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Michele Martin
Active 2019-2022
Michele Martin (she/her) is a Kindergarten teacher at PS 63Q. She adapted and developed the Explore & Describe: Pencil Drawing Lesson to harness the energy of her class of kinesthetic learners and build embodied knowledge of vocabulary. Check out her work and the work of her students on the activity page for Explore & Describe: Pencil Drawing.
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Jeanine Dalo
Active 2019-2022
Jeanine Dalo (she/her) is a 1st grade teacher at PS 63Q. She and her ICT class, explored emotions across multisensory literate means of expression: playing the Emotion Statues Game, Emotion Mapping and making 2-face puppets. Her work exemplifies how to notice & describe physical expression in a classroom. Check out her work and the work of her students on the activity page for The Statue Game: Embodying Core Emotions.
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Bibi Zabar
Active 2019-2021
Bibi Zabar (she/her) is a 1st grade teacher at PS 62Q. She focused on using the 5-senses journey and torn paper collage lesson to challenge her students to generate, elaborate and express setting details. She is an exemplar of how to integrate the Notice, Describe & Ask Protocol in visual arts activities to build language, confidence and a culture of child-driven innovation. Check out her work and the work of her students on the activity page for Explore & Describe: Torn Paper Collage.
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Jessica Giler
Active 2019-2021
Jessica Giler (she/her) is a 1st grade teacher at PS 62Q. She focused on using the 5-senses journey and torn paper collage lesson to challenge her students to generate, elaborate and express setting details. She is an exemplar for how to build a culture of reflection and appreciation for the variety of ways that different artists work and express ideas. Check out her work and the work of her students on the page about An Artist’s Work Process and the activity page for Explore & Describe Torn Paper Collage.
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Hope Komal
Active 2019-2021
Hope Komal (she/her) is a 1st grade teacher at PS 51Q. Ms Komal harnessed the imaginative world of her students through collaborative storytelling in the 5-senses journey, and then created an art making space where they could innovate, develop and express the details of a setting through torn paper collage. She is an exemplar for how to engage in play with kids to build collaborative story making skills. Check out her work and the work of her students on the activity page for Explore & Describe: Torn Paper Collage.
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Demetria Tripotseris & Melissa Rizzo
Active 2019-2021
Demetria Tripotseris (she/her) and Melizza Rizzo (she/her) are 1st grade ICT teachers at PS 51Q. They did research about how their students were able to retain information differently and better when given opportunities to engage in Multisensory Literate Expression. Links to their work and the work of their students coming soon.
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Christine Maya
Active 2019-2021
Christine Maya (she/her) is a 2nd grade teacher at PS 63Q. The PS 63Q second grade teacher leaders did research about how the various skills that kids were learning through Bridges language building practices could be transferred into writing and used to expand vocabulary. They also focused on using Bridges work as an opportunity to build her student’s confidence by having their work appreciated through the descriptive process. Links to her work and the work of her students coming soon.
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Karen Senita
Active 2019-2021
Karen Senita (she/her) is a 2nd grade teacher at PS 63Q. The PS 63Q second grade teacher leaders did research about how the various skills that kids were learning through Bridges language building practices could be transferred into writing and used to expand vocabulary. They also focused on using Bridges work as an opportunity to build her student’s confidence by having their work appreciated through the descriptive process. Ms Senita, does not not want to appear in photos and so we are representing her with a drawing and descriptive writing done by one of her students.
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Julisa Acosta
Active 2019-2021
Julisa Acosta (she/ her) is a Kindergarten teacher at PS 316Q who exemplifies how to give young children the chance to use their entire bodies and have fun while building language. Check out the way she facilitates the Move and Pose Warm Up on the 3-Phase Artistic Process Page or how she helps her students to Release, Reset and Refocus in physical expression activities.
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Theresa Donnelly
Active 2019- 2021
Theresa Donnelly (she/ her) teaches in a 1st grade class with 12 students with disabilities, 1 teacher & 1 para-professional. Theresa helped the Bridges team understand how to best use this work to engage and support students with disabilites. She is featured on this site leading the Statue Game to Introduce Advanced Emotion Vocabulary and in this video with tips for helping kids to Release, Reset and Refocus in physical expression activities.
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Teachers from PS 66Q
Active 2019-2020
PS 66Q was only able to participate in Bridges for one year before the pandemic. The classroom teachers were exemplary partners and we focused much of our documentation for that first year in their classrooms. Although they did not get to participate as teacher leaders, the work of the PS 66Q teachers and students is featured throughout the resources on this site.
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Kathy Anderson
Active 2014-2018
Kathy Anderson (she/her) is a Kindergarten teacher at PS 153. A staunch advocate for the importance of play in early childhood classrooms, Kathy emboldened the Bridges teaching artists, design team and her fellow classroom teachers to stand up for children and the rigor of the work they are engaged in through play. Links to her work and the work of her students can be found on the Landing Page for Teachers.
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LoriAnn Tholl
Active 2014-2018
LoriAnn Tholl (she/her) is a 2nd grade teacher at PS 153Q. Ms.Tholl was instrumental in articulating how Bridges strategies could help classroom teachers tap into different modes of expression to help students develop literacy skills. Check out her work and the work of her students on the page about Multisensory Literate Expression.
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Kristen Sousa
Active 2014-2018
Kristen Sousa (she/her) is a 1st grade teacher at PS 153. Ms. Sousa helped to articulate how Bridges activities could best serve her multilingual learner students. Her clear facilitation style and regard for her students has been influential in the way our activity scripts are written. You can see her work and the work of her students on the activity page for Emotion Vocabulary Activity 3: Mapping Advanced Emotion Words.
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Jean Antoldi
Active 2014-2018
Jean Antoldi (she/her) is a 1st Grade teacher at PS 229. Ms. Antodi is an exemplary facilitator and did research into how to create opportunities for multisensory literate expression in order to support her students as independent story makers and build vocabulary. Check out her work and the work of her students on the activity page for The Statue Game: Introducing Advanced Emotion Vocabulary and the page about Multisensory Literate Expression.
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Janine Longo
Active 2014-2018
Janine Longo (she/her) is a 2nd grade teacher at PS 229Q. Ms. Longo and her students explored “Charlotte’s Web” using the 5 senses journey. They created torn paper collage puppets and puppet theaters and spent many weeks creating and retelling the story in small groups. Their in depth work deeply informed the Bridges research around puppet play and retelling. Check out their work on the page about Multisensory Literate Expression.
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Jacqualine Vallone
Active 2014-2018
Jacqualine Vallone (she/her) is a 2nd grade teacher at PS 19Q. In her time as a Bridges classroom teacher and researcher Ms. Vallone made many astute observations about how arts activities unlocked verbal confidence and what productive, healthy noise in her classroom of English language learners. She helped the Bridges teaching artists, design team and her fellow classroom teachers to advocate for classrooms full of children speaking about their art and what they imagined! Check out her work on the Landing Page for Teachers.
