Miss Marty's Nursery School

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What are you going to do "in case of emergency"? What are NOT going to do "in case of emergency"?

On 4/9/2025 we had our first "Lock Down / Shelter in Place Drill" called for annually for any number of emergencies - with a difference for Lock Down in that you keep the children quiet and in the dark - well we didn't make it to "in the dark" but I did get "quiet voices practice" in, with a side of trauma for at least one of my 3-year-olds.

Which brings me to "What you are NOT going to do" - you are NOT going to use any triggering words which might be as simple as a mention about "bad guys in the neighborhood" which could create quite a bit of anxiety for a 3-year-old for a couple of weeks. Good thing I read the 3-year-old, and skipped practicing the "in the dark" part of that drill. I've since added glowsticks to our Emergency Supplies in the Safe Room for the next drill - or potential actual Lock Down.

Forward to THIS MORNING, when I received a text 3 minutes after opening from a law enforcement friend, letting me know of a "shots fired" call with a location about a block from us. I immediately moved the three children present back into the house, locked the front door, sent a group text to families to "let them know what I knew and what we were doing and instructed them to 'text from the drive so I could meet them at the door for drop-off'. I then retrieved the activity they were just getting engaged with from the porch and the baby's mini-crib. We stayed in the family room - only one window that someone would need to scale two tall fences if they wanted to peer into.

One dad circled back and hung out in the drive, another circled around the neighborhood just watching for any signs of suspicious folks. It's good to have parents that have your back! Heavy police presence according to my Dads.

I called the non-emergency number, spoke to dispatch - no exact location, no spotted suspect fleeing, heavy police presence is protocol. Could have been random gunfire, someone shooting at a squirrel or even fireworks. Left my number for responding officer to call me with any updates when the coast was clear (he called back mid-text to update families).

Learned the importance of all us coordinating on ONE thread - because some of my updates went out on individual threads with just a single family on them. I was coordinating/processing a lot in those moments and I wasn't paying attention to the thread I was on. Plus, some of what was being texted to me (ie Dad in the driveway hanging out) could be pretty settling for other families in the thread. Lesson learned, we all need to communicate on the GROUP THREAD. And, you can't take calls during all this - you may be on the phone when they call, you may be moving to the playroom downstairs - any number of things.

Once everyone was here, I got a quick breakfast assembled, I'd spelled "s-h-o-t-s-f-i-r-e-d" more times than I could ever could have counted, and I never uttered "active shooter" or "bad guy" a single time. We moved to the basement and the DCBs enjoyed a fun picnic breakfast on our circle rug. We are spending our morning have a great time disassembling of the playroom with a great free-play event.

Lunch will be upon us soon, but I wanted to memorialize this morning and my lessons learned. You may have an Emergency Plan, but it doesn't mean you will follow it exactly because no emergency is the same and things can definitely be influenced by the time of day and the details you have. Better Safe Than Sorry is real, but you need to balance your efforts as not to trigger anxiety too. We will be cleaning up soon and heading back upstairs for lunch.

And lunch inside and in the family room is probably being overly-cautious, that is how I roll especially with children involved. I'm sure I'll have one eye peeled on the kids, and the other on the food prep and out the window checking the back yard. And I'm also sure the kids will be THRILLED to eat in a new spot. Maybe I'll top that table off with an umbrella for extra ambiance. Picnics are fun. Summer is coming.

Outside will be there next week, and we will make up for any time lost today.

OPENING HAS BEEN FILLED!!! Thank you friends for sharing my post.

One Full Time Opening for the 2025-2026 school year. Your child would need to be at least 12 months old and walking independently by August 5th. Hours of operation are 7:30am until 5:00pm. The location of my home is close to Shawnee Mission North High School (Johnson Drive and Foster). Next year our day care school year begins 08/05/2025 and will run through 05/21/2026 - observing the Shawnee Mission School District Calendar for holidays, breaks and inclement weather days (closed in June & July).

I’ve been a licensed child care provider since 2004. In my program children learn through play and age-appropriate activities (free & organized play, provider-lead and independent activities). Our “classrooms” consist of a large garden, yard/playground, screened porch and designated playroom. My program runs with a balance of “preschool” and “family” energy. Good manners and healthy social skills (geared to set children up for transitioning to formal pre-K and/or Kindergarten) are focused on.

Initial Interviews are done by appointment. Because these interviews can take up to 3 hours for me (up to 2 for families) I do require a refundable $25 deposit via Venmo upon scheduling. This is to assure that you keep the appointment and are on time. Refund of this deposit is following the interview or with 24-hours advanced notice of cancellation.

At the Initial Interview will discuss costs, in-depth details about my program, review the Family Child Care Agreement and state-required forms/policies, a list of references and a tour of all child care areas. I do ask that both parents attend this interview as well as the child intended for enrollment (less any other siblings). Only two Initial Interviews per week are scheduled - after 6:00pm on weekdays, with very limited late-afternoon Sundays available.

Please text to me at (913) 909-9595 so we can set up a time for an after-hours phone call to visit and potentially set up a time for an Initial Interview.

Send a message to learn more

A photo dump to our day care page of some pics since January 2025. This crew keeps me super busy - I may get things posted one place, but not every place!

We do not do very much screen time around here - maybe 10-15 minutes a couple times a week. Usually a YouTube dance or screaming goat video (this group finds screaming goats absolutely hysterical and I love watching them laugh so hard) from my iPad or laptop. The Cottage got a new [Smart] TV for Christmas, so the 2010 model from WV came home with me and I ordered a DVD player from Amazon - we can now watch our fun-fun-fun vintage music & dance videos. Bonus the screen is large enough I don’t have to scoot them away from close-up because they may be blocking the screen.

Mini Frittatas - a little bit Italiano, a little bit Appalachian.