Experienced Faculty

Newtowne classrooms are staffed by DEEC-certified professionals with extensive teaching experience and training in early childhood education. Newtowne teachers are extraordinary, dedicated and energetic professionals with varying backgrounds and a profound commitment to creating an appropriately challenging and safe environment for children. Individual attention and small-group learning is also enhanced by the presence of Early-Childhood Education student teachers from Lesley and Wheelock Colleges.

Purple Fish Classroom Teachers

	Marc is the lead teacher in the Purple Fish class and also the assistant faculty director. He has been at Newtowne since 1990, and has directed the summer program for the last six years. Marc holds a BA in psychology from Vassar College and has completed graduate work in early childhood education. His strengths include singing and designing art projects for the little ones.
	Ursula is a co-teacher in the Purple Fish Classroom. Before joining Newtowne, she worked as a parent-volunteer and substitute teacher at Cambridge Head Start. She is intuitive and warm with young children and likes to share baking and nature activities. Ursula especially enjoys watching the growth and development of Newtowne’s youngest students. She is the parent of two children, ages 7 and 11.
	Jacqueline is enthused to be working with the faculty and  families at Newtowne.  She is a recent graduate of Lesley College with a degree in Early Childhood Education and English and a concentration in teaching Reading.  Her interests include photography, science, and doing hands-on activities with children.  Jacqueline believes that every child learns in their own unique way and at their own pace.  She is working on a Masters degree in Behavior Specialty at Simmons College.

Blue Otters Classroom Teachers

	Harriet is the lead teacher in the Blue Otter class, and has been teaching at Newtowne since 1999. She is a native of Germany where she received her MA in Greek and Roman Archeology and Art History. Harriet's three children have all graduated from Newtowne. Her love for children empowered her to go back to school and take graduate courses in Early Childhood Education at Lesley University and Bunker Hill College. She believes in an emergent curriculum that includes art, nature and books according to the Reggio Emilia philosophy.
	Roni is co teacher in the Blue Otter Classroom. She moved to the Cambridge area from San Francisco, where she was a teacher/director of the Glenridge Parent Cooperative Nursery School. Roni has a BA in Liberal Arts, and her special interests are nature and art. Her daughter is a graduate of the Green Dragonfly classroom.

Green Dragonflies Classroom Teachers

	BJ is in the midst of her second wonderful year teaching the 4 and 5 year olds at Newtowne. Her relationship with Newtowne began many years earlier as a parent helper in her sons’ classrooms. BJ brings the same enthusiasm that she has for parenting to the lead teacher role in her classroom. She holds a Masters in Early Childhood from Wheelock College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College.
	Dina began teaching at Newtowne in 2002 in the Green Dragonfly Classroom, having previously taught elementary school for many years. Dina holds an MS in Education from Wheelock College. She especially enjoys working with small “study groups” based on the interests of the children in the class. In addition, she loves music, storytelling, her family, mentoring student teachers, and four year old humor.
	Jenna, a graduate of Lesley College in Early Childhood Education , Human Development and Family Studies, was a student teacher in the Green Dragonfly classroom during the fall ‘06 and fell in love with the Newtowne community. The feeling was mutual, and she is now a teacher in the same classroom. Jenna has a child-centered approach to teaching and believes that young children learn best through play. She loves music, musical theatre and the beach. She is currently working towards a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education at Lesley.

All-School Teacher

Ericka is an experienced preschool teacher, having worked in parent-cooperatives for over 15 years.  She brings energy and enthusiasm as well as a  love for music, reading, arts and crafts, and nature to her teaching. Ericka believes that Newtowne is a unique place, and her goal is to support each child’s social, emotional, and cognitive growth and to nurture artistic expression. Ericka is delighted to be both Newtowne’s “All School Teacher” and  also the proud parent of a child in the Blue Otter Classroom.

Our Director

Loretta has a M.Ed. in Child Development and Family Life Education and a lifelong commitment to the field. She has teaching experience with diverse populations in preschool, kindergarten, middle school and high school and has served as a volunteer in the Parent to Parent mentoring program for Concord Family Services. She has been a professional mentor for preschool teachers in Newport, RI. As a specialist in emergent literacy, she created and presented a series of lively workshops for teachers on topics such as Book Reading, Early Writing, Storytelling and Music. Loretta is enthusiastic about the unique benefits of the parent cooperative school model.

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