Your Wild Roots Educators

Brittany Tobin Ponce, M. Ed.

Brittany holds an AMI diploma from the Montessori Institute of San Diego, and a Master’s Degree in Education. After owning Little Horse Montessori home care for several years, she expanded into Wild Roots Preschool with the support of beautiful families and a dedicated staff with a vision to create an even more enriching program. Brittany’s background in Montessori helps offer a foundation at Wild Roots, while also incorporating other philosophies such as Reggio Emilia and Waldorf.  She expands her knowledge base with observation of children, continuing education workshops, and scientific articles.

Brittany is developing a Wild Roots curriculum that allows freedom for teachers to be inspired to work in unique ways. Wild Roots educators should always feel inspired, excited, and empowered to bring forth their passions in teaching. Brittany envisions a long lasting community effort to bring families and educators together to raise a generation of children who see beauty and value in themselves and others.

Danielle Bebout

Danielle has ten years of experience in teaching young children, and has her B.A. in Human Development with a concentration on Counseling and Children’s services. Additionally she has received two grants from the Riverside Child Care Consortium and First 5 for completing extensive education and professional growth in the field of early childhood education. Most of her training is centered around emergent teaching, Reggio philosophy, language and literacy, full incorporation of the arts for young children, observation and documentation, and in planning and sustaining a safe and inspiring environment which is optimal for children’s learning.

Danielle’s teaching experience began in a play-based setting where she was trained in the art of emergent teaching, and spontaneous, child-led learning. Over time, she began incorporating the Reggio Emilia philosophy into her teaching, and was profoundly moved by its use of art, natural exploration, active engagement, and interpersonal collaboration for the small child. Danielle’s education, experience, creativity, and love of young children is used to instill and enhance development through Wild Roots’ customized and enriching curriculum.

Paula Braaten

Paula has been working with children for over ten years and teaching in this unique environment for the past five years. She has her Preschool/Kindergarten Montessori Teaching Certificate through NAMC and her A.S. in Child Development and Education. Paula is passionate about learning and continuing her education and professional development through attending seminars and trainings and she is currently working on her B.A. in Early Childhood Education. She is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAERA).

Paula’s unique childhood of traveling offers many opportunities in the classroom to explore and discover the globe and broaden the children’s knowledge of countries and cultures. Her interest in music, singing and guitar brings daily opportunities for music and movement in the classroom and on the playground.

Lina Streit

Lina has over twenty years of teaching experience with children of all different levels.  Her professional education includes a B.A. in Education with emphasis in science.  She is American Montessori Certified (AMS) and has many educational courses through UNLV Las Vegas Nevada.  Throughout her years of experience, she has developed and taught curriculums for Primary Spanish Emergent programs in the states of Chicago and Nevada.

Lina was born in Costa Rica and because of the environmental focus while living there, she has a passion for teaching children about environmental awareness.  Wild Roots Preschool has a wonderful curriculum that allows her to combine both the Reggio and Montessori approaches where every child’s innate curiosity for learning is taking place right in the classroom; thereby, instilling in them a love for learning and allowing them to become independent individuals.

Lidia Meza

Lidia has been teaching for three years. She received her Montessori Assistant Teaching Certificate through the Montessori Institute of San Diego (MISD) and studying Early Child Development.

Lidia devotes herself to the needs and education of the whole child. Her passion for educating children and their gratitude for learning is what makes this a lifestyle, not a job.

Christy Cook

Christy is an experienced, AMI trained Montessori Teacher. She has her Master’s in Education from Loyola University in Maryland and is passionate about working with children in their formative years. Christy teaches because she believes in the foundational social theory of Montessori; the child is what the man will become.

Christy is a life-long learner and nature lover.

Lynn Cohen

Lynn has worked with children and parents for 25 years. Her experience includes teaching preschool children and infants to being the director of a youth and family program and working with school aged children and their parents. Lynn holds a B.A. degree from Pacific Oaks College in Human Development and an A.A. degree in Child Development from Santa Monica College.

Children’s literature and reading is a passion for Lynn. She has spent ten years in children’s library services and continues to aid Wild Roots in the development literacy programs and offering literacy resources to parents.

Katy Scott

Katy recently moved to Murrieta from Tucson, AZ. Her journey in early childhood education started in the summer of 2006 as a part time preschool teacher. From that summer on she fell in love with teaching young children and has been teaching in early childhood education for almost nine years now. She attended the University of Arizona and has a background in art education. In 2012 she was given the opportunity to take classes in early childhood education and hopes to continue her education here in California. She loves working with young children and watching them discover the world around them.

She loves learning about new things and inspiring children, she is excited to be teaching at Wild Roots Preschool and is thankful for the people who have been so welcoming in this new community and place she now calls home.

