The School Day : The Grove School: A seriously fresh new preschool in Cary and Plano!

Magnetic Fish

Lindsay Anderson | December 2, 2011 | Comment

The Early Preschool class has so much fun learning our letters. During “F” week, we learned how to distinguish the letter “F” from other letters of the alphabet. The help with this, I placed magnetic strips on the backs of several letters on fish shapes. The students were then asked to go “fishing” and catch letters. Once a fish was caught, students were asked if they found the letter “F or a different letter. If they found a different letter, they threw it back in the pond. This continued until all of the letter “F”s were caught.

PreK Learns Their Phone Numbers

Leah Hull | December 1, 2011 | Comment

In Pre-K we are starting to learn our phone numbers. We have talked about many different reasons why it is a good idea to learn a home phone number or a phone number for mom or dad. Some great responses were, “We need to know our phone number so that we can call it” and “We need to know our phone number in case we get lost”. So, we’ve started practicing our phone number with a fun little jingle. They kids smile from ear to ear as they sing and point to each number.

Each child has been given a paper cell phone with their name and phone number written on the back of it. One activity we decided would be fun was to have each child cut out the numbers in their phone number and put the numbers back in the right order. This was challenging but they did great! Once they glued their number back in the right order they got to use their cell phone to practicing dialing the phone number and having a pretend conversation with mom or dad. Once they dialed their phone number successfully they had to write the number on their paper. They loved this and felt like such big kids! We will continue practicing these phone numbers and hopefully be able to dial on a real telephone in the near future!

Leah Hull teaches pre-K at The Grove School of Plano.

Meet Ms. Analisa

Heidi Summers | November 29, 2011 | Comment

Ms. Analisa is the newest addition to The Grove School inPlano. Analisa graduated fromTexasTechUniversitywith a degree in Early Childhood Education. She taught preschool-aged children at Texas TechUniversity Child Development Research Center for two years and even served as a mentor for lab students in their undergraduate programs. Ms. Analisa was a first grade teacher last year, but she decided to return to preschool this year.

Analisa has spent some time training in all of the classes, and now she is beginning her own class of 2-3 year olds. Her first week was busy with teaching classroom routines, meeting families, and preparing for the rest of the academic year. Her students have enjoyed working with scissors, paint, and glue as they build the fine motor skills needed for writing. Analisa has also added some yoga into the classroom routines, which the students are enjoying as part of their center time.

Analisa has been a great addition to the Plano school. Her passion for working with small children, as well as her knowledge of multi-sensory teaching approaches, will provide our students with a wealth of learning opportunities!

The Grove School Gives Back to the Community

Heidi Summers | November 29, 2011 | Comment

At The Grove School, we actively promote “giving back” to our community. In November we did this through collecting food for the local food pantry. One of our gracious parents put out a donation box that was filled within a week. The food pantry workers were so excited to see all the goodies we had collected.

For December we put out a “donation station” to collect food and toys for a local children’s home. This home provides respite care to foster children who need emergency housing. Once again, the parents have been eager to collect and donate supplies to children who are in need.

In addition to our collection boxes, The Grove School seeks to give back to the community by supporting local public schools. In October we help to sponsor an elementary school carnival. This was a great way to build a relationship with the families who live in our neighborhood, as well as a way to meet perspective families looking for our preschool.

These community activities were not created byGroveSchoolstaff. Our PAC (parent advisory committee) discussed what organizations they would like support, and a decision was reached by the parents of our school who we would help this holiday season.

With all of the preschools a family has to choose from, why pick The Grove School? I believe we are one of the few schools in Plano that seeks to impact the lives of children who don’t even attend our school. We strive to teach our children the importance of activism, outreach, and service to others – values that are taught first at home, and reinforced through our school programs. This is what I love about The Grove!

Mailing a Letter Home

Cristen Blackwell | November 17, 2011 | Comment

During our Community unit, we spent a day to discuss the jobs of a mail carrier and the resources we could find at the Post Office. We looked through junk mail and sorted it according to the type of mail it was. For instance, we had magazines, flyers, and letters in envelopes. We looked at stamps and discussed why we have to have a stamp on everything we send through the mail. Our mail addresses were also discussed . The children were very interested in knowing what their addresses are so they could mail their parents a letter. After sorting through the mail and talking about the different things we need in order to mail a letter, we gave them time to make a picture or write a letter to their families. They were fascinated with the fact we were going to send it through the mail for them and it would arrive at their house in a few days! Once they were finished with their letter, they helped Ms. Mandy address their envelope. After everyone was finished, we passed out money to each child and had them line up so we could go to the Post Office to buy stamps. We walked down to the Post Office (Ms. Shelley & Ms. Heidi’s office) and bought stamps from our mail woman, aka Ms. Shelley. After purchasing their stamps, Ms. Cristen helped get their stamp in the right location. Once everyone’s letters had stamps, we walked outside to The Grove School’s mailbox. We talked about when we put mail to be sent out in our mailbox, we have to raise the flag so the mail carrier will know they need to take them to the Post Office. After everyone mailed their letters, we noticed the mailman was next door so we waited until he came to The Grove School. He was a very nice man and let us take a picture with him after we watched him take our letters away. It was a great experience for the children.

What’s Inside a Pumpkin?

