Photo by Deb Gau Since December, ECFE classes at Marshall Public Schools have been meeting in new classroom space at Park Side Elementary. A new building addition at Park Side, completed this fall, allowed enough room for the new classroom space.

MARSHALL — A new early learning classroom at Park Side Elementary is complete and serving area families and kids, Early Childhood Family Education educators said Monday.

“It’s just beautiful and wonderful, and we couldn’t be happier,” said Early Learning Coordinator Tiffany Teske.

Teske and ECFE teachers Lori Radke and Alyssia Coudron talked about the move to the new classroom during an update to the Marshall School Board. They also discussed how the ECFE program was adapting to new safety needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new classroom is part of a recently-completed building expansion at Park Side. The expansion was one of the projects included in a $29.8 million bond approved by MPS taxpayers.

ECFE moved into the new wing at Park Side in November, and classes started in December, Radke said.

“We’re featuring infant classes, toddler classes and mixed-age classes,” she said. The mixed-age “First Friends” class brings together families with infants, toddlers and kids up to age 5. Radke said the classes are an important way for families to meet and support each other.

“These classes do make lasting friendships,” Coudron said.

Going into the new space at Park Side, Marshall ECFE would be offering four-week sessions and eight- to nine-week sessions.

“We do have a waiting list for our longer sessions,” Radke said. “So that’s a good sign from the community that they’re ready to get back into some routines and come back into our space.”

Radke, Coudron and Teske said they all wanted to thank the Marshall community for funding the ECFE program, and for supporting the building addition that made the new classroom possible.

While it was exciting to be able to use the new classroom, ECFE teachers said they’ve also adapted to help follow COVID-19 safety rules. That has included having smaller class sizes, and making use of technology to help meet with families.

“Our enrollment is a little bit down,” because of the pandemic, Teske said. “But for our preschool sessions we’ve been able to offer face-to-face (learning) pretty much every day we have not had distance learning, because we took our classes from 18 to 15 (students) in a room, and everybody’s been coming their scheduled days.”

Teske said Marshall ECEFE has seven sections of four-year-olds with 15 students in each class, and four sections of three-year-olds, with 13 students in each class.

Coudron said Marshall ECFE has held some virtual classes this year. While kids age 5 and younger have a limited attention span for virtual classes, teachers were able to have circle time and meet with families.

ECFE classes also adapted by having “grab and go” activities that kids could do at home, and by meeting at outdoor community locations like local parks.

“It turned into a really neat way to meet families,” Coudron said. “They were ready to be out, and they were ready to see other families, and to have their kids play with other kids and to learn.”

“Our goal for the future is we are going to continue to come up with creative ways to support our families,” Teske said. “Now that we have a classroom set aside for ECFE, the opportunities are endless and we are extremely excited.”