40+ Years Helping Children Bloom
Our Directors
Bonnie Brief Pauska
A graduate with distinction from Cornell University’s highly acclaimed Child Development program, Bonnie is fully certified in Early Childhood Education and has invested over 35 years in public and private educational systems. At the renowned Bank Street College of Education in New York City, Bonnie received a Masters of Education in Leadership in 2012. As part of her studies at Bank Street College of Education, she developed an exciting intergenerational arts program. Her published thesis, “One Heart To Another: Building Intergenerational Relationships Between Early Childhood Students and Seniors,” is an ongoing action research study that has proven to promote greater empathy, understanding and acceptance of the elderly by young students. She has presented her research at two national and international conferences, inspiring other educators to develop similar community service projects. Her work with the children and seniors was filmed by Styrk.com and she was named as “Community Hero.”
Presently, Miss Bonnie is serving as a professional development facilitator for NYC’s Universal Pre-K program, a cutting edge initiative developed in coordination with the NYC Division of Education and Bank Street College of Education. She loves helping teachers learn best practices for educating preschoolers, including understanding how to create a high quality classroom environment that engages and supports children’s learning. She has also taught hundreds of educators how to develop a culturally-responsive curriculum.
She has been attending the “Learning and The Brain” program sponsored by Harvard University and M.I.T. for nine years and has presided at several of the conferences. She is the recipient of two educational grants and has authored “Creative Cooking for Kids.”
With her strong academic background, on-going participation in continuing education and direct classroom experience, Bonnie brings an incredibly researched and diverse set of knowledge and skills to Creative Learning Center. In her desire to develop one of the most progressive learning environments in the area, Bonnie has created an ideal learning environment for over 100 lucky students each year. Others may think it’s magic, but she’s perfected the formula.
Danielle Pauska Brenner
As one of the original students at Creative Learning Center, attending from 1987 to 1992, Miss Danielle has been involved in the school’s program and philosophy for over 30 years. As a high school student, she taught as an afternoon and prime-time teacher in the school and soon realized that teaching was an early passion.
Miss Danielle attended Indiana University’s School of Education, which boasts some of the country's leading scholars and educational leaders among its faculty and alumni, including former US Secretary of Education Rod Paige. The school has been accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) since the foundation of NCATE in 1954. US News & World Report has consistently placed the School among the top 10 schools of early education in the United States since the rankings began in 1987 and now stands as #7 in the country.
During her time at Indiana University, Miss Danielle studied with some of the leading progressive educators from Columbia University and Bank Street College. Beginning her career in New York City, she became the head teacher at Washington Market School in Tribeca and also served as the Acting Director for the entire Summer Program Portfolio.
She continued her advanced learning path and obtained an advanced certification from the Center for Montessori Teacher Education and was privileged to study with Lella Gandini at the Reggio Emilio Schools in Italy. Missing home, Danielle moved back to New Jersey where she lives with her husband and two kids, both of whom are attending CLC’s preschool and primary program.
In her 8th year teaching at Creative Learning Center now, Miss Danielle brings a breadth of experience and knowledge to the program from her studies abroad and domestically. In her free time she enjoys yoga, exercising, traveling, and reading.
The teaching staff at creative learning center are an exceptional group of professional educators with diverse backgrounds. Many of our teachers have Master’s degrees in Early Childhood Education. The staff works closely with Miss Bonnie and Miss Danielle to develop our child-centered curriculum. The teachers are trained to be keen observers who are able to determine where children are in a learning process and plan curriculum that encourages the child’s emerging abilities.
Every teacher on our staff is trained and certified in CPR and First Aid.