Carla Goethe and Rhonda Eckhart are the co-owners and co-directors of the center, purchasing the center from Happy Joe's in June, 2001. 

Creative Beginnings employs 15 staff, full time and part time. 

Miss Carla   

Miss Carla is the Administrative Director and takes care of the day-to-day operations of the center.  Prior to the purchase of the center, Carla was the Director of the Happy Joe's Child Care Achievement Center, since August 1997. 

Carla graduated from Marycrest International University in 1994 with a BA in Elementary Education / Early Childhood.  Previous experience in childcare include working as an assistant in the Marycrest Childcare Center, the Lead Two Year Old  Teacher at Kiddie Karrasel in LeClaire and as Assistant Director and Lead Four Year Old Teacher at Positive Parenting at Trinity. 

Miss Rhonda

Miss Rhonda is the Director of Curriculum and Staff and oversees the programming of the preschool and staffing.  Prior to the purchase of the center, Rhonda was the Asst. Director of Happy Joe's Child Care Achievement Center, since August 1997.

Rhonda graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a BA in Elementary Education / Early Childhood in 1996.  She has had previous experience working in the Davenport School System and as a nanny. 

Our Infant Room, The Caterpillars, range in ages from 6 weeks to 18 months.  We are licensed for 8 children in this classroom.  The Caterpillar room focuses on the daily care and well-being of each child.  We offer an individualized curriculum that allows each child to develop at their pace.  We provide a safe and nurturing environment in which each child can thrive.

The Teddy Bears

The Teddy Bear Class is home to our Toddlers, ages 18 - 30 months.  The Teddy Bears also have 8 children, with two teachers.  The Teddy Bear Class offers many hands-on, age appropriate activities for the children as they begin to emerge as talkers.  We provide a language-rich classroom to provide many opportunities for language development.  We also work on sharing and playing with others, as well as introduce many fun and exciting new experiences, preparing them for preschool.

The Ladybugs

The Ladybug Class is our older two's and young three's class.  This class has 12 children, with two teachers.  At this age, we begin preschool and provide a variety of hands-on, age appropriate learning activities, using a theme approach.  We focus on cooperation and working together with our friends, while still allowing individualized and parallel play.  We also begin to work on self-help skills for independence and responsibility.

The Penguins

The Peguin Class is our older three's and young four's class.  This class has 8-10 children, with two teachers. The Penguin class also provides a variety of hands-on, age appropriate learning activities using a theme approach.   Our curriculum allows the children to become more involved and in-depth with the activities and experiences as they are ready to move on. 

Super Stars

The Super Star Class is for the older four's and fives, preparing to attend kindergarten the following fall.  The Super Star Class provides many pre-reading and pre-writing activities to prepare them for reading readiness at the elementary level.  We focus on working as a classroom community with age appropriate, hands-on learning activities to prepare them for the transition to kindergarten.

After School / Summer Camp

The After School program is for the children in kindergarten through fifth grade. This program provides fun and stimulating activities for the school age children in a safe and nurturing environment.  We provide times for homework, as well as games, cooking and crafts.

Summer Camp is our summer program for the school agers.  We provide daily field trips for the children, including tours of local businesses, swimming, hiking, park outings, bowling, ice and roller skating, cook-out and among many other fun trips, games and crafts.