yet (because we don’t have slots). And if you receive a slot at another school, you can turn down the offer. So as much as we want all of our current families to stick with us, we get that a lot of factors go into childcare decisions, and fully support exploring options. We’ll do our best to keep supplying relevant information as households navigate.

PLAY YARD: NEW STUMPS

Over the break we (by “we” I mean Gene and Jim The Arborist) did the thankless task of pruning big trees. I caught a cool picture of Jim up high.

Gene also spent a lot of time cutting up stumps for the playyard (thank you, Gene!). Some backstory: We are not allowed to let the children climb higher than 18” unless they have a soft fall zone. The crates are 10.5”. So the children can only stand on one crate to try to look over the fence: usually they want to see Gene if he is around, or they like to see Pepper, the neighbor’s dog to the east. Or there’s often gentle foot traffic along 57th. And garbage trucks on Wednesdays and Fridays (we heart garbage trucks). Anyways, the children have been frustrated with just one crate, and not being able to see. We remind them that they are growing so much each year and one day they will be able to see over the fence. Now, with the addition of these “viewing stumps” they’ll be a bit higher! I’m also curious to see what other uses and play they find for the stumps. R was helping me roll them into the playyard and informed me that a set of two, when you walked between them, were metal detectors. I hadn’t thought of that possibility. Oh the power of imagination.

POWER OF PLAY (KRISTEN DAY)

On a related note, we (Isaiah, Katie and I) spent the first Saturday of Spring Break at an all-day conference with Kristen Day. It was fantastic and reinforced so many of the principles and strategies we use with our “play based, child-led” program. Here are a few examples and takeaways that might be of interest to parents.

Definition of Play (by Dr. Peter Gray):

chosen by the child
guided by the child
intrinsically motivated
process based

*The importance of *creativity* and how quickly it declines: from 98% in 2-year-olds, and 2% in grownups.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
How as infants, when the child cries, we go through their basic set of needs (are they hungry? tired? upset? wet/constipated?). Yet when they are walking and talking we kind of forget to do those things and tell them to “use their words”.

Reasons Why Children “Misbehave”

they have unmet needs
they are learning through trial and error
they are seeking connection

Ideas for “Saying Yes”

change the environment (not the child)
provide an alternative / give a choice
change the location

*Children play through things that they don’t understand. (discussion of weapon plan. going to look up the book, “Rethinking Weapon Play in Early Childhood” by Kisa Marks

*Our stance: we let children “shoot”, but they have to *ask permission first* of the person being shot.

Loose Parts Exercise
We did this hilarious exercise where each table had to find 50 uses for simple objects (e.g. planter hanger holder; stack of bra pads; etc). Celebrated how open-ended “toys” look more like objects from the hardware store or dollar store than a toy store.

Heavy Work: The importance of heavy work for power-seeking children. (moving tires! lifting rocks!).

Play Schemas

enveloping (covering things)
rotation (turning, rolling, spinning)
transporting (moving things from one place to another)
enclosing (how objects and selves fit)
orientation (hanging, climbing)
positioning (grouping, ordering)
trajectory (moving their bodies, watching moving objects, setting things in motion)

Those were some highlights from the day. It reinforced a lot of what we are already doing at Sunflower Preschool *and* provided some good leads to more resources as well.

CALENDAR

Heads up that April is a bit weird, especially for any household with school age children. You can always find dates on our calendar page. Here is a recap of upcoming items:

Thursday April 3, 2025 – 4:30-5:30pm Pretzel and Movie Night (it might just be a pretzel-and-hang night — let’s see what the weather and energy are doing)
Monday April 7, 2025 – Sunflower is OPEN (PPS is closed )
Friday April 11, 2025 – Sunflower is CLOSED for Professional Development (Note: PPS is closed Monday April 7; this date does not align; when we were doing our calendar it made more sense to be closed on a Friday.)

OTHER PLAY YARD UPGRADES
We now have a bike taxi! And a punching bag. Fun fun.

See you tomorrow. 🙂

March 4, 2025

Whew, hello springtime! Let’s start with the weather: it has been really nice these last couple days. We’ve been increasing our time outside accordingly. So nice. 🌼

Developmentally, the children are doing lots of cooperative play. Broadly speaking, they have *focus* to stay with games for a while; they have *imagination* to create their own worlds/games; they have *words* to communicate said games to their playmates and teachers. They build forts out of the cushions, assemble trains out of the crates, fly to the moon, and create bandaids out of cardstock. Last week we spent almost an hour working together to build a “pine cone pathway” and settled into different roles to do so: collectors, path layers, supervisors, testers. The “final product” lasted about 15 minutes; luckily we enjoyed the journey getting there (and then the process of destruction!). 🤩

We’re noticing a bit of limit-testing, or perhaps another way to put it is “looking for boundaries”. We try to be steady with our boundaries as much as possible because we know it helps them feel safe. Examples: clearing their dishes; washing hands; putting on their shoes and jackets. These are all things they know and can do all by themselves. We encourage with our words, but let them physically do it themselves (and remind them if they forget). 💪🏽

We now have a fairy fort in the back corner of the Sunflower Preschool play yard, behind the fairy rock. It is made of willow branches from the willow arch at The Nest! It was humbling to build — the branches were simultaneously supple and brittle — and certainly will be a work in progress as the roots get established and we train it into shape. But it’s a solid start. 🧚‍♂️

This month will likely go quickly. Flashlight Night this Friday. Time change. Spring equinox. I’m out of town the last 3 days of school. Then the school is closed the last week of the month (March 24-28). And then it is April! Speaking of April, I’ll reach out to Preschool for All and ask the following: since we now have six months of operations under our belt, could we have slots? My hopes are low given their flexibility profile, but seems worth trying. 🤞🏽

Three of the children have become older siblings in the last few months: congratulations to the families of F, I, and B!! 🐥 And let us know how we can best support during these transitions.

That is probably way more than enough for now. Onwards!

Wednesday January 29, 2025: planets, planning, PFA, paper snakes, and pausing for potties.

Alliteration ahoy. Hello Parents!

It’s been a clear and cold January. I hope everyone has been able to enjoy the planets that have been visible this month — how spectacular. Looking ahead, here are a few things to note.

First, we have a few events in February and beyond, which are all on the calendar page but I’ve also included here:

Friday February 14, 2025 – 6-8:15pm Flashlight Night, Drop your child off for pizza, veggies, and glowing fun. RSVP via ProCare. If you have a sibling that will also attend please fill out an emergency contact form for them from our forms page.
Monday February 17, 2025 – CLOSED for Presidents’ Day
Thursday February 27, 2025 – 4:30-5:30pm Pretzel and Movie Night
Sunday March 9, 2026 – Daylight Savings Time! Spring your clock ahead 1 hour.
Monday March 24, 2025 through Friday March 28, 2025 – CLOSED for Spring Break
Thursday April 3, 2025 – 4:30-5:30pm Pretzel and Movie Night

Second, we’re starting to accept applications and assign slots for summer/fall 2025 enrollees. If you want any change to your child’s schedule please let us know sooner than later so we can plan the enrollment jenga puzzle accordingly.

