Hi everyone! My name is Emily Benitez and I’m the Infant Two Lead Teacher at The Learning Tree South. I have been at The Learning Tree for about 6 years now. As far as I can remember I have always loved kids. I helped watch my nieces and nephews when they were younger so I got a lot of experience from them. 
Before The Learning Tree I was in my high school preschool program, and I knew that I wanted to work with children because I enjoyed it so much. In the preschool program I created lesson plans for the children to participate in. After I graduated from high school I started working at The Learning Tree as a floater. In 2015 I was offered to do the CDA program through The Learning Tree and I became the lead teacher in Infant 2. I LOVE working at The Learning Tree. I have learned so many things on how to be a successful teacher and I have also met so many amazing families. 
My favorite part of my job is the Highscope curriculum that we teach in our classrooms. The children in my classroom look forward to doing our routine everyday like large group and small group. I have been apart of many amazing things here at The Learning Tree like when The Great Start Readiness program came to observe my classroom. My plan for the future is to go back to school and earn my Associate’s degree in Early Childhood and then earn a degree in Elementary Education. The Learning Tree has provided me with some many great opportunities for me such as getting my CDA and having me become the Coffee Resident Expert. They honestly care so much about their employees and the teachers success. I truly love my job at The Learning Tree and I’m excited to see how I grow as a teacher in the years to come. 🙂