AOFC Open House!

Thursday, February 25th The Academy of Forrest Crossing hosted Open House! All of our staff put a ton of hard work and preparation into making this a memorable event for our new and prospective families! It was great to see so many families come out to learn more about The Academy and what our program has to offer. Our teachers also got to meet the children that will be in their classes on Monday! Check out the fun below:

 Our amazing Enrichment Room is ready for children! We are so excited for Pre-Scholar Enrichments to bring their excellent program to our families!

 Preschool 1 is prepared for learning!

 Our Nursing room is a private space for our mother's to spend some quality time with their babies before dropping them off or throughout the day!

 Nursery 3 is ready for our babies that are on the move!

 We strive to instill a sense of community and family in everything we do! One way we accomplish this is by providing a continental breakfast for all of our Academy families every morning from 6:30am-9am. 

 A special thanks to our friends at The Academy of Powell Place for donating their works of art!

 Toddler 1 is ready for fun!

We can't wait to kick off our March program theme: Bugs! Stay tuned to see all of the fun activities that will take place surrounding our March theme!

 Grow. Learn. Play. That's what we do everyday! This is a delicious reminder of that:)

We are thrilled to open our doors to on Monday, Feb. 29th!

For more information on our program, please visit our website at: http://www.academychilddevelopment.com 

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?!

We are so EXCITED for what's to come this weekend at The Academy!  Although AoFC won't be open until Feb. 29, we would love to welcome you to a free, fun, family event at The Academy of Heritage Commons this weekend!  Come check out more about The Academy and our amazing program, all in the company of good friends and family!  Our favorite summer-loving snowman got caught in a blizzard for AOHC's birthday celebrations back in January, but the show goes on THIS SATURDAY! 

The time has come! Winter is here Olaf is ready to come out to give warm hugs!Your FREE invitation awaits for Olaf's Winterfest: A Brrrthday Bash at The Academy of Heritage Commons!

Mark your calendars for Feb. Feb. 13 from 10 AM to 12 PM at The Academy of Heritage Commons, 4615 Thompson's Ridge Road, in Spring Hill, TN!  Join us  for FREE FUN for the entire FAMILY! Our school is celebrating its 7th Birthday (in January) and we hope you will come celebrate with us!

We'll have fun giveaways, as well as the opportunity to meet some of your favorite characters from Disney's FROZEN! Come join us for FREE games, face painting, crafts, prizes, balloons, sing-alongs with Anna, Elsa & Olaf and so much more!

You could even win a FREE WEEK of tuition!

Click HERE to RSVP and secure your spot to this Brrrrthday BASH and whim-sicle wonderland!

You can also RSVP by clicking here.

Warmly,

Your Academy Family

Are you ready to leap for joy?!

Are you ready to leap for joy?

So are we!

A.C.E. the Frog and all of us at The Academy  are ready to LEAP with joy with this exciting news that we can't wait to share with you!

We have waited for so long to announce it, and now it's finally here...

Mark your calendars for FEB. 29, 2016! 

AOFC's official "Birthday" will be on a LEAP Year and we couldn't be more excited to LEAP for joy with our favorite mascots, A.C.E. the Frog from The Academy, and even Max and Maxine from Frog Street, our award-winning curriculum! We can't wait to share this and more with you once the doors open on February 29, 2016!

So much good news, but that's NOT ALL...

We would like to give you some more news about what's "hop-pening" at AOFC.  

Erica Perenishko, formerly a director at Holly Tree Christian Preschool of Brentwood, has accepted the Director Position at The Academy of Forrest Crossing! Erica has 9 years of experience in childcare, and graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. 

As part of The Academy, we would like you to meet our family, too!

Erica and her husband, Alex

We'd also like you to meet another part of our Academy family!

Meet Lauren Blackmon, our AOFC Assistant Director! We are so glad she is going to be and part of our amazing team!  

Lauren and her husband, Brandon

Lauren and her daughter

We hope you are still interested in joining our ever-Growing, Learning, Playing Academy family! 

Below are just a few things that we would like to share with you about The Academy as a whole.

