Stepping Stone School

Stepping Stone School campus principals and curriculum leaders recently returned from the NAEYC 2011 Annual Conference & Expo in Orlando, FL, where they attended workshops and sessions by other experts in child development.

“These workshops covered all the latest research about how children learn,” said Marilee Blackwelder, Stepping Stone School director of training. “There were workshops that explored developmentally appropriate and effective teaching practices, the importance of relationships and attachments, and the different ways in which children learn to read, for example.”

Stepping Stone School is proud to send so many of its educators to this professionally respected conference. The benefits to the school’s children are immediate and far-reaching as the faculty weaves this new knowledge into lesson plans that already are recognized as among the best in the country.

Stepping Stone School opened the doors to its newest campus on Monday, Oct. 3, to the delight of its students and parents alike.

Children were seen at Thursday’s open house event excitedly exploring their new school, its play areas and classrooms. Many, even, were reluctant to leave.

That excitement carried over to opening day. One parent, Karen Barry, said of her son, “It usually takes a while for him to get going in the morning, but not today. He popped right up and said, ‘I’m going to my new school today!’”

The school, previously located at Dell Children’s Medical Center, is the new permanent home for Stepping Stone School 17. The campus at 1007 E. 40th St., features an open layout, an outdoor sensory area, age-appropriate playgrounds and a location convenient to Central Austin.

Stepping Stone School delivered hundreds of pounds of food donated by its families and employees to the veterans’ counseling center in Harker Heights near Fort Hood.

In early June, the children at Stepping Stone School learned that returning disabled veterans often have to wait more than a year to get their first disability payments. Finding that many of the veterans and their families have a hard time making ends meet or even go hungry while waiting for assistance, the children of Stepping Stone School and their families wanted to help and organized the food drive.

“We are so proud of all our children,” said Rhonda Paver, Stepping Stone School founder and executive director. “When presented with this challenge, they eagerly opened their hearts and threw themselves into helping. They are creative, generous and so caring!”

Our amazing families have once again chosen us as Austin’s Best Childcare in Austin Family magazine’s annual Readers’ Poll. Our sincerest thanks go out to everyone who voted for us. We are so honored!

Stepping Stone School announced today that it has closed on the property for its second location in College Station. This will be the privately owned Austin company’s nineteenth school in Central Texas and serve children ages 6 weeks through 11 years.

The child development center will be built in south College Station, at 205 Rock Prairie Rd., and is expected to open by spring 2012. Located on just over a half acre, the school will be an estimated 6,200 square feet.

Designed by Stepping Stone School’s own business development team, the new school will continue the school’s tradition of creating innovative, environmentally sound spaces that inspire learning.

A group of 22 Stepping Stone School scholarship-winning teachers have just begun classes to earn their Child Development Associate degree.The CDA program will reinforce our teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the intellectual, social, emotional and biological development of children and the planning and design of related curricula. Congratulations to these smart (and lucky) educators!

Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Stepping Stone School Founder Rhonda Paver to the Texas Early Learning Council. This council assesses early childhood education and care programs across the state and develops opportunities for collaboration among entities carrying out federally and state funded child development, child care and early education programs. Read the press release on the governor’s website.

Six Stepping Stone School locations recently earned the Texas School Ready! certification for 2010. Among private preschools in Austin, Stepping Stone School now has the largest number of Texas School Ready! certified schools. The TSR! Certification is determined by the combined results of a 2 year process that includes assessment of the Pre-K classroom program followed by tracking of the same children through their kindergarten classrooms. This certification means that children who attend Stepping Stone School’s pre-k program are equipped with the foundation skills they need to be successful in school and in life. More about Texas School Ready!

Stepping Stone School kicked off the holiday season and this year’s Turkey Trot with the annual Turkey Call yesterday. The children in the advanced pre-K classes at Stepping Stone IX dressed up, sang, and demonstrated their best turkey calls in hopes that the live turkey would answer back. The judges deemed four-year-old Wylie the contest winner, as his turkey call elicited the best response from Turkey Tom. The Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot and Stepping Stone School Kids K will be held Thursday, Nov. 25 at the Long Center in Austin, TX. All proceeds from the event benefit Caritas of Austin, a non-profit organization that fights hunger, homelessness and poverty.

We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Austin parents for choosing us Best Preschool! We’re so pleased to be Austin’s 2010 Nickelodeon’s Parents’ Pick. Thank you for your support … we couldn’t have done it without you!