One-Two Year Old Teachers

Johari Pimentel
My educational background is in human services and I taught for many years in early education. I have always enjoyed working with children and their families. As a newborn coordinator, I had the privilege of connecting with families from the beginning in a supportive and empathic manner. Through such collaborations, I was able to build relationships with each family, which was a rewarding process. This same goal carries into my teaching where I make warm connections and enhancing care coordination at a place that has so much meaning to those involved.  I have a BS in Psychology and an MS in Human Services from Northeastern and an MA in Psychology from William James College.  

Marisa Stanewick
I have a BA and an associates degree in early childhood education from Mount Ida College and am in the nursing program at Mass Bay. I have been substitute teaching at TBS for many years and taught two year olds in the TBS summer program. I also taught pre-k at Needham Children's Center, South Boston Neighborhood House and Franciscan Hospital for Children. As a teacher I work to create an environment of love and trust, while still embracing the need to set limits in order to support children in learning and growing.

Kateryn Silvestre
Before coming to TBS, I worked as a preschool teacher at Champions in Boston and a babysitter for children ages 5-11.  I am currently a student at Bunker Hill Community College. Children's growth and development is amazing to me. I appreciate their intelligence and curiosity. To foster a passion for learning in children I give them a few materials and an idea to get them started and then encourage them to use their imaginations from there.

 

Katie Phelps
I have a strong passion for working with young children. I love listening to children and finding moments of joy and discovery. I have been teaching in early childhood for many years.  Before joining the Temple Beth Shalom community I taught preschoolers at the Needham Children's Center, Radcliffe Child Care Center, and Children's Corner at Newton Wellesley Hospital. 
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Isabella Bartolozzi
​I am passionate about creating a
STEM based curriculum to engage children and spark their curiosity. In addition to teaching at TBS Children's Center, I also teach older children in the TBS Mayim Outdoors program and teach Hebrew to kindergarten through third graders at Beth El Temple Center in Belmont. Before arriving at TBS I taught preschool and was the health and fitness coordinator at Ready Set Kids in Arlington.

Lindsay Tolland
Before coming to TBS I taught children ranging from age three months to kindergarten at  Chestnut Children’s Center in Needham. I love to do messy sensory and art activities with children and believe children learn best through these types of hands on experiences. 

Melissa Loeb  
I have a Master’s Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and previously worked as a Speech-Language Pathologist for the past 11 years. I decided to make a career shift and become a preschool teacher at TBSCC because of the amazing sense of community here, the values placed on Jewish and secular learning, and the environment of providing children access to a wide variety of materials arranged to be inviting and provoking of their curiosity and creativity. I am also a mother of two children who attended TBSCC, and our family immediately adopted the guiding principles taught at the Children’s Center. I love observing children making their own discoveries and solving their own problems with gentle guidance and support, and I love being a part of the joy that children experience when they discover a new capability or a new way of interacting in their world.

Emily Dennen
Before arriving at TBS I taught kindergarten, fourth and fifth grade and was a literacy instructor at the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island. Before teaching elementary school, I taught children ages 18months-3 years for four years. I am  knowledgeable in the field of child development, having studied this special area of interest as an undergraduate at Smith College, and during pursuit of my Masters degree at Brandeis University. I have a particular interest and experience in progressive models of education, including the Reggio approach.  ​

Kate Fitzgerald
Working with children has always been my passion. The joy and excitement children exhibit when they are provided with a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment is incredibly rewarding. I believe developing trusting relationships with children and their families is a key component to creating such an environment.  I adhere to the philosophy that It Takes a Village to Raise a child, that every child deserves individual attention so that their needs are being met and that each child has inherent dignity - a born- given right to be treated with love and respect.  I have taught at The New England Home for Little Wanderers, am a Nighttime Post Partum Doulah, have nannied for numerous families and am currently raising my own family here in Needham. I graduated from Colby College with a BA in English and Writing.  I am dedicated to continuing my own learning and growth through formal training in child development and personal and professional experience. ​

Wasan Al-Durrah
I am life-long student myself and love to share that passion for learning with my students. During my career as a teacher I taught English to 1st-6th grade at Dubai National School in the United Arab Emirates. There I taught children with learning difficulties and needs, and developed action plans and developmental lessons. I am passionate about bringing this background to my role as an early childhood educator.    

Chloe Raisman
As a dedicated and responsive toddler  teacher I am comfortable working with students of different skill levels to promote learning and boost educational success. I use the theory of growth mindset to develop young minds and inspire love of learning. STEM learning is a part of the daily curriculum of my classroom as I give toddlers the opportunity to explore basic concepts of the world around them. Before coming to TBS I taught toddlers at Little Corner School House in Needham.

Marianna Ramos
My first experience working with children was as a volunteer at the Boys & Girls Club where one of my favorite activities to do with the students was the annual field day. I appreciated that children of all ages came together, doing different activities in the same space. With younger children I appreciate their zest for play and their endless imaginations. I love watching their ideas develop as they play. For me teaching is about making an impact on my young students.

Barbara Rome      
I am a graduate of Boston University with a bachelor of science degree in personnel management.  Before coming to TBS, I worked for various preschools in the area including JCC of Newton, Rosenshine Nursery School at Temple Reyim and the Suzuki School of Newton where I worked with children ages 2-5.  As an educator I believe in supporting children in developing a love of learning through music and art, and work to support their social and emotional growth.

Makaela MacEachern
I hold a BA in Art Education from Massachusetts College of Art And Design where I also explored child development and curriculum development and interned in kindergarten through middle school. For the past few years I have been a toddler teacher at a local preschool where I taught children ages one to three. In my teaching I bring a creative approach to the classroom I am a passionate teacher who works to individualize instruction to the needs of each child. 

Mizgin Hamza
I first came to TBS through my son, enrolling him in preschool and kindergarten after we moved to Needham. Watching his development and learning inspired me to learn more about child development and early education and I joined the team as assistant teacher in the ones classroom. 

I grew up in Syria, where I was an assistant elementary school teacher teaching third and fourth graders and owned and operated a hair salon. I also earned an Associates degree in Banking at the Institute for Commercial Banking in Aleppo. I am fluent in Arabic, Kurdish, and Turkish.

Sofia Hertz
I am a student at Mass Bay Community College and before coming to TBS I held a variety of assistant teaching positions with young children. I also worked with children ages three months to 11 in area fitness clubs.  At Brimmer and May Summer Camp I lead activities for children ages 3-11 and I was also a soccer coach for young elementary aged children. My Jewish background is important to me and I worked as a teaching assistant for children with special needs at the Sunday School for Jewish Studies in Newton. 

Jennifer Rosenthal
Since I was a child myself (starting at age 14), I have been developing and growing a passion for working with children. Throughout high school I taught at a dance studio for children ages 2-14 and volunteered as a special education aide at Temple Shalom of Newton. During college, I continued to teach dance, babysit for children ages 1-12, and foster my own intellectual growth, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Vanderbilt University. I have now found my true passion of lifelong learning and sharing that learning with children. Whether it’s by helping to pronounce new words, teaching new meanings of words, painting abstract art on paper (and maybe sometimes our clothes), or singing and dancing along to Disney songs, I am eager to share the joys, challenges, and successes of your child’s intellectual, social, and emotional growth.