• Experienced, degreed, and long-term staff with CPR and 1^st Aid Training, background checks, and extensive training
• Each center is Three Star Rated by the Tennessee Star Quality Program
• Award winning curriculum
• Numerous, beautiful outdoor playgrounds separated by age
• Enrichment classes, provided by outside experts, INCLUDED in tuition: Arts, Cultures, Music & Movement/Fitness, Science & Technology
• Nutritious and inventive menu linked to our educational goals
• Continental breakfast served daily to promote family time
• Secure keypad entry
• Video surveillance with a webcam subscription option
• Only company in Tennessee to have all infant and toddler teachers certified in Baby Signs
• Best of Parenting Winner for eight consecutive years: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015!

We hope you've enjoyed this FROG BLOG post so much, that you'll want to "Like" Us, and LOVE us on Facebook!

Oh... And by the way, we were so excited, we forgot to tell you where we are!

The Academy of Forrest Crossing

377 S. Royal Oaks Blvd.

Franklin, TN 

Anyway, thanks for tuning in and we can't wait to see you soon!

Why YOU should wear "Gold Sneakers"

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "Gold Sneaker?"

Some may think of a pair of shoes from the 1980's, but in the PreSchool world, it is a certification we are proud to brag about!  In Franklin, Tennessee, the Gold Sneaker is worth its weight in gold!  

The state of Tennessee started this initiative to promote health and wellness and start teaching the healthy habits early on!  The Academy is proud to promote "Fitness Fanatics," our curriculum theme in January, where we really take it to the next level!

In order to obtain a "Gold Sneaker certification," child care centers and PreSchools have to provide a certain number of healthy exercise and dining options.  We have taken a pledge and we want to promote health and wellness in more ways than eating carrots and requiring "recess."  While both of those things are familiar to most in the education world, Gold Sneaker is about much more.

Examples of Gold Sneaker Initiatives

Healthy and Nutritious Eating

Physical Activity

Breastfeeding

Non-Smoking Facility Implementation

Less "Screen Time" 

The initiative promotes physical activity, nutritious eating, breastfeeding, non-smoking facilities and little-to-no screen time.  We adopted these policies years ago and were one of the first centers in the state of Tennessee to achieve Gold Sneaker certification.  I was able to speak on behalf of our preschools to the state to tell them about all the changes we had made due to Gold Sneaker.  It's been a wonderful addition to our program.  For more information and great resource links for parents, please visit 

https://tn.gov/health/topic/goldsneaker

We wish you all a happy and HEALTHY start to your new year!

Thumbs up for "Speak Up!" at Williamson Medical Center

The Academy of Forrest Crossing and The Academy of Westhaven had a great time at the First Annual "Speak Up!" event at the Williamson Medical Center!

The event, aimed to "Speak Up!" against substance abuse for all ages had lots of fun special guests!  All proceeds of this event went to the Williamson County Anti-Drug Coalition.  We got to meet a lot of friends we had not met yet, paint faces, play corn hole, color and hop around!

Academy mascot "Ace" gives "Thumbs Up!" at Speak Up! with Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson, Williamson Medical Center CEO Don Webb and Franklin Mayor, Dr. Ken Moore.

Ace wanted to say thank you to Williamson County Sheriff's Deputies Brian Dobbs and Dominic Calvani!  Thanks for keeping us safe!

Officer Mark Wood from Brentwood Police Department and Ace reminding Tennesseans to "BUCKLE UP!" for safety.

I spy Ace thanking the wonderful EMT's at Williamson Medical Center.

Brentwood Police Department D.A.R.E. Officer Samuel Bady and Ace give the "thumbs up."

One of our new friends mastered the corn hole game... Ace says "Way to go!"

Big thanks to the folks at ServPro Williamson County for putting on this wonderful first annual event!

We even got to see a demonstration for an emergency rescue thanks to Franklin Fire Fighters!

For more information on THE ACADEMY, click here.

For more information on Williamson Medical Center, click here.  

For more information on ServPro of Williamson County, click here.