July Company-Wide Teacher of the Month

We want to send out a big congratulations to all of our July 2015 Teacher of the Month nominations! All of these women are incredible educators and do an amazing job with their classrooms and kiddos! The following teachers were nominated by their Program Directors and Assistant Directors for this achievement:

Megan Bell – Ozark
Andrea Robertson – Chestnut
Angela Soule – Colorado Springs
Sholanda Washington – Southlake
Ardell Bean – Cardinal
Maria Herrera – Rogers
Charissa Dubin – Gilbert
Andrea Erickson – Scottsdale
Emily Ester – Leawood
Victoria Cockrell – University City
Janie Sheehan – Lakeway
Donna Mayfield – Claremont
Diana Lopez – Willowbrook

Congratulations to all of these nominees! We are very thankful for all you do for the children in your care every day!

Our July 2016 Company-Wide Teacher of the Month is Martha Hanson from our Littleton, Colorado location. Martha is the lead teacher in the infant room.

Martha’s supervisor, Lynda, had the following to say;

“The moment you walk into Ms. Martha’s infant room, you feel welcomed and safe. She has such a knack for making parents feel at ease when they drop off their infant for the first time. One of our newest families with a young infant told Martha that she didn’t even cry dropping off her daughter for the first time because that’s how comfortable she felt with Martha how confident she was in her care for the babies. That says a lot about a person! Martha is such a caring woman and enjoys every second she spends with our babies. Besides her personality and caring nature, she is also a rule follower and wants to do the right thing for the right reasons. You will never find a baby’s hands go unwashed after a meal or a diaper change in Martha’s room. She is so diligent about the cleanliness of both her infants and her room, and all of our parents greatly appreciate that. Martha is also a great mentor for our other infant teachers; she has a lot of knowledge to pass on and she loves to do so. There have been quite a few changes in our infant program and Martha has handled them gracefully. Our first week of August, she will go from having 5 infants in her room to 10 infants every day! She is more than ready and willing to accept the challenge and is excited to meet more babies. We appreciate her passion for early childhood education and her huge heart for our most precious students. We can’t wait to watch her grow with us and continue to provide excellent care to our infants. Martha deserves the teacher of the month because she is the best infant teacher around!”

Martha has worked in a school setting since her adult children were young! She would volunteer in their classrooms while they were at school. She enjoyed being in the school and working beside amazing teachers and students. When Martha moved to Colorado in 2005, her boys were a little older and the schools were not in need of volunteers. She decided that she would enjoy working with infants the most so she began working as an assistant teacher in an infant room. She loved what she was doing so Martha took all the classes that were necessary to become an Early Childhood teacher and Infant Nursery Supervisor.

Martha enjoys working with the children the most. “I love the babies that I care for and can’t believe how quickly they are growing! I love the school and the beautiful classroom that I get to work in each day!” She also enjoys working with so many fun people and has learned so much from her experience at LSP in Littleton.

Martha works in the Wonderland classroom where the youngest infants get to spend their day. She loves working with infants because every interaction they have with the child will make a difference in their day. Martha loves helping young infants develop the necessary skills needed and being able to comfort them while their parents are away. “I also love the partnership that I develop with the families. I love to help guide them in the development of their precious child.”

When asked what Martha’s favorite curriculum project she has done in her classroom, she responded with, “With young infants, it is hard to get really involved in arts and crafts but I love doing activities that include a footprint or handprint. While doing the activity I get to see the child’s face change as they feel the paint on their hands or feet. I then get to talk with them about how it feels and then we get to talk about colors, texture, feelings and whatever the hand print or foot print turned in to. I love watching the babies smile as we do the special activities during the day.” Martha states that in the young infant classroom, the child learn so much from the communication that you have with them throughout the day. She believes that it is so important to talk with each child. The more they hear and experience things, the more the child will retain the information.

Outside of work, Martha enjoys playing with her new puppy, Bella. She cannot wait to spend time with her as soon as she gets home. She is very excited for Bella to become her new running partner! Martha is also an avid reader, runner and gardener. She loves reading Christian novels, she runs 7 miles every weekday and loves to take care of plants and flowers in her garden during the summer. Martha also loves looking at the sunrise from her front porch every morning.

One thing that people may not know about Martha is she has lived in many different states including New York, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. She is proud to call Colorado her home and loves living there!