Ricayah Hayden, Head of Early Learning Center at The Independent School

Panther Families! If you have not already, please vote for The Independent School!

Our Vision: To be the premier private college preparatory school in Kansas, where we strive for Excellence in Academics, Activities, and Athletics.

Our Mission: To provide a superior, independent, college preparatory education, serving a diverse student population in a safe, supportive community, conducive to the intellectual, emotional, and physical growth of each independent student.

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🌟 It's that exciting time of year again when The Independent School shines in the spotlight. 🏫✨ We're nominated across the board in the Wichita Eagle's Best of Wichita awards – categories include Private school, Childcare, Pre-School, Elementary School, Middle School, High School and even Summer Camp! 🌞🎒 Your vote can make a real difference in celebrating our commitment to excellence and growth. Let's show the community why TIS is a true favorite! Cast your vote today! 🗳️👇
https://www.votewichitaks.com

The Independent Early Learning Center's Teacher of the Month for August: Miss Nancy

Miss Nancy is currently a float/sub here at the ELC! Miss Nancy has worked for TIS for many years! Prior to coming to TIS, she worked for Wichita Montessori and two other preschools. In her free time, she enjoys reading, singing and spending time with her family. Miss Nancy enjoys helping and watching the kiddos at the ELC grow! Thank you for everything you do, Miss Nancy!

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The Independent Early Learning Center's Teacher of the Month for July: Miss De’Azia

Miss De’Azia is currently nineteen years old. She has worked in childcare for five months, but has volunteered for over three! Miss De’Azia is currently majoring in early childhood education. In her free time she enjoys reading and shopping.

Thank you for everything you do, Miss De’Azia!

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💙❤️ REMINDER ❤️💙

We are closed today, July 4th and tomorrow, July 5th in honor of Independence Day! We hope all our Panther families have a safe and fun fourth! See everyone Thursday!

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Our Toddler II classroom in action! Using their fine motor skills to hold the paintbrushes, they painted raindrops outside today!

Did you know? Fine motor skills involve small muscles working with the brain and nervous system to control movements in areas such as the hands, fingers, lips, tongue and eyes. Developing fine motor skills helps children do things like eating, writing, manipulating objects and getting dressed.

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Thank you to all the Father figures who came out for Nacho Average Dad Fiesta! It was a complete success because of you. Our Panther Cubs are truly loved.

The Independent Early Learning Center's Teacher of the Month for June: Miss Sydney
Miss Sydney loves working and seeing what the children are capable of creating and doing every day! Miss Sydney will be graduating with her associates in Early Childhood Education this summer and will be continuing with her Bachelors in the same degree at WSU in the Fall of this year! Some of her hobbies are reading and hanging out with her family and friends! Her biggest hobby of all is traveling.
Thank you for everything you do, Miss Sydney!

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2023 Water Play has finally commenced!

We are stoked for a FUN summer here at the ELC!
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Meet our administration team here at The Independent School.

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Just a friendly reminder that we will be closed Monday, May 29th. We hope everyone has a great long weekend!

Our Toddler II classroom in action!

Miss Kim & Miss Morgyn took the toddlers outside to play with ice and water for large groups! Using our Infant-Toddler Curriculum, the following Key Developmental Indicators were used:

•B.11. Group participation: Children participate in group routines.

•E.22. Exploring objects: Children explore objects with their hands, feet, mouth, eyes, ears and nose.

•E.29. Filling and emptying: Children full and empty, put in and take out.

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Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful, hard-working women in our Panther Cub’s lives. We appreciate every single one of you! 💕

Today was Field Day for the ELC and Lower School! We had all ages out there, even the infants watched from the sideline!

HUGE shoutout to Coach Speer, P.E Teacher for The Lower School and Erin Wilson, Head of The Lower School for making this day so eventful! The kids and teachers had a blast!

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The Independent Early Learning Center's Teacher of the Month for May: Miss Tamyra

Miss Tamyra is one of our infant teachers and she absolutely adores it. In her free time, she enjoys anything that is relaxing. Miss Tamyra's love for children grew as she was the first born of eight siblings!

Thank you for everything you do, Miss Tamyra!

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Yesterday for Teacher Appreciation, the IPA had Kona Ice come out for our wonderful ELC Teachers! 🍧

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Congratulations to Christian and Loriah whom will soon be 2023 graduates here at The Independent School. Christian and Loriah have helped tremendously here at the ELC. We are SO Panther proud of them, we cannot wait to see the positive change they will make in the future!

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The terrific two year olds!

This week they are learning about the letter Z! During small groups, they were able to practice tracing and drawing the letter Z.

Fun fact: Knowing the sounds associated with each letter in the alphabet helps children build a solid foundation for a variety of tasks — from reading activities to writing activities —and helps develop confident learners.

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The Independent Early Learning Center’s Teacher of the Month for April: Mrs. Krayshawn

Mrs. Krayshawn is one of our Early Preschool teachers and she absolutely loves it. In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching sports and anything Disney with her children. Mrs. Krayshawn loves working with children as she believes children are the future leaders of tomorrow!

Thank you for everything you do, Mrs. Krayshawn!

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Look at our Early Preschoolers in action!

During their small groups, the students in group one were able to make their very own Earth for Earth Day on Saturday. Students in group two got to play a letter game to practice letter registration! Finally, students in group three were using their fine motor skills playing with magnet titles and blocks.

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Did you know this month is National Arab American Heritage Month?

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Join us tonight for our FINAL all school skate night of the year!

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Are you are interested in enhancing your childs gross motor skills?

Classes for the following are offered on Thursday’s here at the ELC:

Tumbling: (Age 2)
Tap & Tumble: (Age 3+)
Dance—Tap, Ballet and Cheerleading: (Age 3+)

If interested please contact Miss Kim at [email protected]
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Yesterday Mr. Rivers from the Lower School came to sing to the Two's, Early Preschool, & Preschool classrooms! We are so thankful for him! 💙🐾

Fun Fact: Music helps overall brain development, creating pathways in the brain that improve a child's cognitive functioning.

This year we had FOUR wonderful teachers nominated for the Week of the Young Child Impact Award! We are so panther proud of them! 💙🐾

The award ceremony will be held on Saturday, April 22nd at Calvary United Methodist Church located at 2525 N. Rock Rd.