Jennifer has over 20 years of experience in Early Childhood education. With enthusiasm and her self-described ‘passion in following the lead of the child, guiding them in their education with age-appropriate experiences, beautiful materials, and academic support’, she blends her personal hobbies of fine arts, fiber arts, jewelry making, foraging, traveling and butterfly rearing to share with the kids.
She believes strongly in the idea of ’planting the seed’ with kids and watching them learn that there’s a bigger world out there. She thrives on using everyday items on the farm as examples to reinforce fundamentals like math, science and literacy.
Her specialty is Monarch Butterflies, and her curriculum includes engaging the kids in the entire lifecycle of Monarchs, from planting milkweed (where Monarchs lay their eggs) to engaging the kids in watching how caterpillars grow and change into butterflies, all with the goal of making it a complete hands-on learning experience.
Jennifer’s focus on building confidence in young kids and her dedication to creating a child-guided ‘emergent curriculum’ can best be explained by this program she created during the Pandemic
I taught a small pod of 8 – 10-year-olds about the America’s by working with them to create an imaginary trip from Alaska to Argentina. We planned out the “journey” together allowing the kids to make stops of interest along the way. They used their imagination and math, science and literacy skills to calculate miles, understand geography, and read and research more about each location we traveled to. In El Salvador, they discovered a sculpture artist who deploys the powers of vibrational sound as a form of healing. His work intrigued them and led them to many questions. They watched videos, took out books about his art and learned a lot about him. When we saw that the artist’s work was going to be on display at a museum in New York, we took a trip and found out that the artist was at the museum that day! The kids were excited, and because they had learned so much about him, they felt comfortable going right up to talk to him and asked him questions. It was an experience we all will remember for quite some time.
Jennifer specializes in:
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Horticulture
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Nature
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Gardening
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Art – including fiber art, watercolors, painting
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Animals
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Monarch Butterflies
Some of Jennifer’s Affiliations, Education and Professional Development include:
NJEEPRE: New Jersey Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
CDA in Child Development from Montclair State University
One of Jennifer’s favorite quotes:
The best education does not happen at a desk, but rather engaged in everyday living – hands on, exploring, in active relationship with life.
-Vince Gowman