Admissions
Hopefully you've looked around and The Grove School feels like a great place for your child. Fantastic! We’d love to meet up with you in person, answer your questions and tell you more first hand. Shoot us an e-mail or give us a call and we’ll get back to you shortly.
close
 
 
 
Careers
We're looking for rare individuals. Teachers with degrees in early childhood or environmental education and a fire in the belly to make a difference. Administrators with a head for business and a heart for helping children reach their full potential. People who are so invested that they'll stay with us for years, growing and developing our educational community. Is that you?
close
 
 
 
 
Connect
Let's play
Kids learn through play, but what about the grown ups? The Grove School is a playground for everyone. Join the fun!
(Psst, you can move the colored circles with your mouse.)
close
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I remember as a kid thinking that summer took forever to get over and I couldn’t wait to get back to school to see my friends.  As an adult, it seems that it goes so fast that I blink and it is already the end of July. We have so much going on in our school , and I want  to highlight happenings in each classroom.

Early Preschool is bursting at the seams!! We are anxiously anticipating our new classroom to open in August with some brand new little students.  It is always so much fun to get the new little guys in our school because it makes us look at our big 2 year olds and think back to when they first started.  Ms. Amber is our newest addition to our staff, and we are looking forward to having her here as well.  She and Ms. Lindsay already have some great ideas about learning and exploring for their kiddos.  They both have Early Childhood Education degrees and a wealth of knowledge, so we are looking forward to seeing what is going to come out of those classrooms.

In PreSchool, you can see how excited the kids are to learn more of everything. Ms. Carrie and Ms. Cristen have been working diligently to ensure that we are preparing these preschoolers for the big PreK room next year.  The summer curriculum is booming with fun-filled things to do, and the students are really budding into preschool students.  It is a big jump coming from the Early Preschool Room to the “big kid” class, but the kids have adjusted well.

PreKindergarten’s new teacher, Ms. Leah, is at the helm.  This transition just happened on July 11th  and the students already have a routine and seem to be moving along well.  Parent teacher conferences are scheduled next week, and Ms. Leah is excited to be moving forward and preparing for a great year.  She has brought a new button reward system  to reinforce positive behaviors in the classroom. 

Summer Camp is always doing something creative and fun.  Ms. Mandy has taken that program to a whole new level of fun and learning.  Over the course of the last eight weeks the kids have explored different topics ranging from What’s Cooking to Scientific Experiments.  There have been some fantastic projects coming out of that room.  Each week the kids decorate a mural that goes with the theme of the week.  Be sure to check those out in our hallways!

 

 

As I walked by Ms. Miranda’s Strands class yesterday, I had to pause and peek in the room. The students in her class were engaged in a wonderful obstacle course. Mondays are “Healthy Me” days, where students learn about healthy mind and body choices. For this class, students discussed spatial concepts, such as “over”, “under”, and “through”. Vocabulary words were introduced, and then the children were encouraged to follow an obstacle course using objects in the room. They walked “over” the chairs, climbed “through” a tunnel, and crawled “under” a table.

Ms. Miranda used this lesson to talk about body placement, and how we navigate our bodies around objects. Students brainstormed how they move their bodies at home. For example, they walk “through” the door of the house, they climb “over” their beds, and then they crawl “under” the covers. Combining literacy with movement created an active and meaningful learning environment.

Now that the students have discussed these relationships, parents can recreate this experience at home by using objects around the house, such as a couch, pillows, and chairs. Put everything in the center of your living room and help your child create their own obstacle course for the family. What a fun way to spend an evening together!

 

 

During our Summer Enrichments we decided to “shake things up” here at the Grove!  We’ve added a Science & Sensory Enrichment every Wednesday afternoon!  Thus far, judging from the magnitude of “mess” and the level of “what happened to you today” it’s been a hit thus far! 

Children love sensory experiences!  Water used in its simplest form – for pouring, dumping, mixing, splashing, turning a water wheel is often a calming and very relaxing activity for children.  Yes, it can be extremely messy – but that’s the FUN part!  Children often miss out on these “messy” experiences for a number of reasons – however, here at the Grove, the harder we work, the messier we get, and the children love it!!  Here’s a sneak peek at what we’ve been experimenting with during our Science & Sensory Enrichment:

Cornstarch & Water

June 14, 2011

What a combination, right?  I don’t know the “science” behind it all – but what I do know is that it’s fascinating to watch the kids touch, feel, stir, hold, mix, and marvel at how cornstarch and water interact with one another.  Cornstarch is a powdery substance and when mixed with water it’s smooth and creamy.  If you try to scoop it up in your hands it looks as if it’s melting!  It can be a little tricky to scoop off the bottom of a sensory tub but once accomplished it’s like a thick liquid soap mix! Pretty cool!

