We are proud to have the finest teachers dedicated to your child. You will find each Children’s House teacher both warm and supportive while allowing each child to become independent and make personal choices in learning. Our teachers help foster child interaction, individuality, independence, discovery, and exploration of ideas. Each teacher is fully qualified by the state. Your child will be assigned a primary teacher who will answer questions about your child’s progress as well as keep you informed of special events. Your child will also work with several specialist teachers in the program either during a small group presentation or during discovery and exploration times. It is important to attend Back to School night to meet your teaching team.
Ella, the founder of Children’s House, opened the school in 1978, to provide an inclusive environment for children to build a foundation of quality experiences that would support their future social, emotional, physical and cognitive growth. She is the director of both the upper and lower campus of Children’s House and led the school to become one of the first in the nation to become NAEYC accredited under the new rigorous criteria. Ella serves as a California Mentor Director and presents our Encouraged Cognitive Education Curriculum and Desired Results assessment at national conferences. She received her Master’s Degree in Education, her specialization in Special Education and a Reading Specialist Credential and became an associate professor at San Jose State University in the Elementary Education Department. While teaching classes in Mainstreaming exceptional children and educational theories, she opened Children’s House, for her first child’s education when he was two years old. Ella continually assimilates new research and accommodates theories and findings from the fields of child development, education and neuroscience to provide new opportunities for children’s growth. Her unique assimilation of strands of theories and approaches have melded together to create an innovative environment and teaching style, full of genuine firsthand experiences that have inspired thousands of children over the school’s life.
Courtney has her EdM in Human Development and an MA in Cognition and Creativity with a concentration in early childhood education from Columbia Teachers College, New York. She earned her Pre-K-4th grade teaching credential in Texas while attending Southern Methodist University in 2004 and is a Children’s House alumni. Courtney is a Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment BASIC instructor, a certified Music Together teacher and is a Child Development Program Director. Prior to teaching at Children's House she completed a two-year research project on the world’s best practices in teaching math, language development and technology at the Speyer Legacy School for gifted children in New York City. Courtney currently is the lead teacher of our afternoon Cognitive Enrichment Class (CEC). Courtney and her husband live in Los Altos with their two children. The family enjoys traveling the world at every opportunity, skiing in the winter, keeping up with educational research and horseback riding.