• Teachers
  • Specialists
  • Director
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Nancy is a Lead Teacher and comes to the Caterpillars with over 25 years of experience teaching preschoolers in parent co-ops. Nancy enjoys the curiosity and quick laughter of preschoolers. Nancy feels it is important for teachers and families to work in concert during early childhood, because the heart of a young child’s identity is with their family. In the classroom, she shares her love of books, music, and the natural world. Nancy has a BA in Modern Languages from Northeastern. She and her husband Tom live in North Cambridge and enjoy frequent visits from their two grown-up daughters.
Katie comes from a long background of working with children. She received her undergraduate degree from Lesley University and her Master's degree in Art Therapy and Counseling, with a specialization in Children, from The College of New Rochelle.  She believes in children learning through their imagination and creativity. Katie enjoys the endless possibilities of a child’s imagination. Her interests lie in art and science and she tries to incorporate both when working with children. She believes in letting children explore their worlds around them. Her favorite thing to do is help children come up with hypotheses about their surroundings and then explore possible answers through hands-on experience.  In the classroom, she shares her love and knowledge of theater, dance, art, yoga, and general silliness.
Maria comes to us after many years of working with children in lots of settings: nursery schools, family child care, large childcare centers, and in their homes. She has an MA in Child Development from Tufts University. She left the classroom to work as a nanny for a more individualized experience with children. She looks forward to returning to the classroom at CNS, where families are such an integral part of the program. Maria loves to read to children and encourage their storytelling, in many forms. She loves the sense of wonder young children have and helping them express that in creative ways. Maria views children’s healthy social and emotional development as central to their growth in all other areas of their lives. She sees supporting them with a generous dose of humor and understanding, as they navigate through their experiences, as a key part of her work.
Ruby
Ruby joins CNS with great enthusiasm for being in the classroom. In earning her BA in Sociology at Clark University, she explored her interests in the history of families and identity development. Her experience working with children is primarily in nannying, and she has enjoyed the transition to CNS for many reasons. She values the opportunity to assist preschoolers in building a supportive group environment and gaining structure outside of their home for the first time, particularly amidst the challenges of the pandemic. Ruby appreciates the encouragement students are given at CNS to build on their diverse interests and the respect they are treated with. She loves doing art projects with children and helping validate their emotional experience. ​

Music

Julie has been working in early childhood education for 25 years. She began as a preschool teacher, and was also performing as a singer/songwriter around the city.  Quickly realized she could use music to inspire and educate her students. When she started her own family, she decided to focus solely on music education and began teaching parent/child music classes for Groovy Baby Music. She also continued on as a music specialist in preschools around the area, including CNS! Julie went back to school and received a Masters of Music Education from Boston Conservatory, in 2015, and then got right back to work. Currently, she works as a part-time preK - 8th grade music specialist at Fayerweather Street School in Cambridge, continues to teach parent/child classes with Groovy Baby Music, and is so excited to be back as the music specialist at CNS this year. Her warm and goofy style is contagious; it helps her to draw her students in and allows them to express their own musical creativity. When she’s not teaching music, she loves spending time with her husband and two teenage sons, doing crossword puzzles, dancing and snuggling her two kitties.

Yoga

Our yoga teacher, Katie, believes that body awareness and mindfulness helps the child be more aware of their feelings and strengthens their school experience. Katie’s hope is to give the children tools, in the asanas (poses) and breathing techniques, to help navigate their day. Her favorite thing about teaching yoga is when the children use their breathing hands to calm themselves down, or when they say ‘look at me, I’m doing frog pose.’ “Namaste!”
Katie is the Interim Director at CNS. She has been with CNS as a teacher for 6 years, and has been apart of the CNS community for 10 years.