Third, we have some updates on Preschool for All (PFA). In the fall they let us know that we are automatically a part of Preschool for All because our sister school, Mud Pies, has been a participant during 2024-25. That was nice and heartening. Then they let us know that because Sunflower is a new program, they looked at Mud Pies’ performance, and because it has a violation on its record (a child stepped into the neighbor’s yard for one minute in the spring of 2024 and we let our licensor know), PFA allocated Sunflower 0 slots for 2025-26. We are in the process of reaching out to understand how long Sunflower will be in a holding pattern based on Mud Pies’ violation, or if there is anything we can do to prove our worthiness given we now have five months of solid operations under our belt. I’m sorry I don’t have more positive news but wanted to provide an update. In sum, Sunflower is part of Preschool for All (hurrah!) with 0 slots (harrumph).

Fourth, it’s the Lunar New Year Jan 29th so we decorated paper snakes today. Ssssss.

Fifth, there has been quite a bit of momentum on the toilet learning front. The main teachable moment is that using the potty at school is different than at home. The mechanics of course are quite similar: climbing up on a stool, pulling down pants, pointing penis down or tipping hips forward, washing hands. It’s the emotions and logistics — pausing from play, allowing enough time to get from said play to the potty, trusting that a toy will be saved — that are the new muscles and learning. As with most activities we provide lots of coaching and positive reinforcement. *What we give our attention to grows.*

In closing, it’s rewarding to see the children learn and grow. It is a dynamic environment. I sometimes think of it as “Camp Impulse Control” or “Social Emotional Station”. Every child has something they are working on. (And, I suppose, every grownup.) Thank you all for being a part of the journey. That’s probably enough for now. Onwards to February!

Sunday January 5, 2025: tax receipts sent; toilet learning; magnetic door; and trains!

Hello! Hope everyone had a good break. A few things as we head we head back into a rhythm.

First, taxes. I sent out tax receipts for 2024 over the weekend, so that should be in your inbox. If it is not please let me know and I’ll resend.

Second, toilet learning. (That’s what potty training is called these days.) A few children have been eager and ready to use the toilet at home, so we are likewise making efforts to synchronize our space at the school. Here are some relevant things to note.

We follow the child’s lead. We can offer the potty, and if they say no, we honor that; it’s no big deal. Or perhaps they are comfortable peeing in the potty, but prefer to use a diaper for a bowel movement. That’s just fine. Just like learning any new skill — cutting with scissors, riding a bike, building a fort, etc — using a potty is a process. We say, “You listen to your body, and we’ll listen to you.” *before going out to play, or before rest, we will make them sit on the potty.
Note that the bathroom at home (perhaps with a tiny potty, and perhaps a doting parent available to patiently read a book) is a different environment than the bathroom at school (a bit busier). On a related note, if your child is using the potty at home, consider coming in to the school and taking a tour of the school’s potty scene with your child. Talk through what’s similar and what’s different. Get them (and you) oriented.
We have a stool to help children get up onto the potties. We also put in a step with handrails so that they have something to hold onto while climbing up or climbing down. The top step also doubles as a perch for feet to bring the knees up in squatty potty style.
Someone asked why we didn’t get a super low (11”) potty for the school. We gave it consideration but the rough-in dimension was tight. Also the short potties don’t allow for the Step2 mini seats, so while the toilet height is low, the diameter of the hole tends to be large, which can feel scary for a young, small child in a different way. Tradeoffs. We also considered the uber-efficient Niagara Stealth, but it is *very* high (19” if memory serves). So that’s why we went with two 15” potties with Step2 seats.
One common toilet learning strategy is to send a child to school in underpants, and if they are still learning we put them into pull ups for rest, then back again into underpants after rest.
Communication is key! Let us know where you and your child is at. We’ll likewise do our best to update on progress at school.
We are not allowed to wash clothing that has been soiled by poop, so those will be sent home in a bag. We have more leeway with pee-soiled items of clothing and may just throw into our wash if that makes sense. (*remember to label clothes!).
Speaking of clothes, it’s common to have accidents when learning this new skill. We suggest having a couple extra pair of pants/socks/underpants in your child’s cubby. We’ve likewise added to our quiver of extra cozy pants in case your child’s cubby runs out.
As with most things, we try to be straightforward and factual with the language we use. For boys, we will try to say, “remember to point your penis down when peeing,” (we ask them to sit to pee). For all, if they pee on their clothes, we would say, “You peed on your clothes. Let’s take them off and put on dry clothes.” And, “Pee and poop go in the potty.” Things like that.
We don’t do sticker charts or external indicators of reward. We focus on internal growth. “Wow, you did that.” And, “How does it feel to have gone pee on the potty?” And positive affirmations, “You can do hard things.” I’ll try to add more language as we, ahem, get into the flow.

That’s probably enough potty talk for now.

Third, we were looking around for a space to put magnet play and realized the door to the apartment is steel. Voila! Instant magnetic-play station. The magnatiles are now ready for some vertical play.

Fourth, we’ve introduced train tracks as a play station. Just like most child “games” so much learning happens underneath the surface: shape recognition (recognizing nubs, holes, arcs, straight lines), planning (where will the track go?), negotiation (if someone else is working on the track), dramatic play (all aboard!), fine motor skills (fitting together), and problem solving (making it work) to name a few. Working with train tracks and trains is basically a dynamic, evolving puzzle. It will be challenging. And rewarding. And fun!

Fifth and finally, our calendar is here. Note that we are closed January 20th for MLK Jr. Day. I’m realizing we don’t have any “pretzel-and-x” hangs on the calendar for 2025 yet; I’ll work on that because they were so much fun last fall. And perhaps a Flashlight Night as that would be fun. We will keep you posted.

With a chugga-chugga-choo-choo, bidding adieu,

Meredith and Crew

Sunday December 8, 2024: children thriving; shoulder hurt; gift ideas posted; seeking 3-year-olds to join our program

Hello hello! A few things in bulleted fashion as we head through December:

The children are thriving! Transitions are easier. Nap time is steadier. It feels like we’re in a good flow.
Meredith strained a ligament in her left shoulder (ouch!). So if she is walking like a robot that is why. On the mend with help from ice packs, anti inflammatories, and The Joint (a chiropractic place at 82nd and Johnson Creek that she wish she had checked out years ago — super affordable and fast). And Katie and Isaiah are leaning in to help with reaching for things off of shelves.
Our gift ideas wish lists are posted — in case that is helpful.
We have another “Movie and Pretzel” hang scheduled for Thurs Dec 19th. And then we’re closed Dec 23-Jan 1, reopening Thursday and Friday (Jan 2-3) with limited hours (9-4). See all on the Calendar page.
A child that was supposed to join our program in January now needs to stay home. So we are very open to two more 3-year-olds. If you know of someone who needs care please send them our way (and get a $100 kicker).

