Archives for kindergarten

Pioneers in the Industry and in Covered Wagons

CHICAGO – Jean Clark Laube was a pioneer in the development of early childhood education. A graduate of The Ohio State University, she owned and operated one of the first preschools in the state of Connecticut. Jean created an environment that allowed every child to thrive.  When she didn’t have what she needed she created it, including musical plays for her parent’s day performances. Throughout her career as a teacher, Jean wrote over 180 songs for nursery school programs and created ten  adventure themed scripts such as the circus, zoo and mother goose land.

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Winnetka resident continues her mother’s journey

from Winnetka IL Current

by Lauren Finkler, Editor

Jean Clark Laube had plenty of rhymes, and her daughter Kay Laube Benson, of Winnetka, had a reason to ensure those rhymes didn’t go unheard.

Her mother had always been a very busy woman, and also a very creative one. Having run nursery schools in her Connecticut home for 28 years, Jean had also developed unique performances, which the children put on for parents over the years. She had written about 180 songs for nursery school programs, explained Kay.
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A Legacy – And a Business

from Crain’s Chicago Business

By Becky Beaupre Gillespie

Kay Laube Benson’s business selling children’s musical programs launched four years ago, but it was a generation in the making. And it’s been a journey that is as much about the lessons and love passed from mother to daughter as it is a testament to entrepreneurial determination.

More than a half century ago, Ms. Benson’s mother was running a home-based preschool in Connecticut, writing her own material for the programs her students performed for their parents.

“If she couldn’t find the music, she just wrote her own,” says Ms. Benson, 58, of Winnetka.
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