Critchlow Adkins Children's Centers' mission is to provide quality, financially accessible childcare for children and their families in a nurturing, diverse, safe, and enriching environment. | | |
Thank You For An Unbe-LEAF-able October! | |
As the air grows crisp, learning and fun are heating up here at Critchlow Adkins Children's Centers, thanks to you! With each new day, you provide new opportunities to sow the seeds of creativity and imagination. Just like the autumn leaves, you add so much color to our children's lives, and help them "fall" into a lifelong love of learning!
We hope you will take a few moments to see some of the smiling faces YOU made possible this October!
| | Look At What We've Been Up To! | |
Safety First!
It was Fire Safety Week in Trappe as our White Marsh Site enjoyed a visit from the Trappe Volunteer Fire Department! Students had the opportunity to explore a fire truck, and the firefighters taught them important fire safety information. Ms. Mariah even carried the fire theme back into the classroom with a “fire extinguisher” STEAM project.
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Look For The Helpers!
At our Easton Preschool Site, students learned about Community Helpers. They made a book about what they wanted to be when they grow up and did some role playing as various community helpers. For example, they examined animal x-rays as veterinarians and looked at fingerprints through a magnifying glass as police officers. The site is currently undergoing a playground renovation, and our kiddos made a special thank you sign for all of the construction workers!
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Posterity, Preludes, and Pumpkins!
In Cordova, the staff and students had the honor of signing a beam that will be installed as part of the renovation of Chapel District Elementary School. The school-age students had an incredible treat when the Prometheus String Quartet from the University of Delaware’s Chesapeake Music Organization visited for an inspiring musical performance, made possible by Jump Start with the Arts! The preschoolers visited Family Affair Farm, where they picked pumpkins, enjoyed storytime with the farmers, met new animal friends, and played on the amazing playground. Our little pumpkins had an exceptionally “gourd” time!
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Food and Fall Fun!
At our Easton School Age Site, the fall season was the perfect opportunity to learn about farming and the food cycle. The children learned about how food is grown and harvested, and about the patience and teamwork needed to run a farm and care for living things. Fall also means Halloween, and students got into the spooky spirit when Ms. Amy and the Easton High School Interact Club visited for a haunted house STEAM activity!
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Autumn In The Air!
It was a whirlwind of activity at our St. Michaels Site this month! Our school age students thoughtfully designed fire safety plans for the site. They learned about veterinarians and followed step-by-step instructions to draw a koala, a dog, a cat, and a crab. The preschoolers worked together to make some delectable Tasty Tuesday treats - apple pie and s’mores trail mix. They also went on an adventure to Councell Farms for pumpkins, play, and petting animals!
| | Follow us on Facebook to get your Friday fix of cuteness with our Weekly Round Up! | | | |
We are still beaming from Trivia Night last Thursday evening at the Tred Avon Yacht Club! This year's event was extra special as we gathered to celebrate 55 years of providing exceptional, affordable childcare for local families.
Cocktail hour featured interactive STEAM activities, giving attendees a glimpse into the learning experiences that go on in our classrooms. A silent auction offered one-of-a-kind items and opportunities, just in time for the start of the holiday shopping season. When guests made their way into the ballroom, Critchlow Adkins Board Chair Dru Haines and Executive Director Cristy Morrell offered inspiring words about the history and future of the organization.
After a delicious dinner, it was time for our annual Fund-A-Need paddle raise. This year's Fund-A-Need goal was to raise $75,000 to provide increased tuition assistance - to help offset the financial impact on parents from a freeze in the Maryland Child Care Scholarship Program - and a social emotional enrichment program offered by Critchlow Adkins in partnership with For All Seasons. A rousing game of trivia rounded out a spectacular evening!
At the end of the night, more than $100,000 had been raised, allowing us to replenish our tuition assistance funds and provide our new enrichment program at all five of our sites.
We cannot thank you enough, not just for your generosity, but for the care and compassion you show the families we serve and your desire to give our children the best possible start in life.
