MEET THE TEACHERS

JAMIE ST. CLAIR

Director & Teacher

LIZ WISE

Co-teacher

MEET MS. JAMIE

I am originally from Arizona, but have lived in Texas since 2014. Our family loves the greater Austin area, it's people, and all it has to offer for families.

In my spare time, I love spending time outdoors with my family. I enjoy hiking, biking, and swimming as well as playing soccer. My 6-year-old daughter is one of my students at the Sunflower school, and when we aren't in school, we love going on adventures together.

I chose my career path in education while still in high school, working for a daycare.

In college, I majored in Early Childhood Education and went on to teach at Early Head Start in Arizona, before moving to Hawaii (an adventure seeking move).

In Hawaii, I had an amazing teaching experience, working in a Head Start/Special Needs preschool combo. After spending a year enjoying the island, we ended up in Austin where I worked as a preschool teacher, and then as a nanny.

Finally, a move north of Austin in 2019 lead me make some important decisions about my work and my daughter's schooling, and that is how The Sunflower School was created - an opportunity to provide my child with the education I wanted for her, while embarking on an independent career of my own.

I am so happy to be able to share my vision for early childhood education with the community, and am so grateful to be building our little learning "village" in the Williamson County area.

Qualifications

Contact

QUALIFICATIONS

DEGREED

Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education

EXPERIENCED

17 total years of experience working with young children:

1st Grade/Kinder/Pre-k combo teacher
Preschool teacher
Nanny
Daycare caregiver
General childcare/babysitting

LICENSED

The Sunflower School is a licensed child care operation. This means Jamie has been background checked and is subject to inspections by Texas Childcare Licensing to ensure compliance to the Minimum Standards for Child Care Homes in Texas.

CPR AND FIRST AID CERTIFIED

Up-to-date training in CPR and First-aid practices help to ensure the safety of students while at school and give parents peace of mind while their little one is away.

MEET MS. LIZ

I am a native Austinite, now living in lovely Leander with my husband and his mother, whom we help care for.

I have always enjoyed working with children, helping care for my nieces and nephews while growing up and volunteering in church before attending college in Utah at BYU where I received my bachelor's degree in Family Science and Early Childhood Education. I earned my MEd in Curriculum and Instruction after returning to TX.

My first position out of college was with a Head Start program. I feel that it gave me a great foundation for my career in early childhood. I have worked in a variety of settings and find that I love small classes and programs. I think they give you more opportunities to dive deeper into the children's interests and give more attention to areas where they need extra help to develop the whole child. This quote, attributed to Mr. Rogers, sums up how I feel about learning and play, "Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But, for children, play is serious learning." I enjoy setting up the environments to encourage literacy, numeracy, and all areas of development.

Outside of the classroom I enjoy road trips with my husband and spending time with family. I consider myself a maker and love creating, knitting, cooking, sewing, and gardening. I like the creative process sometimes more than the end product.