Onwards!

Monday October 28, 2024: Big Week/Month Ahead; Full Day Conference. Open to One or Two More 3-year-olds

PART 1

We have a big week coming up. In bulleted fashion:

Thursday Oct 31: Halloween (and our gentle Trick or Treat activity from 4:30-close)
Friday Nov 1: The Day After Halloween / Dia de los Muertes (we are not celebrating this event, but the day implicitly comes with extra energy, or extra low energy, depending)
Sunday Nov 3: Time Change: Change your clocks back an hour.(This is also our signal to prepare our emergency kits; it’s basically zip lock bags with a change of clothes and note; more on that next week).
Tuesday Nov 5: An Election. Yikes. Let’s all take a deep breath going into this chapter.

Let’s all be gentle with ourselves and each other during these times.

PART 2

I’m coming off of a full-day preschool conference on Saturday. Some highlights and reflections include the following.

The keynote was by Soobin Oh of Teaching Preschool Partners who called forward the power of open-ended experiences and materials. He asked, “What does it mean to ‘unearth’ genius and joy?” (inspired by Gholdy Muhammad’s book, Unearthing Joy.) He showed the data: how during this time period (ages birth-6) your child is making SO MANY neural connections. Indeed, they create more than they need! After around six years old the process of “synaptic pruning” begins where their brains let go of pathways that don’t serve them any more. Connections abound. And within these connections, he argued that there is so much rich opportunity to inspire collaboration, problem solving, and expressing and communicating through play (rather than specific worksheet activities, or ‘creating art’).

REFLECTION: It further reinforced my course correction to let the children lead with open-ended art invitations. For example, last week when painting pumpkins I offered the initial group only orange and green (based on my societal imprinting how how pumpkins “should” look). For the next group I asked the children what colors they would like to paint their pumpkins. This question opened up more possibilities, and the purples, blues, and reds started flowing. I was humbled and inspired by their beautiful creations.

The morning training at the conference was, “Observing Children: Looking and Learning; How Can We Reduce Implicit Bias in Child Observations?” In short, our unconscious attitudes or stereotypes influences our actions and decisions. So when we are doing observations of children, we want to strip away our biases (or at least be aware of them) and focus on behaviors. The goal is to:

document what we see and hear;
write descriptions of what we see, not interpretations;
be objective (facts) not subjective (based on opinions and feelings)

REFLECTION: Observations can be really helpful for parent-teacher conferences. I’m going to review the observation templates they provided and check in with the team on if/how we want to use them. We are constantly observing the children and watching how they interact with each other. But there’s a different level of intentionality of the noticing we do each day, and the noticing we do when we Do An Observation of a particular child. And further still when we then share that information with parents. It takes time and energy. Ironically, it somewhat takes us away from the children in the short term. But long term, it can be really valuable for developing 360-degree support around the children. The teacher-parent-feedback-loop-process to be continued.

In the meantime, this session brought forward to me the power of language, and inspired me to call forward the possibility that how we refer to the children can shape the image and story they are forming of themselves. And we can intentionally take steps *now* that impact their navigation of the world. Stepping back, think through what image(s) come to your head when you read or say the following words:

fireman v. firefighter
stewardess v. flight attendant

The words above de-gender certain professions. In a similar vein, think through what words you might use when speaking with your child. What image or possibility do those words create? Here are some ideas for how we might consider shifting our current language to create more openings and possibilities:

INSTEAD OF…	CONSIDER TRYING…
baby	child
sweet baby	sweet* and strong* child
boys and girls	“preschoolers” or “children” or “classmates”
My child is quiet.	My child tends to observe first, then engage.
big boy	wonderful human
little kid	capable kid
This child loves….	This child often chooses….
Using descriptions that limit or fix a child into “who they are”…	*Trying options that open up kind, caring, thoughtful, capable, curious, dynamic, focused, sweet, strong, tenacious, flexible, etc childhood experiences…

The afternoon session was, “Introduction to Anti-Bias Education and How to Incorporate it Into Your Learning Environment.” The *new* takeaway for me was around the United Nations Convention of 1989 that spelled out the Rights of Children to:

survival
develop to the fullest
protection from harmful influence, abuse and/or exploitation;
participate fully in family, cultural and social life

PART 3: ENROLLMENT

A few things in bulleted fashion:

A three-year-old Mud Pies transplant will be joining us on the 1st and 3rd Fridays for the foreseeable future — I’ll share more names via ProCare.
A newly minted two-year-old will be joining us on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays starting next week. Many of you have met this child and parents at events over the past couple weeks.
We are looking to add another 3-year-old to the group (or a couple part-time!). If you know of someone looking for care, please send them our way.

PART 4: DEVELOPMENT

We started offering mittens this morning. Putting the thumbs into the thumb-spaces in the mittens was challenging for some children. They stuck with it, mostly, with us “helping” with our words, and occasionally shifting the mitten into an easier position. Because as much as we want them to have warm hands, even more so we want them to develop that tenacity and attitude of, “I can do hard things” — which right now looks like putting on mittens.

We did the Pumpkin Peg activity! Similar developmental things: lots of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. We’ll likely offer this throughout the week as they get more comfortable whacking in the pegs (we offer mallets and hammers), and prying them out with the hammer. It is so satisfying.

PART 5: COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Heard around town:

Woodstock Cafe at 42nd and Woodstock is focused on ASL events. This Friday Nov 1st at 3:30pm they will show a puppet show with ASL accompaniment!
The Brentwood-Darlington Neighborhood Association is hosting an Emergency Preparedness meeting with Portland Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) on Monday Nov 4th at 6pm. More on the Brentwood-Darlington Facebook page.

That’s probably enough for now. Onwards!

October 1, 2024: May All Things Pumpkin-y Abound

Hello There! We’ve made it through our first month and we’re on a roll. Literally. The cycle track is installed. The bikes/scooters are ordered. We’ve been rolling balls. And we’ll be getting some pumpkins for the annual peg-in-a-pumpkin exercise (the children use small mallets to whack pegs into pumpkins; great for hand-eye coordination).

We’ve been noticing seasonal changes, such as the shadows with the sun getting lower. We often use the sun to describe time (in the morning the sun is over there, in the east; in the afternoon it is over there, in the west, when parents pick you up). We’re also starting to spin the maple-copters.

The children are largely settled. They know the routines. We recognize their cues. We’ve ironed out some wrinkles in our operations and keep fine-tuning our systems. After a few bumps in September we feel like we are tracking on the up and up. Thank you for your patience and ongoing feedback. The children have progressed hugely in terms of putting on their own shoes. They’re loving the “flip the jacket trick”. They’re also starting to understand how to pull clothes right-side out. When they get frustrated (say, with zippers, or snaps, which is next-level dressing), we help them take a breath, or say an affirmation (“I can do hard things”) and then try to help a little while also letting them do it. At the end, we say, “You did it. You can do hard things.” Because it’s not necessarily the skill that we care about; it’s the attitude. It’s the tenacity. It’s the navigating through frustration. That’s the work. That’s the learning.

