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Healthy body snow fun!
Scott Andersen | January 30, 2010 | Comments (2)
In some parts of the country, getting a few inches of snow is not a big deal. However, in Cary, NC, it is HUGE!
We received snow (and ice) overnight. Many businesses are closed. However, one location in Cary was hopping: Bond Park, the site of some nice big hills…perfect for sledding. It was heart warming to see this morning the hundreds of families with children taking advantage of this rare event.
There was a non-stop barrage of children, both young and old, sliding down the hills on a variety of sliding apparatus. One of the tenents of The Grove School is HEALTHY BODY and today’s sledding activity was a great way to exercise and enjoy some physical activity.
Watch the video and enjoy a smile.
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Who are the people in our neighborhood?
Scott Andersen | January 25, 2010 | Comment
I used to watch Sesame Street as a child. I loved that show. I loved the muppets. I loved the humans. I loved the animations of letters and numbers. And I loved the songs. One of my favorites was “Who are the people in your neighborhood?” Bob would sing the song.
Hearing this song today made me thing about the families that are coming to The Grove School of Cary. We have a pediatrician, a dermatologist, an HVAC installer, a work-at-home mom, 2 moms that are educators, a wireless technologies specialist, a mental health field worker, a nurse, an HR specialist, an artist, a pastor and a pathologist. These are just of few of the many people in our “Grove Neighborhood.”
As we continue the admissions process, it is so interesting to see that our school community is a reflection of our greater community. It is going to be exciting to watch how our parents interact with one another and with the community at large. Many of our parents have already volunteered to work on our advisory board or to provide service and advice to our school community. This is exactly one of the outcomes we were hoping for when we developed The Grove School.
Who’s next?
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Fun and learning at the grocery store
Linda Loop | January 25, 2010 | Comment
Can grocery shopping with children be fun and educational? You bet! Grocery stores are literally stocked with learning opportunities children of all ages will enjoy. Here are just a few math and literacy activities you may want to add to your list, next time you and your child go shopping together.
Math Activities for Younger Children
• Opportunities for number recognition and counting are everywhere! How many wheels are on your grocery cart? How many aisles are in the store? How many people are in the aisles? How many grocery-store workers does your child see? How many items are in your cart? How many people are in the checkout lines? Have your child look for numbers—on signs above each aisle, on signs at the ends of aisles, on price tags on shelves, and on the cash-register screen as your items are scanned.
• Compare the different sizes of similar items, such as the different sizes of cereal boxes, milk cartons, and yogurt containers, using words such as big, bigger, and biggest.
• Weigh different items in the produce department. Which weighs more, a potato or an apple? Do two potatoes weigh more than a bunch of grapes?
Literacy Activities for Younger Children
• To enhance vocabulary development, tell your young child what items you are looking for. Name the items as you put them in the cart or ask whether your child sees them on the shelf. Discuss what you will make with the items in your cart.
• Ask your child to look for the letters in his or her name.
• In the produce department, ask your child to look for different colors, for example, red apples, yellow bananas, green broccoli, and orange carrots.
Math Activities for Older Children
• Ask your child to count how many different kinds of the same items there are in various sections of the store. For example, in the bakery section, how many different types of breads or cookies does your child see? In the canned goods section, how many different kinds of soups are there?
• Discuss why certain items, such as boxes of cereal, are priced differently. Does the size of a box of cereal determine its cost? Does the type or brand of cereal determine its cost? Which type of cereal is a better bargain? Why?
• Weigh different items in the produce department to determine how many apples are in a pound or how many heads of lettuce equal a pound. Or challenge your child with simple addition problems. For example, if one pound of oranges costs $3.75, how much does two pounds of oranges cost?
Literacy Activities for Older Children
• Have your child keep a list in a small spiral notebook of all the new words he or she sees on signs around the store or on the items in your cart. When you get home, go over the list of new words together.
• In the produce department, have you child list the different varieties of items, such as pears and squash. What makes the varieties different? Color? Shape? Taste? Why might there be so many choices?
• Examine labels with your child. What kind of information is included on nutrition labels? Why are nutrition labels important?
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Video: building The Grove School
Dan Flood | January 21, 2010 | Comments (2)
See what both of our recently opened schools in Cary, NC and Plano, TX look like inside and out.
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Fun facts about our website
Burt Rosen | January 21, 2010 | Comment
The Grove School has come a long way since the launch of our website and the brand back in October 2009. We have incredible people running the schools in Cary and Plano, and a team that consistently demonstrates incredible passion for the schools, the brand, the website, and the families. I thought we should take a moment to reflect on The Grove School virtual experience during opening week of the physical schools.
