Meet Our Childtime Staff – Ms. Leisha, Jr. K Teacher & Team Lead

Ms. Leisha is the Junior Kindergarten Teacher, as well as team lead, at Childtime in Santa Ana, CA! Leisha joined our team nine months ago and has experience running her own in-home child care center. Want to learn more about this fabulous early educator? Check out our Q&A below!

What inspired you to have a career in early childhood education?

I love children. And I’ve been told by tons of my family members that that’s where I need to be because I’m great with them. I love working with kids, I love watching them grow. I love watching that light bulb come on when they get something and watching all their milestones. It’s just great to see.

You’re both a teacher and a team lead – what types of responsibilities do you have throughout the day?

I am doing all of my classroom responsibilities, teaching the curriculum, making sure kids are learning and doing everything that we need to in class such as learning letters, shapes and numbers. My kids are reading and writing in my classroom which I love! Outside of the classroom I have my team lead responsibilities which means I’m a part of management. Some of these responsibilities include helping out with closing the office every so often, checking emails again at the end of the day, handling all of the new student files and doing all the checklists at the end of the day.

Why do you believe early education programs are important for little ones?

This is when we shape and we grow their minds. They’re like sponges – they soak everything up! This is the key time for them. If we don’t get them now and instill in them those morals and values and teach them those lessons, they may not get it. This is the key time to teach them. This is what shapes them

What do you love about teaching Junior Kindergarten?

They’re so fun, and they spoil me rotten. Today’s actually my birthday and I walked in to flowers and cards and gift cards. I thought, “Oh my gosh, I feel so special!” That was so sweet. They all started singing “Happy Birthday” to me the second I walked in. They’re just so fun at this age. They want to learn, they’re so full of curiosity and I get to feed them that curiosity. It’s pretty fun.

How do you maintain strong communication with your students’ parents?

I talk to my parents pretty much every day. I say “Hi” ask them how their day was. I believe in communicating every day, not just once or twice a year, so that they’re always aware of what’s going on with their child. It’s really important. I also communicate through the brightwheel mobile app.

What has been one of your most memorable moments here?

We just had a Trike-a-Thon which I thought was really cute. We’re raising money right now for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and this was the first time we’ve done it. All the kids brought their bikes and we rode around the track on the playground a few times and the kids really loved it.

Do you have a favorite accomplishment since you’ve started here at Childtime?

I’ve only been here for nine months and I just finished my post-assessments with all of my students and I was really just so amazed at the stuff they learned this year, especially for my first year of teaching the curriculum. I’m still learning and adjusting, myself. Really seeing how well they did on all of their assessments at the end of the year, their reading and their writing…they just learned so much. I was really proud of them.