Tuesday, December 30, 2014


At Holly Tree, we believe in good health!
Part of establishing healthy habits and a 
healthy lifestyles depends on exercise; 
and the sooner the start the better.
That's why our January theme is 
Fitness Fanatics! Your're never too
young (or too old!) to be healthy!

Because exercise for children involves lots of fun activities, 
we're happy to announce that
is coming to Holly Tree!

Soccer Shots is a kid-friendly, non-competitive, indoor/outdoor
soccer program for children. We're excited to partner with this
fabulous organization in our Fitness Fanatics quest!
They came by and hosted a Fun Day and 
lots of fun was certainly had by all:



Soccer Shots will be on site for Holly Tree students every Tuesday during
the winter season starting January 13th. For more information contact
Michael Lewis at: mlewis@soccershots.org

Healthy habits for our very own Fitness Fanatics 
also include one of our favorite things...food!
Our teachers are up to the task of  building healthy 
eating habits with a special lunch break at


Hey, if Jared can do it--so can they!

Find out more about Fitness Fanatics and our 
Holly Tree Preschool and School Age Programs
by clicking the link below:


Have a Happy 
(and healthy!)
New Year!





Monday, December 22, 2014

Santa Baby!

Santa and babies--what could be better
(or cuter!) for Christmas!
Santa made us all happy when 
he visited last week. 
Now hurry down the chimney, Santa!
Click the link for fun and interesting
Santa facts! 



Christmastime is great for making fun art projects.
Check out a few of ours below, and check out this article:


for fun ideas to make at home!






Nothing rings in Christmas like a school Christmas Program,
and ours was fabulous! 
It brought teachers, family, and friends 
together for some Christmas joy! 


Shout out to our friends at
HOMESTYLE BAKERY
for the Christmas treats! We love you!
Please check them out at:



Merry Christmas, peace, and joy to you all!



Find out more about Holly Tree at:


Blessings to you and yours!



Thursday, December 11, 2014

This Week At Holly Tree

Every day is special at Holly Tree,
even when we're doing simple things!
Sharing time with friends in a 
fun and caring environment 
makes it that way! 
Building a gingerbread house, 
reading a book, or waiting for Santa
 are all special and relaxing moments to enjoy now
and to remember forever!

Enjoy our pictures of a typical Holly Tree day, 
and to find out more go to:


 



Along with all the fun, we focus on learning!

Our Preschool 1 Class found working on letters
(creatively, of course!) very interesting.


And our Pre-K class loved doing mock interviews!

(Check out this article on language development from
Get Ready To Read.org to see how activities like this
promote literacy and language for preschoolers!)


Sometimes the simple things are the best things,
like hanging out with friends--big and small! 



"When learners are relaxed, thinking becomes eminent. 
Authoritative and tense environment hinders thinking."

That's here at Holly Tree why we believe in love, 
and fun, and lots of smiles, as you can see!

Come visit us and see why Holly Tree is a great
place to relax--and learn!









Monday, December 1, 2014

The Blessing of Family



Our Holly Tree family celebrated our blessings together
with a fabulous Thanksgiving feast and fellowship!

See some of our fun and smiles below:



We've said it before and we'll say it again;
Holly Tree is all about family. We're a diverse
family community that works together--
and that certainly "works" for us!



The National Association For The Education Of Young Children, 
found at www.naeyc.org,
has this to say about diverse Early Childhood communities:

"The intercultural approach realizes that no one individual 
fully represents an ethnicity or a race. Each person 
represents his or her own experience as a member of a 
group and within his or her cultural context. The phrase 
cultural context within the early childhood education 
setting is inclusive of all aspects of a child’s cultural 
identity that are unique and influential: ethnicity and 
race, primary language, family composition, socioeconomic status, 
and special needs. Each individual can simultaneously 
contribute in multiple ways to the richness of the cultural context.  

Even in classrooms where children 
appear to be homogeneous in terms 
of ethnicity and socioeconomic status, they may 
have a variety of special needs and are likely 
being raised in a variety of different family structures. 
The varieties of family compositions, 
for example, bring unique experiences 
into children’s lives and, thus, their 
cultural context. "

We couldn't agree more! 






Why do we succeed at Holly Tree?
We value individuals. And so do our teachers. In our
classrooms you'll find Early Childhood professionals
who care about teaching individual children, 
as well as their classroom groups, 
along with welcoming families of all kinds.




Come see how comfortable Early Childhood care can be!
Visit us at Holly Tree today!


Blessings!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Family Fun!

At Holly Tree we know the key to success
is partnering with families! We offer many
opportunities for families and teachers to come 
together, both individually, and in groups. 
Not only do we enjoy these times, we know they 
are valuable to children's development. 
Early Childhood News experts agree:

Importance of the Family-Teacher Relationship
"Family-teacher relationships can be complex and include many different areas such as the teacher’s relationships with the children; the teacher’s relationships with the children’s families; the teacher’s relationships with colleagues; and the teacher’s relationship with the community. Often, early childhood teachers attend only to their relationships with the children. Yet, our ability to teach children expands past the children and includes family, colleagues, and our own community. By involving all of these components we create a rich environment for our children and serve as models for the children to create positive relationships with other people."