A bit of a cold has been going around — some sniffles and sneezes here, some coughs there. Nothing beyond the 4/hour benchmark that we use as an indicator to send children home (4 runny nose wipes per hour, or 4 coughs per hour), but still, some congestion. Please keep using sanitizer at drop off, and feel free to use it at pick up too. And coach your child to cough into their elbow. And we ask children to wash their hands after blowing their nose so consider doing that at home, too.

We received nice news today that Sunflower will automatically be part of Preschool for All because its sister school, Mud Pies, is already part of that system. So that will hopefully streamline our position as a Preschool for All Pilot Site. No action required from families at the moment.

Calendar-wise, a few things, all on the calendar page:

This Saturday 10/5 we are offering family photo shoots. There are still a couple slots open.
Thursday October 31 we’re offering a Halloween event at school from 4:30-5:30pm. We’ll have a few trick-or-treat stations throughout the play yard (or inside the school if the weather is not forgiving) with things like stickers, pencils, and oranges. (We don’t really offer candy here.) It’s kind of a nice option for if you want to go trick or treating with your child, but not actually. Siblings are more than welcome to join as well. We’ll have little bags for everyone (or you can bring your own).
Please note that on Thursday January 2 and Friday January 3, 2025, we will be open *modified hours* from 9am-4pm. Anyone who is in town who wants care, please plan to feed your child before drop off at 9am, and pickup by 4pm. This is our way of easing back into the rhythm, keeping it safe (it is so cold and dark this time of year, typically), while still offering care. We are giving lots of advance notice so that households can plan accordingly.

That’s probably enough for now. Onwards!

Meredith & Crew

Update from Meeting September 29, 2024

A group of parents sent in a list of expectations and a request to discuss further 14 days into our operations. We then met on September 29th to review the list and talk it through. In the spirit of keeping everyone in this community looped in — with a commitment to constructive communication and solutions-oriented conversations — here are notes from that meeting.

Key Expectations

Diaper changing schedule
- Establish a regular schedule and system for diaper changes so no kiddo falls through the cracks, and check them at least 3 times a day as planned (~10am, before nap and ~4pm)
- We appreciate you responding to the issue of diapers not getting changed nearly enough and are hopeful for the new paper tracking (vs. Procare).
- UPDATES:
  - Team is sending a photo of diaper log at the end of each day via ProCare. Thank you! And parents absolved Team of any confidentiality concerns. Thank you!
  - Teachers are paying attention to cleaning all poop on skin

Meals
- Confirm weekly menu and send updates about changes
- We hope the menus will continue to evolve over time to include a more diverse set of foods, but understand that this will take time.
- UPDATES:
  - Team is sending a photo of the menu on Fridays or Mondays in ProCare.
  - Team will write any changes on the menu posted in the pick up room.
  - Sunflower always follows the USDA guidelines.
  - Parents requested to add more beans and tofu, wild rice, quinoa, whole grains.

Supervision
- Ensure kids are supervised at all times. Most children can open the orange door without assistance and there have been instances where children have been seen indoors or outdoors without an adult present
- UPDATES:
  - The requirement is for all children to be within sight or sound. Some parents don’t feel comfortable with this and want the kids to always be within sight.
  - Meredith immediately put a code lock on the orange door to enter the school. Everyone communicated to children that only grown ups touch that door.

Sunscreen/Diapers/Water/Clothing
- Create a system for checking the UV index so that kids get sunscreen when needed (e.g., check once in the morning and once after lunch)
  - UPDATE: Teachers will continue to monitor UV index once in the morning and once after lunch. Sunscreen gets applied when it goes above 4. Parents can apply sunscreen to kids before dropping off at school, too.
- Kids are sometimes wearing inappropriate clothing outside (warm jacket when it’s hot)
  - UPDATE: Teachers will continue to let the child lead in choosing their clothing (and experience natural consequences that result), but will monitor them more closely to make sure they are not overheating, or too cold.
  - UPDATE: Teachers to make sure water bottles are outside when kids are playing, and refilled mid-day.

Staffing
- We know hiring has been a huge challenge, and we would love to see a lead teacher hired as soon as possible.
- We think you are wonderful with our children and we also know the demands of providing full-day care, managing the business, and being a parent yourself (!) must take a toll on you. And as a result, the development of the day to day programming, or establishment of daily rhythm, has been delayed.
- We think it would best meet the needs of the children in care to have a lead teacher who can focus on the curriculum and appropriate development activities, and maintaining processes for essential care like diapering, naps, meals, etc.
  - UPDATE: There are 2 ex-preschool teachers in the neighborhood that Meredith has talked to about a part time position, if needed. Parents were very into this idea.
- During the enrollment process, we were expecting a comparable program / environment to Mudpies, and without a lead teacher experienced in early childhood learning, we are not receiving the level of care that we understood would be available at Sunflower.
- What education / licensing does the current staff have?
  - UPDATE: All teachers are required to satisfy the requirements listed on the team page of the Sunflower website.
  - Katie is increasing hours from 2hrs/day to 3-4hrs/day (TBD).
  - Isaiah has graduated into Assistant 2 level after working 60 hrs so now he can be alone with the kids.
  - Katie was just behind the scenes and now is shifting more into being with the kids, reading stories, singing songs, playing games, serving food. She has all of the certification requirements that are listed on the Sunflower website.
  - Meredith has clocked the necessary requirements for being a licensed provider.
  - Meredith is going to be the lead teacher for 1-3 years
  - It’s Okay Not To Share (our model): Isaiah has read half; Katie is through Chapter 3. All staff will have completed it by the end of 2024. The team set a goal to read It’s Okay to Go Up the Slide in Spring 2025.
- Can Kai or Michelle come and advise or consult on setting up some systems for Sunflower?
  - UPDATE: Savannah (owner of The Nest) is going to come in for observation and suggestions
- What is the situation / plan when when teachers get sick? Is there a substitute teacher that can fill in?
  - UPDATES:
  - Isaiah and Katie could legally run the show if Meredith gets sick. Katie has almost met the hour requirements to be allowed to be alone with the kids.
  - Gene can also be a sub (with one other present who has met the 60 hour requirement)
  - Parents would love to see the roster built with 1-2 part time teachers with different experience/skills.
  - Parents are open to getting their Central Background Registry, which would fill out our “back up bench” as well.

Key Questions & Suggestions

Nap time
- Thank you for moving up lunch earlier and purchasing more black out curtains to help with naps! We would love to see a more regular nap time (nap start times currently vary greatly) and use of those curtains.
  - UPDATE: We needed to measure the window, order the rod, and order more curtains. It took a little longer than some would like but we finally go there.
- Any way to have a dedicated nap room? If not, what’s the current process to help those napping stay asleep when others awake earlier?
  - UPDATE (We didn’t discuss this at the meeting but seems worth explaining.) After a child has rested, if they awake while others are still resting we’ll offer them a “quiet activity” on their cot. A bottle with water and glitter. A puzzle. Things like that.