Special thanks goes out to our extraordinary Trivia Night chairs, Susie Wheeler, Linda Laramy, Dru Haines, and Zandi Nammack, who went above and beyond to plan a phenomenal evening celebrating 55 years of Critchlow Adkins!
Check out some of Trivia Night highlights in the video below!
| | The celebration of Halloween today marks the ending of the spooky season and the start of the holiday season! We are excited to kick the holidays into high gear with the first-ever Cruisin' Into Christmas with Critchlow Adkins! | | | | |
Bring the whole family to join us on Sunday, November 9th for this unique and exciting event! Things kick off from 3 to 5 pm at the home of Board Member Bicky Warrington and her husband Dan.
Enjoy a classic car show featuring more than 30 incredible vehicles and capture the perfect family Christmas photos with Santa Claus himself and a number of beautiful holiday backdrops.
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After the festivities at the Warringtons' home, head over to the Cordova Fire House for a drive-in style showing of the movie Elf at 6 pm! By the end of the evening, you will find yourself firmly immersed in the holiday spirit!
Tickets are $40 for a carload of up to 4 people, and $10 for each additional person. Tickets include a hot dog, popcorn, and hot chocolate for each person in your group.
| | Proceeds from Cruisin' Into Christmas will provide tuition assistance and enrichment programming for our Cordova Site. Click the button below to learn more and purchase your tickets today! | | We are proud to partner with Talbot County Public Schools (TCPS) for their Youth Internships and Apprentice Program. Our newest apprentice, Alice Shafer, just joined us at our St. Michaels Site! Alice is no stranger to this program or Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Education as she is a former Critchlow Adkins Kid, and both of her parents are employed by TCPS. Alice's mom, Susannah Shafer, is the Assistant Principal at St. Michaels Elementary School and her dad, Kevin Shafer, is the Director of Operations and Maintenance for TCPS. We are thrilled to have Alice join us, and look forward to working with her to develop skills that will help her in her future career path. Welcome to the Critchlow Adkins family, Alice! | | An October STEAM Project YOU Can Do At Home! | | Halloween means pumpkins galore, and we've got the perfect STEAM activity to do with YOUR little pumpkin! You'll have to put on your engineering caps to figure out a solution to this challenge! | | | | As always, before your STEAM activity, "carve" out some time to read a book together! Pumpkin Town, by Katie McKy, is our "pick of the patch" this month. José and his brothers cause an accidental overabundance of pumpkins in their hometown when they toss out their seeds on a windy day. Join the brothers on their journey to clean up their town! | | Now that you've had some "gourd" inspiration, it's time to test your problem solving skills. Grab a pumpkin and some thick string or twine. Challenge your child to engineer a way to transport your pumpkin across the room (or down the sidewalk, etc.) using ONLY the string. How can the string be fastened around the pumpkin securely so that it can withstand the weight without breaking? Before testing the transport method, have your child estimate how far he or she thinks the pumpkin will travel. Measure the distance. Did the pumpkin make it as far as anticipated? If not, what changes can be made to the method of transport to increase the distance? | | 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! | | | |  |
Thanks to YOU, we're brewing up Brighter Futures! | | | |
You give our children all the right ingredients for learning and stir up their curiosity and creativity. With a healthy pour of your support, our kids leave Critchlow Adkins with the right formula for success in school and beyond!
Consider helping our students bubble up to the top all year-round by establishing a recurring monthly donation!
| | 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
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
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Kiln Born
Maryland Zoo
Pickering Creek Audubon Center
Police, Fire, and EMS Departments
Positive Strides Therapeutic Riding
Project Right Steps
Ready at Five
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 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
Bartlett Tree Services
Benson and Mangold Real Estate
Brambles Electric
Carpenter Street Saloon
Chesapeake Blooms
Chesapeake Building Components
Coventry Motor Works
Crackerjacks
Easton Music Academy
Freestyle Fabrication
George's Green Thumb
L. Lucke Designs
Moore Funeral Home
PeachBlossoms Events
RLE LLC
Salt & Light Entertainment
Talbot County Chamber of Commerce
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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