You can access the article in its entirety
by clicking the link below:


The fabulous photos you see are just one example of how
we brought Holly Tree families together, with our bi-annual 
Spaghetti Dinner and Scholastic Book Fair! We had a lot of fun, 
and most importantly, our Holly Tree children did, too!












Fun and fellowship are important at Holly Tree. We believe that 
parents are their children's first teachers, and that we're here to provide
support and promote early childhood development--in a variety of ways! 
We enjoy what we do, and would love to show you just how special Holly Tree can be!

Click the link below to find out more!


Also, we want to give a shout out to Scholastic! 
We love Book Fairs and they are the best! 
Scholastic provides many resources for parents, as well.
Please check out all Scholastic has to offer at:



Many Blessings!









Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Learning!

Holly Tree is about learning!

Daily activities develop and reinforce 
important skills -- which leads to learning!

Pictured below are important concepts in action; 
things like:

Mathematical thinking (even geometry!)
and social development occur while building with a friend!


Fine motor development, spatial awareness, 
and creative thinking skills develop while
playing lone with blocks!


Dressing up and carrying out "scenarios" 
develop social and emotional skills, respect for others,
creativity, memory, love of learning, and literacy!


Dramatic play even helps us think about the future!
"What do I want to be when I grow up....?"


At the sand table, negotiation skills, scientific 
skills, and persistence develop! 


When teachers share interactive stories with 
their classes, communication, listening, and speaking
skills develop, as well as, alphabet recognition,
book concepts, imagination, and literacy!


So much learning takes place through daily
activities like those pictured above, 
but much develop occurs also through daily routines.


"In the preschool classroom, teachers are always planning 
and evaluating their student’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical skills 
but we are going to take a look at what many refer to as “life skills…”
The development of life skills often happen naturally as preschoolers 
spend each day doing daily tasks such as putting jackets away, 
pouring cups of juice, or washing hands and getting ready for snack…"

At Holly tree, we believe that for young children,
everything is curriculum! That's why we use every opportunity,
including daily routines, to help your child develop his or
her full potential. For more about what you can do at home
to focus on routines as learning experiences check out
this article from the Hanen Center:


And for more about about our fabulous program
here at Holly Tree, click:


Many Blessings!


Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Something For Everyone!


Here at Holly Tree,
there's something for everyone.
From Infants to Pre-K, we offer 
a variety of fun and interesting 
activities to promote healthy child
development for the "whole child".
And we top it off with lots of love!

Check out some of our classes
learning and having fun, and 
Find out more at:



In our Infant 2 class, our sweet babies begin to
learn emotional, social and physical development. 
They also begin to develop (cognitive) thinking 
skills, and even independence! With very young children,
everything that happens is curriculum. Our fabulous infant
teachers will help your child learn daily, and most
importantly, feel loved while they're doing it!

For more information about your infant's development,
including expectations, safety, health, and parenting tips,
check out this link from the Centers For Disease Control (CDC. Gov).

Age appropriate activities promote positive development. 
We call this Developmentally Appropriate Practice, also known as DAP. 
Since parents are their children's first teachers, 
we've included a link for the National Association 
for the Education of Young Children, so you can learn more about DAP
and what it all means for your child's development. The following 
pictures reveal some fun and important 
DAP aspects in our Holly Tree classrooms!



Using hands and thinking creatively are 
developmentally appropriate for toddlers.


Listening to an interactive story with a group is 
developmentally appropriate for Pre-K.


Using a sensory bin with a friend is 
developmentally appropriate for Preschoolers.



Outside play is developmentally appropriate for 
everyone, even very young children! 

To get a real view of how we put DAP 
into practice here at Holly Tree, come by and pay 
us a visit! We'll show you how valuable positive
Early Childhood Education can be!

Please visit our link to find out more
about our program, where, along with learning,
 we stand for Faith, Family, and Fun!


~Many Blessings~

Monday, October 27, 2014

Fabulous Friends!



Philippians 2:4

"Let each of you look not only to his own 
interests, but also to the interests of others."

That's just what these special friends do!



We are very thankful for our friends at the 
Lion's Club (pictured above)! 
They payed us a visit and checked our vision.
This is a yearly event for us here at Holly Tree,
and we couldn't be happier to be involved with
such a fabulous organization. To find out more
about their valuable work in the vision 
field click the link below the picture:




For other areas of volunteerism involved in
 the work of the Lions
 Club check out: 

____________________________________

We're also happy to announce the winner of
our "How Many Candy Corn?" guessing
contest! The lucky lady is pictured with her
family below! Enjoy your gift Ms. Kristin!


For a fun and interesting guessing game 
for your older preschoolers, check out this link
from ZOOM (PBS.kids):


It's fun for the family!

In fact, games are a great way to help 
children develop a variety of skills.
The article below gives some great 
information about the "hows' and "whys"
playing games with your preschooler
is not only fun, but valuable!

________________________________________





For more about our play-based learning program 
here at Holly Tree, click our link at: