Olive Tree Early Learning Academy

09/15/2026

Exciting news 🎉 we are a Community Investment Grants funded partner.

This support helps strengthen the everyday work happening in our classrooms: partnering with families, supporting exceptional educators, and creating a safe, creative, inclusive environment where children can grow to love learning.

We are grateful for partners who believe in investing in young children, families, and the future of our Knoxville community.

Thank you, , for helping make this work possible.

09/15/2026

What an evening. 🌱

Last week, we welcomed friends, partners, advocates, and community members to Grow to Love Learning: An Olive Tree Experience.

Throughout the evening, guests were invited to step into the world of early childhood and look a little closer at what happens in the everyday moments of a child’s life. They explored how relationships, brain development, intentional teaching, play, and thoughtfully designed environments come together to help children feel safe, known, and ready to learn.

Most importantly, they experienced a little of what we believe so deeply at Olive Tree: every child has a story, and every child deserves someone who takes the time to know it.

We are incredibly grateful to everyone who joined us, asked thoughtful questions, shared in the experience, and chose to invest in the children and families we serve. Your support helps make high-quality early learning accessible to families across our community.

And a very special thank you to our event sponsors, whose generosity helped make the evening possible:
🌿 Altar'd State's Stand Out for Good
🌿 UTK College of Education, Health & Human Sciences
🌿 Knoxville Smokies
🌿 Lakeshore Learning

Thank you for believing in the importance of early childhood and in our mission to create a place where children grow to love learning. 💚

08/28/2026

The beginning of a school year can be full, even when it is all going well.

Children are learning new routines, using lots of social energy, practicing transitions, and holding big feelings in small bodies.

Sometimes those feelings show up after school.

A few simple supports can help.

Settling into a new year takes time. Connection helps children land well.

Save this for the weeks when everyone is still finding the rhythm.

08/26/2026

A few weeks into the school year, the rhythm of the classroom starts to take shape.

Children begin to know where things belong.
They remember familiar songs and routines.
They learn how to move through transitions.
They notice which friends like the same materials.
They begin to trust the adults waiting to help them.

These small rhythms matter.

Predictable routines help children feel safe. Safe children are more ready to explore, ask questions, take turns, solve problems, try again, and grow in confidence.

At Olive Tree, we see routines as part of whole-child care. They are one of the quiet ways a classroom says: you belong here, and we will help you know what comes next.

08/13/2026

What if you could experience the world through the eyes of a young child?

Join us for Grow to Love Learning: An Olive Tree Event, an immersive evening that explores how relationships, everyday interactions, and thoughtfully designed environments shape a child's development during the earliest years of life.

Through interactive experiences, meaningful conversation, and dinner together, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the work happening every day at Olive Tree and why investing in high-quality early childhood education has a lasting impact on children, families, and our community.

Whether you're a longtime supporter or simply curious about our mission, we'd love for you to join us.

📆 Thursday, September 10, 2026
🕠 5:30–7:30 PM
📍 Covenant Health Park

Admission is complimentary, but registration is required.
Reserve your seat today on Eventbrite.

Together, we can help more children grow to love learning.

Experience the world of early childhood through an immersive evening benefiting Olive Tree. Dinner included. Admission is free.

08/10/2026

At Olive Tree, partnership with families is part of the work from the very beginning.

Families know their children deeply. Teachers bring skill, experience, observation, and care. When those two kinds of knowledge come together, children are better supported.

Partnership can look like a quick conversation at drop-off, a teacher noticing a change in a child's rhythm, a family sharing what is happening at home, or a classroom team helping a child feel safe through a new transition.

We believe early education works best when children are surrounded by adults who are communicating, listening, and working together.

That is why our mission begins with partnership. ❤

08/07/2026

Our first few days back have already been full of the small moments that make a school year begin to feel like home.

Children are exploring new spaces.
Teachers are learning new rhythms.
Families are settling into routines.
Friends are reconnecting and meeting for the first time.

At Olive Tree, we know that the beginning of the year is not just about schedules and supplies. It is about belonging.

Before children can take risks, ask questions, solve problems, create, or grow in confidence, they need to feel safe and connected.

This week, we are beginning there.

With welcome.
With relationship.
With play.
With care.

08/04/2026

In-service week is wrapping up, and tomorrow is the first day of school!

This past week our staff has been preparing classrooms, strengthening routines, learning together, organizing materials, and making space for a new year of growth.

We are thinking about the children who will walk through our doors.

The ones who will need a little extra time at drop off.
The ones who will run toward their favorite shelf.
The ones who will make new friends.
The ones who will discover new words, new skills, new confidence, and new ways to express themselves.

We are preparing for all of them with care.

Here is to a new school year rooted in belonging, curiosity, play, and love.

Send some encouragement to our teachers as they get ready for tomorrow!

07/29/2026

We are preparing for a new school year, and our classrooms are almost ready for the children who will fill them with stories, questions, friendships, ideas, and play.

One simple way you can support Olive Tree right now is by purchasing an item from our school Amazon wishlist.

Wishlist items help us stock classrooms with the materials children use every day:

Books for story time.
Art materials for self-expression.
Sensory tools for exploration.
Classroom supplies that support routines.
Small items that help teachers create beautiful, useful spaces for children.

Every item is a practical gift that helps our teachers start the year prepared and helps children enter classrooms that are ready for them.

Wishlist link: https://a.co/0gxAVjPj

07/28/2026

Before the first day of the new school year, there is a week full of learning, planning, cleaning, organizing, reflecting, and preparing.

This week is staff in-service at Olive Tree.

Our teachers are spending time together preparing classrooms, revisiting routines, engaging in training, and getting ready to welcome children into a new school year on August 5.

So much of early childhood education happens in the visible moments: play, stories, art, meals, friendships, and big feelings.

But so much also happens before children ever walk through the door.

Teachers plan environments with care. They think about what children need to feel safe and known. They prepare materials that invite curiosity. They make space for relationships to grow.

We are grateful for this team and the thoughtful work they are doing this week.

Help us cheer on our teachers as they prepare for a new year.