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Director
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 Rebecca Hausammann earned her Bachelors degree from UC Berkeley in Humanities and received her Masters in Education and teaching credential from Stanford University. She holds a valid California Administrative Services Credential, and prior to working at Cascade Canyon School, served as Assistant Principal of Petaluma High School where she worked to develop an English Learner Academy, to develop an integrated 9-10 program and career pathways, to design the master schedule, and to hire and support teachers. Her passion is working collaboratively with teachers to design instruction that engages and stimulates each learner in their classroom.
Rebecca brings twelve years of experience as a classroom teacher and teacher leader in the Tamalpais district, most recently at Drake High School where Rebecca taught English and drama and was a mentor teacher. Her favorite experience at Drake was teaching in the Communications Academy, an inter-disciplinary, multi-age program for students interested in drama and video production.
Rebecca has worked extensively in school reform, small learning community design and project-based learning. In addition she has developed curriculum and assessment for the Tam District and led professional development for middle and high school teachers.
Rebecca resides in Fairfax, and looks forward to giving back to her community by serving the students, staff and families of Cascade Canyon. She is excited to embark on her second year as Director of Cascade Canyon School!
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Faculty
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 Kindergarten and First Grade Teacher, Theater & Sign Language
Peggy was educated as a child in Cyprus, England, France, Japan and
Hawaii. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in World Literature,
French and Linguistics from Stanford University and a Master's degree
in Special Education from San Francisco State University.
Peggy has directed cultural exchange programs specializing in
environmental education and the performing arts in Europe, Central
America, Canada, the South Pacific and the United States. She has been
a language arts teacher for the California State Literacy Project and
coordinator for the "Hands on Science" program of the Education Task
Force in Marin County, currently re-named as the Marin Teachers' Network.
Peggy is one of the founders of Cascade Canyon School and has always
been an active member of its staff. She is the Kindergarten and First Grade core
teacher, as well as a specialist teacher in theater and sign language. Peggy also serves on the Cascade Canyon School Board.
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Faculty
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 1st and 2nd Grade Teacher, Music Specialist (3-8), PE Specialist (K-2)
Jayme was awarded a Bachelor of
Music degree in vocal music performance by DePaul University in
Chicago. She is a certified Orff Schulwerk music educator and comes to
Cascade Canyon with a rich background in teaching elementary music.
Jayme obtained her multiple subject teaching credential and is completing work toward a
Masters of Science Degree in Education at Dominican University. This past summer, Jayme participated in the Writing Institute at Teachers College in Columbia.
Prior to her arrival at Cascade Canyon School, Jayme was the music teacher for Kindergarten through
sixth grade at Park Day School in Oakland where she enjoyed composing music for school performances, leading all-school sing and
teaching music through poetry, theater, movement, singing and
instrument ensembles.
Jayme brings a dedication to progressive education, to literacy and mathematics education, and to integrating the arts into the daily curriculum to her first and second grade classroom.
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Faculty
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 3rd and 4th Grade Teacher, Science Specialist (1-4)
Page grew up in North Carolina and earned a BA in Education and
Psychology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. After
graduation, she headed west and made the Bay Area home.
Page has over ten years teaching experience in the Bay Area including
work as an environmental educator, classroom teacher, private tutor,
and yoga teacher. She earned an MA in Language and Literacy Education
from San Francisco State and most recently spent five years as a
literacy specialist at Alvarado Elementary School in San Francisco
supporting struggling readers and writers.
As a resident of Fairfax, Page is thrilled to join the Cascade team and begin working in her own community.
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Faculty
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 5th and 6th Grade Teacher
Megan is excited to join the staff of Cascade Canyon this year as the
fifth and sixth grade core teacher and the PE teacher for grades 3-8. Megan comes with five years of experience teaching fourth and fifth grades in neighboring Ross Valley Schools, where she served as the grade level coordinator and worked intensively with GATE and EL students to differentiate learning. Megan has enjoyed participating in curriculum and technology pilots, coordinating student counceil and school events and working on strategic planning and student wellness.
Megan incorporates movement and exercise in her classroom to help students increase concentration; she also enjoys sharing her interests in drama and technology with her students to help make learning come alive. Passionate about American history, Megan is a graduate of the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher's Institute.
In her spare time, Megan can be found in or at a performance at the Playhouse, cheering on a game at Memorial park, socializing foster animals, or simply enjoying the local cafes and restaurants San Anselmo and Fairfax have to offer.
In addition to classroom teaching, Megan taught after school and summer science programs for students in grades K-6
throughout the Bay Area for the last 9 years, and continues to direct and train teachers in teaching hands-on science. Megan enjoys working with teachers on curriculum, and looks forward to collaborating with the Cascade Canyon team.
Megan grew up in Santa Cruz, but spent summers in Marin with her grandparents. She was inspired to become a teacher by her grandmother, a 30-year veteran teacher in the Reed District. Megan holds her BA and teaching credential from Dominican University in San Rafael.