Indoor/Outdoor Play/Space
- It’s been great to see some progress outside & how much cozier it feels inside.
- What’s the general timeline for indoor/outdoor updates? (e.g., When will the track be paved and tricycles/scooters available?) And how could we support any temporary options (e.g., small play structure)?
  - UPDATE: The track is paved. Some loaner tricycles and scooters are available, and we’ve purchased more high-quality ones (3 week shipping). A parent mentioned donating something to the playyard but is TBD.
- We would love to see some more toys, structures, and/or activities
  - Outdoor ideas: mud kitchen, water tables, wagons, bouncy balls, play structures for climbing, tricycles, swings, stumps
  - Indoor ideas: play kitchen, matching games (i.e. animals, organs, etc), trains, magnet tiles, puzzle games/interlocking toys, dress up clothes, musical instruments, etc.
  - UPDATE: Everyone is welcome to come see our toy storage area at any point. We’ve been slowly rotating through our inventory and introducing new items each week.
- We would love to help:
  - Create the vision for the left side of the backyard space and would love for that space to be open to the kiddos eventually. We were disappointed to see this was removed from the plan you originally shared.
  - UPDATE: At the meeting Meredith explained how the playyard layout was finalized based on the sight/sound requirements.
  - Build a food garden to tend to with the kids. It would feel good to be able to set aside time to come to school and engage with the group on a regular basis.
  - UPDATE: Great! We are open to hearing a plan!
- The handbook mentions full rain suits are provided. When will those be available?
  - UPDATE: We’ll be able to offer rain ponchos (by Cleverhood) and some Tuffo Suits when it starts raining regularly. Probably by November. We really appreciate everyone’s grace and understanding in our timeline and execution.

Structured Activities
- We know this is a play-based program, but will there be any regular or structured activities? (e.g., Circle time? Regular music time? [We love that Isaiah is musically talented!] Art time? Field trips/walks around the neighborhood?)
  - UPDATE: We circle up every day to put on shoes and jackets. We can call this circle time if that would feel good. Right now there is some specific group time (meals, specifically). And a bit more spontaneous in the play yard (a game of catch with bean bags, for example). We’re doing a “observation walks” around the playyard, noticing the seasonal changes, new sprouts, maple copters, etc. And we offer art pretty much every day; not every child always wants to participate. But most of the ‘instruction’ is currently 1:1 with individual children as we: talk them through the diapering process; guide them washing hands (spreading the soap on their fingers and rubbing for 20 seconds, not just washing the soap off); putting on shoes and jackets; etc.
  - Field trips require the following: staff at the front and back of the line; high-vi vests; a note on the door announcing when we left, where we went, and when we will be back; we need to bring our emergency phone and first aid kit. **If any parent has a specific vision for where they would like this group of children to walk, and would like to help us meet the requirements above, we are open to this possibility!
- It would be great for the kids to have a visual display of the daily rhythm, and for parents to know about daily and/or special activities so we can talk about them with the kiddos and build on what they are learning at school.
  - UPDATE: The rhythm is in the opening page of the “Preschool for All” book that each child was issued before arriving at school. We also have a laminated copy in our upper play room. The team also does its best to send photos from the day, or offer a conversation cue for the end of the day, for more specific activities.

Ba Boom. The Cycle Track is OPEN! And the play hive is installed.

Hello. It’s September 29, 2024. This was a big weekend: we paved the cycle track, imported even more bark chips, and installed the play hive. Here are photos of the results.

Play Yard Open (Even Bigger!). And a few more things.

Hello! It’s September 22, 2024 and we’re three weeks into running Sunflower Preschool. A few thoughts and observations.

The Play Yard is Even Bigger. The temporary fence is down so now our boundary is the beautiful fence. It just keeps getting bigger and better. (We haven’t gotten to the mound-with-the-slide… yet.) My heart was soaring in the golden sun on Saturday evening, with Gene on equipment, our two children working with mucks, and me on wheelbarrow detail. It’s such an honor for our little family to serve all of yours.

The Sandbox. The children love it. It’s a great venue for exploring the medium (what happens when you make a sand castle with dry sand? And now with wet sand — how does it compare?). It’s also where a lot of conflict resolution happens. Here is some of the language we use:

When a child wants a sandbox tool another child is using, “You can ask for next turn.” (taking turns when ‘all done’)
When a child dumps sand on another child,
- To the dumper, depending on context:
  - “If you want to dump sand, dump it on the sandbox.” (redirect)
  - “Never dump on a head.” (boundary)
  - “Ask permission before dumping on another part of their body.” (consent)
  - “Were you wanting to play? You can ask, ‘Do you want to play?’” (redirect)
- To the dumpee,
  - “You can tell <dumper’s name>, ‘Don’t dump sand on my head.” (self advocacy)

And, of course, the ongoing work around asking before smashing another child’s castle (impulse control; consent). Or building their own sandcastle to smash (independence). This is all very age appropriate, and only the beginning. This is the work.

I’d include photos of the children at work/play here but don’t have the bandwidth to check photo permissions; we’ll keep sending a few home every day via ProCare.

Books. We offer a wide selection. This week the children gravitated towards:

a book the compared inclined planes and pulleys as two strategies for getting toys up to a playhouse.
“Cool Cuts” which shows different hair styles and ends each page, “You were born to be awesome.”
“Rainy Day” about a father and child who navigate the sounds of a rain storm and play checkers.
“My Hair,” about a child learning how to be brave when the hair clippers come near.
“Potty”, a simple story about a child learning/trying to use the potty, ending with a, “tinkle, tinkle toot!” And “Undies!”
“Water Protectors,” an absolutely beautiful book about protecting the earth.
a few more.

We’ll keep rotating toys and books each week, keeping it fresh.

Social Emotional Learning. I was switched on to Generation Mindful a few years ago and I’m going to bring in my posters that provide a chart of different feelings, and calming strategies. When a child is upset we talk them through different ideas, but I think the visual cues will be more meaningful/impactful/empowering.

Diapers. I thought we were so cunning with the real time diaper charting. But then we weren’t being thorough. Apologies. Course correcting, we’ve shifting to paper diaper charting, and will hang the diaper log (ha) in the entryway in case a parent wants to see what got changed, when, for their child.

Fine Motor/Self Care Activities. We’re still spending a bit of time during transitions getting shoes on and off. (Step 1: line up the shoes; Step 2: open the shoe wide; Step 3: put your foot in the shoe). There’s also a bit of learning being done turning socks and jackets right-side-out. And getting jackets on — some already know the “flip your jacket trick — as the weather gets cooler. Please echo this at home by allowing enough time for them to do it themselves (help with your words and encouragement, but have them do physically as much as they are able).

Building Community! The pretzel happy hour on Friday was super fun! We’ll get a couple more on the calendar while the good weather lasts. And we’ve heard a request for a Flashlight Night so we’ll discuss that possibility at our upcoming team meeting.

