Happy 2012!
Hey Creative Learning Family!
We hope that everyone had great holidays, and they were full of relaxation and family time. When I (Mr. Mark) started working at Creative Learning, I was amazed at how many opportunities the children had to learn and have fun while learning. This has not been more evident than this past month at Creative Learning. Here is what has happened:
First, Mr. Mike brought some of his slimy, scaly, and slithery friends to the Creative Learning school. It was definitely wild to see snakes, turtles, cockroaches, and alligators crawling around the floors. Here are the pictures to proof it!
Ms. Megan even let a cockroach crawl on her arm!
We have some amazingly brave children at our school!
Some of our friends did not enjoy field trip as much as other. However, they were quick to point out that they weren’t brave, but were proud of the other kids for being so brave.
And, last, we have the bravest of the brave! (Mr. Mark jumped a couple of times when the lizards were on the ground…ask Ms. Megan).
Next, we had an amazingly fun field trip to Monkey Joe’s! Thank you to Dylan’s dad Buff who took these pictures! (All of the other teachers tried to take pictures but were too busy jumping and bouncing with the kids [so much so that we were sore for about 3 days after])
And, the Godfather…
Next, we have had a great time with our science class! We have made slime…
We also have Ms. Mary come from the Library every month to sing some songs and read stories. The kids love it!
Next, we have started to have sports time every day which gives the children GREAT opportunities for gross motor development. Also, training for the PGA, MLB, NBA, MLS, and others which will help make the parents….I’m sorry, the KIDS, millionaires!
We also have included some new classes to our Creative Learning curriculum. First, we have added a Cool Kid’s Class to our schedule.
Last, we have the “modeling” classes that we have at Creative Learning AKA photo’s that we have that are just too cute that we can’t NOT share. We hope you enjoy!
This is our cleaning crew!
Our Horseback Riding Team!
Our Auto mechanic squad!
Our Facebook Team!
And our MODELS!
Thankful for Thanksgiving
During this month of November, we have stressed the importance of being thankful for what we have. In this blog, we will post the things that we (as Parents and Teachers) are thankful for.
First, we are thankful for our students, who are working so hard and learning so much!
For this lesson, we learned about Old McDonald’s Farm, and how we use products on the farms to feed our families. (Note: the children are shaking heavy cream to make their own butter and on the next day we added sugar to make our own whipped cream)
Next, we decided to trick our taste buds with food that was a different color. Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of the reactions from the different foods. However, here are some quotes:
“This is sour!” (This was said after a child tried water with yellow food coloring in it)
“EWWWW! I am not going to eat the play doh!” (This was said after Mr. Mark suggested they try the mashed potatoes with red food coloring)
“Is this grass?” (This was said after seeing eggs with green food coloring)
If you ever want to have fun at your child’s expense, then I suggest putting some food coloring in their food and watch their reactions.
Next, we are thankful for birthdays! (and napkins)
Of course, we are thankful for our little turkeys!
Here is a link to our Thanksgiving Parade:
Thanksgiving Parade
Last, we are thankful for our superheroes and all the different costumes they wear!
Thanks for reading the blog, and let’s get excited for Christmas!
Goodbye October, Hello November!
Hello Parents, Family, and Friends-
Welcome to the October version of our blog! With school in full effect, and the children in their school day routine, we wanted to pass along some photos and some lessons that we have been over. In the older kids group, we have been doing many fun activities over classic stories. We are currently working on Aesop’s fable “The City Mouse and The Country Mouse” (if you want to have some fun, ask your child to retell you the story). However, one of our favorites was “The Three Little Pigs.” For this story, we had the children make their own “House Cookies” out of Bricks (Twizzlers), Straw (Pretzels), and Grass (Coconut). Here are some action pictures of the kids:
After this project, we made a birdhouse for our friends in the trees. This was a very time extensive project, but we were so proud of the kids because, not only did they hammer the nails, they helped measure the wood, saw the wood, and, of course, paint the beautiful birdhouse. Again, here are some pictures of the kids in action, with the last couple of pictures being the final product:
Looks great, doesn’t it?
Now, we cannot forget our younger friends. I (Mr. Mark) had the pleasure of sitting in on their circle time one morning, and it was so awesome that I had to take videos of it. Just to warn you….your children love to have fun, jump around, and sing. Consider yourself warned (Also, I had to upload these videos to YouTube because the file size was too big. However, these videos are only able to be seen by people who have the link. These videos are not able to be searched, and the only people who can see them are people who are shared the link):
Now that we have the “boring” school stuff out of the way, let’s get to the fun field trips and adventures we have had the past month. First, Leland and Reese’s dad Steven and the rest of the St. John’s Fire Department came to the school so the children could learn about fire safety. We want to thank Steven and the rest of the Fire Department for everything that they do to keep us and our children safe. Now, here are some pictures of our honorary fire fighters:
After this awesome experience, we took our October field trip to Legare Farms to visit the pumpkin patch, take a hay ride, and look at all the farm animals Legare had to offer. Thanks to all the chaperones who came out and helped (especially so the teachers could have fun as well ha ha). Thanks to Dylan’s dad Buff, Beckett’s mom Carrie, and Ella Grace and Reid’s mom Jennifer for the pictures:
Last, we celebrated Halloween with our very own scary Halloween Parade. We had tons of great costumes:
Now, once we had finished marveling at all of the amazingly cute costumes, we had a scary Halloween Parade. You can click on the link below to view this ghoulish parade…if you dare!
Last, but certainly not least, are all of the random shots we have gotten from our days at Creative Learning. There are the shots of the cooler than cool kids:
Next, we have the pictures that parents can use for blackmail later on in life:
And, of course, let us not forget about the adorable pictures:
The toughest thing about doing this blog is picking out which pictures to use. I apologize if your child was not on the blog this month. Please know that it is not intentional, and that every picture that was not used (as well as every picture that has been used) will be featured in the Photo Gallery of the website (The newest pictures start on Page 4…However, I suggest going through all the pages for a walk down memory lane). If you see any pictures that you would like of your child, please e-mail me at Mark.A.Karsten@gmail.com so that I can e-mail you the pictures.
Thanks for coming by to read the blog, and thanks to all the parents for all of the help that YOU have provided. Be looking for the next blog post, and don’t forget to check out all of the new pictures in the Photo Gallery!
New Creative Learning Blog!
Hello Parents-
Welcome to the new Creative Learning blog!
First, we want to thank the parents for being so supportive and helpful in the first few weeks of our school year. So far, we have been able to discuss such topics as the Five Senses, Dinosaurs, and Tools that are in a Toolbox. In Language Arts we have done the letters F, E, D, P, and B. And, in other classes, we have made a compost bin, learned about the creation, and have learned about plants. This does not include all of the amazing art therapy that we have done over the past month.
As the first paragraph says, we have done a TON of work in the last month that needs to be shown. We are glad to show some amazing pictures and video from the past month that have been taken during academics and during free play.
In this first blog post, we will show pictures of the kids playing on the playground, our plants that we grew, cooking some amazing treats, some playground friends, and some of the other amazing times we have had on the playground! (If the parents want any of the original pictures, then please e-mail me at Mark.A.Karsten@gmail.com).
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Since this is the first blog post, it is more of a trial run than a regular week thing. We will definitely try to do a better, cohesive job of this blog and definitely do a blog post once a week!
Thank you so much, and we hope you love the pictures and the video!
Click below for the video!
Creative Learning September 2011
Mark