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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?
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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.)
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A student holds an owl pellet during their dissection activity.

During the school age student’s Eco-Friend strand, students were posed with the question, “What is an Owl Pellet?” Throughout the Wild Animals unit, students explored characteristics of owls including the following facts they shared prior to our dissection: “Owls sleep during the day and are awake at night because they are nocturnal” and “Owls have big eyes that see very well at night so they can catch food when it is dark outside” and “Owls like to eat mice and rodents.”

Remnants from the dissected pellets.

This previous knowledge spurred on a thoughtful discussion about why owls cannot digest an entire animal causing them to cough up remains of animals leaving us with owl pellets to dissect!

Students dissect their owl pellets.

Students were encouraged to observe drawings and diagrams to identify what may be found in an owl pellet and what items to look out for in the dissection.

Next, prior to the dissection, students were asked to make predictions of what they might find in their owl pellets. Most students wanted to find fur and bones in their owl pellet and some wanted to find animals skulls!

The school age class is so brave to take on such an activity and had a wonderful experience! Students were encouraged to gently dissect their owl pellet to prevent breakage of animal bones and to look very carefully for even the smallest bones! Each student found: fur, bones, teeth, jaws and at least parts of an animal skull! Some students discovered an entire mouse skull!

Students were also encouraged to run water over their findings to remove any excess fur from the bones for better observation.

Students were encouraged to describe and look for detail in their findings. The description conversation that followed included, “The bones were so tiny,” “the fur smells bad” and “the mouse teeth are so long!” Finally, students placed their findings in plastic bags for further observation and discussion.

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An AFTER picture - a student tends to the canteloupe and tomatoes.

Wow!  What a difference a few days make.  Upon return from our long weekend, our organic garden has grown by leaps and bounds.  I took a group of students outside today to help stake up the tomatoes.  I thought I would share a few before and after photos to highlight the growth.

The students were excited to see silk on the corn, flowers on the tomatoes, and our first yellow squash growing.  More importantly, they expressed anticipation of actually eating all of it.

Click to go to our EARLIER POSTS from the garden and see more photos.

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Students use their special loupes (magnifying glasses) to find insects in the garden.

During our Eco-Friends class time over the past few weeks, students were posed with the question, “What makes an insect and insect?”  Our students combined their prior knowledge with their immediate observations of similarities and differences to discover the unique characteristics of insects.

Our students were introduced to an insect’s three main body parts through a rendition of the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” entitled, “Head, Thorax, Abdomen.”  After observing toy insects, student participated in sorting a variety of different “bugs” using a Venn diagram on the SmartBoard.  Students were asked to label the bugs by moving them on the screen into a circles labeled “Insect” or “Not an Insect.”

The students drew and labeled the parts of the ant.

After sifting through scorpions, spiders and worms, students became comfortable with identifying insects through these characteristics: 1) Three Body Parts (head, thorax, abdomen),  2) Eyes, Mouth and Antennae, 3) An Exoskeleton.

While observing and describing pictures, drawings and toy insects helped us learn what to look for when we went outside. Students had the most fun going on an insect hunt in the garden.  Our classes identified flies, bumblebees, ants and beetles all living in our garden!

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Well the first harvest of the season is in: RADISHES!  After planting the radishes in our garden, our students waited patiently each day to see the results of their efforts.  Finally, we noticed little red vegetables peeking out above the soil. This meant it was time to harvest, and more importantly, time to eat!

Here are some thoughts about the growing and harvesting of the radishes:

1) The students observed the radishes in the ground during their gardening class;

2) Once they saw the redness peek from the soil, the students picked the radishes that looked most ready;

3) The students washed off the harvested radishes in their classroom sink;

4) The students made observations and asked questions about the radishes.  They discovered that they are root vegetables because we eat the root of the plant.  They also observed that the inside is a different color than the outside.  Most students predicted that they would be red on the inside;

5) The best part was sampling them.  Each student tasted the radishes, but most did NOT enjoy the flavor.  After tasting them, most students said, “They’re too spicy!”

Even though they were not fans of the flavor, the students were most certainly fans of planting, growing and harvesting the radishes.  We are now looking forward to the next harvest from our organic garden.  The challenge is that we are competing with a little bunny rabbit who also likes our garden.

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The Grove School of Plano welcomes Heidi Summers as the new Head of School.

Heidi is new to Texas, having relocated from Richmond, Virginia. Heidi brings with her a wealth of experience working with children and families across the country. She grew up in Washington and has a degree in education and English/Language Arts from Washington State University.

Heidi’s professional background includes managing an early childhood center, directing a learning center, and teaching in both private and public schools.

Please join us in welcoming her to The Grove School family.

The Grove School will be hosting a drop-in meet and greet for Heidi on Tuesday, May 24 from 5-6p.  We hope to see you there!

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A student finds the difference in the weight of food in the store.