Crystal Torres

Crystal believes that the Reggio Emilia approach is one of the most vital and comprehensive early education methods known today. She appreciates the child-centered philosophy that explores art and nature as a means to open the minds of young ones while also identifying their unlimited potential.

Crystal attended Vanguard University and Mount San Jacinto College and graduated with an A.S. in Childhood Development and Education and has kept accreditation through the State of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing since 2007.

In Crystal’s spare time she creates and builds with recycled and repurposed materials. She brings this passion into the classroom as she inspires and enables children to collaborate and create using a repurposed and natural materials.

Brenda Montes

Brenda’s journey into Child Development began in her Junior Year of High School when she had the opportunity to be a part of a new Child Development elective course. She then interned as an assistant at two different Public Elementary Schools. Brenda is currently enrolled in classes and is working on her A.S. in Child Development and Education.

Brenda has a passion in art and enjoys using art as an expression of herself. As Brenda began assisting she didn’t mind “cookie cutter art” and would use it in her classroom but as she progressed in her journey of teaching she discovered that this type of art held back creative expression. If a lion can’t be colored purple with ten legs where is the fun in that?

Rachel Noel

Rachel has been working in the child development field for the past two years after getting her Bachelor’s degree from Cal State Fullerton.  Rachel is also a Postpartum Doula, so she has both the training and experience in working closely with new families and newborns.  She is passionate about working with toddlers because they are at such a critical point in their development.  Their independence and curiosity is blooming, yet they are hungry for a sense of order and for respect and understanding from those around them.

Sarah Mitchell

Sarah has been working with children for eight years now. She was born and raised in Hong Kong and began her education journey there and then moved to England where she majored in Teaching English as a second language. After receiving her training, Sarah worked in classrooms in Hong Kong and mainland China. Sarah has completed her units in Early Childhood Development at Grossmont College and is excited to be working with children at Wild Roots. She especially enjoys the toddler and preschool ages because they are always discovering, exploring and learning.

Rachael Coleman

Rachael has been working with children for fifteen years and taught at Montessori of Sonoma for six years. She has experience working in the Infant, Toddler, and Primary Classrooms.

Rachael has completed all of her Early Childhood Education units and has received her Montessori training through Northern California Montessori Center. She continues her education by attending trainings and workshops in the Reggio Emilia philosophy.

Her love for hiking, sports and the outdoors inspires Racheal to use the outdoor environment as a classroom for learning and exploring.

Tanya Gaete

Tanya has more than nine years of experience working with children, seven of those in an early childhood setting. She has completed all of her units in Early Childhood Development as well as extensive trainings on Applied Behavior Analysis for special needs children.

Tanya puts her heart and soul into teaching young children and giving them the opportunities to develop socially, cognitively, physically, and emotionally.

Evelyn Coffos

Evelyn has been working in preschool for almost eight years now. She has a passion and love for teaching young children that continues to grow over time. She desires to create an environment where children can learn while experiencing the same love and security they would get at home.

Evelyn has taken various courses in Child Development and is in the process of completing her B.A. in Organizational Leadership while also achieving her Associates in Child Development. Her recent trainings have been revolved around an educated based curriculum where the process is more important than end products and children are encouraged to learn through fun and intriguing activities.

Emily Lucio

Emily has been working with children for seven years. She has experience teaching art in Primary and Toddler classrooms in a traditional preschool setting as well as working with Elementary School, Middle School and High School students. Emily loves the learning process and is currently enrolled in Child Development classes.

In addition to working in our after school program, Emily owns a jewelry business. Expression and creativity in art is one of her greatest passions and she brings that creativity to Wild Roots where she inspires and is inspired by the children daily.

Jullia Kim

Jullia has been playing the piano since her freshman year in high school, however when she first started learning how to play, it was very tedious for her because she not allowed to explore the creative outlet that music actually is. Eventually she explored music on her own, her passion for music grew and she became much more proficient. Jullia’s teaching approach is more of letting the child learn to familiarize themselves with the instrument and getting them excited about the potential that comes from learning how to play.

Jullia enjoys teaching children because they are creative and mesmerized by every new thing that they learn. They also have a tendency to be surprisingly enthusiastic about the prospects of learning, which is why teaching them how to play the piano is so gratifying for her. She relishes the opportunity she has to share the experience with them of learning something new that will absolutely enrich their lives and their homes.

Frankie Franco

Frankie has served in the United States Army and worked as a chef with wineries in our local wine country. Previously Frankie has been part of many of our outdoor projects and renovations at Wild Roots and recently accepted the offer to join our team full time. His responsibilities at Wild Roots consist of general maintenance, providing materials for the students and offering a variety of delicious organic, GMO free, healthy snacks.