Bread Bags. If you eat bread in your home please consider bringing us your empty bags. They are the perfect size (and clean out easily) for soiled clothing (and I feel so lame buying empty plastic bags when I know a few get tossed into the garbage across our collective community each week). Also, if you do decide to donate plastic bags, please hand them directly to a teacher as they are considered a child hazard and we need to lock them up.

Art Projects. We’re purposely *not* sending your child home with their art projects. They make them, they enjoy them, and then we all move on. If a child make something that they feel extra special or precious about, we’ll offer to put it in their cubby. But otherwise (speaking as a parent here) we are trying to keep the homeward-bound clutter down.

That’s probably enough for now. Thanks for reading!

Thoughts from One Week In

We opened our doors as a licensed business last Tuesday, September 3rd. Here are some thoughts.

Wow. It is So Awesome.

The Space. We had a hunch the space would lend itself to childcare. The giant picture window. The huge backyard. The layout. The storage areas. Our hunches were correct: overall it feels kind of awesome. Of course we are still fine tuning (a paper towel dispenser here; more hooks there; etc) but the big pieces are in place and working well.
The Team. When I interviewed Isaiah he came across as punctual, dependable, kind, thoughtful, diligent, and playful. The first month was an absolute whirlwind: we needed to assemble cabinets, battle blackberries, paint the ceilings and walls, and on. Isaiah took each task in stride. Now we’ve shifted into the childcare phase of the work and he is on it, recognizing temperaments, acknowledging feelings, being steady and gentle, and taking the lead role on food-related items to name a few. It’s all working out. Katie come on board as an 11th hour hire; she is doing great as our “Background Magician” with clean up, stocking items, and doing behind-the-scenes support. Plus the additional crew: Gene, namely, with all the tools and skills. He is a champion. His friend has helped us so much as well (we could not have pulled off the initial play yard build out the day before we opened if he had not leaned in. If you are reading this, Thank You!). And Gene is leaning in on the home front too so I can take on this role at Sunflower. Gene’s mother, The Best Mother In Law In The World, has been helping out with childcare so we could take on mudding/painting/caulking/digging/pole setting/bark chip spreading/pressure washing/etc. Finally, we couldn’t have taken on this endeavor without the capable hands of Kai and crew running the Mud Pies Preschool scene. Anyways, full team effort in effect.
The Community. Yup: pretty much magic. If you are reading this you are probably part of the community. So glad you are here! There have been challenges for sure. Everyone is being so generous and kind and communicative. We’ve only had four days full days, including a heat wave, and it’s just going to get better and better. Overall, hurrah.

LOOKING BACK AT THE FIRST WEEK

Some heavy equipment vocabulary that might have come home with your child:

“hook truck” — a big yellow truck
“vac trailer” — a big red tank. basically a pressure washer with a giant vacuum that sucks up mud (and then dumps it out).

Other strategies and systems that might work their way in to your child’s lexicon/awareness:

“changing area” — based on advice from our licensor, we are doing stand up diapers. So instead of having a changing table we have a changing area. (We have a pad for them to lay down when there is a BM.) It’s working out really well: it’s efficient, safe, and it lends itself to toilet learning (the child is already there getting their diaper changed, so then we offer, “Do you want to go pee on the potty?”). So far it’s going well.
“write a note” — When a child is upset, we offer a variety of calming strategies. Belly breaths (breath in through the nose, out through the mouth; sniff in the flowers, blow out the candles). A hug (or, for some children, a “huggy”). Crying (We’ll ask, “Do you want to keep crying?” Sometimes they do, and that’s okay.) We will also offer dictated notes by asking, “Would you like to write a note?” And then the child will say whatever is on their mind. Sometimes it’s just “Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. I miss my mommy. I want my Mommy.” Or they’ll list everyone in their household. Whatever they say, we write it down. Then we carefully read it back to them and ask if there’s anything else. When they are all done, we ask them what they want to do with the note. They can put the note in their cubby. Or they can hold it. Or they forget about it. We can often see their bodies physically relax when they feel seen and heard, and they’ve had a chance to get out their thoughts and feelings. It’s essentially the first version of journaling.

LOOKING AHEAD TO THIS COMING WEEK (SEPT 9-13, 2024) AND BEYOND

This week the big time fences are getting installed. And perhaps some turf (fake grass). I’ve warned the fence builder(s) that they might have ten children staring at them — ha! Longer term I’d like to call forward the possibility of a couple community events.

Fri Sept 20th, 4:30-5:30pm. Hang. Eat pretzels. Have your child show you what is important to them. Get to know other families. Stay for as much or little as works for your household system on a friday afternoon.
Saturday October 5th (to be confirmed). We’ll offer Family Photo Shoots. Our housemate Kelsey is a professional photographer. Plus she is great with kids (she takes the sports photos for this region for schools). If you are interested please sign up via ProCare.

That’s probably enough for now. Oh wait, one more thing. We pressure washed this weekend! The stoop is So Clean!!!

Cheers,

Meredith & Crew

Scenes from the Play Yard Development (Labor Day Weekend 2024)

Golden light on the first scoops of the sandbox!

August 30, 2024 (Follow Up Questions from Onboarding Event)

I received some super questions from a parent. Sharing here in case anyone else was wondering.

Q: As you’ve shared that the fence builder will be coming in a couple weeks, will there be a temporary solution for fencing until then?

A: Yes. We’ve staked out the temporary fencing. It’s 4′ high plastic safety fencing that will be attached in regular intervals (roughly every 4′). It’s *inside* the final fence line so that the real fence builder can do his work while it is still intact. (I warned the fence builder that he will likely have many children staring at him while doing his work. Ha!). And along the concrete area will be the black temporary pool fence (the one with the magnetic-latch gate). The reason we haven’t installed the temporary fence yet is that we’re bringing a vac trailer (imagine an 500-gallon pressure washer, combined with an 800-gallon vacuum) on site to dig the holes for the poles this weekend. It is so much easier to maneuver without fences in the way. But yes, we’ll have the temporary fence in Monday.

Q: Next week will be quite HOT, are there hot weather precautions in place for staying cool? Shade, water table, plan for amount of time spent outside in the heat, etc. For example, at Nest Savannah shared a chart they use to determine whether the temperature outside is safe for play, and for how long. (attached). Will Sunflower follow similar guidelines?

A: Wow. Of course Savannah has a chart. Amazing. When I read your question (before I saw the chart) I was thinking, “Basically below 90 and the children tend to do fine. Above 90 and everyone starts to get cranky.” This aligns with the chart. And now I know more about relative humidity(!). We’ll have shade devices, a mister, and maybe a water table (or at least a bucket). The back area with the sandbox is shaded. In general, I expect we’ll do a flow of morning, breakfast, diapers, outside time, regular deliberate water breaks, and then shift back inside when it starts heating up (and when it’s time for lunch). Indoors will have air conditioning. Oh, and sunscreen goes on once the UV index goes above 4. (We strongly recommend light, loose fabric that covers skin, and a hat, in the spirit of prevention.) Afternoons we’ll play by ear.

