Karen Fleck
I joined the St. Vincent Early Learning Center family after fate, in the form of COVID, permanently shut down USI’s Children learning Center. After working there for fourteen years it was exciting to start new at SVELC and I’m proud to say it is my home now.
I am passionate about helping the children appreciate and understand the natural world around us and our responsibility to take care of it. My background as a Master Naturalist and a Master Gardener has served me well as the children and I continue to learn and explore all that nature has to offer us. I believe that children should be outside as much as possible, using all their senses to learn about the world around them. Whether it is raising tadpoles, watching our caterpillars go through metamorphosis, raising our own tomatoes or composting our meal scraps, we have questions, answers, more questions and lots of learning.
My English degree created the roots of my desire for the children to love books and storytelling. We cannot have enough books in our room and all the children know that if I do not have a book on a topic they want, I’ll find one. A child that loves books is never alone.
My belief that children learn by doing, exploring, and asking questions is supported by the SVELC community. This can make for a loud, busy, messy classroom but we are learning. I cannot wait to see where the journey with my SVELC community takes me next.