I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio.  I am the sixth of eight children.  I am extremely passionate about children and families.  My goal is to be the positive difference in my family’s lives.  I attended Sinclair Community College where I obtained my AA in Early Childhood Education.  I am married with four children and two grandchildren.  I love to travel and root for my favorite teams the Dallas Cowboys, Duke Blue Devils, Michigan Wolverines, and LA Lakers. 

Fun facts about me, I was born a twin and I have twin children, also, I am a sneakerhead.  I love sneakers.

• Hobby: Shopping, Reading, Spending family time
• Color: Black
• Food: Chipotle
• Drink: Water
• Show: Family Feud with Steve Harvey

• 25 years of Childcare, Teaching, and Social Service Experience
• ECE degree

Infants:

Infant children discover the world around them through exploring, experimenting, and trying new ways of doing things. They are like little scientists in the way that we could call them early explorers. Our little hearts bond with warm, nurturing teachers and interact with a stimulating classroom environment which causes children to develop a strong foundation for early learning.

At Above and Beyond Enrichment Center, our curriculum for infants, focuses on reaching milestones in five areas:

• Cognitive Development: Developing the ability to pay attention, as well as engage and interact with others.
• Language Development: Developing verbal communication abilities.
• Physical Development and Health: Developing intentional, deliberate mobility of different parts of the body.
• Social-Emotional Development: Developing and practicing different approaches for getting their needs met.
• Approaches to Learning: Developing ways to explore the world around them.

Our aim is to shape young minds to become curious, versatile, and adaptable. Three unique classroom areas enhance their developmental experience:

• Cozy Area: Reading books, telling stories, having conversations.
• Exploration Area: Manipulating objects and interacting with materials.
• Movement Area: Exploring balance, coordination, gross motor skills.

Safety for Little Ones 

Caring for infants requires a safe, secure environment for them to grow and develop.

• Safe sleep: Up to age 1, we place babies on their backs to sleep. Additionally, cribs contain only a mattress and tight-fitting sheet, no other bedding, blankets, or stuffed animals are allowed in the cribs.
• Crib checks: Throughout naptime, our teachers maintain active listening and regular visual contact, while checking on children at regular intervals.
• State ratios: A primary caregiver provides specific attention to individual children, while constant supervision is provided by collaboration from the whole classroom team.
• Health and cleanliness: Using safe cleaning products, we follow a comprehensive schedule for cleaning and disinfecting. Also in this classroom, our staff wears dedicated shoes (or shoe covers) to provide a clean and safe environment for children to explore.

Toddlers

Our toddlers are always on a learning move. Toddlers are filled with adventures and excitement. Both these characteristics are essential elements of growth and learning.  Toddler’s curiosity for learning is guided into positive learning experiences at Above and Beyond Enrichment Center as children are given plenty of room to move, explore, and discover active learning.

Throughout this classroom setting, we offer experiences that address the evolving developmental needs of these increasingly curious children. Their continued milestone development is guided by our curriculum, The Creative Curriculum across five distinct areas:

• Cognitive Development: Problem-solving and creative thinking skills are developed.
• Language and Communication Development: Communication skills, such using sounds, expressions, and body language are developed.
• Physical Development and Health: Coordination and control over large and small muscle movements are developed.
• Social-Emotional Development: The ability to interact with others, while increasing awareness of themselves and their emotions, is developed.
• Approaches to Learning: Problem-solving abilities are developed.

Exploration and discovery are rewarded in the Toddler classroom, in five classroom areas that address children’s various interests:

• Art & Science
• Math & Engineering
• Language Arts
• Music & Movement
• Dramatic Arts

Our preschool program is designed to help little ones learn and grow. These children increase their independence as they explore challenging but achievable goals. Our preschool program: 

• Fosters independence.
• Encourage Cooperation & communication skills.
• Create Hands-on learning opportunities. 
• Teacher guided & Child Guided activities. 

Our preschool children have the opportunity to build skills in 10 important developmental areas:

• Physical Development and Health: Following directions, completing tasks with little supervision, and participating actively in group games are some of the skills developed.
• Language: Responding appropriately to questions about books and repeating different words/sentences to get another person to respond are explored.
• Approaches to Learning: Finding solutions to simple problems is the focus of this area.
• Social-Emotional Development: Children work on using emotional words (such as “I’m mad”) to have their needs met, while following established rules and routines in the classroom, and playing well with others.
• Children’s ability to use various materials such as: pencils, paints, play dough, musical instruments, and more—in different, varied ways.

Children learn about asking adults to read printed information, drawing figures and shapes to convey meaning, and using picture and verbal cues.

• Logic and Reasoning: Children work on sorting and solving simple puzzles.
• Math: Children learn about identifying numerals and alternating patterns.
• Nature and Science: Children develop analytical skills such as classifying objects into living and non-living categories, providing explanations for why an event/outcome occurred, and demonstrating persistence and creativity in problem-solving.
• Social Studies: Children learn to use terms related to location, direction, and distance, as well as terms related to time (day, night, yesterday, today, tomorrow).
• Around this classroom, children will find material focused experiences that include:
  – Engineering station featuring blocks, gears, puzzles, and magnetic connectors.
  – The integration of art materials across the room,
• Hands-on science activities:
  – Sensory tubes, light table, color mixing, water activities and sensory bins.

We also help children to work with classmates, develop their self-help skills, and follow routines and directions. We provide visual tools to guide them toward independence and confidence, empowering them to take charge of their actions and behaviors, and to be successful in their personal development.

To help our Kosmik  Kidz get prepared for kindergarten, our enrichment program offers personalized learning experiences and lessons that integrate the arts, language, sciences, through Creative curriculum. This engaging, interactive program encourages personal growth and collaboration, as children develop critical skills, build a platform to become lifelong learners. 

Developing Young Pioneers 

Pre-K children build their skills through 10 significant developmental areas:

• Approaches to Learning: Children develop their independence, as well as creativity and cooperation in the classroom.
• Logic and Reasoning: Children develop skills such as patterning, object sorting, and deciphering word problems.
• Literacy: Children discover language through stories, small group reading (including chapter books), and journal writing.
• Language: Children developing thinking and communication skills through using language.
• Math: Skills such as measurement, graphing, and numeral identification are explored.
• Physical Development and Health: Children develop their fine motor skills, such as holding a pencil or crayon and cutting with scissors. They also develop a deeper understanding of health and nutrition.
• Social-Emotional Development: Children develop their abilities around cooperation, conflict resolution, and other critical life skills.
• Creative Arts Expression: Children can express their feelings and ideas through music, movement, visual arts, and dance.
• Social Studies: Children gain further respect for diversity, family, and community.
• Nature and Science: Children develop their ability to make predictions, observe, and generalize data through experimentation and investigation.

Our school-age program is designed to continue to build on the core mechanics of developmentally appropriate practices for our students. Our goal is to:

• Continually fostering independence
• Build on skills that impact our students future success
• Promote respect for self and others
• Promote activities such:
  • Character Development
  • Importance of Community
  • Creative Expression
  • Literacy
  • Interest Areas

Our school-age skills are built in the following developmental areas:

• • Physical Development and Health:
  • Following directions, completing tasks with no supervision, and participating actively in individual and group games
• Approaches to Learning:
  • Finding solutions to simple problems is the focus of this area
• Social-Emotional Development:
  • Reinforce being kind and empathic to others
  • Making and keeping friends
  • Creating the correct social setting for each student
  • Focusing on self-control and restraint
  • Teaching how to navigate through the outside world
  • Help to manage and navigate through feelings and emotions