Little gem learning center: Home | Little GEM Learning Center

Опубликовано: June 30, 2023 в 8:59 pm

Автор: alexxlab

Категории: Miscellaneous

The Ground Floor: Daycare grows in historic Cedar Rapids building

A new Cedar Rapids business is making good use of an historic space.

Little GEM Learning Center opened last fall in the old Iowa Highway Commission building on 16th Avenue SW. The building, which previously housed the Iowa Department of Transportation’s District 6 offices, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Owner Katie Meisterling feels fortunate to have her business be part of the building’s history.

Meisterling, who has a degree in elementary education and is completing a master’s degree, had worked in retail management for the first seven years after her graduation from Coe College. About three years ago, she decided to take the initial steps toward her long-term career goal of running a child care center.

‘I finally said to my husband that I don’t want to do retail anymore,’ she said. ‘We purchased a second home that I could devote to an in-home day care center to avoid the wear and tear on our home. ‘

A year and a half later, developer Steve Emerson, a family friend, approached Meisterling to see if she would be interested in opening a child care center in the old District 6 building, which he was planning to purchase.

‘He had a vision about how the building could be repurposed,’ Meisterling said. ‘It was scary for me because I had to make a lot of decisions quickly. But you don’t say no to an opportunity that’s your lifelong goal.’

So she agreed.

That was January 2016. The next several months brought many more decisions for Meisterling as she worked with contractors on the build-out. She had to design a child care facility that met Department of Human Services licensing requirements while maintaining the historical integrity of the building.

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‘I had to make decisions on things I hadn’t really considered before, like toilet and sink height,’ she said.

While the building’s historic designation precluded structural changes, Meisterling found the building well suited to its new purpose. The 12 former offices became nine classrooms, a gross-motor skills room, a kitchen and a staff lounge. The configuration allows Meisterling to place younger children who are not yet of preschool age into rooms based on six-month age groups, beginning with zero to six months.

‘It’s pretty unique to divide that specifically, but it happened naturally because the architecture also is pretty unique,’ she said.

She said she also appreciates the building’s original features such as tile floors and iron railings because they give the building ‘the look of an old school.’

The building grounds include ample parking for staff and parents, and a large, shaded area for a playground.

Little GEM — GEM stands for growing, enriching and mentoring — opened on Sept. 12 with three classrooms while carpenters completed work on the other rooms. Less than a year letter, the center has grown into all nine classrooms with a staff of 22.

[naviga:h4]AT A GLANCE

Owner: Katie Meisterling

Business: Little GEM Learning Center

Address: 430 16th Avenue SW, Cedar Rapids

Telephone: (319) 795-1700

Facebook: www.facebook.com/littleGEMlc

Know a business in operation for less than a year that would make a good ‘Ground Floor’? Contact [email protected]

Katie Meisterling reads to three-year-old JoJo Jakobsen at Little GEM Daycare in Cedar Rapids on Friday , August 11, 2017. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

Katie Meisterling is the owner of Little GEM Daycare in Cedar Rapids on Friday , August 11, 2017. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

Little GEM Learning Center | Cedar Rapids IA Licensed Center

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About the Provider

Little Sunshine’s Playhouse And Preschool – Colorado Springs CO Child Care Center

Description: Little GEM Learning Center is a Licensed Center in Cedar Rapids IA, with a maximum capacity of 100 children. The provider also participates in a subsidized child care program.

Additional Information: QRS RATING: 2 Stars.

Program and Licensing Details

License Number:
47824
Capacity:
100
Rate Range
Infant (up to 24 months) Half-Day/19.50| Infant (up to 24 months) Half-Day/19.50| Infant (up to 36 months) Half-Day/19.50| Infant (up to 36 months) Half-Day/19.50| Preschool (24 to Kindergarten) Half-Day/19.50| Preschool (24 to Kindergarten) Half-Day/19.50| Preschool (36 to Kindergarten) Half-Day/19.50| Preschool (36 to Kindergarten) Half-Day/19.50
Quality Rating System (QSR) Level:
2
Enrolled in Subsidized Child Care Program:
Yes
Current License Issue Date:
Feb 01, 2019
District Office:
Iowa Department of Human Services – Child Care Assistance Unit
District Office Phone:
1-866-448-4605 (Note: This is not the facility phone number.)

