Elementary staff
Trillium Room
Guide: Francesca Lowes
Francesca Lowes, a west coast native, graduated from Colorado College in 2003. Since then, she has enjoyed working with children in a variety of capacities and in a variety of locales around the globe. She has worked as a one-on-one aide in Vermont, as a substitute teacher and private tutor in Montana and California, and as an English teacher in South Korea. To each experience, she has brought a great degree of intentionality, compassion, and patience.
For Francesca, discovering Montessori education felt like coming home. In 2008, she completed her AMI Elementary training at the Washington Montessori Institute and received her M.Ed from Loyola College in Maryland. While Francesca's professional connection to Montessori education has developed fairly recently, her profound personal alignment with the principles embodied by the approach has been life-long. She feels deeply inspired by the capacity of the Montessori method to support and nurture the total development of each individual child.
Francesca brings an abundance of joy and enthusiasm to her work. She is passionate about facilitating a dynamic, healthy, and creative learning environment for her students. Her other interests include travel, the natural world, sustainable living, and yoga. She joined the Sunstone community as the Trillium Room guide in the fall of 2008.
Assistant: Cally Fruscello
Appreciation for the care and development of children began early on right in my family being an older cousin and a young aunt. In my undergrad years, in NY and Italy I studied psychology and art. During those formative years while studying I acquired college credits for working at the university preschool. I moved to Seattle and swung coffee for nearly 3 years, all the time doing child care for friends or working with Art Corps. Given all the years I had worked with children I explored Montessori education and found a position to substitute at a Children's house. I developed a great appreciation for the philosophy and its applied practice. I finished a primary training with NAMC in 2005 and came to Sunstone in 2006. I have since worked as aftercare staff, in the office and now in the Trillium room as the assistant. Outside of the classroom you'll find me dealing/exhibiting fine prints and developing a nutritional consulting program.
Camassia Room
Guide: Robert Salazar
Robert returns for his fifth year at Sunstone Montessori after experiencing life in his native Montana for several previous years. Robert has many years of experience as a teaching assistant in both the Lupine and Trillium classrooms. He has also worked with children in a number of other environments, including private tutoring, residential treatment facilities, summer camps, and as a team coach for basketball, football, and baseball. Robert received his BA in psychology from the University of Montana and graduated from the AMI Training Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Robert brings with him into the classroom a great love for the outdoors and an appreciation for the essential role nature plays in our development. He developed an outdoor summer adventure camp which has been attended by several groups of his former Sunstone students over the past few summers in Montana. This program is a unique opportunity to explore rugged terrain, accomplish some serious hiking, and to experience fully the challenges and joys of leaving city life behind for a few days.
Assistant: Anne Adams
Anne Adams was introduced to Montessori education, Italy, and the Italian language at the age of five. While her mother trained to become a Montessori teacher, Anne spent a very happy year discovering what was in all those boxes on the shelves of her classroom. Now, Anne spends her time with children who are happily exploring and discovering what the elementary classroom - and the world outside it - holds for them.
Anne is tremendously inspired by the children with whom she shares her day. As a trained Primary guide, Anne has profound respect for the relevance of the Montessori approach, and she appreciates the opportunity to see it in action. Anne is also an Iyengar Yoga instructor; teaching five classes a week, she is humbled by and grateful for all that she learns from her students.
Lupine Room
Guide: Annabeth Jensen
With two decades of Montessori teaching experience, Annabeth Jensen is the guide for the 9 to 12 year olds at Sunstone Montessori School. Along with her rich, experienced background, Annabeth brings much energy and enthusiasm for her work with children.
Annabeth began her Montessori career as a primary assistant in Portland. After receiving her training in Washington DC, she stayed on two more years to teach 6-9 year olds. Upon returning to Portland, she taught at the 6-9 level for several years. For the last 13 years, she has been enjoying her work at the 9-12 level.
Annabeth's Montessori experience and contributions extend beyond the classroom. She served as president of the Oregon Montessori Association, has presented at local and national Montessori conferences, was presented the Susie Huston Memorial Award from the Oregon Montessori Association for her exemplary teaching and served as a Board member for three years at Childpeace Montessori School.
Annabeth received her BA in Psychology from Reed College, her AMI elementary diploma from the Washington Montessori Institute, and her Master's in Education from Loyola College. Prior to her Montessori career, Annabeth practiced social work with indigent adult felony offenders and juvenile prostitutes.
A Portland native, Annabeth has traveled extensively in Europe, Northern Africa, Mexico, and Belize as well as traveling and backpacking throughout the United States. She's the mother of three children aged 15, 13, and 9 years. In her spare time she also enjoys yoga, gardening, backpacking, and writing.
Assistant: Amy Hutchinson
Amy is very excited to be joining the Sunstone community as an assistant this fall. Having recently moved to Portland from the Bay Area, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to share her skills and enthusiasm for experiential and hands-on learning gleaned from two years working for an outdoor education program. As a naturalist, she helped guide students in their explorations of coastal marshes, tidepools and redwood forests, interpreting natural history features and emphasizing themes of conservation and interdependence through art, music, games and simply rolling around in the mud. Watching her students' faces light up in awe upon learning the age and history of the enormous trees they were exploring was a continual source of inspiration for Amy, one that fueled her desire to explore the realm of education inside a walled classroom.
When not chasing salamanders, puddle stomping, or climbing trees, Amy loves to travel, read and play soccer, a sport she's played and coached for years.
Amy holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and Geography from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and plans to combine her interests in education, science and the outdoors at the graduate level in the next few years. She is very excited to get to know the students and families of Sunstone and looks forward to learning and growing with them!