Q: The initial drawing you shared of the yard represents a wider space than what we see today. Is there a plan to open up the left side for a garden and hill like originally planned? (photo attached)

A: I’m so impressed you still have that sketch. The play area that will be fenced off in a couple weeks measures 80′ x 56′. As we looked at the site (and site-lines), this is what felt manageable at this juncture. It will have a hill! (The hill that is there will have a slide, and we’ll topseed it with grass. But the sanitation inspector really didn’t like the idea of children playing on dirt, so we had to keep it out of the temporary fenced area.) I need better names for the different fencing zones and timing; I hope this all makes sense. The area to the left of the fenced area will be reserved. We’ve talked about putting garden beds in there. Or having a giant pumpkin patch. Or a field of sunflowers. Or parking a tiny home. So many ideas. We don’t know exactly how it will evolve and so we drew the fence line coming off of the corner of the house (rather than at the end as in that sketch). We anticipate the children will ultimately have access to this space, but it won’t be for everyday use.

Q: Naps…will all kids be napping in the living room together or across the concrete space as well? will the tri-fold project boards be the only light blockers or will windows be covered as well?

A: All will be in the living room, at least that is the current plan. There will be shades on the windows (that’s a weekend project for our carpenter friend). Our licensor strongly recommended starting out *without* the tri-fold cardboard so we may go that route (they said start simple; then only add supports if necessary).

Q: First day drop off…all the items that we are to bring for the first day, should we leave them in cubbies before handing kids off to teacher? sunscreen included?

A: Please give all medications (including diaper cream and sunscreen) directly to a teacher. It needs to go in our lockbox(es). And we’ll have Medication Authorization copies ready as well. If you want to print/fill yours out ahead of time, go to our /forms page. Each medication needs its own form.

Here are the visuals from the above Q&A.

August 28, 2024

Whew! We have less than a week before “launch”! To incoming families, here are a few things to note.

First, we are SO EXCITED to begin this chapter with the terrific 2s, thrilling 3s, fantastic 4s, and fabulous 5s as the children grow into more full versions of themselves.

Second, I sent it out via email but also posted the Parent Handbook on the Forms page. That is a great place to start if you are looking for more information.

Third, a few additional notes/summaries specific to Sunflower Preschool:

Daily Rhythm (p. 7). We might shift things a little earlier as the group adjusts. For example, if a child is tired earlier than 1pm we will let them lay down on their cot.
What to Bring (pp. 7 & 8).
- small bag of labeled personal items
  - 1-2 changes of clothes
  - one comfort item from home for rest (a lovie or small stuffy)
  - water bottle
  - shoes that are easy to get on and off
- ONE BLANKET FOR YOUR CHILD’S REST TIME. (This is new!). We will provide cots and sheets, but have fallen short on blankets. Please provide one small labeled blanket. (We will have extra in case you do not get to this.)
- SUNBLOCK FOR YOUR CHILD. (This is new!). This is considered a medication so we’ll as you to fill out a form. We’ll be on our game more come next summer but for now please provide.
Drop Off Routine
- Parents shall escort their child through the orange door into the lower playroom. Help remove shoes/jackets/etc, put away stuff. Parent shall sign child in to ProCare. Then the parent shall hand off the child at the Door With the Golden Knob (the steps leading up from the lower play room to the upper playroom) to a teacher who will greet each child and usher them into the upper playroom. We’re hoping this provides a hybrid balance of both adjustment (parent getting the child into the space and ready for the day) and quick goodbyes (transitioning into the play space).
- We’re putting “communication cards” on top of each child’s cubby. Most communication will be electronically via ProCare. Sometimes it might make sense to write a quick note; thus the cards.
- Please arrive by 8:30 if you want your child to have breakfast with us. If your child is going to be later, then consider coming after 9am (and be sure to feed them at home).
Pick Up Routine
- Parent shall pick up child by signing child out of ProCare. Please check in with a teacher before leaving, especially in these early weeks!
Transition Days
- Some parents have asked if their child could do a half-day for a few days as they transition to the new space/people/rhythm. That’s just fine. One idea is to do a half day (arrive by 8:30; leave around noon after lunch) for a couple days. Then level up to a longer day (arrive by 8:30; leave after rest and snack around 4pm) for a couple days. Then ease into a full day.
- Do whatever works for you. Just let us know your plan so we can accommodate accordingly.

Fourth, we’re at an exciting juncture for the space. The pros and cons balance each other out. The cons are that we’re still discovering what works and what doesn’t. The play yard isn’t totally dialed (it will initially just have a sand pit, rocks and logs, and crates). The pros are that we can evolve and adapt as we identify opportunities. We have planned some developments: the fence builder is coming in a couple weeks; when it starts raining we’ll plant a willow arch pathway in the play yard; we’re adding a slide and top seeding a mound of soil for a built-in slide; the poles and bark chips and hanging devices will come. Every couple weeks will likely yield something new!

Fifth, our team. The third member of our team got lured back to her family. (This is the second time this has happened. While I appreciate the loyalty, I’m feeling a little shy hiring nannies going forward!). So Isaiah and I are on our toes. We will be able to manage, but we are actively seeking a 3rd member of our team. If you know of anyone seeking a position in an early childhood space, please send them our way. 🙂

Sixth, Orientation Scavenger Hunt. At our Wednesday evening get-together (tonight!), we’ll have a small Orientation Scavenger Hunt for the children and parents to get used to the space in a playful manner. Here are the tasks:

find your cubby (take off your shoes);
find the Door with the Golden Knob (knock and enter);
find a bathroom sink (wash your hands);
find a place set up to eat (touch it, or sit down at it, whatever feels okay for your child);
find a cot (touch it; lay down on it; whatever feels okay for your child); and
find your cubby again (put your shoes back on) and go into the play yard.

The “prize” is the manila envelope with the “Welcome to Preschool” book. The intent of this exercise is to start building the muscles of the children to do these things — arrive, take off/put on shoes, wash hands, sit for meals, go to a space of rest — in a fun way. *If you are not attending on Wednesday evening I am happy to meet you at another day/time if you think this exercise would be helpful for your child. I’m spelling it all out here so that everyone is on the same page regardless of attendance.

Seventh, there are a *lot* of new faces and names. Please be patient with us.

That’s probably enough for now. Looking forward to seeing most of you this evening!

Cheers,
Meredith & Crew

August 1, 2024

We’re hustling. We’ve got deadlines. It’s all coming together. A bit later than I’d prefer but we will get there. A couple things:

First, check out our Calendar page! There you will find the following *optional* events (and others):

Sunday August 25, 2024 – 10:30am-12pm – Open House! This event is open to incoming children *and* prospective households.
Wednesday August 28, 2024 – 4:30-5:30pm – This event is open to Only Incoming Families! Come and hang out on a late summer evening. Light beverages and snacks (likely pretzels and oranges) will be served.

