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January 2025
ο»ΏNewsletter
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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. | | |
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Thanks to YOU, we had a Joyous January at Critchlow Adkins! | |
2025 is off to a snowy start! Despite the cold, wintry weather, our amazing teachers gave our students a warm, safe, and engaging environment in which to learn and spend time with friends. Our Critchlow Adkins Kids spent January learning about health and wellness, exploring the world through fun science experiments, creating beautiful art, and understanding the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We hope you will take a few moments to watch the video below to see some highlights from what YOU made possible this month!
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Look At What We've Been Up To! | |
Bringing the Outdoors In!
When snow and below freezing temperatures made it difficult to get outside to play, the teachers at our Easton Preschool Site brought winter fun into the classroom! Our little ones had a blast painting with snow, learning about the four seasons, and engaging in an epic indoor snowball fight! And of course, what winter celebration is complete without hot chocolate?
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Creativity in Cordova!
The preschoolers at our Cordova Site had a busy week, tracing lines, creating artwork, and constructing paths. Ms. Karen stopped by for a relaxing yoga session with the school age children. Our bright builders put on their engineering caps to construct a hotel for their stuffed animals, then switched into science mode to make stress balls during a lesson on health and wellness.
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Imagination and Experimentation!
The preschoolers at our White Marsh Site explored various art mediums, including yarn, watercolors, paint, sculpture, and more. At the end of the week, our teachers transformed their classroom into an art gallery to display all of their beautiful masterpieces! Meanwhile, the school age children enjoyed a whole week dedicated to kitchen science. Mr. Tom and Ms. Bonnie from 4-H came by for an experiment-filled visit, and our staff led the children in many other kitchen science activities throughout the week!
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Health and Happiness!
The students at our Easton School Age Site have been focused on health and wellness. Our kiddos have been learning about the importance of physical activity, healthy eating, and self-care. As part of this lesson, they explored the concept of βpeaceβ and its personal significance. This topic was a wonderful opportunity to learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his pivotal role advocating for equality.
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Dr. King's Legacy!
In St. Michaels, our students celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. throughout the month! The preschoolers read the book, My Brother Martin, by Christine King Farris, made a special handprint LOVE art project, and created construction paper portraits of Dr. King. The school age students created Dr. King puppets and had an inspiring discussion about how one should behave if he or she wants to be like Dr. King. All of the students had the opportunity to write down their dreams for a brighter future.
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Follow us on Facebook to get your Friday fix of cuteness with our Weekly Round Up! | |
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A New Year Full Of Celebration! | |
We're only one month into 2025, and we already have so much to celebrate! Read about just a few of the highlights below! | |
On the 22nd, we welcomed staff, board members, supporters, and local dignitaries to our brand new Central Office building for a ribbon cutting and open house! This is a momentous milestone in our 55-year history. Purchasing a permanent Central Office is a commitment to our community that we will continue to provide exceptional, affordable care to local families. Thank you to everyone who braved the cold to celebrate this exciting moment with us! | |
On January 13th, Critchlow Adkins was chosen out of three worthy local organizations to receive funding from Women Who Care Talbot County. Each member of the group will donate $100, for a total of $17,500! We are very excited to announce that these funds will be used to expand our successful yoga program to all five of our sites. We are so incredibly grateful and honored to have our project supported by this generous group of women! Click here to learn more about Women Who Care. | |
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We're thrilled that all of our sites have once again been awarded the EXCELS (Excellence Counts in Early Learning and School Age Care) Check Level 5 Rating by the Maryland State Department of Education. ο»ΏCheck Level 5 is the highest possible rating awarded to Maryland childcare providers, and is based on nationally recognized quality standards and best practices. We are incredibly proud of our extraordinary staff for consistently providing the highest quality care for the families we serve! | |
The beautiful new playground for the 2-year-olds at our Easton Preschool Site is nearing completion. For preschoolers, the playground is essentially an outdoor classroom, and this one is now full of engaging play stations that will help them practice gross and fine motor skills, explore the world around them, spark their imaginations, and learn important social skills. Thank you to everyone who donated to our 2023 Trivia Night Fund-A-Need for making this vital project possible and giving our children a place to learn and grow for many years to come! | |
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We could not let this newsletter go by without giving a big shout out to our amazing teaching staff.
When a significant snow storm could have meant having to close down our sites for a full week just after winter break, our exceptional educators sprang into action, ensuring that we were open for our families for three days that week.
We are also so very grateful to YOU, our spectacular supporters, for giving our children the opportunity to be taught by such dedicated and caring individuals!
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Our Board of Directors made the very exciting decision to start a 401k plan for our staff. Our goal at Critchlow Adkins is not just to Build Brighter Futures for our children and families, but also to help our incredible staff, whom we value so much, to build bright futures of their own!
