The Gro Academy

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The Gro Academy The Gro Academy 🌱
Cultivating Exceptional Early Childhood Professionals
Accelerated, online early‑childhood training. Become Lead Teacher certified faster.

Join our expert‑led community and grow your career!

📚✨ Some stories are worth being brave enough to open.This week, we're inviting little readers to slow down, notice the c...
10/09/2026

📚✨ Some stories are worth being brave enough to open.

This week, we're inviting little readers to slow down, notice the clues, wonder what might happen, and discover what a new story has to offer.

Open a Brave Story is a playful literacy activity that turns opening a book into an invitation to wonder. Kids explore visual clues, make predictions, share their thinking, and reflect on what they discover—without needing to find the “right” answer.

And because every learner meets a story differently, the activity includes built-in scaffolding, infant & toddler adaptations, conversation starters, developmental connections, and ready-to-use printable resources. 💜

🌱 Notice clues
⭐ Make predictions
💭 Share ideas
❤️ Make room for different responses

Created for ages 2–5 and designed to grow with each learner.
Open a Brave Story is part of our new Petals & Play Dailies: small activities with big possibilities.

thegroacademy.com/bloomroomactivities/open-a-brave-story

🎃 STARTS MONDAY! There’s still time to register! 🌱Two Gro Academy courses begin October 12, and you can take one or BOTH...
10/08/2026

🎃 STARTS MONDAY! There’s still time to register! 🌱

Two Gro Academy courses begin October 12, and you can take one or BOTH!

📚 Skills & Strategies for the Childcare Teacher
Oct. 12–15 | 5:30–8:00 PM
👩‍🏫 Arielle Brandt

🌿 Introduction to the Childcare Profession
Oct. 12 | Orientation, 5:00–6:00 PM
Oct. 19–21 | 6:00–9:00 PM
👩‍🏫 Sherry Picha

✨ Need both? Take both! The schedules don't overlap, so you can keep moving toward your professional goals without choosing between courses.

💻 Live Virtual | State-Approved | Accelerated

Your next step starts Monday!
👉 thegroacademy.com/courses

📚 Some stories are worth being brave enough to open.During Banned Books Week, we’re celebrating something at the heart o...
10/07/2026

📚 Some stories are worth being brave enough to open.
During Banned Books Week, we’re celebrating something at the heart of early learning: curiosity.
Books give children opportunities to encounter ideas, experiences, families, characters, and perspectives beyond their own. Sometimes a story feels familiar. Sometimes it surprises us. Sometimes it gives us questions we didn’t have before.
That’s part of what makes reading so powerful.
This week, try leaving a little extra room for children’s curiosity during storytime. Instead of rushing to explain an unfamiliar idea, pause and ask, “What are you wondering about?” Their answer might open a conversation you never expected.
🌱 Grow Your Week: When children have access to many kinds of stories, books can become places to wonder, question, imagine, recognize one another, and discover a wider world.

🌱 Two courses. Two important steps in your early childhood career. And yes, you can take both!The Gro Academy has two li...
10/06/2026

🌱 Two courses. Two important steps in your early childhood career. And yes, you can take both!
The Gro Academy has two live virtual courses coming up this October, both offered in our accelerated format:
📚 Introduction to the Childcare Profession
👩‍🏫 Sherry Picha
📅 Oct. 12 | 5:00–6:00 PM orientation
📅 Oct. 19–21 | 6:00–9:00 PM live sessions
✨ Skills & Strategies for the Childcare Teacher
👩‍🏫 Arielle Brandt
📅 Oct. 12–15 | 5:30–8:00 PM live sessions
Need both Intro and Skills? You don’t have to choose. Their schedules do not overlap, so you can register for both and keep moving forward with your training.
🌿 Live virtual instruction
🌿 State-approved training
🌿 Accelerated course formats
🌿 Instructor support throughout your coursework
Whether you’re building your foundation with Intro or developing the knowledge and strategies needed for the lead teacher role with Skills & Strategies, there’s still time to join us.
Register today:
thegroacademy.com/courses

⭐️ Come visit us at the WECA conference to register for all your foundational and continuing education needs.🌱 Grow with...
10/02/2026

⭐️ Come visit us at the WECA conference to register for all your foundational and continuing education needs.

🌱 Grow with us by registering for a class and spin for a free prize. Special conference rate now available.

We can't wait to see you!

