Tracey L. McEntyre

Our Teachers

Tracey McEntyre, Director and Head Teacher

Tracey is a retired Early Childhood Educator with over 20 years of experience in Early Childhood Education. Her education background includes extensive teaching experience with ages 3- 6yrs , childcare management, training, and running a preschool STEM enrichment program. Tracey took a break from teaching when she became a mother to her son Roman. Her career path changed when her son was diagnosed with Autism. It was then that Tracey decided to retire from the industry and begin their Autism journey. it was on this journey that Tracey soon became a mentor and advocate for kids with Autism and their families. Understanding the struggles of finding an appropriate preschool program is hard enough, but for parents with a child with special needs, it is nearly impossible.

Playing an active role in her son‘s educational journey, Tracey became increasingly aware of how schools were failing to address children’s specific needs and potentials. Ultimately, this led Tracey to create a school that parents and children could be proud of: Little Elm STEAM Academy!  So now together with an inspiring team of students and parents, we are constantly seeking to provide the best educational experiences for our children.

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Philosophy

Little Elm STEAM Academy is a safe environment that provides fun, hands-on learning for children of all learning and physical abilities. The goal is not only to instill a love of learning that will last and inspire, but to teach children to support, accept, respect, and understand each other all while working together to create, explore, and innovate.

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Location

Little Elm STEAM Preschool Academy is located in the Paloma Creek Division in Little Elm Texas. We are a growing community with a North and South side complete with ponds, four parks, and three swimming pool areas.

Our school is located in a three-bedroom home with a den and large living room. The learning environment is mainly located in the living room, which had a spacious open floor plan with lots of sun and easy access to our backyard. Our kitchen and dining room are located in the same space which allows for east transitions for cooking and eating.

The backyard serves as an extension of our learning. We use it for gardening, water play, and nature discovery. The covered patio area is perfect for messy experiments and eating outside.

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About our program

Little Elm STE(A)M Academy is a private STEM Micro-school for children of all abilities ages 4.5 to 14 yrs old. Our Academy is based inside our founder’s home in North Texas. We wanted to create an environment that nourishes the child whole.  We created an environment where children developed social and emotional skills, learn about the world around them and find their voice and use it to make changes. 

That’s where Project Base Learning comes in, Project Base Learning is the open-ended learning environment we wanted for our students!  Children learn to ask questions, collaborate, create, and problem-solve together in a way that is stimulating and exciting for kids. As a group, we create a curriculum that allows the children to pick from choices that they will learn for the week and how they will learn. We use a variety of tools such as Seesaw, Brainpop. Jr, Scholastic F.I.R.S.T, Generation Genuis ( Science)

What’s the GOAL?  For children, to take the knowledge they’ve learned outside the classroom into the real world.

QUESTION, LEARN and INVENT  

What is a Micro-school?? 

Micro-schooling is the reinvention of the one-room schoolhouse, it is a cross between private school and homeschool. The class size is typically smaller than that in most schools ( we go up to 12 children only) and there are mixed-age level groupings.

​We want children to be excited about learning and fully engage themselves and spark their inner curiosity about the world around them. There’s an inner inventor, leader, explorer, creator inside all of us! We wanted to create an environment that provides stress-free, hands-on learning for children of all learning abilities and styles.

Our goal is not only to instill a love of learning that will last and inspire but create an atmosphere where children are in control of their own learning. children learn to support, accept, respect, and understand each other all while working together to create, explore and innovate.

What your child can look forward to at LESA:

• Student-driven, self-paced learning
• core skills (math, reading, writing)
• Pre-writing and reading readiness
• Introduction of foreign languages and culture
• Introduction to robotics and coding
• Science
• Cooking exploration

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Admissions

Join the Little Elm STEAM Academy l Wonderschool community in four easy steps:

Step One: Explore our website

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

Step Two: Family interview and Tour

See what makes Little Elm STEAM Academy, by visiting and Ms. Tracey will contact you to schedule a phone interview. Once the phone interview is complete Ms. Tracey will contact to set up a tour of the school. When you come please bring a sample of your child’s writing, and/or a project of which your child is proud. Be prepared to discuss the types of activities your child enjoys and/or loses themselves in. Ask us a lot of questions!

Step Three: Submit an Enrollment Application

Once you feel like you have had your questions answered and are excited about joining the community, fill out the application, and click the link to submit an application. **Please note that we require tours before families submit applications.**

Step Four: Trial

Upon completion of the tour/family Interview, your child will be invited to join us in the academy for a two-day trial. This gives everyone the opportunity to determine if they believe the environment is a good fit for all.

Step Five: Acceptance

After the registration process is done and if we all mutually agree The STEAM Academy and your family are the right fit. I will send an enrollment invitation. Upon accepting your invitation, you’ll pay your $40 registration fee and student technology and supplies fee of $75, you will receive the parent packet.

Tuition rates depend on the daily schedule. Little Elm STEM Academy’s tuition includes morning and afternoon snacks, organic and vegan lunchtime meals, special activities, and field trips.

Sibling discount of 10% for a second child, and 5% for each child thereafter.

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