Primary 1 Classroom - Mrs. Amy and Mrs. Carrie

Amy O'Connor Rissman

Mrs. Amy O’Connor Rissman has been intimately involved with Montessori since a very young age. In addition to attending a Montessori school as a preschooler, she was surrounded by Montessori at home - her parents founded a Montessori School in Key West, Florida in the 1970’s. She later worked at the Montessori School of Key West prior to moving to Vermont.

Amy has seemingly boundless energy both in and out of the classroom and the two frequently intersect. She first joined our community as a parent and found herself at the school often because she truly enjoyed working with the children and staff in the Montessori environment. She began pursuing her own formal Montessori training and joined our staff (officially) in 2006. In addition to being a mother of six who now lives in Westford, she also raises pigs and chickens in her spare time - a boon for our students, who have been able to watch her baby chicks hatch and her baby piglets take in the first few days of their lives. We wonder if the animals have acquired the Montessori gene that seems to run in the family!

Carrie Sansone

Mrs. Carrie Sansone was born and raised in Hinesburg, Vermont and currently lives in Cambridge with her husband and two boys, Alec and Clayton. She loves children and has a passion for early childhood education, and has been deeply involved in childcare for more than a decade - brightening the lives of her own children and many others.

Prior to joining us, Carrie worked for three years at the Tortoise and The Hare Childcare Center and for three years at Heartworks School in Williston, VT where she was in charge of her own preschool classroom. Mrs. Carrie has also dedicated herself to her own learning during this time, taking numerous courses in Early Childhood Education at Champlain College, as well as many training programs through the Childcare Resource Center and workshops with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Her hobbies include digital photography, camping, hiking, playing Frisbee, and gardening (especially planting flowers!)