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Workshop Learning Center: New
location, new services
By
Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE
– “We have lots of
success stories,” according to Michelle Drees, owner of The Workshop
Learning
Center; one of her favorites however, involved a third grade boy.
“He
was failing pretty much
everything,” she said. “We started working with him in March. Two days
a week;
it continued throughout the summer.” She paused. “He got straight A’s
in the
fourth grade.”
The
Workshop Learning Center,
formerly located at 213 Walnut St., was setting up in its new home at
732
Jackson St. “one step at a time.”
“We
outgrew the old location,”
Drees said. “We had to move.” The move was official the second week in
June.
The Center still conducted summer preschool, and did academic tutoring
and
music lessons.
The
music and tutoring are the
traditional offerings of the Center. Drees said their students range
from five
to 65, but then added she wasn’t really sure about her oldest student.
“I’m
afraid to ask,” she said, grinning.
New
to the program is full time
preschool and daycare. They work with children from infants through
five years.
“Last
year was the first time we
did preschool. We took in our limit… 12 students. That allowed us to
stay to a
one to six ratio, which is unheard of.”
Drees
had just hired a new teacher
who said her dream was to start a preschool.
“How
many whacks over the head do
you need, Michelle?” she asked herself. They started the preschool.
Both Drees
and the other preschool teacher, Darcie Carrington, are state
certified. The
curriculum includes letter and number recognition and sounds, social
skills and
socialization, focus and attention span; all within the guidelines of
Ohio’s
Common Core standards.
“We
want them to enjoy doing
things, exploring the world around them. We want to instill in them a
love of
learning.”
Play
is purposeful. For instance,
Drees said they purchased white carnations then put them in colored
water. The
children watched them change color.
“It
was a learning tool,” she
noted. “They learned colors and they learned science.”
Another
example was learning the
difference between mammals and reptiles. “They play, but they also
learn an
important skill.” They use dance, art and other activities to keep the
kids
engaged.
“Once
we created a post office. The
kids loved ‘writing’ letters, putting stamps on them and mailing them.”
They
have monthly field trips, with
two each year being major ones. They’ve taken the kids to Shawnee
Prairie,
Jumpies in Troy, even the Cincinnati Zoo.
Drees
acknowledged this year they
would open registration to 16 students, making the student teacher
ratio 8 to
1, which she said was still an excellent student to teacher ratio.
Since
this is only the second year
they will be offering preschool, they don’t have a long track record to
offer
on the kindergarten performance of their preschool students. Of the
four
students going into kindergarten last year? One is reading at first
grade level
and the other three all knew their letters, sounds and numbers, and
were doing
sight words. Drees noted that “sight words” are at the “pre-reading”
level.
The
Workshop Learning Center tutors
students from the age of five, all the way through high school, plus
some
college. Drees has two tutors on staff: Perri Peal and Bryan Douds.
“Some
students who failed the OGT
the first time around came to us… we have a 100 percent success rate.
They all
passed.”
Drees
noted tutoring is not
necessarily long term and it isn’t always after a kid gets into
academic
trouble. They provide remedial help to keep kids on track and
“enrichment” to
get them ahead.
Their
goal is to instill in kids a
love of learning.
She
said she was delighted
Greenville’s levy passed and thought it was a good campaign.
“Warm
and fuzzy was what it was
about,” she added. “That’s how you win a community’s support… it’s
about the kids.”
Published
courtesy of The Early Bird
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