OCP Teachers
Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool (OCP) Teachers

Becca Shepard (Chickadees-Younger 2’s T,Th) 

Becca, our newest Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool (OCP ) teacher, gained her earliest experiences as an educator at the middle school level and above. Becca and her husband, Clint, have two young children, Robin (3 years) and Eli (3 months) and spent several months in China, before recently relocating to Atlanta, via Columbus, GA. Becca is a trained conflict resolution mediator, taught classes in developmental psychology and in the learning processes of young children and has experience caring for children, age 0-5, in small groups. Becca strongly believes that the most important "work" of children is play. She sees preschool as a time to provide young children with opportunities to pretend, engage in imaginative play, explore the outdoors, interact with similar-aged children and to celebrate children's unique spirits and personalities.

Kate Reese (Wrens-Older 2’s, MWF)

Kate returns to Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool (OCP) for a third year, as our most seasoned veteran teacher. She has broad experience teaching children of multiple ages in varied settings, including working with children whose parents were incarcerated. Her most important contribution to the OCP curriculum is an appreciation of the daily rhythms and seasonal flow of the early childhood years. In Kate’s classroom, children learn to take the lead, follow their unique interests and discover personal rhythms of learning. Kate is a certified yoga instructor and has taught yoga for more than five years. She has two daughters, Bella (age 8) and Lily (age 4 1/2), who attend the Waldorf School of Atlanta. Lily attended OCP in 2006-07.

Daphne Osell (Owls-3/4’s, MWF)

Daphne is returning for a second year as a teacher at Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool (OCP). She has experience with children from pre-school through ninth grade. She has worked in numerous schools and for non-profit agencies, training teachers in best practices in the arts and classroom management. Daphne is very interested in the natural world, having worked as a dolphin and whale researcher for more than two years, and is always looking for new ways to incorporate natural objects and respect for the environment in her classroom. She and her husband Julian have two children, Maya, 12, and Fiona, 3, who attended OCP in 2006-07.

Anna Solowiej (Sparrows-3/4’s M-F) 

Anna is also a returning teacher, who brings a global perspective and twenty years of teaching experience to Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool (OCP). She served in the Peace Corps in Nepal as a community health educator to villagers and has broad teaching experience at preschool level in Georgia, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. This will be Anna’s second year teaching at OCP. She lives in Grayson with her husband Scott and her two sons, Ben and T.J.