By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The new nursery school slated to open in Caribou will provide a structured setting that’s beneficial to the development of young minds surrounded by the playful and nurturing atmosphere of daycare.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Creative Minds founder Theresa Dube goes over one of her lesson plans with her daughter, Meagan Dube.
Founded by educator and longtime daycare owner Theresa Dube, Creative Minds Daycare and Nursery School will be accepting students as young as 2 years old. While the daycare will be held from 6:30 a.m. until 5 p.m., nursery school hours are between 8:30-11 a.m.
Like many educators of adolescent minds, Dube strongly believes that playtime is crucial to the development of youngsters.
“I believe that children learn through play, so we will have some very structured times and other times will be less structured,” she explained, but even the very structured times are still educationally enlightening and enjoyable for the students. They consist of things like circle time (sitting in a circle), reading books, singing songs and playing games together as a class.
Through structured play, students are honing their planning, recalling and focusing skills.
Dube explained that, for example, a student will ‘plan’ to play with a certain toy in a certain area of the school.
“When they want to switch areas, they will clean up and change their plan,” Dube described. “After free time they will sit in a circle and recall what areas they played in, who they played with and what activities they did.”
Theme days are also popular amongst youngsters, and parents will be asked to help their children wear a certain color or bring in a certain color toy to go along with the curriculum.
Dube says benefits of attending nursery school can be seen when a child enters pre-K or kindergarten.
“They’ll be able to sit in a circle, stand in a line and follow the rules,” she explained, adding that the youngsters aren’t going to be expected to learning geography or physics, “but they will be learning simple things like manners and how to follow the rules.”
The rules of Creative Minds are standard etiquette for children (and adults, too): no name calling; no hitting, biting or fighting; no lying; no toys at the table during mealtimes; no bottles or pacifiers and children are to be respectful of adults and other youths.
As nursery school will be held from 8:30 until 11 a.m., the daycare also features a schedule — set times for lunch, snack, and naps/rest time with play time in-between.
“Routine is key for kids; it helps them adjust and they can thrive on that,” she explained.
The attentive care provided at Creative Minds, allows Dube the option of taking students as young as 2 years old; while toddlers can still be in diapers, Dube specifies that they cannot still be using pacifiers or a bottle.
When it’s time for students to begin pre-K or kindergarten at their local school, they’re still welcome to attend daycare at Creative Minds — which is why Dube is known as “The Dube Bus” to faculty and staff of Teague Park and Hilltop Elementary School.
She elects to pick the students up from their schools because otherwise the bus ride can be over an hour long, and a trip that long isn’t something she’s interested in putting the children of Creative Minds through.
While Dube’s been running the daycare since 1993, opening a nursery school in conjunction with the daycare seemed to be the logical progression. With a BA in elementary education from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, she’s worked with youths at the UMPI Daycare, the Cary Daycare, and Horizon’s Day Care in Houlton, which was a special needs daycare center.
“I’m very excited to teach and to have a little group of students who want to learn,” she said, smiling brightly.
For additional information about Creative Minds Daycare and Nursery School, call 498-2767 or 540-3935.
