"Better educated teachers have more positive, sensitive and responsive interactions with children, provide richer language and cognitive experiences, and are less authoritarian, punitive and detached. The result is better social, emotional, linguistic, and cognitive development for the child. Several studies of state-supported preschool programs have found that quality is higher in programs where more teachers have at least a four-year college degree." Barnett, Steven, Ph.D., Preschool Policy Matters:
Better Teachers, Better Preschools: Student Achievement Linked to Teacher Qualifications ( National Institute For Early Education Research, 2004), 4.
Better Teachers, Better Preschools: Student Achievement Linked to Teacher Qualifications ( National Institute For Early Education Research, 2004), 4.
OUR TEACHERS
Wendy Sanders
Educating our youth has always been of great importance to me. I believe every child deserves the chance to learn and to discover things about the world and in themselves they never knew possible. I am very much looking forward to the opening of our Magnificent Minds Program. I graduated from Bradley University in 1992, with a Bachelors Degree in Art. In 2002, I received my Masters in Early Childhood Education from Northern Illinois University. My teaching certificate included a special education endorsement. My husband, Brian, and I have lived in Crystal Lake for the past fifteen years. We have four children, ages six to thirteen. I have had the pleasure of working in traditional, Montessori and special education/at risk classrooms. My interest in education has reached outside the classroom as well, as I have been active on education boards and coordinated the Sunday school program at my church. What an incredible opportunity it is to teach young, magnificent minds!
Susan Zacher
Teaching young children is a magnificent and wonderful profession. I am incredibly excited to be starting our Preschool/Kindergarten Prep Program, Magnificent Minds! I received a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education from Eastern Illinois University in 1990. My husband, Jim, and I have lived in Crystal Lake for the past sixteen years. We have four children, ranging in age from eleven to eighteen. While at home with my children, I continued my passion and love for teaching through volunteering in elementary classrooms and teaching in church programs. Before opening our school, I was delightedly employed by District 47 where I worked with children in the Special Education Program. There is nothing more rewarding than watching a child flourish and grow. An abundant amount of joy comes from being an integral part of a child’s learning, whether in the lessons specially created for them or within those wonderful and unexpected serendipitous teaching moments. What an inspiration it is to work with children each and every day!
Educating our youth has always been of great importance to me. I believe every child deserves the chance to learn and to discover things about the world and in themselves they never knew possible. I am very much looking forward to the opening of our Magnificent Minds Program. I graduated from Bradley University in 1992, with a Bachelors Degree in Art. In 2002, I received my Masters in Early Childhood Education from Northern Illinois University. My teaching certificate included a special education endorsement. My husband, Brian, and I have lived in Crystal Lake for the past fifteen years. We have four children, ages six to thirteen. I have had the pleasure of working in traditional, Montessori and special education/at risk classrooms. My interest in education has reached outside the classroom as well, as I have been active on education boards and coordinated the Sunday school program at my church. What an incredible opportunity it is to teach young, magnificent minds!
Susan Zacher
Teaching young children is a magnificent and wonderful profession. I am incredibly excited to be starting our Preschool/Kindergarten Prep Program, Magnificent Minds! I received a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education from Eastern Illinois University in 1990. My husband, Jim, and I have lived in Crystal Lake for the past sixteen years. We have four children, ranging in age from eleven to eighteen. While at home with my children, I continued my passion and love for teaching through volunteering in elementary classrooms and teaching in church programs. Before opening our school, I was delightedly employed by District 47 where I worked with children in the Special Education Program. There is nothing more rewarding than watching a child flourish and grow. An abundant amount of joy comes from being an integral part of a child’s learning, whether in the lessons specially created for them or within those wonderful and unexpected serendipitous teaching moments. What an inspiration it is to work with children each and every day!