With the 2008-09 school year just around the corner, the Vashon-Maury Cooperative Preschool (VMCP) is gearing up for the school year. We are excited to offer a new blended toddler-2/3 class. Toddlers will attend on Mondays with their parents, and 2/3’s will attend Monday and Tuesday.  

Teaching the new toddler-2/3 class is our newest teacher, Katy Juranty. She is experienced in early childhood development and has created literacy-building curriculum for preschool and school-aged children. She loves gardening and teaching foreign language to kids.

VMCP also has a new parent instructor. For too many years to count, Becky Huntley, our 3/4 and 4/5 parent instructor, has been a parent educator at South Seattle Community College (SSCC), the A.P.P.L.E. Parenting Program and The Parent School in Federal Way. As the author of “The Sleep Book for Tired Parents,” Huntley consults privately and in parenting classes to solve children’s sleep problems. As a mom of three boys, she understands the importance of bringing a lighthearted approach to a serious subject.

 Huntley and Juranty will be joining VMCP’s parent educator Judy Hall and teacher Deborah Kimbrough. Certified in early childhood development, “Teacher Deb” has been working with children for more than 20 years. Judy Hall has been a teacher and a parent instructor since 1983. She has been affiliated with SSCC for more than 25 years.

Parent Education is one of many things that makes VMCP unique. SSCC provides professional parent educators to each co-op preschool class. Attending preschool, they get to know the children and are available to discuss with parents any concerns or questions about life with young children. Geared to the developmental stage of each class, parent educators offer the latest information about child development and guidance, both informally and at parent education meetings. Flowing between a sequential curriculum and spontaneous issues, they coach parents on child guidance and positive discipline and facilitate discussions on real life situations. As they are parents themselves, they honor the job of parenting as the most important job ever.

VMCP will host an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27. Come by and meet the people that make it happen. For more information, call 463-2779 or visit www.vmcp.org.  

— Pam Stenerson is a co-op mom and board member.