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Faculty
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 7th and 8th Grade Humanities, Middle School Lead Teacher
Aaron Feldstein earned his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature
at Ohio University and received his Master of Science in Teaching at
the New School for Social Research in New York City. He also completed
coursework for an Administrative Credential at the City University of
New York.
For the past 14 years Aaron has worked as a teacher, a staff
developer, and a school and district-based administrator. He has worked
with both middle and high school students, but he finds the middle
school ages the most fascinating group to work with. After working at a
middle school teaching U.S. History and World Cultures for six years in
New York City, he was asked to join a cohort of teacher leaders who
obtained their administrative credentials. His administrative
experience includes serving as the Director of Talented and Enrichment
Programs for a school district in the Bronx, and as the Assistant
Principal of Humanities at the High School for Environmental Studies in
Manhattan.
After 10 years of working in New York City, Aaron left for the West
Coast, landing in Humboldt County. He Taught 8th Grade Language Arts at
Winship Middle School, in addition to serving as the County-Wide GATE
Coordinator, serving on the Strategic Planning Committee, and coaching
Soccer and Track and Field. Aaron has worked successfully with
extremely high functioning students as well as students who struggle
academically. He is very excited to join the staff and faculty of
Cascade Canyon School!
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Faculty
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 Math Teacher (7-8), Science Specialist (5-8), Music Specialist (K-2)
Karen Sonnenblick grew up in Miami, Florida and completed
her BA in Biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She earned her
Master of Science degree in Biology from the University of Oregon. Her research
focused on ecology and fire management. Karen then moved to Madison, Wisconsin,
where she worked teaching hands-on science and environmental education and
authoring middle school science curriculum for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Aldo Nature Center. She completed her elementary and
middle school teaching certification through Concordia University in Madison
and taught middle school math before leaving Wisconsin to move to Fairfax.
In her free time, Karen enjoys playing bluegrass and
old-time guitar, hiking, gardening and yoga. Karen is very excited to share her love
of science, music and math with the Cascade Canyon School community.
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Faculty
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 Spanish Specialist and Kindergarten Science Specialist
Devin Eckert received her BA in Environmental Education and Spanish
from Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. She began her studies of the
beautiful Spanish language at the age of 13 and quickly realized the
undeniable gift that it offered. She lived and worked in Costa Rica
during her Junior year of college where she taught Environmental
Studies in a 1st-6th grade, one-room Costa Rican schoolhouse.
Many of
the most valued relationships in her life exist solely in Spanish and
she could not be more excited to help Cascade Canyon students gain the
ability to communicate with another 400 million people, by
re-introducing Spanish into the Cascade Canyon School program K-8.
Devin is also excited to share her love of conservation and the natural
world with the Kindergarteners as their Science and Nature teacher.
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Faculty
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 JULIE HICKS-PLEDGER Art Specialist
Julie is excited to return to Cascade Canyon School staff this year as the art specialist, and looks forward to enjoying her second year in her new, fabulous art room. Julie holds her Masters in Education from Harvard University, with a concentration in Educational Media. At Harvard, Julie was honored to participate in Howard Gardner’s Project Zero, researching creativity and the brain. She brings a well-rounded arts background, having studied dance as an undergraduate at Florida State University. While at FSU she experienced her first job in education as part of a Health Education and Welfare (HEW) grant to study the role of humor in education. She gathered jokes from every 1st grader in Leon County Florida! She still uses this research in her teaching almost a quarter of a century later! This defining moment led to an “artrageous” career in arts education!
Julie has had over a decade classroom experience teaching with Very Special Arts Massachusetts, and in the Newton, Wellesley, West Roxbury and Framingham Public Schools. In North Carolina she taught and provided curriculum development in media arts education at Hope Valley Elementary School and the Durham Public Schools. Additionally she has done extensive curriculum development for New England Artist Training Project helping classroom teachers use the arts across the curriculum. At University of CA, Berkeley she taught workshops exploring art disciplines through language, history and writing. Outside of teaching at Cascade Canyon School, Julie continues to study textiles anywhere she can, from the Empty Spools Seminars to visiting artists from Surface Design Association and CCA.
And of course Julie strongly believes, artrageous as it may sound, that students learning about and through art should be the central focus to EVERYTHING else!
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Staff
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Office Manager
Donna Renaud returns to Cascade Canyon this year as our Office
Manager. Originally from Southern California, Donna moved to the Bay
Area in the early 1980’s and has worked as a paralegal in various San
Francisco law firms. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Health and
Physical Education from Humboldt State University where she competed in
intercollegiate volleyball and softball and was a 1985 inductee into
the HSU Hall of Fame for Athletics. She now enjoys coaching youth
sports, reading, traveling, the ocean, and life with her family. She
lives in San Geronimo with her partner and their two daughters, Emma
& Hayley.
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Faculty and Staff 
