THE VISION & VALUES
The Academy's practices are built upon these principles.....
Working moms and dads care deeply about their children, their futures, and all the little moments in between.
Fireflies Academy believes that we are an extension of this and strive to support parents in this through communication, goal setting, and celebrating the children they entrust us with. We hope to support parents in such a way that they feel they are an integral part of their children’s day while they are at The Academy.
The learning that occurs in the first five years of life are some of the most important and should be intentionally taught.
Every little moment is viewed as a teachable moment. Each lesson and teachable moment moves students towards developmentally appropriate but intentional goals. Fireflies Academy holds deeply to the belief that learning is the intentional directing of behaviors and thoughts. We know that this happens through respectful, gentle, and consistent correction as well as positive and joyful reinforcement.
Quality is built only using quality parts.
At Fireflies Academy we strive to do everything with purpose. We believe in hiring great staff and training them to teach wonderful lessons. Everything is picked and designed to provide high-quality environments and systems for parents, students, and staff alike.
THE STAFF & FACULTY
These amazing people are the heartbeat of The Academy...
Amanda Calvert
(Ms. Amanda)
Ms. Amanda (Ms. Mandy) is the director at Fireflies. She once wrote on a resume that if someone would pay her to teach trees how to fly she would be happy doing the job. All that to say she loves teaching, the art and craft of it, the philosophy and theory of it, the research and implementation of it. She graduated from Ohio University with her master's in education. She has worked in public and private education spaces for almost two decades!
As you can see in recent years her love of teaching has found its place in raising, training, and loving her own three littles! Her hobbies as of late have changed from reading and sewing to listening to books and doing the laundry!
You might see her around reading books to our younger Fliers, exploring with the Fireflies, or even dressing up as a book character every now and then!
Bri Booth
(Ms. Bri)
Ms. Bri is the teacher for our 3rd Year Fliers. We hired her because of her amazing ability to believe her students are capable of big things! Over many years of teaching children, she has honed the ability to meet them where they are at but know exactly where they are headed next in skills and abilities. It really is a superpower. She literally is the most consistent and gentle teacher you will ever meet.
Ms. Bri actually completed two college degrees in culinary and pastry arts and is absolutely in love with reading books. She claims pasta is her favorite food but maybe she hasn't ever had cookies, brownies, and ice cream, if that is possible for a pastry chef. So don't be surprised if you see her at The Academy in the kitchen teaching cooking classes to students with her chef hat on or hiding in the library with kiddos reading books about faraway places.
She is amazing and very very loved by her students!
Molly Marron
(Ms. Molly)
Molly is known around the Academy as the baby whisper. She literally whispers to the babies. She will sing to them too. However, you will never in a million years convince her to sing out loud for anyone but babies. She has loved taking care of babies for as long as she can remember and has over 15 years of experience. She has also trained many babies over the years to sleep, eat, understand boundaries, use sign language, and walk, along with many other necessary beginning skills that they take with them into the Fliers classes.
She loves her dog Coconut, reading, good food, and coffee. She loves time with friends and does not really love the game Monopoly (including most board games). She graduated from Ohio University, where she studied Communication. She is not native to Athens but has lived here long enough now to be considered a permanent transplant.
She is very loved and trusted here at The Academy!
Sarah Murphy
(Ms. Sarah)
Sarah is our preschool teacher for our Fireflies class. She brings to her class a lot of excitement and an unexplainable joyfulness. Do not be mistaken though, she expects her students to someday walk on the moon. We hired her because she convinced us that they could! We still aren't sure if it was literal or figurative. Either way she is very good at what she does.
Her great loves are all things crafts - sewing, quilting, embroidery, and anything else that requires scissors and creativity. I know what you're thinking...she is an old soul but I assure you she has more energy than any four year old you will meet. She graduated from Ohio University with magna cum laude honors in recreational studies. This about sums up Sarah..... she takes her adventures seriously.
We are incredibly thankful to have her at The Academy!
Christine Meyer
(Ms. Christine)
Ms. Christine is our 1st Year Fliers teacher. She loves, loves, loves, loves, loves kids. We hired her because when a child is loved that much how can they not flourish! She wants to see them grow and learn but her first reaction is to love them just how they are right now in the moment.
Christine's degrees are in social work and law enforcement because her desire is to be helpful to people and serve the community. She is a reader of novels, a hiker and exersizer, a baker when she is stuck inside, an animal lover - especially dogs, a sock and scarf kniter because she dislikes cold weather. The dislike of cold weather makes sense.... who really likes cold weather?!?
#Teacher #World Changer
Emma Crihfield
(Ms. Emma)
Emma is one of those people you will meet and immediately love and she has a lot of love to give. When you ask her how she teaches, trains, loves, plays with, and manages the day for 5 kiddos she will chuckle inside, give you the most genuine smile ever, and say it’s just like growing up on a family farm as one of ten kids (no that is not a typo). There is a lot of adventure, mess, fun, friendship, love, and satisfying work. This is why she is a part of our staff. Her very tender heart and desire to be a part of something that matters is commendable and we are thankful to have her.
Her love for people is what inspired her college degree in social work. Her love for beautiful things is what inspires her hobbies of knitting and sewing. However, her loyalty to those nine siblings and family beats it all.
She is a very important person to our 2nd Year Fliers at The Academy!