Teachers

Ali was born and raised in Dublin, CA. This year she moved to Twain Harte, after marrying the love of her life.

Ali attended Dublin High School through independent study, and was able to graduate a year early. She took advantage of that time by going to Diablo Valley College, volunteering at her local church in Dublin, and nannying for several families. After that, she worked at Valley Christian Preschool for two years. Ali received her AA degree in History, and a certificate for Early Childhood Education from DVC.

Ali found her love for working with children when she was 14 years old after taking a month long mission trip to South Africa. After that trip, she came back knowing she wanted to serve children and took every step she could to follow that dream.

Ali is a passionate person that loves the environment, history, children, animals, and reading. In her spare time, you can find her at the beach, at a lake, playing with her puppy, learning new things, reading, or riding horses.

  I love the development and education of Children. I believe to create a holistic healthy space in which children can grow soaring to their highest potentials. Through creating immersive worlds a child’s individual needs are met, thus fostering their growth in their social, emotional, creative, physical and cognitive selves. I’ve had the amazing opportunity to work with children of various backgrounds from the Preschool Realm to the Elementary ages in a Montessori School. I’m passionate about working with children in planning these whole experiences guiding them through the discovery of art through its different forms and expressions. I look forward to continuing seeing all our budding artists grow.

Beth grew up in the California East Bay after moving from her birth place of Chicago Heights, IL.

She graduated from Tennyson High School then received her first AA degree in Commercial Art and a second AA degree in Early Childhood Development from Chabot College. She continued to take photography and fine art classes, figure drawing and oil painting for fun, and took American Sign Language.

At first Beth thought she would follow in her dad’s footsteps in Advertising but hated it! So she proceeded with Early Childhood Development. Thirty some years later she is still at it!

As a child her family camped and spent many happy times locally in the Sierra foothills and mountains. She fell in love with this area and always felt more at home here. She felt “homesick” whenever she had to return to the Bay Area.

Beth always knew she wanted to live here. Finally, after a divorce, she decided to make the move. It was very scary not having a job or knowing a soul. But she was blessed by finding a tiny cottage for rent owned by a Sonora family. It even came with a rent-a-teen and a rent-a-dog.

At the time she was doing In Home Care for hospice patients and the elderly. She really loved that work and met many wonderful people. Three years ago she moved back to Hayward to assist her own elderly mother. After her mom’s death, Beth returned to her sweet little home here in the Mother Lode.

Currently she is active at Calvary Chapel and enjoys gardening, camping, taking nature hikes, fishing and painting in watercolors, acrylics and oils. She is very grateful to be living her dream here in Sonora!

Jodi Gates was born in Iowa City, Iowa. She moved to Antioch, California with her parents and younger brother when she was 3 Years old.

After graduating high school she attended California State University working towards a degree in psychology. While attending college she worked for the Head Start program in schools all over Sacramento County. When she moved back to Antioch she began working for Starbucks Coffee Company and The Family Stress Center based in Concord, CA. While at the Family Stress Center she mentored youth with mental illness. While this job was extremely rewarding she moved on to work at the Fine Arts Preschool in Walnut Creek, CA and continued at Starbucks. In the meantime, her boyfriend, now husband, applied for a job in Tuolumne County. He received an IT position with the county and they moved to Sonora.

Jodi transferred to Sonora with Starbucks and continued to work for the company for seven years. The perks were great. She got married to Jamie and they had two little girls, Julia and Jenna. After Jenna was born Jodi became part of the team at Safari Learning Academy, the perks here are even better. She loves teaching children and helping them to find their voice. Jodi became the Head Toddler Teacher in the toddler program in 2015.

When Jodi is not working she loves to spend time with her family. They love hiking and camping. Every year Jodi and her husband hike to the top of half dome in Yosemite.

Diana’s training as a teacher started in Menlo Park where she went through the Miss Lorraine’s Modeling School where she taught skin care and exercise classes.

She continued to educate herself and attended Foothill College majoring in Computer Science. She ran a small clothing business while attending San Francisco University majoring in Broadcasting. She then began to study Opera at San Jose State, taking music classes, working full time and recording songs.

Diana started her own talent agency, found work for bands in the Bay Area and created a small circuit in the Motherlode. She was able to create jobs for models, musicians and dancers.

It wasn’t until she became a parent that she realized how much she enjoyed watching little bright eyes discover the world. Diana volunteered in all of her children’s preschools and joined the Sonora Parent Nursery. This encouraged her to go back to college and learn about child development. She worked for Mother Goose Preschool in Sonora, Pooh Corner in Arnold, and the Superintendent of Schools as a substitute Teacher’s Aide. She also started a charity for enrichment after school and is attending an on-line college; Grand Canyon University.

Diana has worked with children for over 15 years and has received an award from Ed Minium for filling a need in the community. Diana has gained a great deal of experience and insight on how to help very young children learn.