Rainbow Connection

Starting kindergarten is an important milestone for any child and his or her parents. To be prepared for this crucial transition, a child needs good preparation and proper direction. No preschool will help a child more than Rainbow Connection.

Located at 6672 South Highland Drive, Rainbow Connection has served families in the community for around 35 years. Director Shauna Stoker has been at the preschool for 25 of those years. She says the preschool is an immediate attraction to parents of preschoolers and prospective preschool children.

“When we get people through the door, they love us,” she says.

Currently, Rainbow Connection has 50 students, though Shauna says she’d love to have more. The school is divided into two groups: 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. Shauna says the age groups are kept separate in order to focus on different needs the children have. Rainbow Connection employs six well-qualified teachers who are devoted to helping the children prepare for elementary school. Stoker also says genuine care and concern is a hallmark of the preschool.

“We absolutely love all of these kids,” she says. “They can feel of our love. We miss them when they’re not around. Parents say they can feel we truly care about their children. People say there is such a good feeling here.”

A typical day at Rainbow Connection finds the children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (which, if they memorize, they are given their own American flag), singing alphabet songs, doing crafts and performing science experiments. Teachers also teach the children shapes, numbers, phonics, sounds and word blends. Shauna says the children get their own take-home alphabet book, which is composed of by all sorts of crafts. The children can typically recognize numbers by sight up to 100 and can write numbers one through 10.

“It gives the children a head start if they know sounds and alphabet by sight,” she says. “We don’t push too much on them.”

The educational program at Rainbow Connection is so comprehensive that local elementary schools endorse the preschool.

“We have such a well-rounded program,” Shauna says. “Kindergarten teachers say kids that come from here are right on target and where they should be. We get lots of feedback from kindergarten teachers. Schools refer children to us. Most schools around us are familiar with us.”

Shauna also says the preschool building itself isn’t an imposing structure but is instead an inviting place to enter, as it is, in fact, in a home.

In addition to quality academics, Rainbow Connection students put on three programs a year for parents.

“There are many opportunities for parents to be a part of the school,” Shauna says.

Classes for the 3-year-olds are held Tuesdays and Fridays for two and a half hours. Classes for the 4-year-olds are held three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday for three hours a day. Both age groups have morning and afternoon sessions.

For more information about Rainbow Connection, call 801-942-6231.