Our Philosophy

Our qualified staff is dedicated to providing academic and emotional support to children of all abilities, ethnicities, religoius backgrounds, and family structures. Beginning at birth, children have tha capacity to engage in, and respond to, "special moments" with supportive and nurthuring caregiver.  Our goal is to provide all age groups with various learning opportunities that will benefit the child, family, and community.

History

Creative Learning Preschool and Childcare Center  was originally called Tiny Tots, and was formed in 1969.  It was a program run by the YWCA of the Hartford Region, Inc. through their West Hartford office at the Young Center.  It was basically an Arts and Craft program with mothers joining for exercises.  The next year it went from two to three days a week.  Mothers started to help and exercises were dropped.  Each year the program grew and developed under the guidance of Barbara Swanson.  In 1975, the school became licensed by the State of Connecticut and the same of the name of the school became the YWCA Creative Learning Preschool.  Barbara became Director/Teacher and was on the professional staff of the YWCA.  With the closing of the YWCA Branch in Simsbury, Barbara ran the preschool independently.  In January of 1979, the preschool was relicensed and renamed Creative Learning Preschool of Granby, Inc.  The preschool relocated to the South Congregational Church in the Parish House.  In 1994, Creative Learning Preschool was accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs.  In 2003, Creative Learning Preschool moved to our current location and purchased Church Corner.  With the additional space Creative Learning Preschool became Creative Learning Preschool and Childcare Center. 

June 8th, 2007, Barbara Swanson retired and her son Jeff Swanson became the new owner.  We are very excited to continue our long history of offering a second home to the children of Granby and its surrounding towns for many years to come.  

Who We Are

Jeff Swanson, Owner, Jeff is a Granby Bear at heart, growing up in Granby and enjoying his childhood while watching and many times helping his mother take care of the children of Granby and the surrounding towns with their needs for care and education.  Jeff spent many summers working at the Granby Parks and Recreation Department as a Sports Camp Counselor, Lifeguard and Director.   It was because of this passion for children and people that he decided to go to Springfield College to study Health & Fitness and continue to help others.  Today, besides owner CLP, Jeff is the Regional General Manager of the Taking Care Center in Hartford, Ct., overseeing their corporate fitness center.  In addition to the Taking Care Center, Jeff oversees the Kraft Foods Extension Fitness Centers in NJ & NY.  His facilities have been awarded many top honors as the best in the business of wellness.   Jeff’s newest offering is Wellness Coaching for people looking to create a healthier lifestyle and would welcome anyone to contact him for your wellness needs.

During the evenings, Jeff can be found attending his daughter’s Swim Meets (Meaghan is a freshman at WNEC) or his son’s Hockey Games or Baseball Games (Zachary is a junior in High School).  Jeff is on the Recreational Needs Committee in his home town of Southampton, MA and hopes to offer to his new community the same services that everyone in Granby has grown accustom too.  Jeff is the President of Baseball in Southampton and has continued his passion for the game as a Coach.   

As the Owner of Creative Learning Preschool and Child Care Center it is his goal to continue the family tradition of offering the families of Granby and the surrounding towns a comfortable, safe learning environment that you would consider a second home for your child.  We take great pride in creating a family environment while maintaining a high standard of creative learning for your child.  If you have any questions or comments, Jeff can be reached at jeffrey.swanson@creativelearninginc.com. 

Celeste Hassell, Director and Preschool Teacher,  Celeste has been a resident of Granby for the past five years. She is a graduate of Saint Joseph College in West Hartford where she completed her degree in Child Study (Early Childhood Education). She is a certified teacher. Before coming to Creative Learning, Celeste worked at Trinity College Community Child Center in Hartford for two years as a Preschool Teacher.  She left to pursue employment in the Healthcare field.  She worked at McLean Home and St. Francis Hospital as a certified Nursing Assistant.   During this time, she realized that children were her first love and returned to teaching.  She is also volunteer Emergency Medical Technician in the town of Granby.