Location Map

Inspection/Report History

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but is not guaranteed. We encourage families to contact the daycare provider directly with any questions or concerns,
as the provider may have already addressed some or all issues. Reports can also be verified with your local daycare licensing office.

Report Date	Report Type

2020-01-27	Compliance Report

2019-01-15	Compliance Report

2018-01-08	Compliance Report

2017-06-02	Compliance Report

If you are a provider and you believe any information is incorrect, please contact us. We will research your concern and make corrections accordingly.

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Faith pearls as a gospel for the hand

What are “faith pearls”? We asked Dr. Kirsten Faupel-Drevs to tell us a little more about them.

Dr. Kirsten Faupel-Drevs

Pastor of the Northern Church Evangelical Lutheran congregation Schiffbeck-Oijendorf

Specialist in spirituality in the Pearls of the Faith movement, professionally engaged in spiritual guidance of believers, spiritual exercises and therapy through painting, writer and freelance artist .

Faith Pearls is a bracelet designed for prayer. This bracelet was invented in Sweden by the Swedish Bishop Martin Lönnebo. However, I personally saw this bracelet in Finland. This was in 2002, and after that she brought it with her to northern Germany.

In 2003 we presented “Pearls of Faith” as a large project at the ecumenical Kirchentag in Berlin.

In Scandinavia these rosaries are called a little differently. Swedish for lifeline. However, in German, “lifeline” does not sound very nice, which is why we proposed a different name – “pearls of faith” or “pearls of life.”

Initially, this is the question that each of us asks: what can I hold on to in life and death? This was the question Bishop Martin Lönnbo asked himself. When he retired, he asked himself what book I could write for young people to get young people interested in the Church. At one time, Martin Luther tried, with the help of a small Catechism, to attract people not only to faith, but also to the ability to read, write, and in general to education. Lönnebo was looking for a way in which, in modern life, in modern times, he could convey the main content of the Christian faith to young people. He thought about it in Greece. He endlessly asked himself: “By what means can I communicate the faith to other people?” It was in Greece that he saw fishermen playing with Greek rosaries. Then he realized that in all religions people pray with the help of a rosary.

Indeed, in almost every religion we find such a rosary. They are in the Orthodox tradition, and in the tradition of Islam, and in Buddhism there are such rosaries.

Lönnobo asked what a rosary would look like that could correspond to our faith. Then he came up with a rosary of 18 pearls.

Each of the 18 pearls has its own name and its own meaning. The 12 pearls are dedicated to specific topics and follow the life of Jesus in their content. Between them are 6 pearls of silence, they remind us of unceasing prayer. I will list the names and order of the pearls. The golden, main pearl is the pearl of God. She is the largest and holds all the beads. God is the beginning, end and center of life.

To the right and left of the pearl of God are two pearls of silence. After the first pearl of silence, comes a small mother-of-pearl, which is called the pearl of I.

Then follows a large white pearl – the pearl of Baptism, followed by the pearl of silence again and the pearl of the Desert – it reminds us of difficult times in our lives, Jesus was 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. Only after that did he go to the people to teach, heal and preach about the approach of the Kingdom of God.

The next Pearl of Silence is followed by the Pearl of Tranquility. Then again a pearl of silence and two red pearls of love. One is love for God, the other is love for the neighbor. But you can say otherwise – one pearl is for me, the other is for you, this is when two people love.

Then there are three small pearls, which in their shape look like pearls of the Self, these are the three pearls of the Mystery. The first one is green. As you go through the pearls of the mystery, ask yourself: “What will grow in me? Who can I pray for? What do I care about?

The third pearl of Mystery is located with the black pearl of the Night. This black pearl reminds us of death, guilt, and the cross of Jesus. But she also talks just about the night when we sleep. Since after the night there always comes a new day, after the black pearl of Night there is the white pearl of Sunday. Then the pearls of silence come, and again I find myself at the golden pearl of God.

When we look at this rosary, we see both the life path of a man and the life path of Jesus. Both together are a sign of our faith. We can say that this is a kind of gospel for the hand. This is a small Catechism that you can touch. I can keep it. He is always with me. I am very glad that I can share what I know and what I can do with brothers and sisters from Russia.

Loley Thila

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