One of our teachers recently added a housekeeping area called “The Good Food Market” in our morning enrichment classroom.  It’s a fun area of the classroom where our students get to role play as if they are shopping, cooking or running a store.

The market is now open for “business!”

One of the things that I like best about this new area is the fact that the market is a collaborative effort of both the teacher and the students.  The teacher began setting up the area over a period of days.  As she was so doing, the students gave her ideas on how to set it up.  Instead of just doing it all herself, the teacher used the time she had with them during the morning enrichment program to enlist them in the work.

The students helped cut out and paint the letters that go over the market. They also helped make the fruits and veggies that are being used as manipulatives in the market.

Students play in the market they helped create.

Once they made the produce from air dry clay and painted it, the teacher then placed the homemade produce in a “basket” and asked the students to paint still life renderings.  And they did a terrific job with them!

I know I prefer to work in an environment where I can influence my surroundings.  I can tell you that our students have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of creating their morning classroom environment.  They have a strong sense of ownership in their own work and they continue to learn that they can influence their surroundings in positive ways.

Take a look at all the photos below showing the students working on and playing in their new market.

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A student carefully attaches the propeller to her plane.

If you walk around our school on any given day and look into the classrooms and in our kitchen area, you will almost always find a stash of a variety of recycled materials. Whether it is content left over from our own uses or it is recycled stuff brought in by our families, we always seem to have a treasury of recycled material.

Ms. Tanya and her students put some of that material to good use by constructing airplanes using only those recycled products.

A Pre-K student holds up his original recycled airplane creation.

We love to provide opportunities for students to exercise their creativity and imagination. This fun project was another way to do just that.  There was no formula or template for students to follow.  They simply used the materials that were available to them and created recycled airplane masterpieces.

A local retailer, Trader Joes, coincidentally was hosting a competition for children to build the airplanes and some of our students entered their contest.  We have not yet heard the results.  We will be sure to share any good news about the contest here on our blog.

I hope you enjoy the photos below showing the students making their planes.

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Spring is here, which means it’s time to plan (again) for summer fun.

If you’re considering summer enrollment for your child, we’re encouraging parents to sign up soon for The Grove School. That ensures your child’s participation in our amazing Summer Program, which introduces children to five of the world’s ecological biomes through activities, books and hands-on lessons.

We’ll use math, literacy, science, writing, drama and art experiences to investigate these fascinating parts of our planet. And there will be lots of ways for parents to encourage ongoing learning about the biomes at home and in the community.

The program runs from June through Friday August,  2012 at both our Cary, NC and Plano, TX schools. There’s no extra fee for the program. It’s a part of The Grove School’s regular school-day curriculum.

Here are the topics we’ll cover. Click for more info on what we’ll learn in each unit.

Golden Sands and Desert Lands
Bees, Trees and Me
Where the Green Grass Grows
Under the Sea
Arctic Adventures
Outside My Window

Of course, we are always taking enrollments (when space is available) and you can enroll for fall now as well.

Laura is our director of school operations. With 3 children of her own and a 19-year tenure in the early education field, her expertise is helping to build a community of health conscious achievers with the capacity to love and appreciate the world around us.

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From time to time I wander around the school with my cell phone camera in hand.  On this particular day, it was lunch time, so I decided to take some pix of the students with their lunches.

For those that don’t know, our families have a choice of sending a nutritious lunch from home or purchasing one from Jason’s Deli here in Cary.  Whether it is from home or from Jason’s, the food always looks so good!  Our children eat fresh fruits, vegetables, home-made salads and other delicious treats!  Since we have such a diverse representation from around the world, we have some really amazing food.  I have been tempted to ask some of the families for their recipes!

Lunch time is one of my favorite times.  It has been for as long as I can remember.  I loved eating lunch at school.  I also loved eating what my friends didn’t want to eat!

It is one of my favorite times at The Grove School because it is wonderful to see the children engaging with each other and their teachers in this relaxed way.  They engage in conversation with one another while they talk about their food, their families, their teacher, and a million other things.  Even though it can be quite messy at times, it is an absolute joy to be a part of it.

Enjoy the photos!

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Due to overwhelming demand, we are preparing to start our FOURTH session of our Mommy and Me! class.

Mommy and Me! is a 90-minute long program concentrating on the development of social skills through Music, Language, Physical Education and Art. The program provides interactive and imaginative experiences to enhance development for your child.  Each class will form its own chemistry as the parent and the child share a sense of togetherness with other parents and children.

This class will be for mom’s and their children ages 12-24 months.  The class is led by one of our Grove School teachers.

The classes will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30 – 10:45.

** UPDATE April 2011 – A new session starts Monday, June 6.  A session is currently underway and ends May 28.  If you have interest in attending that last 6 or so weeks of that session, let us know.

Please give me a call at 467-6494 if you would like to enroll or  if you have any questions or comments.

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