Lauren Renfro | October 21, 2011 | Comment

As part of a study on pumpkins, preschool and pre-K students discovered what’s inside a pumpkin by observing a pumpkin, making observations , and tasting baked pumpkin seeds. During the preschool and pre-K Eco-Friends Strand, children were presented with the question, “What does the inside of a pumpkin look and feel like?” This questioned spurred curiosity for students and made them want to further their education on this mysterious pumpkin. Students were encouraged to observe and describe what they see and feel inside the pumpkin. Here are a few observations from students:

“It looks like a spider web”-Naomi

“It looks like a boy swinging from a tree branch” (talking about the pulp that hangs from the pumpkin hollow) – Brooks

“It feels disgusting and it almost made me throw up” -Brycen

“It looks like spaghetti”- Rishika

“It feels gooey and gross, and I didn’t like it” – Samuel

“YUUUUUCK” – Layne

Even though the kids didn’t like the way the pumpkin pulp felt in their hands, they still enjoyed the experience of observing the inside.

We also made estimations on how many pumpkin seeds would be inside of the pumpkin. Needless to say, there were waaaaay more seeds than we thought there would be; they decided to stop counting after about 200.

I can tell you that the students thoroughly enjoyed participating in this activity: The funny thing is, they have no idea that we accomplished all of our learning objectives during this experiment . . .Let’s keep that a secret!

Lauren is the Strands teacher at The Grove School of Plano.

Healthy Mind, Healthy Body, Healthy Planet

Heidi Summers | October 4, 2011 | Comment

My tour asked me, “What are you all about?” I was confused. “What do you mean” I asked. “Well, what’s the most important value to your school? Is it academics, is it being eco-friendly? Who are you?”

Good question. This made me think: How do I summarize in just a few minutes what The Grove School is all about? My answer was this: We are a Healthy Mind, Healthy Body, Healthy Planet school. All pieces of this value system are equally important, and all aspects of our program weave together and interconnect with this central concept. One does not exist without the other.

Our outside gardens provide a unique experience. Even our youngest children are given the opportunity to water the gardens, talk about where their food comes from, and even harvest their own vegetables. But our gardening is about more than just eating healthy. Last spring the children discovered a spider. They learned how spiders contribute to the life of plants, and how our eco-system relies on insects as part of the food cycle. While somewhat simplistic, the notion of science is a step into higher level thinking skills. And allowing kids to grow and harvest their own vegetables encourages them to adopt a healthier lifestyle, thus developing a stronger body. Our planet benefits from less pesticides and the compost bin we’ve created, and our goal is to instill these values in our children so they know how to create their own eco-friendly gardens one day -Healthy Planet.

Take into consideration the lesson the Strands class did on recycling. They collected items from outside and placed them in the proper recycling bins. They discussed how each could be reused or recycled instead of being thrown into the trash and landfills. This was a lesson in conservation. Healthy Planet, right? Then there’s the fresh air they received, running around outside, gathering and collecting materials – Healthy Body. As they went outside, students were able to discuss the types of objects they located and sorted them according to different properties, such as size and shape. And in Ms. Cristen’s room, they brought in recycling items from home and simply played with them, using their imaginations and creativity to play games – Healthy Mind.

Our curriculum does not consist of one core value being taught at a time. Rather, it is a wholistic approach to learning, with all aspects of our curriculum supporting one another.

The Grove School is a refreshing new idea, and one that I truly believe in. If you haven’t done so already, we’d love to have you stop in and see for yourselves what makes us so unique!

Our Early Preschool Class is Growing!

Heidi Summers | September 1, 2011 | Comment

The Plano Early Preschool class has expanded, and in August we opened a new classroom for children 18 months and older. Its so exciting to have Ms. Amber here as the newest addition to our school. Ms. Amber graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She is certified to teach Early Childhood through 6th grade. Amber believes in offering the children a variety of hands on and exploratory activities. Its fun to see Ms. Amber and her class walking through the halls of the school. They are already learning classroom routines and procedures, and parents have really enjoyed the pictures and updates she has provided, detailing all the fun acitivities of the day. Ms. Amber’s class started in August with two students, and now she already has six students enrolled. This is going to be a fun year!

: Creating a planet

: Things that fly

: The letter A

: Making clouds for our sky unit

Nature Addition

Leah Hull | August 30, 2011 | Comment

As early childhood professionals, we understand that math operations do not need to be taught to children as young as four. Rather, it is first necessary to ensure that students understand that objects have value, and that counting is more than just saying numbers. Number awareness is a fundamental concept that must be introduced before higher operations are conceptualized. When I walked into Ms. Leah’s class last week, I loved the way she reinforced the math skill of counting objects, while introducing the children to the basic concept of addition. I asked Ms. Leah to write a short summary of her lesson and explain how she integrated it with the “healthy mind, healthy body, and healthy planet” values of The Grove School.

During the unit Outside My Window, we talked a lot about recycling and taking care of our earth. We have been learning how to write and recognize our numbers, so a fun activity we decided to try was Nature Addition. This was the first time most of these kids had seen or talked about addition. We discussed what a plus sign and equal sign does. We then had some fun picking out different pieces of nature (leaves, grass, wood chips, rocks, etc) and putting them on our addition mats. We put a few pieces on one side of the plus sign and a few more pieces on the other side, then we counted each side individually and then counted all of them together to see find the total. It was fun to get to start practicing big kid math , and what better way to do that then to use little pieces of the world around us!

Leah Hull teaches pre-K at The Grove School of Plano.

Airplanes

Lindsay Anderson | August 17, 2011 | Comment

For the month of August, the Early Preschool class in Plano has been discussing the sky. Within this theme, we talked about air transportation. As a class we discussed where a plane travels, if it is loud or not, and it the speed it travels. The weather has finally cooled down, so we were able to go outside and look for airplaines ourselves. The class congregated outside and laid on their backs, looking at the sky. They didn’t have any luck this way, so they ran around the play area looking at different angels to see if they could find one. Finally, a large plane flew overhead. The children were so excited, clapping and waving their hands to the plane they had so anticipated seeing. Blue skies, sunshine, and an airplane in the sky: What a beautiful way to spend our morning!