Two accelerated courses. More ways to grow. 🌱October brings more opportunities to keep moving toward your early childhoo...
10/01/2026

Two accelerated courses. More ways to grow. 🌱

October brings more opportunities to keep moving toward your early childhood education goals, with live virtual training designed to fit into a focused schedule.

🌿 Introduction to the Childcare Profession
Instructor: Sherry Picha
📅 Oct. 12 | Orientation, 5:00–6:00 PM
📅 Oct. 19–21 | Live Sessions, 6:00–9:00 PM
⚡ Accelerated Format

🌸 Skills & Strategies for the Childcare Teacher
Instructor: Arielle Brandt
📅 Oct. 12–15 | 5:30–8:00 PM
⚡ Accelerated Format

Need both courses? You can take both! Their schedules do not overlap, so you can register for one or keep your momentum going with both.

And there’s more coming later this month:

👶 Fundamentals of Infant & Toddler Care starts October 28, with Sherry Picha.

💻 Live Virtual Instruction
✨ State-Approved Training
🌱 Professional growth at every stage
⚡ Accelerated Format

Choose what comes next for you and register today:
thegroacademy.com/courses

Not every feeling needs a solution.Sometimes a child needs an adult who can stay nearby while the feeling is loud, stran...
09/29/2026

Not every feeling needs a solution.

Sometimes a child needs an adult who can stay nearby while the feeling is loud, strange, silly, uncomfortable, or hard to name. Someone who can help them experience it safely without rushing them toward “all better.”

That space matters. When children learn that their feelings don’t make them too much, too difficult, or unwelcome, they begin building something much bigger than a feelings vocabulary. They’re learning that all of them belongs. 💜

This week, a little reminder for the educators making room for every kind of feeling:

You don’t have to fix every feeling. Sometimes children need us to make room for it.

🌱 Keep growing with The Gro Academy:
thegroacademy.com/courses

👻 Feelings don’t always come one at a time.Something can be exciting and a little scary. A child can be curious and caut...
09/28/2026

👻 Feelings don’t always come one at a time.

Something can be exciting and a little scary. A child can be curious and cautious, delighted and startled, eager to join and unsure whether they’re ready.

This week, try making room for both sides of a feeling instead of rushing to replace one with another. A simple observation like, “You want to see what happens, but you’re not ready to get closer yet,” can help children recognize that emotions don’t always fit neatly into one box.

🌱 Grow Your Week: Children don’t need to choose the “right” feeling. They need safe spaces to notice, name, and explore the feelings they have.

Can’t find your Gro Academy course in PDS Online? Try this search tip. 🔎When searching for one of our courses by instruc...
09/24/2026

Can’t find your Gro Academy course in PDS Online? Try this search tip. 🔎

When searching for one of our courses by instructor, we’ve found that using just ONE instructor name works better than entering the instructor’s full name.

For Gro Academy courses:

🔎 Arielle Brandt → search ARIELLE
🔎 Sherry Picha → search PICHA

For example, searching “Picha” can bring up the course you’re looking for when “Sherry Picha” returns no results.

It’s a tiny detail, but a pretty important one when you’re trying to find your training! 🌱

If you’re getting your PDS account set up for the first time, we also have a step-by-step PDS registration guide to help you through the process.

💜 Still stuck? Reach out. We’re happy to help.

thegroacademy.com/courses

Starts Monday! 👶🌱There’s still time to join us for Fundamentals of Infant & Toddler Care and complete all of your requir...
09/23/2026

Starts Monday! 👶🌱

There’s still time to join us for Fundamentals of Infant & Toddler Care and complete all of your required live sessions in just one focused week.

👶 Fundamentals of Infant & Toddler Care
📅 September 28–October 1
⏰ 5:30–8:00 PM
💻 Live Virtual Instruction
👩‍🏫 Instructor: Arielle Brandt
⚡ Just 4 required live sessions, Monday–Thursday

Explore the foundations of responsive infant and toddler care, including development, caregiving routines, play-based learning, relationships, and partnering with families.

And with our accelerated format, you can complete the entire live portion of the course in four evenings. After your live sessions end, you’ll still have time to complete any remaining coursework and final projects, with support from your instructor along the way.

Four live sessions. One week. Keep moving toward your goals. 🌿

✨ There’s still time to register!
thegroacademy.com/courses

Address

3652 East Avenue South
La Crosse, WI
54601

Telephone

(608)4987537

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