Sarah Schmidt – Classroom Teacher
Sarah has worked with children from birth to elementary age for 12 years. For the last 5 years she has worked as a preschool teacher, lead toddler teacher and music teacher at the Early Learning Center at Everett Community College. During her time there she completed a course in Early Child Development from a Multicultural perspective as well as other ECE and diversity courses. In addition to these classes she has taken a variety of workshops and trainings that address important topics for preschool and toddler care including: Music in the Classroom, Body Awareness, Problem Solving through Positivity, and Caring for Boys. She was able to take her learning directly into the classroom and use recent research on brain and emotional development to assess classroom and individual needs.
The philosophies Sarah practices with young children are centered around following their lead for play and learning (emergent curriculum), positive guidance, and facilitating problem solving rather than solving problems for them. She views teaching as facilitating a love for learning using fun and positive tools. She uses a strength-based approach to learning by focusing on each child’s skills and using them as a foundation. She gives children tools appropriate for their individual personalities, temperaments, and needs to help them achieve their highest potential. In doing this, a positive and loving bond is created between the children and the caregivers,helping the children build trust in adults and their peers.
Sarah’s passions are working with young children, music and the arts, and community outreach. She believes combining these elements makes a difference when put into effective practice. Sarah uses music and movement as a positive way to address developmental needs in children 12 months to 5 years old. She believes children need a strong foundation of healthy emotional and social development in order to succeed and thrive. Music does wonders for these areas of development! She is a strong proponent of learning and gaining confidence through creative outlets, (drawing, painting, collage, sculpting, making up stories, songs, dances, games), and through playing freely with positive modeling from adults. She believes that when children are having fun and being freely creative they tend to absorb more from their everyday interactions.
Sarah also serves on the board of Terra Roots, a non-profit that helps local communities through music and the arts. Her focus is reaching out to families with young children and providing them with the tools and opportunities to explore music and art. Terra Roots hosts the Summer Meltdown Festival where Sarah has served as the Kid’s Area coordinator for 6 years. She has helped this large Pacific Northwest music festival develop an atmosphere that provides future generations with opportunities to play, create, and learn about music, art, and sustainability. During her time working with the festival she adopted many of the philosophies that are so important here at SPP. Social Justice, sustainability and environmental, and anti-bias philosophies are intertwined with Early Childhood Education. It’s never too early to learn about compassion, acceptance and responsibility!
Sarah is also a singer-songwriter, musician (guitar and piano), and a very proud single parent to a 12 year old boy! Sarah recognizes parents as the first teachers in a child’s life, and she sees her role in the classroom as providing support to each parent in their most important job, as well as providing support to each child in reaching their highest potential. As a team member at SPP she fully supports and respects each family and individual’s unique culture, in and out of the classroom!