EARLY CHILDHOOD
Pre-K – 2nd
Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Judy Kann
Judy comes from a non-traditional background, having graduated high school early, lived and worked on Monhegan Island, and went to Antioch College, a work-study school. Judy has a B.S. in Elementary Education and a Master’s in Literacy Education. Judy has 30 plus years of teaching experience. She lives in Gray, Maine and has three grown children. She loves yoga, running, cooking, walking on the beach, children, kindness, camping, laughing, singing, and children’s literature.
Pre-Kindergarten Teacher Assistant
India Jenkins
India is a recent graduate of Casco Bay High School in Portland. She has been a summer camp counselor for two consecutive summers at Camp Beech Cliff in Mount Desert Island, and at Cape Elizabeth Community Services. She is also the older sister to four younger siblings. Her experiences working with young children have been so fulfilling that she is exploring a career in early childhood education.
India’s own early childhood experience occurred in Waldorf education. The beauty and rhythm of this way of education provides a safe and secure environment in which children can grow. Her experiences of seasonally-based activities, artwork, singing in circle time, and outdoor play in all types of weather have inspired her to pass these gifts onto her own students.
India continues to enjoy art, music, and being in nature. In her spare time, she makes drawings out of the soft pastel medium for her younger siblings’ homeschool curriculum. She has sung in girls choirs and played piano for a number of years. Her whole family follows the rhythm of the seasons through the food that they eat and activities that they do together. She has a deep appreciation for spring flowers, especially light pink cherry blossoms and periwinkle hydrangeas.
Kindergarten Teacher
Kristen Dorsey
Kristen graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in English and went on to receive Teaching Certification from Southern Connecticut State University. Throughout many years of teaching at the early childhood and elementary levels in public, private and nonprofit educational settings, she has adhered to an interdisciplinary methodology and nature-based curriculum with focus on the natural cycles within the seasons; the reciprocal relationships between humans and the animal and plant kingdoms; as well as the commonality of the human experience around the world in terms of how we depend upon, appreciate, and celebrate the elements and ecosystems that sustain us.
Being with children grounds her in simple wonders—and she is inspired by the everyday joyfulness, spontaneity and creativity of children. With her husband, three children, numerous adopted dogs and cats, she has for 25 years been nestled in the woods of Freeport, where she and her family joyfully ski, snowshoe, and run the trails out back; skate on, paddle, and swim in the neighborhood pond; and cultivate gardens and gratitude for the natural beauty out the door.
Distance swimming is her meditation, as is time with the ocean while boating and exploring the islands and beaches of Casco Bay.
Kindergarten Teacher Assistant
Kate Cass
First Grade Teacher
Kymberly Johnson
Kym is a recent college graduate from the University of Southern Maine in which she earned her B.S degree in English with a K-8 teaching certification. While earning her degree, Kym was a substitute teacher at Fiddlehead School for the past 3 years and worked as a before and aftercare teacher at Fiddlehead Center. Kym has always had a love and passion for working with children and is thrilled to start her career off working with us here in 2nd grade. In her free time, she enjoys spending time at the lake, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.
