Q&A with Trailblazer Ms. Tiffany Hamm

As part of our school-wide honoring of Black History Month, throughout the month of February we will be highlighting some of our spectacular Black and African American faculty and staff. Today, we talk with Ms. Tiffany Hamm - the Waldorf School of Baltimore's first Black Early Childhood Lead Teacher, and all around exceptional human.

How has your background/influences brought you to this position, and what made you want to be a Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher?

For more than a century, Waldorf education has maintained a strong focus on immersing children in the outdoors to promote a love of nature. Led by dedicated class teachers, the Waldorf School of Baltimore has transformed this core belief into a formal, concerted effort to prepare our students to become empowered, responsible environmental stewards. Part of that important work is keeping our wonderful Waldorf Woods healthy by clearing away invasive and non-native plants and vines.

It’s the first day of school and a brand new class of kindergarteners are seeing the Waldorf School of Baltimore’s newest classroom for the first time. Fourteen sets of wide, wonder-filled eyes take in the newly constructed space as they are warmly welcomed by their teachers, Ms. Lida Lawrence and Ms. Haley Snyder. In this classroom, students find a beautiful play kitchen (built by a loving grandparent), open ended play materials, child-sized stools, and new wooden tables ready for snack time and art projects. No one can deny this is a beautiful space to learn.

Check out a nature studies blog where Ms. Jung takes the first grade class onto a Nature Studies trek through the forest.

First graders have been very interested in foraging edible plants. We have learned how to find some common ones in the woods, and have talked about how you can eat them. We learned about a list of plants that tells you if you can pick an edible plant or not.

As the Brood X cicadas begin to emerge, our kids are learning about them and being inspired by them. Take a look at how we're using this rare moment for experiential learning.

Check out a nature studies blog where Ms. Jung takes the first grade class onto a Nature Studies trek through the forest.

First grade seeded, and planted some Milkweed to help the butterflies during Nature Studies on Tuesday.

After that we went for a walk in the woods and learned about an invasive weed you can actually eat!!

Check out a nature studies blog where Ms. Jung talks about how some good old mud can be good for children of every age.

Getting in the mud, touching it, and having it on your hands, in your hair, and all over your face can be incredibly funny, silly, and actually good for you according to a blog I found. Take a look at the article which outlines how muddy kids are happier, healthier, more relaxed and great leaders.

Check out a nature studies blog from Ms. Jung she sees some of the our younger aftercare children master playground skills they've been working on.

CT AC kiddos are so proud they can hang upside down from the parallel bars! It takes practice, and perseverance to be able to pull yourself up to the bars and hang long enough to call over a teacher to show them what you can do.

Check out a nature studies blog from Ms. Jung as she finds a new friend on campus which signals that Spring must be on the way!

As the ice melted and the sunshine warmed everything up we are starting to see signs that Spring is coming. This week on campus we’ve had a couple of nature encounters with a native wasp species who can be found here in Maryland: the Northern Paper Wasp.

Check out a nature studies blog from Ms. Jung. Our Cherry Tree friends climbed all the way to the top of (a short) tree. They were very proud of their achievement, and happily played up there for quite a long while.