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Big Apple Early Learning Academy is now open for new students, and already there are a group of infants who are exploring the bran-new building, under the watchful eyes of Teacher Gabby Lee.

Scott De Laruelle Unified Newspaper Group

  • Nov 23, 2018

After spending several years as a daycare teacher, Kassie Gorski was hoping to start her own business, but the prospects weren’t looking good.

Then last year, she found out about a new building under construction on Keenan Court, off East Verona Avenue, and since then, it’s been the perfect match.

Now, Gorski owns Big Apple Early Learning Academy and operates it with director Krystyn Fredericks. The nine-classroom building opened for students Nov. 5 after a few final weeks of construction.

It’s the third new daycare to open in Verona in the past three years.

“We were hoping our construction would be done before August so we could hit the back-to-school timeframe, so opening later has been a little slower,” Gorski said. “But hopefully, come the first of the year, things will pick up.”

Big Apple has a “child-first philosophy,” she said, and staff try to take children’s needs and development to heart with a “home away from home environment.”

“We use a lot of more natural colors and different things you see more in a home environment instead of a daycare environment,” Gorski said. “We also use ‘Creative Curriculum,’ a play-based curriculum going off what the children are interested and engaged in, as well.”………..CONTINUE READING


New Daycare Opens Next Month

Scott Girard Unified Newspaper Group

  • Oct 27, 2018

Verona will have a new daycare center next month, when Big Apple Early Learning Academy opens its doors.

The daycare, at 200 Keenan Court behind Gus’s Diner and Pizza Ranch on the city’s east side, will be open to children from 6 weeks to 12 years old beginning Nov. 5. The infant room is already full, but other ages have availability, owner Kassie Gorski told the Press last week.

Gorski said she’s excited to create a “home atmosphere” at the center, which she hopes will eventually offer specialized programming, such as Spanish-language classrooms.

“(I’m excited) being able to just care for families in the Verona area and the surrounding areas,” Gorski said. “I’ve always had a dream of wanting to own and operate my own childcare facility.”

The center will operate from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a “child-first philosophy,” Gorski said, and will work closely with parents of its students.

For information on Big Apple Early Learning Academy, visit bigapple-academy.com/home.

Contact Scott Girard at ungreporter@wcinet.com and follow him on Twitter @sgirard9