Some Fabulous Information about Roots & Fruits...
R & F is licensed by the State of Maine. It is a preschool/child care program serving children ages 3-5 in a thriving, rich environment filled with enthusiasm, creativity, and spontaneity. The staff and children of R & F are diverse in both social and economic culture and ethnicity allowing the environment to emulate life outside the center. R & F reinforces the power of our uniqueness, helping children to learn about their own "Roots" of who they are and their "Fruits" or gifts they have to offer the world. This is a positive experience for the R & F community, as acceptance and awareness of differences and similarities in people begins here.
The staff of Roots & Fruits are committed to providing high-quality education and extended child-care to children and their families. The staff attends professional development workshops, conferences, and seminars through the year to keep them aware of innovative and current information in the field of early childhood education. The staff strives to know each individual child so they can respond to individual needs and realize the child's development potential. R & F's foundation is based on the value of partnership between the school, family and community at large, creating a progressive, thriving, holistic program for our children.
A Bit about the Director: Virginia E. Dearani
Virginia Dearani is the Founder and Director of the Roots and Fruits Program. She received her Masters in Education with a concentration in Partnership from Goddard College. She has been teaching children and youth ages 3 - 17 for over ten years in a variety of environments. Her primary focus has been on violence prevention, anti-bias education, and cross-cultural relations. She has created violence prevention educational programs for children ages 4 - 13, utilizing many tools, i.e. puppets, drama, music, experiential activities, cooperative games, and art, among others.
Virginia teaches in the Early Childhood Education Program at Southern Maine Community College. She is also a licensed Maine Roads to Quality Trainer where she provides various trainings for educators of young children.
Virginia has tremendous energy and is passionate about teaching and learning from young children. She is committed to creating a positive, diverse learning environment for children where they can bring their whole selves to the classroom and be active participants in their educational journey. She truly believes every child is the hope for the future with the talent, imagination, and desire to create communities of peace and compassion.
Teaching Assistant - Nadia Jackson
Nadia S. Jackson is often referred to as a Naturally Intuitive Preschool Teacher, Mother, Grandmother, Reiki Healer, and Spiritual Universal Light worker.
First born in every way to a southern family in the nostalgic city of New Orleans had it’s privileges & advantages, like adults believing and respecting a little girl as an old soul returned, eclectic source of nationalities from around the globe playing and living in her neighborhood, the famous French Quarters, and being responsible/charged with younger siblings and children in the neighborhood.
Nadia has extensive experience working with children of many cultures and has taught in four major metropolitan cities in the country. She worked as a Director in a Washington, DC Preschool Kindergarten Center for over eight years and is still keeps in touch with many of the Families that attended the Center.
Since being invited to live in Maine by a Washington, DC family that transplanted to the New England area, families from other parts of the country still keep in touch and have come up to Maine to visit her.
In Portland, Maine, she has participated and trained in the early literacy program and served on the board of the raising readers program for two and half years. Since 2008, Nadia’s training has been in the area of the Science of Compassion, Assertiveness & Workplace Communication and Nonviolent Communication, Language of the Heart.
Teaching Assistant - Janice Grant
Janice was born and raised in Portland, ME. She has been working with Roots & Fruits since it began in January 2006. She has been working with kids for three years and is currently studying early childhood education at Southern Maine Community College. Her work with kids began in her studies at Biddeford Regional Center of Technology where she studied early childhood education and worked at Mother Goose Nursery School.
Janice has a nephew that is just over a year old whom she adores and loves spending time playing and care taking. She believes teaching young children is very important because you are enriching their lives, and helping them to become the best person they can be as they get older.
Teaching Assistant - Fan Luo
Ms. Fan Luo was born and grew up in China mainland. She came to the U.S. in 2006 to pursue her master’s degree in Second Language Literacy Education at University of Southern Maine. Besides teaching at Roots and Fruits, she also teaches Chinese children dance, culture and language at different schools in Portland area. Ms. Fan takes teaching as a life-long career, but she has never given up her interests in dance, swimming, art and literature. She enjoys her new life in the U.S. and believes that this cross-culture experience has taught her many things and even changed the way she views the world. In all, Ms. Fan is very happy about being a part of Roots and Fruits family and would love to share her culture experience with everyone.
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