Graceann Iovino, Kindergarden Teacher, Graceann has been a resident of Simsbury,CT for 15 years.  She has been married for 22 years and has three children ages 18, 15 and 11.  She has an A.A.S. Degree in Business Office from Nassau Community College, Long Island, NY.  She was a stay home mom for 14 years.  Her two younger children attended Creative Learning Preschool, where she met Barbara Swanson.  She has known Barbara for 12 years and has worked for her for six years.  She started as a Lunch Bunch Supervisor.  She then moved up to teach a two year old program.  After a successful year of teaching the 2's, Barbara asker her to teach the 3's, with another teacher.  Graceann has attended a Preschool Literacy Strategies workshop and the Granby School Readiness Council workshop.  Graceann now teaches ages 3's and 4's along with Celeste Hassell.

Cathy, Infant Room, Ms. Cathy has had many years of experience with children and in the Art field.  Cathy worked for seven years for the Farmington Valley Art Center in Avon, Ct as an artists assistant.  She also ran her own homebased art business where she painted children's clothing and copied designs onto needlepoint canvases for several businesses.

Ms. Cathy spent more than five years working for the VNA as a school health aide.  This job allowed her to care for the children in all of the Granby School nurses offices.  After working for the VNA Ms. Cathy decided to turn her love for children into a career in daycare.  She began working at Meadowbrook Early Learning Center of Granby.  This was an employee daycare situated in a nursing home.  Cathy worked there for five yearsin the infant/toddler room.  She also began at the same time in 1999 work part time for Creative Learning Child Care Center when Meadowbrook Daycare closed.  She began working full time at Creative Learning as an infant teacher.  Ms. Cathy has been married for many years to her high school sweatheart and has raised a son and a daughter.

Erika Levesque, Infant Teacher, has been a resident of North Granby for 4+ years.  She has a beautiful baby girl who attends Creative Learning Preschool.  Erika has worked in the daycare field for four years, first with Kindercare of Newington, and presently with Creative Learning Preschool.  For two sumers during high school Erika was a camp counselor with Salmon Brook Park of Granby, were she worked with kindergarten through 3rd grade.  For 8 years Erika and her family have been foster parents and are licensed with the State Of Connecticut.  She loves her 9 year old foster sister.  Erika also has a love for history, photography, and poertry.  Her first published poetry work was in print in 2005 as a junior in high school.  Erika plans on continuing her education in the teaching field.  She is attending Capital Community College in the fall, for early childhood.

Jill Tomasetti, Toddler Teaeher, recently graduated from Bennington Collebe, VT, with her Bachelor of Arts in Literature, where she also completed her senior thesis - a children's book called, "The Bicyclists".  Jill came to Creative Learning is Spring 2008 to further explore her love of children, children's literature, and the early stages of language acquisition, which began with an internship as an assistant creative writing teacher and editor of children's writing at a community literature center in Rochester, NY.  She currently lives with her family in North Granby, and plans to attend graduate school, pursuing a career in teaching and the arts, and write children's books and poetry.

Siobhan Connelly, Toddler Teacher, is currently a resident of Granby.  She attends Goodwin College for early education and previously attended Bridgewater State College.  Before coming to Creative Learning, she worked for Target for four years.  She spent four summers working for East Granby Park and Rec. Day Camp as a Camp Counselor, as well as worked for a Preschool while attending college while at Bridgewater.  Siobhan is now focusing on getting her degree in becoming a School Teacher. 

Doris Roulx, SubstitueTeacher, Doris was a former resident of Middletown, CT for 34 years, she and her husband recently relocated to Granby.  Doris holds a B.Ed. from Keene State College and taught both Special Education and FIrst Grades for five years in Greenfield, MA.  Moving to Middletown with her family, she became a stay at home mom raising two sons and a daughter.  As the children left for college, she became payroll and accounting director at Cromwell and Avon's Courthouse One tennis clubs, she served in this position for several years before the corporation ceased operations, she then moved to become payroll Director at Middlesex Health Care Center in Middletown.  Upon official retirementfrom the health care center, she became a child care staff member at the Before and After School Recreation Enrichment Program in Durham, CT.  The three years at BSREP were devoted to caring for children ages 5-12.  A teacher at heart she now has joined the Creating Learning staff.