Second, check out our Team page! Isaiah started on Monday. He has been diving into all parts of the “to do” list — from organizing documents to masking walls to doing blackberry battle in the back. The 3rd member of our team will start in September.

Third, know that a lot is going on behind-the-scenes. For example, we’ll visit the school of six incoming children mid-August to get to know them and get briefed by their current teachers (e.g. this child loves to be pat on the back to get to sleep; this child loves x, y and z; this child observes a lot at first; etc). We applied for a grant to build a new fence and play yard, which would expedite that process. And on and on and on. We will do our best to share meaningful and relevant updates as they arise.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

Meredith

June 24, 2024: Color Me Happy!

A few milestones occurred last week.

First, I met with our licensor and it went great. They said about the space, “I can see all the potential!” It was such a wonderful and encouraging reaction. My heart soared.

Second, as the sun was making its widest arc across the sky of the whole year, the outside of Sunflower Preschool got painted yellow. It is So. Decidedly. Yellow. We also painted the doors different colors with the idea that we can tell the children, “Meet at the orange door” or “Meet at the green door.” If it was a normal house it might look somewhat ridiculous. But as a preschool house it looks ridiculously awesome. I am very excited.

Third, we picked up some high-quality cubbies and a few high-quality toys (including a rocker boat!) from Micha-el School.

Fourth, I finally activated my Sunflower Preschool email account, so that is now “live”.

This week’s plan includes new flooring and more finish details. Still so much to do but it feels like everything is slowly coming into place. That is all for now. Onwards and thanks for tuning in!

May 23, 2024

REGROUPING WITH A COUPLE CLARIFICATION POINTS

A bunch of us met in April. I didn’t realize it at the time but a couple questions/concerns came up that might still need to be addressed to the broader group.

We will be a “Certified Family” facility. That’s what it’s called when a childcare facility looks like a home, not a center. One requirement for such a place is that someone lives in the building. That’s why part of the Sunflower Preschool house has a space to live. We’ve designed all of the spaces with safety and ease of use in mind: the person living in the apartment (who may or may not be a part of Sunflower, TBD) will park to the south and have their own entrance to the south. Meanwhile all preschool attendees will park to the west and enter the building on the north side. The resident(s) will be in the Central Background Registry (CBR)(which is a requirement for anyone onsite). It seems worth noting that when we replaced all of the windows we got sound-proof windows to reduce the impact on their space (children are loud!). If anyone has further questions about how homes / childcare / licensing / safety / children / etc intersect please reach out.
We have some heavy equipment — fairly new and well-maintained CAT excavators — that we sometimes use to move dirt. Occasionally we might bring said equipment to Sunflower over the coming months to help shape the land. For example, instead of a post-hole digger, we could use an auger. Instead of a shovel and wheelbarrow, we could use an excavator bucket. Oh the power of hydraulics! If you happen to see these pieces of equipment on site in the coming weeks/months, rest assured they will not be on site once we open (admittedly to the dismay of some of the children).

A LOT OF EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS ARE HAPPENING

Here are the updates in bulleted fashion (with main points in bold):

We hired a painter! The Sunflower Preschool house will turn yellow (in a good way) in early June. We got a handful of quotes. And then when we started deeper research, our favorite bid had let their lead-paint certification(s) lapse. So we asked them to get that done (very important for any homes built prior to 1978). Then it started raining again. But now certifications are in hand, and sun is on the horizon. Hurrah!
Our team is forming! It’s still taking shape but here are some broad brushstrokes: One member of the team, the eldest of six, has their degree in Child Development and many years of hands-on experience. Another member has been a nanny for 20+ years and is looking forward to shifting to being part of a team (caregiving solo can be so lonely). More “formal” announcements to come, likely mid-June.
- If you want/need care during the summer, we can likely help arrange something for August. Imagine one teacher, with up to 3 children, in our space or yours, for TBD hours/days. Please contact Meredith if you want to make this happen.
We purchased some high-quality cubbies and materials. A Waldorf school (Micha-el School) in Milwaukie is closing. We were able to buy some really high quality cubbies and hooks and racks. The plan is to use these in the lower play area over the coming year as our “indoor porch” area: a space to put on a take off jackets, coats, boots, etc. Then as we develop the outside space more (with a cover, and other amenities) we can shift.
We’re on track with our licensing process. It’s indeed a process. We have the packet. We have an initial date scheduled with our licensor. We’ll jump through all of the hoops. We are told to estimate ~45 days. Here we go!
We’re sharpening our pencils. We’ll be knee-deep in spreadsheets over Memorial Day Weekend and set final 2024-25 tuition rates by the end of this month. We’re trying to keep pace with current market trends/pay scales, which is on the up-and-up for preschool teachers. We’re trying to find that sweet spot of having robust staffing hours (breaks and some “squish” in the schedule is good) but also trying to be lean (e.g. not too squishy).

Some things haven’t gone exactly as planned.

Our planned lead teacher is staying with her nanny family. This is all for the best: the family has a little one on the way (!), and it is so wonderful that J will be able to provide some continuity of care.
Our grant for a fence did not come through. We were told that this grant, which is for “new and expanding” spaces, could not be granted if we don’t have our license yet. We’re kind of scratching our head at the sequence of this; we need the funds to update the space, which we’re then getting licensed, to then host children. Couldn’t they issue it as a loan, and then convert it to a grant when licensed? Anyways, instead of dwelling too much on that setback we’ll figure out a fence for now that is secure but perhaps not terribly pretty. And then re-apply for said grant for a nicer fence once we have our license. Like most hurdles, it might be a blessing in disguise in that we can try on the space and figure out how we actually use it before investing heavily in the final design.
Email. I set up the sunflower email account, but then have completely neglected checking it. Sorry about that. Please keep using Mud Pies for the moment.
Website. I’d like to put the blog posts all together onto one page (as we did on Mud Pies Preschool’s page) but my design skills are rusty and time is short. We’ll get it done eventually. Apologies for the current shortcomings and thank you for your grace.

THINGS WE WILL NEED (any of these items collecting dust in the corner of your home?)

Everyone has been so wonderful, asking if/how to help. Here are a few items that I anticipate needing that might be collecting dust in one of your homes (we are just fine being a bit scrappy, saving money, re-using items!):

a printer. Ideally a “Brother” brand. Doesn’t need to be fancy (black and white just fine!). Ideally it could scan at the top and make copies.
a label maker. Ideally a “P-touch” brand.
an iPad. Again, it can be quite old (just need it for signing children in/out)(it will be plugged in continuously).
an iPad holder. Perhaps an anti-theft one so it can be mounted securely. Perhaps someone used to do conferences or events and has a spare one kicking around.
clear storage containers for pens/markers/art supplies. I’m envisioning ones like these. Maybe keep an eye out at Goodwill?!

Signing off for now. Cheers!

~Meredith