Meet Miss Jeanine
One of Jeanine's favorite quotes is from the book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. One of the lines reads, "Be Aware of Wonder". She strongly believes that children, especially of preschool age, are extremely aware of the world around them, and are constantly filled with wonder by the things they see, touch, hear, and smell. As a teacher, she hopes to help kids find that wonder through play, socialization, inquiry, experimentation, and exciting guided learning activities. Miss Jeanine has both a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from the University of Oregon. She taught all grade levels in several schools in Lane County while studying at the University and as a substitute teacher before opening and running the Eugene location of The Strawberry Patch Preschool from 2010-2016. On top of both her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees, Jeanine also holds an English For Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) degree. Language, multicultural education, and diversity are key aspects of her training and she strives to help students appreciate and find interest in the differences in those around them. Through pictures, literature choices, and daily activities students will be exposed to different cultures, traditions, hobbies, foods, and environments! Both Spanish and American Sign Language will be incorporated into the school day whenever possible. After teaching in classrooms with large groups of students, Jeanine hopes to emphasize the importance of small-group, community-based learning experiences with young children at The Strawberry Patch. Several of Jeanine's hobbies include: Oil Painting, Argentine Tango, Theater, Gardening, and Baking, and being the mama to two fluffy dogs named Cato and Zoë! She hopes to blend her own passions with those of her students to create meaningful, fun, and inquiry-based learning for everyone each day.
Meet Teacher Josh
I am excited to be a part of The Strawberry Patch! The preschoolers bring me joy every day. I feel that a happy and peaceful life springs from a happy and peaceful mind. This kind of mind doesn’t come at random, but is an outcome of a sustained effort to generate its causes. With that in mind, I’m eager to share lightheartedness and gentle nature with the kids through play, conversation, quiet activities, and just being of service.
My lifelong interests span music (an early course of study), science & science literacy, and philosophy. These days, I maintain those interests but I’ve shifted a lot of my time to a practice of meditation and contemplation. I hope I can inspire the kids to adopt a similarly broad and open set of interests — aesthetic, rational, and otherwise.
guidance & Discipline Policy
Miss Jeanine is highly trained in a classroom management program called Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) and has taken the educator training series for Caring Discipline. PBS does a fantastic job of teaching children school expectations, building positive-self esteem, teaching children to monitor their own behavior, and pre-correcting to prevent disruptive behaviors before they happen. When challenging behaviors come up, Caring Discipline provides a toolbox for parents and teachers to help kids be joyous and free while, at the same time, teaching them how to behave in respectful and non-indulgent ways. These programs never use any hands-on (spanking, corporal punishment) or take-away (withholding snacks, toys, activities, etc) punishments.
Our guidance and discipline policy takes into the account the welfare of all children and emphasizes respect for others. We strongly encourage parents to listen to the Caring Discipline podcast or read Caring Discipline: Practical Tools for Nurturing Happy Families & Classrooms. This will benefit both the child and family. We are happy to recommend local parenting classes that teach strategies we will be using in our classroom.
We will be using the following techniques:
1. Teach/Model: I will take the time to teach and model expected behaviors and use fun role-play games to make sure children understand!
2. Autonomy: We will have friendship/community agreements that we make as a group, so the children will help come up with some of our school rules. They really enjoy this!
3. simple Directions: Communications are clear and simply stated.
4. Pre-Correction: Clearly stated behavior expectations for all activities before activity.
5. Neutral & Positive behavior recognition: Giving children attention during neutral behaviors helps children feel loved and valued just for being themselves. We also focus on/recognize the positives not the negatives.
6.Encourage self-management: I will encourage students to work out problems using their own words. This helps them to build their own problem-solving skills, communicate with each other, be respectful, and be respected by their peers. If children are still developing their ability to problem-solve using words, I will always be there to support them in communicating their feelings.
7. calming time: A period of time apart from a child’s activity may be necessary to help the child use self-control when they return to the activity. We have three comfy areas in the school with calming activities available at all times.
8. Ask "why": Sometimes kids do things for reasons that make sense to them, even if others do not understand. I will always ask a child why they did something so I can help them build new strategies.
9.Clear, quick responses: If I need to guide and/or discipline a child my response will be immediate. It will be kind, respectful, and firm.
10.age-appropriate choices: Choices encourage children to develop self-control and decision making skills.
11. Guidance: If a child has constant disruptive behavior I will work to find the purpose of the behavior, the settings it occurs in, and the triggers for the behavior. From these I can find a way to help the child have fun in a way that is safe and respectful towards others.
Our goal is to help the children at The Strawberry Patch develop self-control, positive self-esteem, and respect for others. We will have clear boundaries to help keep kids happy, safe, and learning while at school! Any intentional behavior that causes injury to another child or adult will result in the child going home. Hitting, kicking, biting, or punching will result in a child being sent home.