Creative Learning Center

Creative Learning Center’s philosophy is founded on Conscious Discipline, which is a way of organizing schools and classrooms around the concept of a School Family. Each member of the family, both adult and child, learns the skills needed to successfully manage life tasks such as learning, forming relationships, communicating effectively, being sensitive to others needs and getting along with others.

Our mission is to continually strive to meet the needs of each child and family. Specifically, we strive to:

1) create a safe, nurturing learning environment which encourages social, emotional, intellectual and physical growth of each child;
2) accept, celebrate and support each child’s unique personality, culture, learning style and developmental rate;
3) work together with parents to achieve the best for each child and encourage parents to become partners in their child’s development by participating in the classroom and by increasing their knowledge and awareness of child development through reading, observation and sharing ideas to meet parenting challenges;
4) provide a stimulating play environment, using developmentally appropriate practice and an emergent curriculum with a focus on verbal/cognitive development to teach children to think independently and creatively;
5) create a supportive emotional climate to help children develop a positive self-image, to learn and practice conflict resolution techniques, to respect themselves and others and to behave in a socially acceptable manner;
6) act continually as an advocate for each child in the program and for children in general; and
7) provide a program which embodies the highest industry standards through careful use of resources, by recruiting, developing and retaining high quality teachers and by encouraging open communication and a free exchange of ideas.

Accomplishing Our Mission

Conscious Discipline empowers teachers and other adults with the Seven Powers for Self Control. These powers change the adults perception and relationship with conflict, empowering them to be proactive instead of reactive during conflict times. These core beliefs strengthen our utilization of the frontal lobes of the brain. The frontal lobes are to the brain as a conductor is to an orchestra. The frontal lobes are our moral leader.

From the beliefs instilled with the Seven Powers for Self Control emerge the Seven Basic Skills of Discipline. These skills change how adults respond to conflict in such a way as to facilitate the development of the frontal lobes in children. The Seven Skills are the only skills an adult needs to constructively transform conflict into teaching moments. Through the Powers and Skills, adults stay in control of themselves and in charge of children.

As adults begin to change their attitudes and behaviors, so will the children in their care. We cannot teach behaviors and skills that we do not possess ourselves. Dr. Becky Bailey, the author of Conscious Discipline, originally designed the program for classrooms, but the Brain Smart strategies imparted by the Seven Powers for Self Control and the Seven Basic Skills of Discipline are seamlessly applied to all human interactions. She has since developed Conscious Discipline for parents and Brain Smart strategies for businesses.

CLC’s program is designed to provide for the total growth of a child in an environment in which children are encouraged to explore, pretend, create, express feelings and thoughts, develop life skills and experience joy. As we bridge the gap between home and school, we guide children toward a good self-image while helping them to develop their skills.

Our teachers strive to provide experiences that are relevant to each child’s age and their emotional, social and intellectual needs. Children are provided with activities and learning tasks that support the learning process by “hands-on” experiences. Ongoing brain research validates our belief that learning by doing results in short-term AND long-term benefits.

Thought comes from action, not from words. So, our teachers provide necessary guidance, assistance and materials to promote opportunities for each child to learn through meaningful exploration, active involvement and reinforcement through repetition.

Children learn best from concrete experience, from “doing”, rather than from “hearing about”. Play (learning) is planned which emphasizes the process more than the product, fostering a sense of accomplishment and pride in children.

Teachers use the Seven Powers and Skills of Conscious Discipline in order to provide an optimal learning environment. Teachers listen to what children are saying and respond appropriately. We emphasize a verbal-cognitive approach to learning, in which teachers model and support constant language interaction between adult and child and between child and child. Experience and research confirm that the use of language is instrumental in children’s development of critical thinking (how to think) and problem-solving skills.

Language use must be practiced many times in order for a child to become skillful. CLC’s learning setting provides ongoing opportunities for your child to practice, practice, practice. We repeat their thoughts, correcting the grammar and adding vocabulary. We ask questions to encourage the child to express his/her thoughts. We give your child time to answer.

We encourage and guide children in resolving conflict and in thinking through a problem and offering solutions. Problem-solving involves the development of concentration, systematic trial-and-error, planning a sequence of events toward a solution and noticing, evaluating and correcting errors in the plan. This is challenging work for your child!

We do all this to develop each child’s ability to know how to think through a problem. Not only is this a critical life skill for social purposes, it is also a necessary skill for math work in later school years. And with our world’s growing reliance on technology, the ability to develop creative solutions is becoming even more valuable.

Problem-solving builds self-esteem and self-confidence in children as they realize they can figure out a problem independently. Also, it helps children control their emotions, as we validate their ideas and needs in arriving at a solution.

We believe children have the right to experience trust, without which learning is difficult. Children have the right to experience being in control, to have friends, to feel safe and secure, to be able to change things, to feel welcomed and loved and to have fun.

Recognizing that children grow in predictable stages but that each child’s rate differs slightly, we treat each child as an individual, working from the level that child has attained and challenging them to move forward one step at a time. Relating in this way to children can be time-consuming or inconvenient but we believe it to be a necessity for them.

The foundation of our behavior management plan is the Conscious Discipline program.