Growing Garden Wonderschool

Our Teachers

Director and Head Teacher Jessie Meneses

From a young age, Jessie knew she would one day grow up and work with children. A bad experience in the second grade motivated her to become the teacher she wished she had back then. As she grew older, she realized that there were some awesome teachers left who really were in the field for all the right reasons and decided to become one of them.

She started off her junior year of high school working as an aid for her former elementary school. She was inspired by the positive impact she made on the children she worked with. Jessie now has over 10 years of experience and has worked in a wide variety of professional roles with children of all ages, from infants to teenagers.

Jessie has an unbelievable amount of patience for children and you can see how passionate she is in helping each child reach their full potential. She strives to make sure children feel safe, loved, inspired and supported. She has great energy and enjoys the career she chose to pursue.

Jessie graduated from University of La Verne with her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Development. She has her Teaching Permit in the California commission on teaching credentialing. She is also mom to a toddler who was her motivation and inspiration to start an in-home school program where she could continue having a positive impact and relationships with the children and families she serves.

​

Testimonials

“Growing Garden is my son’s first school. He was 3 year old and had never been to daycare before. Family was his only exposure. Growing Garden was able to create an extension of family’s atmosphere for my son. Started by bringing our family photo for the school’s living room display, small ratio of teacher to students, and informal chats during pick up time about how my son was doing at school that day. He became more persistent in art making, more focus in writing, were able to tell stories confidently, more courteous and considerate in his words and actions. I would highly recommend Growing Garden to any parents out there that are looking for a loving environment for their growing children.” - E.A.

“Finding the right childcare was one of the hardest, most stressful, yet most important things I have had to do as a full-time career mom. My choice to place my child in Jessie’s care was the smartest choice I could have made and because I know how important parent perspective is when making this choice, I had to write this review.

We had a full-time nanny for four years until my oldest son transitioned to kindergarten. The change in schedule prompted me to examine our child care arrangement and I wanted to explore an alternative to a nanny.  While our sons were in a caring relationship with our nanny, a lot of the regular enrichment was lacking.  I was always hesitant to place him in a more institutional setting because I know he would have the rest of his life to be in school, but once I visited Growing Garden, I could immediately see that my son would have all the benefit of a small student/teacher ratio, a home environment he would feel safe and comfortable in, and a rigorous academic setting that also centered on exploration and creative expression.  

I have LOVED my experience and son’s experience at Growing Garden. It is a loving home, with the highest quality care and exposure, centered on my child and his development needs.  There is also the added benefit of delicious, wholesome meals that the kids help to prepare.  I couldn’t imagine a better place for my son and I am so thankful to Wonderschool for placing this learning community on my radar.

If you’re considering enrolling (and Jessie still has an opening!), I couldn’t offer higher praise!” - Janis

Philosophy

Welcome to Growing Garden, where our mission is to provide each child a safe, nurturing, nourishing and stimulating educational environment. It is our belief that if a child feels safe and valued, then they will be more likely to follow their passion and curiosity to learn and explore freely. We feel that it is important to fulfill each child’s needs and strive to create secure attachments with each child and the families we serve.

We believe that once a foundation of trust has been established between the teachers and the students, the students will be motivated to work together as a community, collaborating new ideas, views and purposeful connections.

Our Emergent curriculum is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach. We feel that children learn best by doing hands on experiences based on each child’s own interest. We provide a homelike environment so that children can feel comfortable learning and discovering useful life skills. We encourage critical thinking by providing open ended conversations about topics that arise throughout the day. The children along with the teachers work in collaboration in the learning process. We listen and learn from each other as we explore, research and discover new concepts that feed our curiosity. We believe that the environment serves as a third teacher. Both indoor and outdoor environments are designed to ignite their cognitive, emotional, social and physical development.

Not only do we value and respect each individual child and their needs, we also value and need our families to be active members in their child’s learning process. We are strong believers of working as a team, and as a team creating and maintaining positive relationships that will benefit and allow our children to reach their own milestones.

​

Location

Growing Garden is located in a single-family home in the quiet neighborhood of Eagle Rock. We are near Highland Park, Glendale, Pasadena, Alhambra, Atwater Village, Silver Lake, Mount Washington and Downtown.

Both our indoor and outdoor environments have thoughtfully been set up to provide each child intentional environments, giving them the ability to migrate to the areas that most fulfill their needs and interest throughout the day. There are multiple areas where children can freely explore. Some of these areas include: an art studio, block area, dramatic play area, cozy area, writing area, math/science area, garden, playground and more.

​

About our program

Our program is intentionally designed for multiple ages at once. We teach children from ages 2-5. It is our belief that creating this type of “community” exposes children to a wide range of knowledge, skills, and interests.

At our school, children learn at their own pace rather than waiting until a certain grade to cover specific materials they are curious and interested in now. They discreetly build skills and develop new concepts about themselves and their environments by simply playing and interacting with each other in a diverse setting.

Our program strongly believes that maintaining low child-to-teacher ratios is extremely beneficial for both the children and the teachers in our school. Our 1:4 ratio allows teachers to get to know each child’s unique strengths and weaknesses to better asses, plan and implement lessons that meet the needs of each child.

The teachers at Growing Garden are very passionate about the benefits the school provides. After all, once you enter our school, you’ll always be a special member of our extraordinary family!

Parent Involvement

Parent involvement is an essential part of our program! Our belief is that when we establish a good line of communication with the parents we serve, we can provide better assistance and support to our students. Not only is creating and maintaining this connection beneficial to your child’s development, it also supports further learning. As a team, our main goal is to ensure that we do everything in our power to support, encourage and boost your child’s academic success. “Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much.”

Our Approach to Discipline

The word discipline comes from the Latin word “disciplinare”, which means, “to teach.” We believe that’s exactly what children need: to be taught and guided through difficult situations. We believe that effective discipline is about modeling the right behavior and stressing the importance of using our words to express feelings, safety concerns, and possible solutions. We strongly believe that it is important to say what we want them to do as opposed to what not to do. For example, we might say, “Let’s use gentle touches,” instead of saying, “No hitting!”

​

Admissions

​

Join the Growing Garden Wonderschool community in four easy steps:

1. Explore our website

We’ve provided information about our philosophies and offerings to help you decide if our program may be right for your family.

2. Tour our school

Come see what makes Growing Garden Wonderschool unique. Please schedule a tour by filling out the “Schedule Tour” form.

3. Submit an Enrollment Application

If you would like to enroll, please submit an application. Please note that we require tours for all prospective families. Please do not submit an application if you have not toured.

4. Enroll

After reviewing your application, we’ll send an enrollment invitation. Upon accepting your invitation, you’ll pay your deposit (usually equal to one month’s tuition), fill out enrollment documents and review our Parent Handbook.

​