We were extremely fortunate to enlist the help of Amanda David, the Financial Advisor for Edward Jones in Easton, who has been a vital part of rolling out our 401k to our employees.
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Amanda has begun to visit each of our five sites. She sits down with everyone as a group to explain the 401k ad how it works. She then meets with each teacher individually to discuss whether they would like to participate, how much they would like to contribute, and how they would like to invest their savings and the match from Critchlow Adkins.
For Amanda, working with us on this project is a full circle moment.
"When I was a newly single mom, going back to work for the first time in 11 years, I needed that childcare," She explained. "I needed to be able to work during the day, and to have a safe place for my kids to go in St. Michaels. Marlene, who is still there, was the one that took my kids in every morning. And then I got to see her as I picked my kids up in the afternoon. It was a positive experience for everyone when the kids went there. It was critical to have that. Otherwise I would not have been able to work without paying high babysitting fees."
This month we were also able to share another special moment with Amanda. She is one of the founders of Women Who Care Talbot County, and was present at this month's meeting when we were chosen to receive funding for our yoga program.
When asked how she reacted to the group's decision to fund Critchlow Adkins, she shared, "They are all valuable organizations that do valuable work in our community, and so you want to see all of them walk out with [funding]. But I was very happy to see Critchlow walk away with the award. I love their mission and that they are always looking for ways to enhance, not just life and benefits for their employees, but... Always for the kids. The yoga program is just fantastic. It's not like you just drop of your kids and they are just there in a room. There are programs that engage them, educate them, and set them up for success."
Thank you, Amanda, for helping us to set our children and our staff up for success! We are grateful that you are part of our Critchlow family!
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A January STEAM Project YOU Can Do At Home! | |
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Earlier this month, we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. During Dr. King's famous, "I Have A Dream" speech, he said, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
This month, we are sharing a simple STEAM activity that you can do with your child at home to illustrate the importance of treating people equally.
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Before diving into your experiment, take some time to learn about Dr. King and his important legacy. There are many online resources you can explore, including National Geographic Kids and Brittanica Kids.
There are also many children's books about Dr. King, including I am Martin Luther King, Jr., by Brad Meltzer. We've included a read along of that book here!
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Now that weβve learned lots of interesting information about Dr. King, letβs look at the science of equality! Today, we are going to begin a days-long experiment designed to find out what happens when you treat people kindly, and when you treat them poorly.
Get 2 small plants. Make sure they come with care instructions, so you know how to properly care for them. When you get home, follow the care instructions for one plant, while neglecting the other plant. Have your child write down what he/she thinks will happen to each plant. Observe the plant after 12 hours, 1 day, 2 days, etc. Write down what you see.
Now have your child imagine that these plants are people. What happens when you treat a person well and give them the proper care? What happens when you treat a person poorly and without care? You and your child can then have a conversation about the importance of treating everyone with care and kindness.
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As always, be as creative as you want, and have lots of fun learning together! Follow our Facebook and Instagram pages to see a new STEAM project every week on "STEAM Saturday!" | | |
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We hope you SNOW...
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You're so COOL, you MELT our hearts!!ο»Ώ
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Your generosity blankets our sites with support! Just like snowflakes (and YOU), each one of our Critchlow Adkins Kids is unique and special. Thanks to you, each one can have an equally unique experience At Critchlow Adkins that nurtures and encourages their interests, bolsters their self esteem, and prepares them for success in school and in life! Consider supporting our snowflakes 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 Wonderful Community and Business Partners! | |
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Grant Partners
Bryan Brothers Foundation
Christmas in St. Michaels
Dock Street Foundation
Fullwood Foundation
Maryland State Department of Education
Mid-Shore Community Foundation
Rural Maryland Council
Rotary Club of Easton
St. John Foundation
Talbot County Health Department
Talbot Optimists
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
Environmental Concern
Family Affair Farm
Girl Scouts of America
Healthy Talbot
Imagination Library of Talbot County
Judy Amdur Music
Judy Center Early Learning Hubs
Lion's Club
Maryland Zoo
Pickering Creek Audubon Center
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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
Trident Air Craft
University of Maryland Extension
US Armed Forces
4-H Club
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Critchlow Adkins is blessed to have incredible support from our local business community. It is our pleasure to introduce you to 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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Bartlett Tree Service
Benson and Mangold
Brambles Electric
Carpenter Street Saloon
Chesapeake Building Components
Coventry Motor Works
Freestyle Fabrication
George's Green Thumb
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Moore Funeral Home
Out of the Fire
RLE LLC
Roto Rooter
Talbot County Chamber of Commerce
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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