Vanessa John­son

Vanessa John­son

Vanessa John­son has been teach­ing preschool since 2002 and has been teach­ing at TBD since 2008. Vanessa has Bach­e­lor degrees in psy­chol­ogy and human devel­op­ment and will be work­ing on her Mas­ter degree soon.

Vanessa believes that young chil­dren learn best through play, art and social inter­ac­tion. She loves explor­ing the won­ders of art and dra­matic play with her class. TBD has been a great fit for her because the relaxed, small group atmos­phere that our classes offer, gives her the oppor­tu­nity to pro­vide lots of indi­vid­ual atten­tion and adult/child interaction.

Vanessa incor­po­rates into her daily rou­tine, the devel­op­ment of children’s social con­cepts such as respect, pride, self–esteem and love of learn­ing. In her off-hours, she loves scrap-booking, being a devoted Dodgers fan and traveling.

April Ser­lin

April Ser­lin

April Ser­lin is a state cer­ti­fied preschool teacher and has cer­ti­fi­ca­tion for teach­ing young chil­dren with spe­cial needs. She’s taught young chil­dren since 1978 and has been teach­ing at TBD since 1991. April keeps her class envi­ron­ment fun and active, with lots of hands-on activ­i­ties, such as cook­ing and art, which are her favorite aspects of her cur­ricu­lum. She believes that inno­v­a­tive teach­ing cap­tures children’s imag­i­na­tion and inter­est much more than hav­ing them pas­sively do table work. April uses lots of teach­ing strate­gies on a daily basis so her stu­dents with dis­parate learn­ing styles and lev­els can access the con­cepts and feel suc­cess­ful. She enjoys engag­ing chil­dren with move­ment, dance, poetry, songs and silli­ness to teach math, phon­ics, read­ing and sci­ence. Because April has a spe­cial needs son, she feels her strength is adapt­ing her cur­ricu­lum to meet her stu­dents’ needs. In April’s spare time, she loves to scrap– book, shop at the mall and cook for crowds of people.

Susan Brown

Susan Brown

Susan is a state-certified preschool teacher. She is a grad­u­ate of Orange Coast Col­lege, where she earned her teach­ing degree. She worked at OCC lab school for two years before joing­ing the TBD team in 2010. Susan has a pas­sion for teach­ing and believes chil­dren learn best through play and hand-on lessons. Her daily rou­tine includes stu­dent inter­ac­tion in cir­cle time, to keep chil­dren engaged in learn­ing. Her cur­ricu­lum meets the needs of her preschool­ers in the areas of social skills, the use of small and large motor skills and aca­d­e­mics. She cre­ates fun the­matic lessons to engage her stu­dents. Her weekly lessons include stu­dents engag­ing in arts, dra­matic play, story telling, song, dance and body movements.

Susan is the proud mother of two grown daugh­ters and loves play­time with her four grandsons. She loves to read, walk, shop and travel to local des­ti­na­tions to enjoy the outdoors.

Julie Ballinger

Julie Ballinger

Julie Ballinger is a state cer­ti­fied preschool teacher and has been teach­ing for over 20 years. She’s been at TBD since 2009. Julie has a very inter­ac­tive style of teach­ing that allows chil­dren to par­tic­i­pate and have voice in their own learning.

She believes that learn­ing should be fun and not forced and that chil­dren have a nat­ural love of learn­ing. She believes they can learn as much as you let them.  In her spare time, Julie enjoys spend­ing time with her 3 grown chil­dren and 2 grand­daugh­ters (another is expected soon!). She enjoys read­ing mys­ter­ies, hik­ing, sewing, arts and crafts, trav­el­ing and vis­it­ing museums.