Our Teachers

Dedicated. Professional. Caring.

Sugar Plums teachers come from all kinds of different backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We believe children thrive in such diversity. But all of our teachers share one thing in common: a love of teaching and guiding young children. They also share a commitment to Purposeful Play and bring their unique skill sets and interests to their lessons.

Rubina

Lead Teacher: Gumdrops

When an infant takes a rattle for the first time, using their newfound grasping skills to shake and move the rattle to different rhythms, Ms. Rubina's heart soars. And when she looks into their eyes and they make eye contact and returns the smile, she's in heaven. She's committed to a partnership with parents, sharing lessons of the day to help parents reinforce teaching at home. In addition to her early education certifications, she holds a B.S. in Related Arts.

Favorite Educational Toy: Rattles

Favorite Type of Purposeful Play: Small Motor Play

Joined Sugar Plums: 2015

Yolanda

Lead Teacher: Lemondrops

With over 25 years of childcare experience, Ms. Yolanda knows first-hand how to meet each child's unique needs. She gets excited when her students put their new found fine motor skills to use, using trial and error to grasp, stack and nest stacking cups. In addition to her early childhood certifications, she holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Banking and Finance.

Favorite Educational Toy: Stacking cups

Favorite Type of Purposeful Play: Small Motor Play

Joined Sugar Plums: 2011

Siby

Assistant Teacher: Lemondrops

Music and movement encourage children to move their bodies, learn about early language skills and interact with others. Siby gets excited when her babies reach for rattles and bang on musical instruments such as the piano and xylophone. She claps for her children as she encourages them to make sounds such as " la la la, ba ba ba, ma ma ma, as they are learning early language skills. Her babies start to watch lip movement and mimic the movement as they are learning rhythm and sounds.

Favorite Educational Toy: Piano and Xylophone

Favorite Type of Purposeful Play: Music and Movement

Joined Sugar Plums: 2021

Indu

Lead Teacher: Sweet Hearts

It's not uncommon to see tall towers of blocks in Ms. Indu's classrooms. She's working on construction play with both fine and gross motor skills, but she's also teaching some of the children's first language with words they can easily imitate like "fall down" and "uh oh". Her children also start to hear numbers and counting, as each added block makes the tower taller. And she loves watching her students make their own impressive towers - and then gleefully knock them over to start again. In addition to her early childhood certifications, Indu holds a B.S. in Economics.

Favorite Educational Toy: Building blocks

Favorite Type of Purposeful Play: Construction Play

Joined Sugar Plums: 2012

Chantal

Assistant Teacher: Sweet Hearts

Fatou

Lead Teacher: Jelly Beans

Ms. Fatou wishes parents understood just how much children learn through play. Lessons like taking turns, respecting others space, or new words all come through creative, purposeful play. And when her students greet each other in the morning with big hugs, she knows she's not just teaching but fostering a community. In addition to her early education certifications, she holds a B.S. in biology &, geology with a minor in secondary education.

Favorite Educational Toy: Building blocks

Favorite Type of Purposeful Play: Language & Literacy Play
Joined Sugar Plums: 2010

Samanthi

Assistant Teacher: Jelly Beans

Blocks are the foundation of math skills. Samanthi loves to teach her children different shapes, watch children build tall buildings while counting blocks, and using different shapes to create spaces. Building with Blocks helps children learn how to share, work together and be creative.

Favorite Educational Toys: Foam blocks and Legos

Favorite Type of Purposeful Play: Building Together

Joined Sugar Plums 2019

Vivian

Assistant Teacher: Jelly Beans

Sophie

Assistant Teacher: Jelly Beans

Jessica

Assistant Teacher: Jelly Beans

Lydia

Lead Teacher: Sugar Plums

Your child comes home and announces it's Wednesday! That's because Ms. Lydia loves language play and teaching letters, numbers, names and words. Creative projects like creating science-based placements featuring the first letter of your name not only organizes snack times but helps her students learn their own name letters. Lydia is also passionate about science and looks for ways to showcase the science behind children's everyday life.

Favorite Educational Toy: Science magnets

Favorite Type of Purposeful Play: Language & Literacy Play
Joined Sugar Plums: 2017

Cherry

Assistant Teacher: Sugar Plums

Bisrat

Floater: All Classes

Lauryn

Floater: All Classes

Mercedes

Floater: All Classes

Brigitte

Lead Teacher: Tootsie Pops

Lead Teachers

Our Lead Teachers are both experienced and credentialed by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) in early childhood education. Each of them holds their 90-hour MSDE Certification, focused on child growth & development as well as curriculum & teaching methods in infant, toddler and/or preschool care and activities. In addition, many of our Lead Teachers hold a college degree. (delete this in bold) in early childhood education or a related field. All of our Lead Teachers have a minimum of one year’s experience working in a Maryland licensed childcare center. Many of our teachers have over a decade of service in early childhood education and the average number of years of service for Sugar Plum teachers is six years.

Assistant Teachers

Some of our Assistant Teachers are well on their way to becoming Lead Teachers, having completed 45 hours of the 90 hours for certification. They are also being mentored by our Lead Teachers and gaining valuable experience with senior staff guidance.