Meet our teachers

Natalie Connor, M.A.

Assistant Director & Pedagogista

Natalie Connor is very excited to be part of the CWO team. She has a Masters in Early Childhood Education and is passionate about the Reggio Emilio approach. Before joining CWO she previously taught at Reggio-inspired schools in Brooklyn, New York and internationally in Bangkok, Thailand. At these schools she was able to gain a deep understanding of how an emergent and project based approach can be implemented to create meaningful and hands-on learning experiences for children, as well as how the environment plays a vital role as a third teacher. Natalie strongly believes that the Reggio Emilia philosophy allows children to be discoverers, empowering them to be active learners who construct knowledge both independently and in joyful and collaboration with others. She has witnessed how powerful and motivating learning can be when children are respected and valued as capable individuals and are encouraged to seek answers to their own questions. 

In her previous role, Natalie functioned as both a classroom teacher and a part-time Early Years Coordinator, acting as a liaison between her school’s early childhood teaching teams and the overarching administration. In this capacity she collaborated on curriculum development, provided mentoring and facilitative support for teachers and led professional development workshops. Natalie’s success in this position further encouraged her to continue to develop and hone her many leadership capabilities.

As both a classroom teacher and a steward of program administration, Natalie remains on a continuous learning journey to strengthen her practices as an Anti-Racist, Anti-Bias educator, striving to provide culturally responsive education that will support all children and respect diverse perspectives. The Children’s Workshop Oakland’s philosophy and Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education aligns closely with her own values, beliefs and passions as an educator.

Some other fun facts about Natalie include: Growing up mostly overseas, from Grade 1 until college she lived in Southeast Asia. Both of her parents are teachers as well. After college she worked in the fashion industry in New York City for five years. She has a wife named, Caitie, and two cats named, Marge and Barbara. She loves crossword puzzles, dance, poetry, vegetarian food and the beach. She visited California many times prior to joining CWO but had never lived here. Now officially a West Coaster, Natalie is thrilled to be part of the wonderful group of children, families and dedicated educators that make up the inspiring CWO community!

Samuel Maier, M.A.

Sam comes from a long line of teachers. After growing up in his mother and father’s classrooms, he was convinced that he would do anything but teach! But, as life seems to go, that is how he is happiest, and he has devoted his life to working with young children. Sam has taught across the country, starting in Pasadena, CA before relocating first to Chicago and later to New York City. Sam has taught both as a classroom teacher and as a studio art teacher. In 2017 he completed a dual Masters degree in Philosophy and Education from Teachers College at Columbia University, specializing in contemporary social theory and progressive, critical and multicultural education.

Sam is a firm believer in the importance of play. His classrooms always contain a variety of open-ended materials for experimentation, construction and storytelling. Reggio Emilia’s project-based approach appeals to Sam because of the vast room it leaves for children to learn cooperatively together. In Reggio-inspired classrooms, students’ innate desire to learn about their world and from each other is recognized and highly valued and responsibility for both constructing the curriculum and continuously shaping the many lenses through which that curriculum comes to be explored is thus placed in the children’s hands, with their teachers acting as co-learning partners and framing facilitators in the service of their vision. 

Before moving to the East Bay, Sam spent the 2019-2020 school year working at schools in various small villages in India, from the Ladakhi Himalayas to tropical valleys in Tamil Nadu. The year abroad exposed Sam to culturally sustaining educational organizations that create play-based curricula in a very different context. These schools prioritize skill-based education, particularly farming and crafts, as a way to ensure that schooling feels familiar and applicable to children’s rural home lives. Environmental and cultural sustainability were central to these schools’ missions and the experience will forever shape the way Sam considers his role as teacher and his work as an educator.

Outside the classroom Sam likes to work with his hands, particularly with clay. While living in New York, he showed his work at various galleries in Manhattan. Sam hand-builds geometric vases out of slabs of stoneware. He also collects children’s books. (Tony’s Hard Work Day by Alan Arkin – 1972 edition with illustrations by James Stevenson is one of his prized possessions!) Additional passions include urban cycling and cycle and pedestrian-safe urban design, cooking, playing tennis and basketball and political organizing.

Sara Candito

Sara is a creative and caring teacher who is passionate about the importance of play for preschool-age learning. Over the past decade, Sara has worked as an assistant preschool teacher, substitute and parent volunteer in early childhood and elementary school classrooms. She is dedicated to supporting the emotional, social and cognitive development of young children through play and wonder-based learning activities. 

