Teachers:
Honey Grove takes pride in providing an all-star staff featuring highly qualified teachers! Each classroom is lead with a trained and educated teacher that holds a CDA, Associates’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, or a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Many assistant teachers also hold degrees or are currently working on this personal and professional goal. All staff members are required to continue their education by completing training hours each year. This provides our staff with the opportunity to learn the most current best practices of child care, development, and teaching. Our staff is committed to providing your child with a one of kind, safe, secure and exciting learning environment.
Classroom Environment:
Honey Grove offers developmentally appropriate classrooms for infants through Pre-K students. Classrooms are equipped and furnished with child-sized furniture and an abundance of toys and supplies to support the development of all ages and stages. Our staff strives to ensure that classrooms are full of nurturing relationships and loving care that strongly supports social and emotional development. All students are treated with kindness and encouragement, so they will consistently develop a sense of safety and emotional security.
Discipline:
Honey Grove staff members practice a form of discipline known as “Conscious Discipline.” We work with our students to help them process through their problems and emotions. We feel that is it vital to take one-on-one time with students in order to understand their emotions, the root of the emotion, and to help them problem solve. This allows us to teach our students some of the most important life and self-help skills needed for a successful future.
Curriculum:
Honey Grove provides an educational environment that supports each student’s learning style and developmental needs. Students will be assigned a designated classroom based on his/her age and developmental level. Our qualified lead teachers use specific, age-appropriate, developmental goals to guide their lessons and daily activities. Our Directors and Developmental Advisors work together each year to provide engaging learning themes and a center-wide calendar of academic focuses including a letter, color, and/or shape of the week. All lessons and activities planned will go through the center Director for approval each week. All lessons will be adapted to meet individual needs when necessary. Daily activities will consistently be shared with families using our Tadpoles technology system.
School Readiness:
Why is Early Childhood Education so important and why does Honey Grove provide a balance of structure and play?
Research states that the first five years of a child’s life provide the basis for their social and emotional development. Honey Grove staff believes that it is important for children to learn through play and exploration on a daily basis. These important experiences allow infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to relax while developing social skills such as concentration and cooperation. The imagination, problem-solving, self-help, social and motor skills are also enhanced through play. While learning through play is imperative to a child’s development, we also understand there is a need for structure and routine in our preschool classrooms. By having a routine academic time where students experience calendar time, storytime, writing, and project time, we are bridging the gap by preparing our students for the high standards and expectations that are part of the rigorous academic journey within today’s elementary school programs. With a strong balance of play, routine and structure we are able to do our best to ensure that student success starts at Honey Grove.
Measuring Student Success:
In order to monitor current student success, our lead teachers assess our students at least two times per year. We value these assessments for many different reasons. They allow our teachers to guide and adjust their daily curriculum to fit the needs of his/her students. Through assessments, we are also able to communicate student-specific development and growth with family members. We are very pleased with the positive testimonials that we receive from elementary teachers who observe the success in our former students:
Family and Community
Family and Community involvement are very important pieces of our Honey Grove program. We value the relationships that we build with our families and staff on a daily basis. We enjoy planning and implementing special events where we welcome family members to step into our center and enjoy time with their children. We provide our students with the awareness of the wonderful community that we are part of through our “Community Connections” where students enjoy trips to observe and experience all that Center Grove/Greenwood has to offer. Our “Community Nights” also serve as a wonderful way for our families to see our community small businesses come together for a night full of fun! By joining Honey Grove you are not just enrolling your child, but you are becoming part of a very special family where the love of education, children, family, and community are celebrated each and every day!