About authors
Marie Faust Evitt is the head teacher of a preschool
class for four- and five-year-olds at the Mountain View Parent Nursery
School, a California parent co-op school she participated in when her
two sons were young. The school, continuously accredited by the National
Association for the Education of Young Children since 1996, is known
for its creative and developmentally appropriate curriculum.
Marie has extensive experience designing and implementing activities for preschoolers. She works closely with assistant teacher (and book collaborator) Tim Dobbins, as well as the longtime teachers of the younger classes, so she knows how activities can be expanded or simplified for a variety of ages. Because parents work in the classroom as part of their co-op responsibilities she has extensive practice presenting clear instructions and explanations. Marie also leads monthly parent education meetings.
Prior to becoming a preschool teacher, Marie worked for over 20 years as a newspaper reporter and freelance journalist. Her numerous articles on education, parenting and child psychology have been published in national magazines and websites including Newsweek, Parents, Child, Parenting, Scholastic’s Parent & Child, Scholastic.com, and Family Fun.
Marie has presented workshops at numerous national, regional, state and local conferences including the 2009 National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) national conference in Washington D.C., the Western Regional Conference of the National Science Teachers Association in Portland, the California Math Council- North conference at Asilomar and the California AEYC. She continues to freelance for magazines and websites.
Tim Dobbins has been the assistant teacher at the Mountain
View Parent Nursery School for more than 20 years, since his son and
daughter attended the school. Trained as an actor, Tim has a flair
for the dramatic plus an ability to demonstrate and explore science principles
in easy-to-understand activities. His creative, playful spirit
infuses all his teaching.
Tim is also a storyteller. He is famous at preschool for his humorous accounts of school happenings, which he writes for the monthly school newsletter. Whether he’s reporting on the pumpkins growing in the school garden or the dynamics of playground politics, Tim’s column draws chuckles.
Bobbi Weesen-Baer, a children’s
librarian for 30 years, teaches library reading readiness programs
for 3- and 4–year-olds. Building on her interest in science and
math education, Bobbi has developed new reading readiness activities
involving light and color, magnets and simple machines. A long-time proponent
of hands-on activities, Bobbi has made applesauce, baked cookies, built
puppets, demonstrated lasers and paper chromatography, and created
all types of handmade books with crowds of parents and children.
A mother of two children, Bobbi has a wealth of experience choosing just the right books for any children’s topic and audience.