Critchlow Adkins Children’s Centers is dedicated to nurturing children and their families by providing quality, educationally-based, and financially accessible childcare in a safe, diverse, and enriching environment. | | |
Learning is in Full Bloom at Critchlow Adkins! | |
Spring fever was in full effect this month at all of our sites! We planted seeds of learning with lots of activities exploring the plants, animals, and creepy crawlies right outside our classroom doors. As part of our time outside, students learned how to be good stewards of our environment by planting flowers and veggies in the site gardens and cleaning up in honor of Earth Day.
Please watch the video below to see some of the smiles YOU made possible this month, then scroll down for manymore April highlights!
| | Look At What We've Been Up To! | | |
Celebrating Our Students!
At our Easton School Age Site, the students participated in lots of engaging activities during the 55th annual Week of the Young Child. This is a fun-filled celebration of early education, young children, teachers, and the community. They planted beautiful flowers and fresh vegetables in the site’s garden, and the classrooms were filled with music, learning, laughter, and joy as they made wonderful memories together!
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Nurturing Nature!
Spring has sprung at our Cordova Site, and nature was a big focus this month! The school age children decorated pots, planted seeds, and painted stones for their gardens. The preschoolers went on an adventure to Vintage Family Farms, where they picked tulips and interacted with animals. As part of the site’s Earth Day celebrations, everyone headed outside to clean up the school yard, helping keep the environment clean for their schoolmates!
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Fun And Festivities!
Fun is blossoming at the White Marsh Site! They kicked off the month with a spring party, and the festivities didn’t stop! For Easter, they had a super fun egg hunt and delicious, ooey gooey Rice Krispies treats made with Peeps. During Week of the Young Child, children marched in a band parade for Musical Monday, made apple donuts for Tasty Tuesday, and shared a snack with family for Family Friday. The month wrapped up with a trip to the Tulip Festival and Earth Day celebrations!
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An Egg-cellent April!
April was egg-citing for the children in St. Michaels! The school age students got creative while making beautiful Easter egg drawings, while the preschoolers dyed their eggs many colors. There was even more egg-citement when the kids participated in an eggs-periment to see which would erupt the quickest – baking soda or baking powder. They also hatched some fun with paper plate chick art and pop up books about chickens and ducks with Mr. Steve.
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Bugs and Hugs!
It was a creepy crawly time at our Preschool Site in Easton when our littlest learners had a lesson on bugs, butterflies, and insects. Our class caterpillars have arrived, and the children are excited to watch them as they go through the process of becoming butterflies. Beautiful weather was a perfect excuse for a bug hunt… and a family picnic! The kids loved seeing their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles arrive to share a wonderful afternoon together. They even asked to do it again!
| | Follow us on Facebook to get your Friday fix of cuteness with our Weekly Round Up! | | | Additional April Announcements | | Many thanks to everyone who attended our Bouquets of Thanks event at the Talbot Country Club on April 23rd. We were honored to celebrate you and share our immense appreciation for your generous support of our mission and the families we serve. Special thanks to Gaither Kyhos and Ed Tarbutton for hosting the event! It was a wonderful evening of fellowship and gratitude! | | We are thrilled to announce that Critchlow Adkins has been voted Best Childcare and Best Preschool in the What's Up? Media Best of the Eastern Shore Contest! This is a special honor for us, as these awards are voted on by YOU! From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your vote of confidence. We are so proud of our incredible staff for their hard work and dedication to providing the highest quality care possible for local families! | | | Critchlow Adkins Gives Back! | | Speaking of proud... Our students are involved in many community activities throughout the year. This month, they competed in Talbot Interfaith Shelter's Lip Sync Battle and raised nearly $1,300 to fight homelessness on the Mid-Shore. Our White Marsh Site is collecting donations for Talbot Hospice throughout the month of April. | |
Student Vera is once again making gifts for those who want to donate to Hospice, and this year, Mom's getting in on the act, too! She has set an ambitious goal of raising $900. Vera and her mother will send a bracelet to anyone who helps her reach her goal by April 30th. Watch her video below.
| | If you would like to make a donation, use the Venmo link in the video or send it to our White Marsh Site, c/o Annetta Biscoe, at 4322 Lovers Lane, Trappe, MD 21673. Don't forget to include your name and address you can receive your thank you gift! | |
Keieve Colbert, our Easton School Age Site Director, received the Future Leaders Award at the Shore Leadership 2026 Kick Off Event! Keieve graduated from last year's Shore Leadership class, and Executive Director, Cristy Morrell, had the honor of presenting her with this exciting award.
Melissa Johnson, our Cordova Site Director, was inducted into the 2026 Shore Leadership class the same night! She will be attending events throughout the year, participating in skill building activities and conversation to foster collaboration and problem solving.
If you see these exceptional educators, please help us to congratulate them!
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At the end of March, a tree fell on the roof of our Central Office building. Thankfully, no one was injured, but the incident caused significant damage to the structure. As a result, our Central Office staff will be displaced for several months as repairs take place.