The site itself has been built by many. In addition to all of the people on The Grove School team, we have articles from like-minded parents and a number of the partners who have helped bring the physical versions of The Grove School to life.
Some interesting facts on the site to date:
- Over 10,000 visits have been made to the site with the average person spending 3 minutes on the site reading the articles and watching the videos.
- As of last week, the site has 96 articles, all written specifically for the site on many topics including education, sustainability, community, nutrition, etc.
- The 96 posts come from 25 different contributors (feel free to become one yourself!).
- 30 videos have been posted on our YouTube channel ranging from construction walk throughs to team introductions.
- Over 121 photos on our Flickr photostream.
So, what’s next? Hopefully you are! Much like we want the schools to be built by the community, we want the site to be built by those with a passion for educating kids about healthy minds, healthy bodies, and healthy planets. So, if you’ve got ideas, articles, thoughts or comments, send them in and we will post them. Let’s build this together!
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It's official–we're open!
John Fread | January 20, 2010 | Comment
The Grove School, a new preschool located in Plano, Texas, and Cary, North Carolina, has officially opened its doors to offer children in these communities exceptional educational opportunities. By incorporating education about organic foods and social responsibility with early reading and writing skills, The Grove School integrates its unique healthy mind, healthy body and healthy planet philosophy into every aspect of its preschool activities and learning environment.
The Grove School prepares children ages 2 to 5 for both today and the future, providing an extensive curriculum that offers them a head start on understanding our quickly evolving world. In fact, after extensive research, a group of professionals with more than 35 years of expertise in early childhood education discovered that many parents nationwide were seeking a preschool that includes both traditional early learning curriculum and instruction in social purpose and a healthy lifestyle to deliver a high-quality and well-rounded education. The Grove School goes beyond serving organic food and using sustainable products to fully implement its overarching philosophy in every element, from curriculum and materials to types of activities and models for the way the children interact with one another, parents and their community.
The Heads of The Grove School, Dr. Scott Andersen and Wendy DeSpain, bring years of educational experience to the schools and are set to lead these inaugural locations with their teams of talented and motivated teachers. As its leaders, they embrace the school’s mission and play an active role in the parents’ and children’s experience, employee growth and school development. The Heads of School are also very involved in the day-to-day supervision of the school staff, providing constant and consistent guidance that maps to the school’s unique principles.
“The Grove School openings offer an exciting start in education, focused on our healthy mind, body, and planet philosophy, to children 2 to 5 years old, said Ty Durekas, president, The Grove School. “Our Heads of Schools, along with their teaching staff, are prepared and motivated to offer children a sustainable learning environment with research-based curriculum focusing on nutrition and a sense of community, as well as the structure and concepts presented in traditional elementary schools.”
“We are excited to provide a dynamic, educational and innovative environment for children at The Grove School,” said Dr. Scott Andersen, Cary’s Head of School, The Grove School. “We look forward to the benefits each child will receive from the excellent academic preparation we can offer them.”
“Being involved in the development of The Grove School has been an enlightening experience, and I am excited to introduce children to this unique and well-rounded curriculum and learning environment,” said Wendy DeSpain, Plano’s Head of School, The Grove School. “One of our greatest goals is to prepare children for K-12 education, and with this combination of traditional curriculum and social purpose and healthy lifestyle education, we know our students will be ready to continue learning and becoming productive members of their communities.”
Over the years, Knowledge Universe has had the privilege of partnering with hundreds of thousands of young children as they’ve enjoyed their first experiences in community involvement. Through various charitable campaigns, these children, their families and the teachers in their classrooms have raised awareness and millions of dollars for a variety of local and national organizations.
People often ask us about when children are ready to serve their communities. While all children are different, we think starting them earlier is not only developmentally appropriate, but key to building a foundation of giving that will last through childhood and into adulthood.
Research tells us (and our own experiences have confirmed) that children who participate in charitable activities benefit in many ways:
- They experience a sense of connection to their communities.
- They develop social responsibility.
- They become aware of diversity in their communities.
- They learn about cooperation, problem-solving and citizenship.
- They learn about cause-and-effect.
- They build confidence in knowing they can make a difference.
Starting small is key to introducing community service to your own child. Recycling at home is a great way to incorporate community service into your daily routine. Something else parents can do to encourage volunteerism is to volunteer, themselves. Spend time at your child’s school, and engage your child in conversation about community service.
With today being Martin Luther King Day, the tragic situation in Haiti, and this country and the world still languishing in a difficult economic climate, there is a keen focus on charitable activities and need; you might find right now to be the perfect time to introduce your child to the rewards that come from giving back.
