Staff

Directress & Teacher:

Jean Chorbajian

Jean received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mathematics from Iowa State University. She has worked in research at the Geophysical Institute in College, Alaska and worked on her doctorate in Applied Mathematics and Physics at the University of Alaska.

After the birth of her first daughter, Jean learned about Montessori as her daughter attended a school in Pittsburgh. When the family moved to Toledo and found there were no Montessori schools, Jean took Montessori training from Dr. Helen Billings and opened her own Montessori school. She operated that school for 15 years before moving to Colorado. Jean loves to see the children learning so many things that will help them in their later school years- especially mathematics.

Academic
Coordinator:

Teacher:

Caroline H. Osofsky

I am originally from Pennsylvania and grew up in the Main Line area west of Philadelphia. My interest in teaching began while I was earning a BA in Sociology from Randolph Macon College in Virginia. During summers I often worked at summer camps which reinforced my desire to work with children as a career. After graduation, I moved to Colorado where I could enjoy the mountains and beauty our state has to offer.

I initially learned about the Montessori method while taking courses in Elementary Education at the University of Colorado. I was intrigued by Maria Montessori’s ideology, and was impressed with the way the Montessori method respects and nurtures the needs of each individual child. I enrolled in the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies which I followed with an internship at Jarrow Montessori.

After completing my internship, I had the opportunity to continue my career at Jarrow as a Lead teacher. I found that I particularly loved the opportunity to work with children through their full three year cycle of preschool. It is always a joy to run into children I had in my early years of teaching and see them now as high school students!

This coming semester in the fall of 2011 will be my eighth year teaching in Montessori schools as a Lead teacher. At this time in my career, I am exploring various methods of teaching that can be integrated with a Montessori approach. I particularly want to expand on the social skills aspects of early learning. My goal is to create a dynamic and vibrant classroom where children enjoy both the satisfaction of mastering challenging work and success collaborating on projects with friends.


In my time away from school I enjoy playing outside with my family which includes my husband, two children, and two dogs.

Teacher Assistant:

Susan Wang was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado recently graduating from the University of Colorado- Boulder with a double degree in Chinese and Linguistics.

For the past two years she has had the opportunity to study abroad at Peking University and work as a Student Ambassador in the USA Pavilion at World Expo: 2010.

Her experiences in China teaching English to migrant school children and volunteering at after school centers sparked an interest to continue working with children. Susan is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and proficient in French and Italian.

Susan enjoys traveling, music, photography, and baking.  In her spare time she enjoys reading, and hiking with friends.

Music Teacher:

Ms. Amy Haywood , singer, storyteller, writer, and mother of two, grew up in Asia and sang in bands throughout high school. She worked summers in an orphanage in Viet Nam which sparked a lifelong devotion to young children. Amy obtained a BA in education and a second BA in English Literature at Guilford College with a minor in Music. She has been teaching Musicare since 1987. In 1999, Amy and four other Musicare instructors created, Camp Oonie Koonie Cha, an early childhood music camp in Winston-Salem. Musicare and Camp OKC, nourish Amy's profound interest in children. In addition to educating children, Amy conducted workshops for teachers through Smart Start in North Carolina, and she was a key note presenter at the South Carolina early childhood educators conference. Amy and her music partner, Claire Valine have won two Parents' Choice Awards for children's music recordings. They have five works.
Amy resides and teaches in Boulder, Colorado. She is working on publishing "Miss Ellie", the story from her "Rockin in the Rabbit Hole" cd".
Amy is available for, assemblies, special occasions and classroom enrichment. Email her at: missamyh@gmail.com.