I grew up in the Columbia River Gorge on 100 acres of forestland, which contained many old growth trees, and I have always loved the outdoors. I am joyfully married and have three children. My oldest son has left home and currently lives in Georgia serving in the Army. My daughter and youngest son will be joining the Springwater community with me. This will be my 20th year as a certified teacher and my 27th year working in the field of education. In addition to my deep affinity for the great outdoors, I love arts and crafts. My current passions are watercolor painting and needle felting. I deeply value the gifts and skills of all children, there is something magical about Kindergarten and I can’t wait for the year to begin!

I was born and raised in Portland with my parents and younger brother and sister. I enjoyed the city life , but as an adult my husband and I decided to relocate to the country. I now reside on ten acres in Eagle Creek. I have adopted two young Warm Springs mustangs off the reservation. The two foals and our dog Dixie really make our home feel complete. I am very close with my family and enjoy spending weekends getting together for family meals or trips to the beach. Both my husband and I enjoy traveling but really cherish Oregon as our home. I enjoy reading a wide variety of books and I am currently reading Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series. I am looking forward to meeting the school community of fellow staff and families.

I am excited to be part of your community. I started off my educational journey by being a mom. I volunteered quite a bit in my children’s classrooms and at the school at large. From there I became a Sped-Ed assistant which I loved. So, it was a natural progress for me to go back to school to get my teaching degree. I have taught preschool, kindergarten, and first grade and I have enjoyed each age group and look forward to rediscovering the joys of teaching kindergarten at Springwater.

On a personal level, I am a wife, and the mother of two boys.  I love hiking, camping and really all things outdoors.  My husband and I usually spend our summers in Honduras, where he is from.  One of my main goals in life is to be bilingual.  I am still working on this, but I believe I am getting close!

ing many integrated science and social studies units that encourage students to observe, question, collaborate, and to make connections with their world. I believe that students learn best when they are active participants in (and out of) the classroom, and I strive to help each student find the tools they need to be successful.

I grew up in the Central Oregon area.  About 8 years ago I moved to Portland to attend graduate school, and earned my MAT through Concordia University.  I have two children, both are adults.  My youngest son lives with me and is working towards a degree in network administration through Portland Community College.  I have two cats and a snake named Mr. Squishy. I am passionate about environmental Science and thrilled to have the opportunity to share this with my students. I look forward to meeting you, and answering any questions you may have.

Growing up in a tropical Hawaiian rainforest, playing in crashing waves on a little piece of styrofoam, and fooling around in my Dad’s chemistry lab developed my love of science from an early age. As a kid, I played soccer, basketball, volleyball, body-boarded, and got around everywhere on my bike. At 15, I started coaching soccer with gang of 7-year-old boys. The fun I had with those boys planted the seed to become a teacher many years later. [Read more…]

I am so excited to be a part of the Springwater community. I am an Oregon native who has spent many days out exploring this beautiful state of ours. I am married and have three wonderful children. Most of our family time you can find us out on the river swimming and kayaking or hiking through the woods. I also enjoy crafting, gardening, and reading. I am looking forward to meeting students and families and having a great school year.

[Read more…]

I grew up in Sherwood, Oregon just a few miles south of Springwater. My family and I spent many summers exploring Oregon’s beauty with hiking adventures, fishing and family campouts.

I graduated from Western Oregon University in 2005 with a BS in Elementary Education. I spent five years gaining teaching experience in Las Vegas, Nevada, where I taught fifth grade and later became the Math Coordinator for K-5. I believe mathematics should be taught through a hands-on approach that leaves no learner behind. Every math problem has more than one entry point that results in the same solution in the end. During this time I earned my Masters degree in K-8 Mathematics at Walden University and I earned an endorsement teaching English Language Learners. [Read more…]

I grew up within a large Mennonite farm family, the 6th of 9 children, 25 miles NW of Philadelphia, PA. where we played and worked amid a wonderful (but fleeting!) setting of barn, meadow, woods and creek.Upon leaving home, rural places continued to beckon me in Oregon, West Virginia, and Virginia, living where, as one friend aptly put it years ago, “where other people like to visit on vacation!”. [Read more…]

Raised in a suburb of Chicago, I came to Oregon in 1995 to study printmaking at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. While earning my Bachelor of Fine Art there, I taught after-school art classes. In these classes, I found that more and more of my artistic explorations with my students took me outdoors and that I was just as interested in the natural history of the tree we were drawing as in capturing its likeness.  [Read more…]

I am originally from beautiful northwest Montana.  I loved growing up part of a large, fun, family and we always enjoyed playing and watching sports, especially Grizzly Football.  We also spent a lot of time fishing, camping and hiking.

When I graduated high school, I joined the Army and had the opportunity to study Spanish and travel to several countries in Central and South America.  I also met my husband while in the Army, and after we completed our tours of duty, we moved to Chicago to attend school.  I graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in 2004 with my Master’s degree in Special Education.  In 2006, we moved to Urbana, Illinois, home of the University of Illinois (Go Illini!), where I earned a Master’s degree in education administration from Eastern Illinois University. [Read more…]

Joshua Bryan Green, owner of Creative Undertakers (brand and retail marketing services & solutions company), has a highly diversified background as a business owner and manager; sales executive; and an operator at a high tech facility. Josh has spent most of his career in the creative/marketing industry until 2013 when he decided to start his own business so that he could spend more time with his family and have a better quality of life. When Josh is not running his own business and serving major consumer and retail brands, most of his time is spent with his wife and 3 kids (Orion 9, Brooklyn 7 and little Decklin). Josh is an avid gardener with a true passion for plants, wildlife, and the environment. He is a lifelong student where he enjoys researching and learning as much as he can about any topic. His passion for learning is further reinforced by his love of traveling around the world to new and exciting countries and exploring diverse cultures. We are delighted to have Josh on staff in this new and much-needed capacity!!

His Springwater email is: josh@springwaterschool.com.