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Phone

970-739-4244

Fax

970-882-7922

Address

1550 Hillside Ave.,  Dolores, CO 81323

Overview

Teddy Bear has been in existence for 30 years. We are a high quality program with NAEYC (National Association of Education of Young Children) Accreditation! Only 3% of the programs in the entire United States have this distinction. You know you have enrolled your child in the best program possible when a program is NAEYC Accredited. We accept all children of the ages of 12 months -5 years old. Teddy Bear has 4 preschool classrooms, and 1 toddler classroom. All teaching staff is licensed and/or has Associates degree’s in Early Childhood. Our ratios for the preschool are 1:8 and the toddler classroom ratios are 1:4. Preschool classrooms have a maximum limit of 16 children in attendance daily, and the toddler classroom has a maximum of 12 children daily with 3 teachers present at all times. We are a collaborative program with various funding opportunities: Tuition, Head Start, CCAP (Colorado Childcare Assistance Program) and CPP (Colorado Preschool Program).

Leadership

Valiena Rosenkrance

Valiena Rosenkrance

Principal

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Mrs. Rosenkrance grew up moving between Alaska and Dolores, Colorado. Her family moved twice a year going to Alaska in the summer and Dolores in the winter. Valiena is a graduate of Dolores High School. She was married here (36 years strong!) and has two grown sons.
Valiena received her degree in Early Childhood Education from Fort Lewis College. She has been working at the Teddy Bear Preschool for 25 years; the first seven years as a teacher and the remaining 18 years as the director. She has been instrumental in leading our preschool to amazing NAEYC accreditation. Only 3% of preschools in the nation have attained national accreditation. This is the mark of excellence and quality in the early childhood field.

Early Access for Kindergarten or First Grade

House Bill 08-1021 allows Colorado schools to accelerate highly advanced gifted children under age 5 (for kindergarten) and/or under age 6 (for first grade). School districts in the SJBOCES offer early access to kindergarten or first grade in order to support students who may have exceptional aptitude/cognitive reasoning, academics, school readiness and motivation. The early access process is designed for highly gifted children who require academic acceleration and is not recommended for the majority of 4 or 5 year olds. For details about the application process, contact Nisia Patalan, San Juan BOCES Gifted Education Coordinator, at npatalan@sjboces.org. Applications are due by April 1st, 2024. Applications will be reviewed by a San Juan BOCES Early Access team, and families will be notified of the decision on or before June 1st.

Learn More About Easy Access

curriculum

We use the Incredible Years curriculum to help promote social/emotional understanding. We use the Creative curriculum for lesson planning that individualizes for each child. Mighty moves and Food Friends curriculum is used to promote physical activity and healthy nutrition. We introduce beginning numbers and letter recognition and other kindergarten readiness skills. We also encourage healthy family partnerships.

highest rating

Colorado Shines is a nonprofit organization working to advance quality early childhood education across Colorado.  Colorado Shines measures the quality of early learning programs through an evaluation of their learning environment, family partnerships, training and education, adult-to-child ratios and group size, and accreditation. We achieved the highest rating by Colorado Shines of 4 stars!!!