Teach'N Little Kids

For the last 13 years I have worked in Early Childhood as a teacher for Chesterfield County schools. I have spent 7 years as an Early Childhood Special Education classroom teacher, where all the students in my class had significant disabilities or delays. For two years I worked exclusively with 2 year olds in the Natural Environment. Here the emphasis was on the families and working with the child and caregiver together in their homes and at community sites to help show families how to support their young child. I also worked three years as an Inclusion Specialist, going into preschool settings and supporting children with mild delays in a setting with typically developing peers. This has given me the opportunity to learn from many fabulous Preschool and Pre-K teachers. In this role I was able to help new teachers learn effective teaching strategies, and work with school administrators and teachers in the community who are experiencing behavior, language and learning challenges with students. My job varies from year to year depending on the needs of students ages 2-5 in the county.

The materials I design are appropriate for children age 2-7 that are developing typically, or some preschool-2nd grade children with delays or disabilities. When I teach I use a play-based model, with hands on learning that is designed around favorite children's literature. I like to do crafts and get messy, allowing the children to explore science concepts and creativity. Music and movement is used daily to allow the children to be silly, get the wiggles out, as well as learning to follow directions. I also try to give the children the opportunity to act out stories, or play with similar props to come up with their own stories. I use visual supports for everything I do, which helps young children with and without delays learn more effectively.

MCD Award for Early Childhood Special Education curriculum books. Cameron Foundation Grant winner. Exhibitor at Leap into Literacy symposium, VCU & MetroReady for 2 years.

Masters of Education from Virginia Commonwealth University in Early Childhood Special Education. BS from Virginia Tech in Business/Marketing Management.

I co-wrote, coordinated and directed a video "We are All Alike, We are All Different". This video was written for the audience of children 3rd through 5th grade to help them better understand and be a friend to children with disabilities. This 15 minute video was professionally taped by the Chesterfield CPS technology department. The video included children from grade Pre-K through 5th grade that did the narration and demonstration throughout the video. This was a school-wide project that included over 25 children working together over a 6 month period.