We are excited to announce that the picture that received the most votes in this contest comes from the CW Wesley Chapel. Congrats for winning the first place! The second place belongs to Thompson, the third place goes to Net Park and the honorable mention is for Fishhawk. Congratulations!

During “Making Friends” week, children will identify friendly words and friendly ways to get along with others as they read classic friendship stories. In “Communicating with Friends”, we will examine the different ways I which we communicate with our friends. The children will be writing special messages to special friends. We will also discuss writing, sending and receiving mail as an important way to keep in touch with friends. During “Different Kinds of Friends” week, we will broaden our focus and learn that people everywhere have friends! Finally, we will explore “Pretend Friends” and the world of make believe – the friendly way!

We are super excited to announce a new contest for the month of February. Does your child have a favorite friend? It could be a playmate, a teddy bear, a puppy, or even an imaginary friend. Take a cute picture of your child with their special friend, submit it on our Facebook website, and hope your photo would receive enough votes to win a $50 gift card to the Disney store!

We can’t wait to see all pictures and find out who is the winner!

January is all about outer space and we are so excited to announce our new contest for the “space”  month!      

All schools are encouraged to show their school spirit during the month of January. Each school should take plenty of fun, creative, “space-themed” pictures, then pick the best one and submit it on our Facebook page.

Once the pictures are submitted it’s up to our parents and friends to vote! Click on the “CONTEST” tab under the profile picture, follow the directions and vote for your favorite photo. The school with the picture that has the most votes on January 31, 2012 at 3 pm EST wins $200!

So don’t hold back and support your school!  We can’t wait to see which school is the winner!

Here is our progress so far:

The site has been graded, surveyed and marked with flags to note special features and the utility lines in the ground beneath. Once the existing lines were located, the utility companies came in with major equipment to place the system of pipes and conduit for our CW-Frisco Facility.

The land is raised 5 feet with more dirt                                     The pipes that will be laid by the utility companies.

While the utility companies continued to work on the working systems of the building, a crew was outside smoothing the grade of the parking lot and laying iron rods to help strengthen the concrete, once it was poured. It took three days, a cement mixer, and lots of supervision to pour the concrete for the fire lane and the parking lot!

The parking lot is prepped for cement                                       The crew levels the concrete after it is poured

The next step that was completed was the drilling of the piers. Each pier, of which there are 85+, is between 15-20 feet deep and 18” in diameter. These piers help the foundation stay level by resting on untouched earth 15 feet below the surface.

The piers are drilled with a large machine                                One-by-one the piers were drilled and filled

Progress was slowed a bit due to inclement weather and the ground holding too much moisture.  Once the ground was fit to continue, trenches were dug to allow the plumbing fixtures to be laid.  When all of the plumbing fixtures were correctly placed the areas were prepped for concrete by placing iron rod and spreading sand over the area.

Trenches dug                                                                                    Sand covers all the areas ready to be inspected

Once all of the sand was poured, the City Building Inspector will come to the site and look at all of the progress that has been made since his last visit. We are anxiously awaiting for the a confirmation to pour the foundation at the beginning of next week!

A student from Ms. Missy and Ms. Sarah’s Preschool class, Nicole, had to leave Creative World suddenly because her Dad received a job promotion which required them to move to another city. Nicole’s mother found herself in a situation where her daughter would stay home and she would have the opportunity to teach and prepare her daughter for kindergarten. Nicole’s mother contacted Ms. Missy to share the exciting, but daunting task ahead of her, as Creative World had given her such high expectations for early education.

Upon hearing her story, Ms. Missy and Ms. Sarah decided to create a “Care Package” for the little girl’s mother. They bought some educational supplies, provided music used during their Imagining Together: Circle Time, and included a “Letter Sounds Book” created by the teachers. They also wrote down ideas, suggestions, and everything the mother would need. They even included educational website resources to help Nicole with letter recognition.

I was so impressed with seeing this outpouring of compassion that I just had to share this story. I know in my heart that our teachers love each and every child as if they were their own, and this story truly demonstrates this. These two teachers did not have to do anything and they (on their own time) went out of their way to help this mother and daughter to make sure they had all the tools necessary to get Nicole ready for Kindergarten. 

We are so proud of the both of our teachers and very glad to have them on our team! Attached is a picture of Ms. Missy and Ms. Sarah and two of Nicole before she left us to move. Thank you for allowing us to share this story with you!”

