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Sally Stanley is thrilled to be joining Fox Hollow as director and teacher.

Sally has a passion for supporting families and giving back to her community. She has spent 11

years working as caregiver and teacher to children ages birth-5. She has seen how the natural

world fosters joy and connection. She loves helping young children learn deeply about the world

around them with all their senses fully engaged.

Sally holds a B.S. in sustainable agriculture from the University of Maine and has done graduate

work in early childhood education with a focus on therapeutic care and nature-based curriculum.

Sally lives in Pittsford with her husband, daughter, two big dogs, 4 goats and lots of chickens.

She enjoys reading, working on her land and spending time with friends and family, especially

on outdoor adventures.

Ali Christenson, our teacher, is excited to explore and play with your children outdoors and bring the outdoors indoors.

She lives in Rutland Town with her husband Peter and daughters Willow (6) and Claire (4). She has a BS in child development from Colby-Sawyer College and completed the Vermont higher ed collaborative courses in early childhood education. Most recently she worked in early ed and parent education in Middlebury, at the Parent Child Center. Prior to that, she spent five years teaching preschool at Rutland Head Start.

In the classroom she enjoys building a community with the children and their families, providing

children play opportunities with unprescribed materials, and bringing natural beauty into indoor spaces for art, building, play, and observation. When not in the classroom, Ali enjoys teaching gymnastics at Cobra, skiing, running, and being with her family.

 Miss Vanessa has worked with children in various preschool and childcare settings since the early nineties. She is only one or two classes away from receiving an associate’s degree in childhood studies and, most recently, she worked as a teacher assistant and caregiver at a local home-based Montessori preschool and child care center in Leicester, VT.  Exploring nature and its rhythms and the facilitation of joyful, creative, child-led learning were key components of her experience there. She also enjoyed involvement as a classroom volunteer in the ELF/Four Winds/Small Wonders programs for several years. Miss Vanessa is excited about being part of this work in a forest preschool, as she values nature-based education in the lives of children, especially in these times. 

Miss Vanessa grew up in the Florence/Pittsford area and has two grown sons. She enjoys hiking, nature photography, gardening, painting, drawing, writing, and time with family. 

Clair lives in a house of boys; 2 little ones, a grown one and a furry one.  She grew up in Australia on 5 acres in the 'bush' (aka: woods/forest), climbing trees, catching tadpoles and getting proper dirty. She's launched a lot of businesses in her lifetime but this is the closest to her heart. She loves that an outdoor preschool in Chittenden will give her boys - and others in the community - a similar childhood.

 

Kristin is a mom of 3 and a public elementary school teacher.  She loves being around kids and watching them learn through their wonderings and wanderings. As a product of alternative education settings herself (Montessori school and forest-based summer day camps), she wants her own kids and the children in her community to have the same chance to be immersed in and taught by the outdoors. 

Joanne Pye is a leading educator in nature-based play and has spent three decades at the forefront of early childhood development. She implemented an outdoor preschool program and currently volunteers facilitating and supporting teachers, childcare providers, and parents in place-based outdoor education with staff from Four Winds Nature Institute.