Play time is crucial for children

Happy Valley School Grand Opening!

Happy Valley School Ribbon Cutting!

Brand New Happy Valley School! Please join us for our Ribbon Cutting with the Happy Valley Mayor, Crafts, Face painting, Refreshments and Fun! Creative MInds Learning Center schools are excited to have our Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting on January 4th from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. The Happy Valley Mayor will be out to help us celebrate our Grand Opening of our beautiful, new school located at 12771 SE Sunnyside Road, Clackamas, OR 97015. We will also be raffling off amazing prizes from members of our community and doing crafts, sponsored by The Lakeshore, Face painting, refreshments and family fun! We will also be having Open Houses on Saturdays, 12/29 and 1/5 from 9:00 am- 4:00 pm so you can bring the whole family out to see what makes Creative Minds Learning Centers the best schools in Oregon!  We are also offering fantastic Grand Opening specials, so please call Megan, our Happy Valley School Director at (503) 855-4512 to answer any questions you may have and schedule tours. Brittany will also be answering questions at her direct line (503) 780-8960. Don't forget to refer a friend and earn $50 off tuition for you and your friend! Space is limited for Infants - Kindergarten. Creative Minds Learning Centers are family and locally owned since 1997. Our schools have been awarded Oregon Program of Quality School, #1 Child Care by Red Tricycle, Model Program with Metro for Non Toxic Child Care Practices and are State and Love and Logic certified. To learn more about our exceptional schools, please visit our website: Creative Minds Website Some of our CMLC team! One of the murals by artist, Stephen Williams featured in our Birch classroom.

Creative Minds and the Sunshine Division to help families and children in need!

Creative Minds Learning Center schools is honored and excited to support and be a part of the Sunshine Division's Food and Clothing drive again this year! Our Fundraiser is already going on at each CMLC campus and continues through December 21st. There are bins located at the entrance of the schools for families and staff that wish to donate gently used clothing and non-perishable food items. Please see your school's Director for more information and details. Thank you for all of your support! CMLC looks forward to helping such an amazing cause and those in need!
To learn more about the Sunshine Division and how this helps so many local families, please visit their website: Programs | Sunshine DivisionSunshine Division

Learning About Tools in Alder

This month's art theme is "Building" and we were fortunate enough to have one of our classroom parents who is a "professional builder" come in for a special activity! LJ is a parent in our Alder Pre-K class and also a professional contractor! He was kind enough to take the time to come by our school and show us the tools he uses every day. 

Our special guest, LJ handed out sheets of sanding paper that we could each use to sand our individual pieces of wood, then he showed us how to screw a hook to the bottom to make a coat hook! Later we will paint these in class. 

LJ showed us the tools he uses every day for his job, like a hammer, a screwdriver, a tape measure, pliers, a wrench, and a leveler. He also showed us how to use them!

Then we each got a turn to practice in small groups with our teachers.

We practiced using screwdrivers and pliers to fasten screws to a board. We learned about what hammers are used for, and how to use a leveler to make sure something is straight before you use nails or screws to hold it in place.

LJ taught us a lot about the tools he uses to build, let us practice using some of these tools safely, and even gave us each a miniature tape measure to take home! Thank you for the visit, LJ! We had so much fun learning about tools and building, and we can't wait to hang up our hooks at home!

Love and Logic

Love and Logic Sellwood Teacher Survey

How have you implemented Love and Logic in your classroom?

“I’ve begun presenting options BEFORE a melt down, rather than during or after.”

“I use key phrases like ‘Bummer’ or ‘Uh-oh’.”

“I express more sympathy when talking about choices with the children.”

“When a friend is making a sad choice I say, ‘How sad’ as a cue to take time to rethink the choice.”

“I’ve been more likely to give directions once and let only kids who are displeased with them pout, whereas in the past I may have possibly devolved into arguments with the kids.”

“I sing the Uh-Oh song before having think time”.

“Positive reinforcement and ‘I know...’ phrases.”

Give one example of how you used Love and Logic in your classroom, what was the result?

“‘Oh no....sad choice, someone needs some think time.’ On the first day, I used this phrase while walking a child over to the think chair after a sad choice. After one or two times, the children knew that if I said, ‘Oh no,’ they needed to stop what they were doing.”

“I give choices! For example, at lunch when passing out food, I offer ‘Would you like the beans on the side or on top?’”.

“I’ve been able to express more compassion/sadness along with the child as a result of his/her loss of privilege  which seems to effectively shift their frustration from me or the consequence to the choice that they made.”