As a former designer, Sara’s passion for teaching began when she became a mother. The birth of her first son opened her eyes to the rewarding life of working with young children. During the six years that she served as a weekly volunteer within her sons’ preschool and elementary school classrooms, Sara discovered her gift for positively, calmly and respectfully engaging children. It was in the classroom that Sara first realized how much teaching leverages the two most essential facets of her personality: her drive to nurture and her spark for creativity. 

While working as an assistant teacher in the Children’s House at Global Montessori International School in 2019, Sara completed her Early Childhood Education certificate through UCLA Extension and prepared to formally launch her teaching career when the COVID-19 pandemic got in the way! Once schools reopened, she began substitute teaching at The New School of Berkeley, where it felt incredible to be part of a program that respected children as individuals and allowed them the freedom to explore their environment.

As a first-year teacher, Sara’s commitment to continuing her own learning resulted in her discovery of the Reggio Emilia approach which affirmed her ardent belief in children’s vital right to play. After attending an online professional development conference called the “Free to Play Summit” earlier this summer, Sara came away with a plethora of ideas for bringing wonder, nature and child-led play into the classroom. She has fallen in love with the Reggio spirit of collaborative learning and with the inquiry-driven and emergent project-based teaching environment at CWO! She is a huge fan of open-ended use of loose parts and found materials to power children’s imaginations and is thrilled to be partnering with Teacher Emma in the 4s class! 

Sara holds a joint BS and BA from UC Davis in Design and Visual Communication Arts and in Italian, a professional degree in Fashion Design from FIDM and a Montessori Language Arts certification. In her free time she enjoys exploring the Bay Area with her husband and her two wonderful sons.

Bianca Di Palma

After taking a few years off to raise her two daughters, Bianca is looking forward to getting back into the classroom. Bianca studied Psychology at the University of San Francisco where she became fascinated with early childhood development, particularly the cognitive benefits of play and its effects on the growing brain. After volunteering within a preschool program in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, Bianca knew she wanted to work in early childhood education. While teaching, Bianca received her early childhood certificate from City College of San Francisco. 

Bianca has over ten years of experience in early childhood education. She has worked within various types of programs over the years, from state funded pre-K to smaller private schools. Over the course of her teaching journey Bianca discovered and became a dedicated practitioner of the Reggio-Emilia philosophy. With over eight years of experience as a Reggio teacher, Bianca aims to create an environment where children’s ideas and interests are valued and early school experiences reflect joy and foster a lifelong love of learning. She encourages children to do their own research and to be observant and curious, empowering them to ask and seek answers to their questions. 

Bianca is originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico and has been residing in the Bay Area for 18 years.  She lives in Oakland with her husband Mike and their two daughters, Renata and Leona, along with a dog and too many cats.

Erin Weckel

Teacher Erin is a learner and educator with experience working with children in forest school programs, pediatric emergency rooms, behavioral health settings, school gardens and beyond. Her passion lies in a nuanced understanding of the importance of each child being seen for who he/she/they are fundamentally. She thus encourages all children in their own discoveries, individuality and formations of community. Devoted to cultivating holistic learning environments and interactions that are supportive, explorative, respectful and silly, she finds interdisciplinary inspiration for her teaching everywhere, but especially in the natural environment.

After earning her B.A. in English at the University of Oregon, Erin spent time in Eugene, Oregon and in Brooklyn, New York prior to her return to the East Bay (where she was born and raised). She can be found outside of the classroom jumping into as many bodies of water as she can manage, continuing her search for the perfect combination of vegetables atop homemade pizza and laughing too loudly with friends in parks.

Breezy Mader

Teacher Breezy is so excited to be joining the CWO team this year! While they took an unorthodox path to early childhood education–first obtaining a degree in biochemistry and then moving through a series of odd jobs–they feel most at home in the classroom. Breezy has been an early childhood educator for the past six years and has experience teaching within many different types of programs including Jewish, Reggio-inspired and cooperative preschools. Having had the opportunity to practice many different types of teaching styles and methodologies, Breezy believes it is best to build classrooms that are child directed and play-based, while putting an emphasis on social and emotional development and community values. By learning alongside children, listening and responding to their sense of intrigue and supporting their curiosities, Breezy creates a learning environment that is responsive to and reflective of her students. Additionally, Breezy puts extreme care into supporting children’s social emotional development by implementing in depth conflict resolution steps, naming children’s emotions and giving them the opportunity to independently and creatively solve problems. Lastly, Breezy’s favorite part about being in a preschool classroom is the opportunity to build supportive communities rooted in care for each other and for our environment. 

Breezy moved to Oakland from the Midwest during the pandemic and has slowly been exploring and enjoying their new California lifestyle. In their free time Breezy loves to camp and hike, lay on the beach and eat at all of the amazing restaurants the Bay Area has to offer. 

Chelsea America