We are especially grateful to Richard Marks and Amy Haines, who, upon hearing of our situation, reached out to provide a temporary office space. Thanks to their fast action, we were able to relocate quickly and get back to work serving local families. We cannot thank them enough.
Please note that, while our office has been temporarily relocated, our mailing address remains the same: 15 S Hanson Street, Easton, MD 21601.
| | An April STEAM Project YOU Can Do At Home! | | |
This month we celebrated the “Young Child”. On a daily basis we encourage our children to dream big, have confidence, try new things, and to problem solve when they make mistakes. In addition to a full month of learning lots of new things at school, we learned about 4 astronauts who were launched into space and traveled all the way around the moon for the first time ever!
As you know, we love to read a great book before doing our STEAM projects.
| | | | This month's recommendation, Mae Among The Stars, by Roda Ahmed, is about a little girl who explores her dream of becoming an astronaut and the encouragement she received from those around her. The story is inspired by astronaut Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to travel in space. | | |
Our April STEAM activity is all about exploring gravity... All you need is a toy yo-yo! Observe how energy and gravity can be used to spin the yo-yo up and down. When you throw the yo-yo down, gravity pulls it toward the floor, making it spin and unwind. If the string is not tied tightly to the axle, the yo-yo can "sleep" (spin) at the bottom for a few seconds before coming back up. With a small tug on the string, the yo-yo catches and climbs back up to your hand!
The yo-yo uses different kinds of energy.
Stored (Potential) Energy: When the yo-yo is resting in your hand, it has "sleeping energy" that is ready to be used.
Moving (Kinetic) Energy: When the yo-yo drops and spins, that energy turns into action.
Spinning Power: The faster the yo-yo spins, the more stable it is, making it easier to do.
Try it at home and turn energy and gravity into action (and fun)!
| | As always, be as creative as you want, and have lots of fun learning together! Visit our website for hundreds of additional STEAM activities you can do at home! | | You make our classrooms feel like a home away from home! | | | Thanks to you, every day, our children enter a welcoming, safe, and nurturing environment. There, they learn, play, and grow along with friends, and their families become a part of our Critchlow Adkins family. Consider a recurring monthly gift of any size to support this home away from home all year round! | | Support Critchlow Adkins While Shopping! | | Connect your Harris Teeter VIC card to Critchlow Adkins via the Together in Education Program, and when you purchase the brands listed below, you help earn money to support our programs! | | If you are a Weis Market customer, scan the bar code below at checkout to help Critchlow Adkins earn funds for supplies, programs, and more! | | Thank You To Our Critchlow Adkins Community and Business Partners! | | |
Grant Partners
Bryan Brothers Foundation
Christmas in St. Michaels
Christ Church St. Michaels Parish
Church of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Women
Dock Street Foundation
Fullwood Foundation
Maryland State Department of Education
Mid-Shore Community Foundation
Rotary Club of Easton
Rural Maryland Council
St. John Foundation
St. Mark's United Methodist Church
Talbot County Health Department
Talbot Optimists Club
USDA Rural Development
Van Strum Foundation
Whole Kids Foundation
Women & Girls Fund of the Mid-Shore
Philip A Zaffere Foundation
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Academy Art Museum
Adkins Arboretum
Appleseed Books
Boy Scouts of America
Candlelight Cove
Carepacks of Talbot County
Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
Chesapeake College
Choptank Community Health
Cordova Fire Station
Eastern Shore Speech Therapy
Easton Cinemas
Easton Volunteer Fire Department
Emily's Produce
Environmental Concern
Family Affair Farm
For All Seasons
Girl Scouts of America
Healthy Talbot
Imagination Library of Talbot County
Judy Amdur Music
Judy Center Early Learning Hubs
Jump Start With The Arts
Lion's Club
Kiln Born Creations
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Maryland Zoo
Pickering Creek Audubon Center
Police, Fire, and EMS Departments
Positive Strides Therapeutic Riding
Project Right Steps
Ready at Five
Shore Lit
SOS Sink or Swim
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
St. Michaels Community Center
Talbot County:
Health Department
Infants and Toddlers
Oral Health Department
Parks and Recreation
Public Schools
Talbot County Free Library
Talbot Family Network
Talbot Humane
Talbot Interfaith Shelter
Talbot Thrive
University of Maryland Extension
US Armed Forces
4-H Club
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Critchlow Adkins is so fortunate to have generous support from our local business community. Meet our CACC Stars!
*For more information on how YOU can become a CACC Star, click HERE or contact our Development Director, Liz Connelly, at lconnelly@cacckids.org.
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Ball Greenhouses
Benson and Mangold Real Estate
Brambles Electric
Carpenter Street Saloon
Chesapeake Blooms
Chic-fil-A
Coventry Motor Works
Crackerjacks
Dairy Queen of Denton
Dragonfly Boutique
Easton Music Academy
L. Lucke Designs
Moore Funeral Home
PeachBlossoms Events
RLE LLC
Salt & Light Entertainment
Vintage Family Farms
What's Good, LLC
Windswept Clothiers
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Licensed Maryland Childcare Providers
Cordova - 45445
Easton Preschool - 31291
Easton School Age - 31294
St. Michaels - 31292
White Marsh - 53488
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