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Mary Ellen Haley
B.A. Education, Western Washington University
B.A. Special Education, Western Washington University
Mary Ellen began her teaching career with the Tacoma Public Schools where she taught in special education, then as a first grade teacher. While raising her children, she worked for WACAP, a national adoption agency where she was program developer and manager for the US Waiting Child Program. In 1989, Mary Ellen happily returned to teaching as head teacher for the next 16 years with Lakewood Cooperative Preschool, an affiliate of Seattle Community College. She took a three year "retirement" which left her longing for the excitement of being back in the classroom with young children. She returned to teaching at Capitol Hill Co-op in 2007, and loves the energy and commitment of the young families she works with. In her personal life, Mary Ellen and her husband have raised a large multiracial, multicultural family through adoption and foster care. Mary Ellen is strongly committed to making sure that young children are given time to play, time to be joyful, and time to be curious and awestruck about the world around them. Her classroom curriculum is play based and respectful of the children's ideas and interests.
Erica Erignac
B.A. Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education, University of Pennsylvania
Erica started out as a social worker for mentally ill clients in New Jersey. It was there that she realized her true calling was working with young children. After receiving her master’s in Early Childhood Education from the University of Pennsylvania, she worked with special needs children placed in therapeutic foster care and then as a first grade teacher for several years. After moving to Seattle, Erica took a break from teaching to start a family. She has been a Coop parent for the past several years and is delighted to return to the Coop as a teacher. She believes a child-centered, play based curriculum is the best approach to educating young children. She has a particular enthusiasm for children’s literature.
Sharon Chang
B.A. Ethnomusicology
M.A. Human Development with Early Childhood Education Specialization
Certified KindermusikÒ Educator
Sharon starting teaching young children in 2002 at Gymboree Play & Music. Within a year she had become the Music Program Coordinator across several franchises in the Puget Sound region. In 2003 she certified as a KindermusikÒ Educator and started her own studio, Rising Song Children’s School of Music. From 2003-2009 she owned, directed and expanded this business from 17 to 150 students enrolled in KindermusikÒ, Signing, Creative Movement, Storybook Acting, Piano and Arts Preschool. She has contracted as a pre-k music teacher with the Giddens School and continues to do so with Rising Star Academy – a preschool for autistic children run by FEAT of Washington. Sharon’s teaching style is play-based and emergent curriculum (i.e. Reggio Emilia) inspired. She supports holistic early education that is multi-disciplinary and multi-sensory and teaches to all learning styles. She believes all children have the capacity for individual brilliance. Her activity focus is the arts and her philosophical focus is inclusive, anti-biased and socially aware. She is especially interested in discovering tolerance and respect through multicultural learning. Sharon is very excited to be a member of the Co-op where she feels she will be teaching and taught by a like-minded community. Linda Barber, Parent Educator
B.A. Education, Pacific Lutheran University M.Ed., City University Linda is a former public school teacher and a co-founder of the Community Day School Association. Before becoming a parent educator for CHCP, she worked with families and children from all walks of life in the Raising Healthy Children project at the University of Washington. She is a parent and grandparent (all co-op children), and feels privileged to work with so many wonderful co-op families. |
Teachers |