Shaving Cream & Watercolor

June 29, 2011

YAHOO!! The kids clapped and cheered when they saw cans of shave cream!  We love shave cream!  We added a little “twist” to the shave cream – watercolor!  The children were so excited to find the colored surprise inside their shave cream once they began to mix and mix!  Shave cream is often a very calming activity for children – they’re able to explore, squeeze, mix, smell, drive trucks through, and for the one’s who live on the wild side – cover their arms and faces with it!

Our motto is: “It’s ok, we’re washable!”

Stay tuned …. What Science and Sensory Enrichment will we explore next?

Misti is a Pre-K teacher at The Grove School of Plano. She is an avid Kansas State fan. (We don't hold that against her!)

 

 

In our EPS class, we are studying about the letter B for Beach. We have had different activities all week centered on the letter B. For our Friday small group, we made a creative snack. We had Bears in a Boat! Each child was in charge of making their own with our instructions. We gave each child a celery stick and asked them not to eat it yet! We then placed a spoonful of Nutella on the celery stick and instructed the children to spread the Nutella out with their fingers. They loved the fact they could finally use their hands and get dirty with their food! Once they had their Nutella all over their celery stick, we handed out a few Teddy Grahams to each child. The children then nestled their bears in their boat and added a sail! There we had it, bears bobbing by in a boat! The children loved creating their snack, and really enjoyed eating it up! Next week, we will be making Berry-licous Bagels!

 

 

 

Our completed project

This summer students learned about different biomes of the earth. In our most recent unit, we studied the Sahara. Summer camp kids discovered first-hand how succulent plants store water in the desert. By using a cucumber and toothpicks, they created their own cactuses. Cucumbers were “planted” using sand in recycled bottles. Then, campers used toothpicks to create “needles”. As holes were poked, they observed that, while the outside of the plant is hard, the inside is soft and filled with water. They now understand how a dry plant, such as a cactus, can survive in the hot, dry terrain of the desert. They also have a fun desert terrarium to take home!

 

 

Those of you who follow this blog know that from time to time I like to pop into the classrooms and take pictures or shoot some video of what is happening for about a minute or so.  Today Mrs. Hunter asked me to come down to her room and shoot her students working.  However, I was in the middle of something so I rushed to get her the Flip video camera so she could film the minute for me.

I love the video below because it is truly an authentic moment in our new TK class.  Mrs. Hunter had the students working on a joint project that she had set up on the floor.

Listen carefully to their dialogue and you will hear what I heard, students engaged in their own learning, discovering and thinking while working very collaboratively with their peers.

Even though this is quite simple, it is one of my favorite videos to date.  I’d love to know your thoughts as well.

Keywords: , , ,

 

 

Josh Knowland, a parent at the school, poses with the picnic table he made for the staff.

As you know, our school has a wonderful Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). One of the missions of the PAC is to support the wonderful teachers at our school. Well, they did that and then some!

The PAC collected funds and asked one of our parents, Josh Knowland, to buy the materials with the funds they raised and build the table.

As part of our July 1st family event celebrating the completion of the first month of our summer EcoAdventures program, the PAC dedicated the table in front of the entire student body, staff and parents.

The PAC expressed its appreciation for all the hard work our teachers do to make our school such a special place for their children.  The teachers were touched by the PAC’s appreciation and greatly anticipate using the table.

Keywords: , , ,

 

 

This week in Summer Camp, we have been studying all about the Safari.  We went on a Nature Safari around the school to find things that look and feel like something we may find in the Safari.  We also practiced sketching, step by step, a picture of an elephant.  Today we imitated what the jungles and forests look like by using a shoebox to make a diorama.  We went outside and gathered the natural materials we needed such as sand, dirt, leaves and branches.  Then we used paper and markers to decorate the inside of the box as well as the natural materials we found.  Next, we added our favorite animals that live in the Safari.  This was a great way to demonstrate what we have learned about the Safari, and the kids now have a souvenir of our “adventure” to take home with them!