A special group of 29 young students recently welcomed summer vacation after graduating from the Texans Can Academies preschool program, Wee Can Academy Ross Avenue and Wee Can Academy Carrollton/Farmers Branch. Wee Can Academy, Texans Can Academies’ Early Childhood Development Center, provides onsite education for children six weeks to four years old, along with after school care for children ages five to 12. In addition, Texans Can Academies also partners with early head start programs to offer infants and toddlers (six weeks - 2 ½ years) a learning environment to enhance children’s social skills and cognitive development.
“It was a joy to see these preschoolers walk across the stage in their mini caps and gowns and receive their very first diploma,” said Carol Wentworth, director of Child Care Operations for Texans Can Academies. “These are the moments our organization looks forward to all school year.”
Wee Can Academy was created by Texans Can Academies as part of the school’s commitment to education and removing barriers for their high school students. Wee Can Academy is available to high school students and offers affordable childcare while they attend their high school classes. Across the state of Texas, there are currently six Wee Can Academy centers located in Texans Can Academies’ campuses. In the Dallas/Fort Worth area: the Carrollton-Farmers Branch campus, the Ross Avenue campus in East Dallas, the Pleasant Grove campus, the Grant East campus in south Dallas and the Fort Worth campus on Lancaster Avenue each have in-house Wee Can Academies.
The mission of Wee Can Academy is to provide a nurturing and educational environment for children and to partner with and support the families that are a part of the school. Wee Can Academy provides programs designed to enrich the lives of infants, toddlers and grade school children through play, social and academic activities that offer experiences to stimulate the physical, emotional and cognitive growth of each child.
The curriculum for students attending Wee Can Academy has been designed with fun in mind to emphasize school support, parent involvement and fun including field trips, sports activities and more. All children in the Wee Can Academy participate in the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment Basic (FIE Basic) program designed by Professor Reuven Feuerstein, the Founder and Chairman of the Feuerstein Institute. The program teaches children how to think and how to reason through particularly designed instruments and mediation. FIE Basic tasks are intended to be readily transferable to all educational and everyday life situations. Not only do the methods teach vitally important cognitive strategies - such as how to gather information, strategize, compare and problem solve - they also teach children cognition behind emotions. All literacy programming includes Marquez Reading methods, and students are provided a 30-minute homework period Monday through Thursday.
All five Dallas/Fort Worth-area Wee Can Academies provide affordable childcare for the community and to Texans Can Academies students that are raising children. The childcare option is a great resource for students who are also parents because it gives them an opportunity to go to school to earn their high school diploma knowing that their child is nearby for them to visit.
About Texans Can Academies
Celebrating 31 years of providing the highest quality education for all students, Texans Can schools are graduating thinkers. Texans Can Academies are a unique network of 13 public schools in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. The schools are tuition-free, open enrollment, public high schools of choice serving students who have struggled in a traditional high school setting. To date, more than 141,000 youth have been given a second chance at life with the opportunity to pursue their dreams. Cars for Kids is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization benefiting Texans Can Academies and is the only car donation program in Texas that is operated by the charity it serves. For more information about Texans Can Academies, visit: www.texanscan.org or www.carsforkids.org.