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About

Rev. Trina Sheets

Owner, Operator, Lead Teacher

Greetings! My name is Rev. Trina Sheets and I am an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. I serve as the Discipleship & Children's pastor at Elkhart Northside Nazarene currently. I have been in this position for the past 5 years. My husband is the lead pastor and we have been serving together at Northside since 2011. Prior to being married, I taught preschool. I have missed that daily interaction with 3-5-year-olds and recently worked for a brief time in a local preschool. Due to a difference in philosophy in early childhood education, I felt it was not a good fit for either party. That desire to teach did not wane, though, and God provided a means for opening my own program with the support of Northside Nazarene.

I am diligently working to prepare our space and the programming to provide a Developmentally Appropriate environment that will light the fire for lifelong curiosity, exploration, and learning versus "kindergarten readiness" which I believe is short-sighted and far too small a goal. Seeing the decline in play and an increase in 'academic pursuits' at earlier and earlier ages has been a huge concern for me; so much so that I homeschooled my own children for several years. I am deeply passionate about honoring God and children by allowing them to learn in the way He created them to learn. I hope you will follow our page as we begin to share the Power of Play for all of us, but especially in the life of a young child!

On a personal note, Tim and I have three children and are busy with baseball games, driver's training, and preparing to move our oldest to college. We have a Boston Terrier who loves toys, car rides, and belly rubs. In our spare time (what's that?!) we love to go on coffee dates, visit book stores, and nerd out on the Bible. I love doing puzzles as a way to slow down, rest, and practice play on my Sabbaths.

Qualifications:

A.S. Business from IPFW, 2001
B.S. Christian Education from IPFW, 2003
Early Childhood Education credentials from Ivy Tech/NAEYC, 2005
Elder Credentials from The Church of the Nazarene/Nazarene Bible College, 2022
Experience in the field as a preschool teacher at Kids First Childcare Ministry in Wabash, IN
Manager at Boys & Girls Club, Decatur, IN
Children's Ministry Director, Bluffton, IN
Children's Pastor/Pastor of Discipleship, Elkhart, IN

What's in a name?

Little Chickadees - A name I called my own kids when they were preschool-aged.

Chickadees are a North American birds known for being curious and inquisitive, feisty, courageous, friendly, intelligent, and social beings.

The development of these sorts of life-long qualities is what early childhood education SHOULD be about! Academics aren't a bad thing, but when they are pushed before a child is ready for them and they are the focus and goal over and above a well-rounded child who also knows how to function in society, we are doing a disservice to the children in our care. As a result we will be working to develop self-care and -regulation, getting along well with others, as well as physical development and strength (a pre-requisite for cognitive development), and the faith life of our students.

At Little Chickadees Early Learning Center, LLC, our preschool class for 3-5 year-olds will work to bring balance to all 4 Developmental Domains: Cognitive, Language & Literacy, Social-Emotional, and Physical in order to have little learners who are curious and inquisitive, courageous, friendly, intelligent, and social beings.

Educational Philosophy

Little Chickadee’s philosophy of early learning is rooted in 1) introducing students and families to Jesus, 2) developmentally appropriate practices/best practices as stated by NAEYC, scientific research, and anecdotal research, 3) experience-rich and hands-on, play-based curriculum that gives plenty of open-ended time and space in dramatic play, fine- and large-motor development, art, music, pre-reading and writing, math, and science, 4) teaching executive functions, 5) self-care, emotional awareness, regulation, 6) relationship building skills.

It is not rooted in mainstream culture’s idea of “kindergarten readiness” or crafts and worksheets as “receipts” for tuition. Research shows that students who are prepped in preschool for their kindergarten year do perform better than their peers in that first year of school; however, it also shows that once they move on to first grade and beyond, they begin to struggle with behavior and academics as they are burnt out and bored.

Our long-range goal is constructing a firm foundation for the whole child. We will embark to instill at least a basic knowledge of God and the Christian faith (spiritual), a love and passion for life-long learning, growing, and maturing (cognitive), a Christ-centered identity, self-worth, and love for self and others (relational), basic recognition of emotions and self-regulation skills (emotional), encourage healthy bodies and regular, extended periods of physical activity for overall health and specifically to develop the core for later cognitive and fine-motor skills growth (physical).

What we believe spiritually...

Our theology is Wesleyan and these are the beliefs The Church of the Nazarene

hold to be true:

We believe in one God, made up of 3 distinct persons--the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We call this the Trinity. God is like a perfect family in complete harmony with one another.

We believe that the Old and New Testament Scriptures are a collection of writings (a library of books), inspired by the Holy Spirit and written down by people. They contain everything we need to know on how to accept Jesus' invitation to "follow me" and receive his gift of eternal life (salvation), for being transformed into someone with a purified heart (sanctification) and for living a life that is in line with God's best for us.

We believe that humans are born with an inclination to go our own way and not God's. We call this sin. Our nature compels us to sin, or disobey God's leading, until we decide to follow Jesus (salvation) and allow him to purify our hearts (sanctification). When one's sin nature is purified, we believe that people can choose to sin but are no longer compelled to sin.

We believe that those who choose to have nothing to do with God are eternally separated from him once they die.

We believe that through Jesus' death on the cross and subsequent rising from the grave that we are able to have a restored relationship with God (atonement). When we accept Jesus' invitation to follow him, we are simultaneously adopted into his family, made new in our hearts, and it is just as if we hadn't sinned before (regeneration and justification).

We believe that Jesus-followers are to be transformed in their hearts, minds, and behaviors once they begin following Jesus. This is both a life-long process (attitudes and behaviors looking more like Jesus' over time) and an instantaneous moment {when we offer God full access to every area of our life so that he can renew and purify it and he removes the sin nature we were born with). All of this is possible just by having faith that Jesus is able to do this and is the one who does all the work through the Holy Spirit that lives in our hearts. We just have to be willing to let him.

We believe that the Holy Spirit testifies with our own spirit when we decide to follow Jesus that we are now part of the family and Kingdom of God and that we are, in fact, saved from eternal separation from God.

We believe that one day, Jesus will return to earth as he promised his disciples and once again reunite heaven and earth as it was in the Garden of Eden. God will live here with us on a renewed Earth. Everyone who has died will be raised to life and those who are a part of God's family will live eternally with him on the renewed earth. Those who chose not to become a part of God's family will be eternally separated from him.

Little Chickadees Early Learning Center, LLC has license-exempt status by the state of Indiana as prescribed in IC 12-17.2-2-8 Licensure exemptions (3) A nonresidential program for a child that provides child care for less than four (4) hours a day.

Location

Little Chickadees is housed in the Elkhart Northside Church of the Nazarene, located at 53569 County Road 7, Elkhart, IN. We are an independent small business leasing space from the Church with the support of the Leadership Team.

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