“We say, Uh-Oh, when we see a child engaging in an unsafe choice such as standing in a chair, pulling a friends hair, or not sharing. The Uh-Oh is often followed by some time to calm and think on their own. After hearing Uh-Oh several times, the children begin to catch on and stop the unsafe action immediately upon hearing the words.”

“When a friend is upset and the feelings are escalating I say, ‘I only talk to friends who talk calmly’”.

“A child was having a hard time lining up at the park. I said, ‘Oh how sad’ and spoke with the child about the importance of lining up with their classmates and discussed their consequence for not doing so. After some time, the child lined up with the class. The following day, the child was not able to be the line leader, their classroom job for the day. While the child was sad to have lost this privilege, they made a stronger effort the next week at the park to line up with their friends when asked for the first time.” 

How can parents carry over your Love and Logic classroom techniques at home?

“Talk with your child’s teacher to ensure that there is consistency with the Love and Logic techniques at school and home. Use empathetic statements and continue to have children follow the rules that are set for both locations.” 

“By using similar word cues like, ‘How sad’ and ‘I know a friend...’”.

“The best way to reinforce Love and Logic based teachings is by following through with consistent rewards and consequences, and reminding children of lessons they learned through these rewards and  consequences while at home.”

“Use key phrases (consistent with the Teachers), give empathy, and be firm on choices.”

“Try using the Uh-Oh strategy at home. You will be amazed how the children respond!”

A warm letter from Mufindi...

We received this letter from Jenny at The Mufindi Highlands Orphans Project and wanted to share:

"...On the work front, loads has happened- seminars, basket day, adult
English class is in full swing, and we just got back from a 'field
trip' with our older kids to go look at some volcational schools.
They are all now inspired to be electricians and plumbers and
seamstresses and radio DJ's:)

I will work on a wish list to send to you- but things off the top of
my head already are cloth diapers with plastic covers, shoes (crocs
are best for the weather here), rain gear, and backpacks, and any kids clothes (all sizes), as we are always desperate for those things.

The educational complex you saw is going along well- we are just
making a blackboard and bookshelves, and have received tons of great
beginner reader books for the school and my adult English class, and
then, hopefully, by the end of August, we will open to the public!!!
We have decided that the middle level will be a playground only, so
the kids won't have to look out the windows at a roof of any kind, and
the bottom level will be dedicated to the nursery school only.  That
way, its all education.  The kindergarten room will have a small
divider, and half of the room will be for the kindergarden and the
other half will be our community library/computer room, open in the
evenings and on the weekends to the public, but will also host study
hall for our kids M-F evenings.....The health clinic will be moved up
the road a bit, so that way if a kid is needing a shot or anything,
the other kids won't hear the cries, and the patients will have a bit
more privacy.  We are just now working on building our fence
surrounding the area, and then we will paint it....everything is
falling into place..... 

With the opening of the social center/kindegarten/computer
room....access to internet will be better, and if we teach our kids
how to email, we could start of a letter in form of email exchange, or
do a collabrotive project with our two classes.....so many ideas!

As soon as I get some time, I will put some photos together and send
them your way!  I would LOVE for your kiddos to see my kiddos:)"

Response to CMLC donations:

"Oh my gosh!  That is amazing!!!!  These donations will help start up
the preschool block completely!!!!  We have just finished the
kindegarten/library building...plans have sort of changed (but
completely for the better..) The top level will be 1/2 kindergarten,
1/2 library/study hall/computer lab.  They built a nice little fence
blocking it from level two, but opening up into a HUGE open field,
where we will have a learning garden, sandbox, and outdoor craft
space.  The middle area will be left open- we are going to make that
into the area to have the playground equipment, litke swings and
teeter totters etc, and the bottome level will be the classrooms for
the babies-3/4 year olds.  How did your school divide up the
classrooms again?  Do you guys do 8 months-16 months? then 17-2.5,
then 2.5-4?  We are trying to think of the best way/most feasable way
to seperate the kiddos....advise?  Then, we are building Dr Leena's
health clinic BEHIND the top level, on the other side of the road,so
that her clients will have a bit more privacy...nobody at school wants
to hear their friends getting shots or crying, right?  and directly
behind the kindegarten, we will be building our admin. block, to use
as a reception for both the school and the workers/cases for the
orphanage.  I'll send you some pictures very soon!"

Thanks again to all of our families who helped contribute to this wonderful program for children! To learn more about Mufindi, please visit their website:  Mufindi Highlands Orphanage Project