If our parents are the heart of our school, our teachers are the heart of our classrooms. Sunnymont teachers have extensive education and training in teaching young children, and in providing parent education to their parents. Most of all, our teachers have passion about children's learning and about childhood. They work many extra hours doing research, planning curriculum, and collecting materials, and they love it! Each teacher is an individual, but all share a common vision of early education and of a supportive community for parents. Our teachers love to debate their differing choices for their classrooms to learn more from each other's wisdom, and have a huge respect and love for each other.

Tinka Niedermier, our executive director, teaches the 2 Day Class, has been at Sunnymont for over 20 years, and brings to the classroom both her common sense and sense of humor. Tinka has a way of helping children find abilities in themselves that they didn't know they had. Kids in Tinka's class proudly take responsibility for their classroom and each other, while enjoying a delightful sense of their silliness together, too. Tinka also brings an expertise in children's art, and a clear sense of why she wants things done the way they are in her classroom, and how the children will benefit. Tinka has a degree in education, two teaching credentials, and is the mom of 3 children who went through co-op schools.

Justine Saffir, teaches 3 Day Class, has been teaching at Sunnymont for over 10 years, and brings to the classroom her love of expanded curriculum. She's the one who dumps brightly colored fall leaves inside the school each fall. She's also the one who brought in not only smelly fish, but also life-sized pictures of plankton, a herring, octopus, a tuna, a great white shark, and yes even an orca whale for the children to decorate during an exploration of the food chain from the Slippery fish song. Justine has a passion for understanding children's individual temperament and needs, and for spreading positive discipline skills to the entire world. Justine has a degree in psychology, a teaching credential, and is the mom of 3 children who went/are going through co-op schools.

Debbie Campi teaches the 1 Day Toddler Class and 4 Day Class, and has been at Sunnymont for 5 years. Debbie is the drama whiz, who brings in compelling props, and whose impromptu group dramatizations of The 3 Little Pigs, pig and wolf hats included of course, are legendary. Debbie also has a knack for using familiar curriculum in new ways, bringing new dimensions to the children's learning, and leaving her colleagues saying, Whoa, I never thought of that! A preschool student recently wrote that she loves Debbie because she's always happy to see me! Debbie has a masters degree in early childhood education, a teaching credential, and is the mom of 2 children who attend co-op school.

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