Oh, and our families at The Grove School will have numerous community service opportunities throughout the year. A focus on volunteerism makes up a significant part of the connective tissue between The Grove School, the children and families we serve, our educators, and the communities that we are so excited to be a part of.
See you out in the community!
By now you have undoubtedly seen footage from Haiti, where a major earthquake on January 12th caused catastrophic damage throughout most of the country. The death toll could reach into the tens of thousands, and survivors were left with an almost universal lack of access to emergency medical care, clean drinking water, and shelter. As many as two million children are affected.
Knowledge Universe is supporting relief efforts through two Portland-based, international relief organizations: Mercy Corps and Medical Teams International (formerly NW Medical Teams). We have made contributions to these organizations’ efforts to assist children in the aftermath of this natural disaster.
KU is also working to deliver thousands of articles of children’s clothing to aid groups in Haiti, in keeping with the company’s long history of supporting organizations that provide for children.
Please leave a comment if you have any questions, concerns or want to talk more about our efforts to assist with this devastating tragedy.
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Inside and out, details make the difference
Scott Cervenak | January 14, 2010 | Comment
The last 6 months or so have been quite a whirlwind for a lot of people on the Grove School team. Regardless, it has been and continues to be a rewarding experience for all of us. The vision of what the schools would look and feel like is complete and we are very proud of the results.
Inside, the classrooms feature warm colors with soft accent hues for contrast. The flooring is recycled rubber that is softer, quieter, more forgiving and better for the environment than traditional tile. The classrooms have “old school” and “new school” technology. 
We have Hatch “smart” boards that offer the latest in computer learning tools, but we also have chalk boards for all kinds of traditional fun. Our sinks are composite in a cool “kidney” shape with hands-free functionality, reducing germs and saving water. 
We have textured soft ceiling tiles with more contemporary lighting, a custom made casework package and stained wood doors. Our classroom signs and environmental messaging boards explaining some of our initiatives are sprinkled throughout the building. I just love our classroom signs. They are really fun, complete with Grove School style icons that speak to our experience.
If I could sum up all the things we did with one feature it would either be our classrooms signs or the recycled cylinder “drum” we have out in the playground. You just do not see things like these anywhere let alone in an educational environment.
Outside, we have a greenhouse, a stage, a marimba, arbors, a climbing rock, water features for play and learning, soft, zero-maintenance turf instead of grass, sand play areas and more recycled-content pieces than you can imagine.
Our benches, picnic tables, chairs, planter boxes, bird houses, stage decking and cylinder drum are all made from recycled materials. Our friends at KOMPAN provided us with some wonderful outdoor play pieces that also feature sustainable construction. In addition, the playground features large trees, art areas, cool, curved trike paths, stools and we are working on a compost and rain barrel area that will be in place very soon.
Why did we do the playground this way? The Grove School does it this way because we wanted something different, fresh, inspirational and engaging for children to explore.
Although we are all beyond excited about the entire offering, what matters most is you and your children. As a potential Grove School parent, we wanted to make sure you understood just how committed we are to bringing your child an unbelievable experience that you cannot find anywhere else. When you walk through our school and connect with our incredible people we think you will understand. Everything we have done is based on our collective experience pushing the envelope. Ultimately though, the Grove School is meaningful to me not just because I had a hand in making it happen, it is meaningful to me because I am a parent, too.
View more photos of our indoor and outdoor classrooms on our Flickr photostream.
With only days until The Grove School welcomes its charter families in Plano and Cary, I’m reminded of the first time my wife and I dropped off our daughter at preschool. Hannah was about as old as the youngest children at The Grove School, and that first day was a profoundly emotional one for Stacey and me.
We were living thousands of miles from our families and, as a result, the three of us were a particularly tight-knit unit. I don’t think Stacey and I even went to dinner or a movie more than once or twice in Hannah’s first two years. So, to show up one day for the purposes of leaving her in the care of someone else, was beyond overwhelming. Luckily, Hannah had a wonderful teacher who helped us get through those first trying days. For us, the fundamental concern was that our daughter was safe and happy every day; we were relieved upon seeing the way Hannah’s teacher interacted with her and the other children.
I know that very concern will be on the minds of parents next week. What we hope to do at The Grove School, next week and every day after, is make drop-off a happy time for your entire family. Children will be eager to see friends and teachers, and excited about the fun and exciting things they will do and learn during the day. Parents will be happy knowing their children will be in a safe, nurturing environment where they are engaged by caring and expert teaching staff, and where all children have access to wonderful experiences throughout each day.
For those of you who are taking your child to preschool for the first time next week: We are honored that you have chosen us, we know how anxious you might be, and we are confident that you will soon consider The Grove School to be a positive and essential part of your community and your family’s life.
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