A Gold Star Academy & Child Development Center/Smiling Faces Child Care Center has three locations in Farmington, NM under the business name 3D Enterprises. The first center (A Gold Star Academy) opened in April 1, 2000. We are now serving over 160 children. In January of 2013 we opened our second center (Smiling Faces) which has around 90 children enrolled. As of August 2015 we now have our third center (A Gold Star Academy East), which is a dedicated NM PreK program serving over 44 three and four year olds. Our Centers pride themselves on unique and modern facilities that feel more like a home than a school for all of our children. Our philosophy is one of love for the children and families like they are our own. With this attitude and work ethic we have grown and maintained valuable relationships that we know will last a lifetime. We believe in learning through play and all of our classrooms offer a wide variety of materials so that all children have choices throughout their day.
We accept children ages 6 weeks through 12 years of age, which are assessed through the FOCUS Learning Portfolios at a three star level. We have a full time Curriculum Coordinator who works closely with each and every teacher to review their lesson plans for variety and developmentally appropriate activities. We also have expanded our facilities through the NM grant to include the Early PreK program for three year olds, as well as the original NM PreK program for four year olds. All of our NM PreK and Early PreK staff either hold college degrees in Early Childhood Education or are currently earning their degrees. We support families by providing connections to inclusion specialists such as Round Tree and UNM TTAP if needed as well. Throughout the year all teachers meet with each and every child and family to review progress and set goals for the upcoming year based on the Early Learning Guidelines tool for children’s academic and socioemotional progress. We hope to see you at one of our facilities next time you are in the area!
