“When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. We’re helping ourselves stay in touch with that spirit, too. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.” –Fred Rogers

At Morningside we make learning fun. Children are meant to play while they learn! To see more of Morningside’s Magic visit us on Facebook. 

This Fall we have celebrated our 50th Fall Semester! While it has been one unlike we’ve ever had before, with many COVID changes, it has been just as magical as ever. We are so grateful to have a beautiful school to do the world’s most important work in. Thank you for being a part of our legacy! We love our students and seeing their light and love for learning each day. Here is a mashup of fun from this Fall 2020– enjoy!

We will be starting school on Wednesday, August 19th as previously planned. We are planning to stick to our original school schedule as best we can and only make changes if necessary. Please continue to watch your inbox for email updates and for “Social Distancing Details” for Back to School Night.

We will be opening as scheduled with the following precautions:

• During arrival to school please stay with your car and wear a mask. Teachers may take your child’s temperature and ask you health related questions. Please be considerate about you and your child’s health when coming to school. If you or your child have any flu-like symptoms or other suspected illnesses please keep your child home and share this information with staff via email, phone call or text message to the Director. Please share even if of questionable importance. Do not bring a student if suspected of exposure to COVID-19 or other contagious illness. You can also text the Director if your child will be absent for any reason.

• Wearing a mask will be mandatory for all inside of the school. We realize this will be difficult and because of this we will try to have part of our school day and activities outside as much as possible while the weather is warm.

• We typically are more than happy for parents to visit us inside the school, but this year we are going to request that parents do not enter the school unless absolutely necessary. Everyone will be required to wear a mask if they enter the school. If a parent arrives at the school and needs to speak to staff or pick up their child, they can call or ring the doorbell and a teacher will assist them.

• When students arrive at school, we will help them to hang up their backpacks and then wash their hands before playing with toys or looking at books. As long as the weather is nice, we will start our days outside. We will also be using hand sanitizer as we see necessary. Please label everything: coats, backpacks, masks, etc. We will provide one reusable mask for students and we will have disposable ones at school if one is forgotten. This year we will ask that your child does not bring toys from home or anything that is not necessary. No water bottles, we will provide disposable cups, etc.

• The school will be sanitized each day between AM and PM sessions and as necessary. A more intense sanitizing will take place each day after school.

• We ask that you please help prepare your child for school by practicing wearing a mask and taking temperatures at home.

We can’t wait to see you in a few weeks for our 50TH YEAR OF SCHOOL! Thank you for your patience as we navigate through this pandemic. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Director with questions or concerns.

On April 14th, Governor Herbert and State Superintendent of Public Education Sydnee Dickson announced that the school dismissal for all Utah schools will be extended for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. We recognize that this is a very difficult time and we are here to answer any questions that you may have. We deeply miss being together at school and are keeping hope that life can normalize soon.

Here are some answers to commonly asked questions:

We are currently enrolling for the 2020-2021 school year. You can secure your spot by filling out a registration form here http://morningsidepreschool.com/enrollment-and-tuition/ As of now, we plan on school resuming on Wednesday, August 19, 2020

All events for the 2019-20 school year, such as Kindergarten Graduation and the Spring Program, are cancelled.

If your family could use help with meals here is a link for Grab and Go Meals: https://www.ccsdut.org/grabandgo?fbclid=IwAR38WEWkyDqcuudhLTqKmwcxybiwoYKfJ3SROipKF3me1D14ti_-g4tHzYo

Here is a link with suggestions to talk to your child about the school closure:

https://medium.com/waospi/talking-to-your-children-about-school-closures-aeb3e6be6456

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions you may have.  director.morningside@gmail.com

This year our Kindergarten classes have been involved in some research with USU’s Math Department using Coding Toys in the classroom. Our students completed an individual pre-assessment interview with a member of the research team, which consisted of 1) the IGDIs Problem-Solving tasks and 2) a researcher-created coding skills measure. Our students then participated in a series of five coding toys lessons over five days for 30-40 minutes per session. A co-investigator taught  the lessons, and a different co-investigator  video recorded the lessons and took direct observation field notes, and the teacher took direct observation field notes. The research team then met  to discuss, design, and refine the lessons. Following the conclusion of the five lessons, our students completed an individual post-assessment interview, which consisted of the coding skills measure. The teacher participated in an interview about her observations of the students’ interactions with the coding toys and learning.

Morningside’s Conclusion: coding is fun! 😀 Thank you to Dr.  Jessica Shumway for inviting our school to participate in this study! Thank you as well to all of the researchers and teachers for their hard work in carrying out the study.

We have such wonderful Firemen in Logan– we are so grateful for their service! They were so sweet to give the students a long tour including getting inside the ambulance and fire engine. It really helped teach them about Community Helpers!

Thank you Teacher Susie for this fun experience! We watched the eggs for weeks until they finally made their exciting debut! Life is amazing!

Did you know you can contribute to the Utah Savings Educational 529 Account and use that money to pay tuition for children in Kindergarten-12? The money withdrawn from this account will not be subjected to income tax on its earnings. And, Utah taxpayers’ contributions to the 529 account yearly receive a 5 percent tax credit against income tax up to $1,960 ($3,920 for husband and wife)!