CORGIVILLE FAIR NURSERY
Corgiville Fair Nursery is located in the lower level of The Dahlhouse and nurtures the youngest learners at Kids Express Learning Center. Up to eight children, six weeks to a year old, attend the nursery each day. Two teachers are devoted to the children's care, with a third teacher sharing time between the nursery and the adjoining toddler room.
The children enjoy daily stroller rides around the eight-acre campus, time on the Infant/Toddler playground, and plenty of floor time and cuddle time with their teachers. When weather restricts outdoor activities, the children enjoy a change of venue in Little Engine That Could; our smaller of two gyms, where the children have extra space for playing with large toys. Twice weekly, the children enjoy attending our Bucky Beats percussion music class.
Parents and teachers work together to develop individual sleeping, eating, and playtime plans for each baby, and teachers inform parents of the child's daily experiences, including nap, feeding, and diapering details. The nursery environment is rich with milestone moments, abundant enthusiasm, and genuine affection.
MISS PENNY
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION SUPERVISOR
Miss Penny has been with Hickory Hill Academy (HHA, formerly Kids Express Learning Center, for many years. Penny followed her preschool daughter to HHA in 2001, and both of her children (now young adults) attended HHA's “Summer on the Farm” school-age program.
Penny credits the environment at HHA - the children, parents, staff, animals and the beautiful, natural setting - with creating a campus-wide sense of well-being. She appreciates HHA's integrated, experiential approach to learning, in addition to the teachers' knowledge of children’s development, their positive approaches to teaching and inclusion, and their genuine affection for all of "their" kids.
Penny was the fifth of six children in a mobile family, living in several Southern states and Mexico before settling in Wisconsin. Throughout her secondary school years, Penny worked in her family's child care center. Having spent much of her life surrounded by children, she finds such an environment natural and thoroughly enjoyable.
A graduate of UW-Madison, Penny took coursework in child-related fields, but ultimately pursued interests in literature and foreign study. She spent more than a year abroad, where she studied in Poland, worked on a kibbutz in Israel, hitch-hiked around Ireland, admired Norway's fjords, Egypt's pyramids, ruins in Greece and Italy, and watched the sun rise over rooftops in Morocco while a muezzin called the faithful to prayer.
Penny loves to travel, but mostly loves spending time with family. She is grateful for the opportunities and experiences of the past, yet finds parenthood to be the most formative and rewarding adventure of all.