Playmates

Our Faculty

May May Chung
May May has joined Playmates as our PM younger group teachers' assistant. She recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in psych and environmental studies. May May is conversational in Cantonese and Mandarin and has taught arts and crafts in Hong Kong for the past two summers. Her future plans involve pursuing a master's degree in education and to travel & teach. Her favorite thing about Playmates is that it's always filled with light & color and that it is a place that truly fosters children's self-direction.

Rob Gillespie
Hailing from San Antonio, Texas, Rob Gillespie is a favorite among the kids at Playmates. "Playmates is fun, laid-back and has kind of a spacious goodness to it," he says, and he should know. Rob's a veteran of a number of schools, including San Francisco's Children's Day School, the Mission children' Co-op and a variety of Waldorf and Montessori programs. A self-described army brat, he knows how to get around. He especially gets around our playground with his infectious laugh and enthusiastic attitude.

A dual Irish and American citizen, Rob has a side many Playmates parents might be surprised to hear about. He is an accomplished composer and musician - he has had pieces involved in an art exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. As for teaching, Rob says "there's always more schooling ahead for me." He's had two years of Waldorf teaching education, early childhood classes and loves his Responsive Classroom classes. If he's not at school watching our children, you might find this avid bird-watcher on one of the Bay Area's many backwoods trails. But we like him in the wild reaches of the sandbox right here at Playmates.

Tomoko Honda
Tomoko Honda is the lead teacher of Playmates' AM younger group, and is the warm soul of that program. After joining the Playmates staff in the fall of 2009, Tomoko quickly won the hearts and minds of her students. In the early part of the day, you will often see her on the porch, with two children on her lap, talking in soothing tones, helping to ease the transition from home to school. Tomoko's experience as the mother of a middle-school child informs her teaching philosophy- -a mixture of nurturing, positive discipline and creative expression. She also believes that children need space to run and room for imaginative play to blossom, both of which are readily available at Playmates. Research from the Alliance for Childhood reflects the validity of this approach: "Numerous studies have shown that children who engage in complex socio-dramatic play develop higher levels of thinking, stronger language skills, better social skills, more empathy and more imagination than children who do not play in this way. They are also less aggressive and show more self-control. Play also lowers stress levels in children." Tomoko has years of volunteer experience supporting families and children in a co-op school setting, and she studied early childhood development at City College of San Francisco. She originally hails from Kiryu, Japan.

Maasa Isami
Long before Maasa joined the Playmates staff as its PM older group teacher, she fell in love with the program as an intern. Maasa went on to earn her degree in early childhood development with an emphasis on young child and family at San Francisco State University. Parent education is paramount to Maasa, and she believes that the level of involvement of parents at the school helps to grow stronger parent-child bonds. Most of all, she loves that at Playmates, children are allowed to get dirty--in the sandbox, through process oriented art projects, and in our gardens. A background in ballet and piano influences her teaching style, and you will often see her group singing and dancing happily at circle time. A native of Kumamoto Japan, Maasa also teaches the children traditional Japanese songs and lore.

Carrie Maher
"Well, I guess I just love the family atmosphere. And, of course, the director . . ." Carrie, yes, is daughter of Administrator Director Joelene Maher. A new addition to Playmates as of summer 2007, Carrie is a natural athlete. And she brings a lively sense of action to the playground. Currently a college student at City College studying child development, Carrie's long-term career goal is in the nursing field. Ask any Playmate child or grownup, and they'll say they hope Carrie changes her mind and stays right here. "It's such a caring and nurturing place for children," says the alumnus. If you're looking for Carrie, you won't have to look far. Her favorite Playmates event is the annual Pumpkin Patch visit in October.

Alisa Orozco
Our new younger group pm teacher, Alisa comes full of excitement and energy and when asked what she loves most about Playmates, says "It's so refreshing!! I love that children at Playmates have the freedom to be who they are and that we have everything for them to discover all about themselves, in any way they wish! " A recent graduate of California Polytechnic State University in child development with a minor in psychology, Alisa already has 5 years of preschool experience under her belt. She speaks fluent Spanish and a spent a semester abroad in Costa Rica. In her free time she enjoys dance, photography, movies and sports.

Stacy Sultana
Stacy has been at Playmates since 2007. First as a Co-op member and working parent, then as a parent and sub, and now as a Y5 Teacher in our wonderful Pre-K program. She truly understands and lives the Co-op philosophy. Stacy also enjoys and supports the importance of our Play-based program here at Playmates.

Stacy has a Bachelor's degree in Art and Psychology from UCSC. Yet, her current emphasis of studies is with early childhood education. She has completed 25 units of ECE both at UCSC and CCSF. Stacy has an extensive teaching background with adults, children, and the elderly. She is very creative, spontaneous, flexible, and understanding. Stacy is an important part of our staff at Playmates.

Margaret Thrupp
Margaret has been working at Playmates for 11 years as the AM older group teacher. Each year our curriculum varies because of the needs and interests of the individual class. This year we have done a lot of drama and written a lot of books, due to the children's excitement about stories, both traditional and new. Margaret enjoys the unexpected but interesting things that four- year-olds have to say.
Her education began in her native Australia, where she studied music and education. In San Francisco Margaret's own children attended a cooperative nursery school, which inspired her to study early childhood education. In 2005, she completed her MA in elementary education, studying how children learn through pursuing their own strong interests in topics like dinosaurs or sharks.
When not at school, Margaret teaches flute and recorder lessons, and works as a professional musician. She is currently studying Spanish, so she will be better prepared to work with Spanish speaking students and workers. Margaret enjoys traveling and reading.

Melissa Vivas
For Melissa, joining a cooperative nursery school for her own two children (now college-aged) was probably the best decision she ever made for her family. Her children benefitted from the developmentally appropriate, play-based curriculum, and she benefitted from seeing them in the context of their peers and from the wisdom of their teachers. Her family became part of a caring community that they are still benefitting from to this day. Having been involved with the co-op, she followed her kids to elementary school, where she volunteered, then subbed, and eventually taught kindergarten.

Melissa earned an elementary teaching credential with early childhood emphasis from SFSU. In her work, she tries to bridge the gap between the child development focus of ECE and the curriculum-centered approach of elementary school. She has taught the Young Five class at Playmates since 2004. Melissa deeply appreciates the freedom to teach in a way that is consistent with what she knows about how young children learn. For Melissa, every day brings new challenges and opportunities to learn from colleagues, parents, and of course the children.

Maribeth Walsh-Villa
Maribeth is one of the first Playmates staff many new parents meet, and what a first impression. Soft-spoken and kind, Maribeth started at Playmates as the office manager, and was promoted to Administrative Director in 2005. Like several Playmates' staff members, Maribeth began as a teaching parent. "The sense of community at Playmates is one of a kind. You know, some of my best friends I've met at Playmates, and my children met their best friends there, too!" Maribeth, a native of Leominster, Massachusetts, has a master's degree in recreation therapy. No wonder the thing she says she loves most about Playmates is "the children's beautiful faces and their laughter." Caring, kind and ever ready to help a parent with a question, Maribeth always goes the extra mile. Find her anytime in the office, or at her favorite Playmates' events – the pumpkin parties and other great fall events. While not at Playmates, Maribeth loves camping, skiing, hiking, and hanging out with her boys.

In Memoriam:
Rima Soudah, 1947-2011
Please join us to remember our beloved Rima Soudah, who passed away peacefully in her sleep on the early morning of January 16th.