Staff

• Martha Melgoza - Director and Preschoool Teacher
• Roland Bergfelt - Preschool Teacher
• Terra Sawdy - Lead Toddler Teacher

Martha comes to us from Thousand Oaks Elementary School in Berkeley, where she has been teaching while completing her Masters in Early Child Development at SF State University. Martha taught preschool in Berkeley for many years, first at Cedar Street Childcare, and then at Busy Bee Preschool (where she was also Assistant Director).

Martha thinks the preschool environment should be rich in experiences to encourage children's learning through their own exploration. She also believes the preschool years are an essential part of the process of socialization. Martha’s theoretical approach to early child education is “constructivist,” meaning children construct knowledge mainly from their own experiences, rather than from what adults tell them. Exemplified by the Reggio Emilia school in Italy, this philosophy believes in raising children to be critical thinkers who work things out for themselves and through collaboration with other children and adults. The classroom environment is itself a teacher, with a variety of carefully selected materials, stations, locations and well-planned activities available every day to aid children's exploration. During our twice-monthly tours in the fall, you will get an opportunity to meet Martha and see her classroom in action.

Martha recently participated in a speaker panel at the "Promoting Inquiry in Early Childhood Settings" conference sponsored by S.F. State University and Mills College.

Roland is a cooperative preschool veteran, coming to us after 6 years at Laurel Hill Nursery School in San Francisco. He has an AA in Early Childhood Education. Roland is especially interested in sensory integration and creating activities that meet children's sensory needs.

Terra comes to us from Manhattan, Kansas, where she completed her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education at Kansas State University. She has 2 ½ years of experience teaching at the preschool level, much of it in the lab school at her university where she had a lot of close mentorship and evaluation. She also has experience teaching kindergartners and children with learning disabilities, speech delays, and Autism. Terra has studied a wide variety of educational philosophies as part of her training, and believes a play-based school is the best environment for toddler-age children. She prefers messy art and tactile discovery projects that are both fun and stimulating for toddlers. She loves to sing, and doesn’t mind getting her hair done by 2 year olds.