Kate Langdon, Grade 4

Kate is ecstatic to be a part of the Green Woods family for a second year. Having been born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, she decided it was time for a change and moved to the Philadelphia area after her college graduation. Kate graduated from Susquehanna University in 2005 with a degree in Elementary Education and an emphasis in English. Her love and enthusiasm for reading and writing transpires through all of her learning activities. She enjoys helping children transfer their thoughts, creativity, and imagination into personal pieces of writing. Before joining the Green Woods community, Kate taught second and third grade in Southwest Philadelphia. Currently, she is teaching fourth grade and couldn’t be happier!
            Since Kate comes from a family of five children, she is used to being active and spending the majority of her free time out doors. Kate reigns from a family of athletes; therefore, sports are a large part of her daily life. Since her childhood, Kate has played soccer, softball, field hockey, tennis, and has recently taken up long distance running. When she isn’t working or playing sports, you can find Kate sitting on the beach, reading a book, or laughing with her friends and family.

When I decided it was time to take on a new challenge, I quickly learned that Green Woods would be the perfect place for me and my teaching style. From the second I started down the long driveway that leads to the school, I new I had found what I had been searching for. The dynamic and mission of the school fit the mold I had in mind. The small class sizes would allow me to develop a strong family mentality within the learning community, as well as, create hands on learning activities. The serene setting of the school also caught my attention. The trees, noises, and sights surrounding the school motivated me to want to learn more about the surrounding area. With hundreds of acres of land to explore, I am eager to incorporate the outdoors into my daily lessons. I hope to learn right along with the students on our journey through the fourth grade watershed year.

Jean Wallace, Academic Director

As the Academic Director and CEO, Jean is responsible for guiding the design and implementation of our award-winning curriculum and for supporting the direction of all areas of school life. Jean works in collaboration with our staff, Board, community and educational partners to build on our successful past toward an even greater future.

Charter schools are public schools.  As such Jean is accountable to the Department of Education for ensuring that our students are receiving a standards-based learning experience from qualified teachers within the guidelines and mandates of Federal, State, and Charter School Law. In addition to the many responsibilities associated with curriculum and instruction, Jean supports Green Woods through successful grant writing, ongoing website communication, mentoring our Jr. School Leadership Team mediation team, and by networking with key partners from within and outside the Green Woods community.

As a member of the Governor's Council for Environmental Education, Jean works with many of the State's environmental experts and agencies. "By working collaboratively with the Department of Education and the outstanding environmental agencies throughout our state, Green Woods is able to gain both valuable resources along with well-deserved local, state and national recognition for the exceptional work being done by our teachers and students," Jean said.
In addition to the daily interactions with Green Woods dedicated staff and parents, Jean enjoys those rare and special times when she gets to trail along on hikes with our budding naturalists. "Hiking with even our youngest students and seeing how they interact with the natural world always presents a wonderful learning opportunity for me. While many young children enjoy walking in the woods, Green Woods students are skilled observers, able to take in the big picture of the field ecosystem while at the same time patiently exploring the leaf litter in search of the smallest signs of life."
Jean currently holds four Pennsylvania education certifications: Principal K-12, Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, K-12 Environmental Education, and Elementary Education. She earned her post-graduate certifications and her MAEd in Environmental Education from Arcadia University, a BA in Elementary Education from Beaver College, and an Associate Degree in Health Science from Gwynedd Mercy College.

Each day is a new day of exploration and discovery as we challenge each other to provide the best possible learning environment for our students.

In less than four years time our amazing teaching staff has taken teaching and learning to a whole new level. Working in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, our teachers, themselves, developed our K-8 award-winning EIC Curriculum which engages our students in integrated learning experiences that span all disciplines. Utilizing our 350-acre learning laboratory as an outdoor classroom, our partnership with the Schuylkill Center continues to grow and thrive as the Center’s expert educators spend many hours working with our classroom teachers to enhance the teaching of environment and ecology concepts.

Green Woods is the only public/charter school in the entire country to be housed directly within a nature center. Years ago I earned my graduate degree by utilizing this same setting as a laboratory for learning. It is so rewarding to now spend time observing our students as they explore and discover new things while hiking in the same woods where I learned so much about the natural world.