We hope this story has inspired you this season as it encourages each and every one of us to look for opportunities to make someone feel special today!

This is our 3rd Annual Angel Tree gift donation program!  The day before Thanksgiving, we decorated our Angel Tree in the school Lobby.  We hold this program every year so that we can be active participants in our community and help give back to those that are less fortunate. We have had so many special moments this season, here is a highlight: one of our VPK students (4yr. old little girl) came in with a new bike one morning before class and told us, “We helped a little girl like me to have a great Christmas morning!”

We are very thankful to have such wonderful parents at our school.  They have contributed to a lot of happy Christmases and we just want to let them all now how special they all are to all of us here at the Creative World in Land O’ Lakes!

Included is a picture of our Angel Tree with all the gift donations around it.  This is the second time it has been this full.  We wanted to share this special time with everyone and let everyone know that when communities pull together anything is possible! Our parents and children will be smiling on Christmas morning!

Interview with new franchisee, Raj Sadcheva:

Tell us about yourself and your family. Where are you from? Do you have any children?

I was working in California when I met my wife Prachi who was teaching at a University in Florida. Both of us grew up in India and had come to the US for graduate school. We got married in 1991. We have two teenage daughters who currrently attend Plano schools.

What is your educational background?

I have a PhD in Engineering and an Executive MBA from SMU. My wife has a PhD in Probability / Statistics from University of Santa Barbara, CA. In India, I had done a BS in Petroleum Engineering and Prachi had finished an MS in Mathematics from IIT, Mumbai.

What is your business background?

I have been in management in the oil industry for over 15 years and have run many successful and profitable groups. My earlier engineering-related roles were in sales, consulting, simulation, etc. I decided to shift gears and do something on my own that would be more fulfilling, and thus the foray into childcare. My wife is a Senior Director in the analytics division of an insurance company and has over 10 years in various management roles supporting key business processes within the company.

What are your hobbies/interests?

Things I like include travel, investing, being a news junkie, tennis, learning golf, cooking, and watching Stars hockey. Prachi likes to read, travel, being challenged at work and stays heavily involved with the educational needs of our daughters.

What made you decide to become an owner of a Creative World School?

I was reaching a point where, like many others, I wanted to do something on my own but wanted it to be fulfilling and rewarding. The higher end childcare industry seemed to fit well as it provided a product needed by many parents who value more than basic babysitting. As the world becomes more competitive, the importance of good preschools with advanced and effective curricula will grow and this space will continue to be challenging and exciting.

We liked Creative World School in particular for many reasons. Key factors included CWS’s well-rounded child development philosophy that incorporated the latest in proven techniques, its ability to provide a tremendous value in form of accredited childcare, its size that was not too big but still had solid bench strength of talent and experience to help a new owner. Above all, we felt it had the most impressive product that provides an outstanding value to the parents.

What is your goal for the children who will attend your school?

The goal is to provide children with a solid foundation they can build their future upon. We will do this by providing a safe environment where various aspects of proven child development philosophies are incorporated into the daily routine in a fun, enjoyable manner.

Creative World is very excited to begin a new adventure in Texas with the Sachdeva Family and Frisco community!

Stay tuned for more updates on building construction and enrollment dates!

We had a “Walk for the Cure” event on October 20th and 21st, but the fundraising lasted all week.  We originally scheduled to walk our playgrounds, but due to rain on the 20th, each class walked the gym in circles, crazy eights and in snake patterns during their gym time.  On Friday, they walked outside and through the halls. We held this event to raise awareness and support for Breast Cancer Research and for marketing within our families.

Our families were VERY impressed with our effort, and they were VERY supportive to the cause! The front foyer and lobby area were decorated with pink and white streamers, and Breast Cancer ribbons.  Everyone wore pink shirts on Thursday and decorated their classroom doors in pink and white.  We had a “Pink Out”!!!  The classrooms were each given a roll of pink, and a roll of white streamers.  Each child was given one of each color to wave as they walked.  Our Giraffe class made GREAT hats to wear and everyone was given a special sticker.

The event was a huge success! We raised $1000.00!!!  $535 donated by CW Families, $125 donate by CW Staff and $340 donated by Bettie Hemmerlein.

We look forward to supporting this cause in the coming years!