ABOUT US
A child's work is play
Play leads to learning and learning leads to play
Play leads to learning and learning leads to play
Our infant, toddler, preschool and school-age programs encourage positive nurturing relationships which we believe are the foundation of healthy growth and development for early childhood. We work hard to promote social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. We create hands on environments that are safe, innovative and encourage academic learning through play, inquiry, and exploration. Our unique philosophy uses a combination of planned themes and emergent lessons. We believe that children thrive in nature and have developed outdoor classrooms as an extension to enrichen their learning experiences.
HISTORY
1990-Our building on Cottage Grove Road was constructed as one of the original Gingerbread Preschools. It had 3 classrooms, a kitchen and small office space.
1994-The building was purchased by current owner Linda Kudrna and renamed Learning Ladder. At that time, another building located a few blocks away on Main Street was also being occupied by young Learning Ladder students. After-school programs were operated for many years in Cottage Grove School and Taylor Prairie space.
1998-An addition to the Cottage Grove Road location doubled the size of the building to over 11,000 square feet. This allowed us to add 4 more classrooms along with office and storage space. The Main Street location was sold, and those children were moved to our current building.
2005-Due to growing demand for infant and toddler care, we remodeled one of our preschool classrooms and divided it into 2 rooms for our youngest students, giving us a total of 8 classrooms.
2008-After several years of planning, LL partnered with the Monona Grove School District to offer 4K in our building along with wrap-around care for families. In addition, we operate an inhouse 3K & 4K preschool program for students who choose not to participate in the district's program or live outside the Monona Grove School District.
2014-LL became nationally accredited through the National Accreditation Commission (NAC) and received a 5-Star rating from Wisconsin’s YoungStar program.
2020 -The year of COVID! We were proud to stay open for our families for all but 2 weeks in the month of April. Additional cleaning, child health checks, masks and other procedures allowed us to remain open and COVID free for the entire year! We provided a thriving in person 3K & 4K program and supported virtual learning for children in Kindergarden-5th grade.
2021-The pandemic highlighted the importance of Early Care and Education at the state and national level. Not only is high-quality care important for brain development, and the social and emotional health of our children but it is essential to the economy. Linda Kudrna is a board member of Wisconsin Child Care Administrators Association and is active in advocacy efforts for policy initiatives to support and sustain financial investment in Early Care and Education and funding the Early Childcare work force.
1994-The building was purchased by current owner Linda Kudrna and renamed Learning Ladder. At that time, another building located a few blocks away on Main Street was also being occupied by young Learning Ladder students. After-school programs were operated for many years in Cottage Grove School and Taylor Prairie space.
1998-An addition to the Cottage Grove Road location doubled the size of the building to over 11,000 square feet. This allowed us to add 4 more classrooms along with office and storage space. The Main Street location was sold, and those children were moved to our current building.
2005-Due to growing demand for infant and toddler care, we remodeled one of our preschool classrooms and divided it into 2 rooms for our youngest students, giving us a total of 8 classrooms.
2008-After several years of planning, LL partnered with the Monona Grove School District to offer 4K in our building along with wrap-around care for families. In addition, we operate an inhouse 3K & 4K preschool program for students who choose not to participate in the district's program or live outside the Monona Grove School District.
2014-LL became nationally accredited through the National Accreditation Commission (NAC) and received a 5-Star rating from Wisconsin’s YoungStar program.
2020 -The year of COVID! We were proud to stay open for our families for all but 2 weeks in the month of April. Additional cleaning, child health checks, masks and other procedures allowed us to remain open and COVID free for the entire year! We provided a thriving in person 3K & 4K program and supported virtual learning for children in Kindergarden-5th grade.
2021-The pandemic highlighted the importance of Early Care and Education at the state and national level. Not only is high-quality care important for brain development, and the social and emotional health of our children but it is essential to the economy. Linda Kudrna is a board member of Wisconsin Child Care Administrators Association and is active in advocacy efforts for policy initiatives to support and sustain financial investment in Early Care and Education and funding the Early Childcare work force.
