Meet Your Kindergarten Experts!
We’re so excited to introduce the incredible educators, classroom experts, specialists, and creators joining us for The Kindergarten Classroom Kickstart Summit! This year’s speaker lineup brings together some of the most trusted voices in kindergarten and early childhood education, all with one goal: helping you feel more confident, supported, and successful in your classroom.
From classroom management, engagement, routines for foundational literacy, hands-on math, STEM, inclusion, and back-to-school systems, each session is designed to provide practical, classroom-ready strategies you can immediately implement in your kindergarten classroom.
Dr. Jean Feldman
Circle Time Unplugged
Dr. Jean Feldman’s noteworthy educational career has spanned more than 55 years. She has served as a classroom teacher, instructor of adults, author, and consultant. Dr. Feldman’s list of degrees include a B.A. from the University of Georgia, a D.A.S.T. from Emory University, and both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Georgia State University. Dr. Feldman inspires teachers across the country with her engaging songs and creative activities that help make teaching and learning FUN!
Dr. Jean has authored more than 20 books for early childhood educators, has published 15 CDs and 2 DVDs, and has recorded hundreds of YouTube videos that are used by teachers and children of all ages all over the world.
Carol McCloud
A Dozen Time-Tested Steps to Create Your Own Bucketfilling Kindergarten Classroom
Carol McCloud, aka The Bucket Lady, is passionate about teaching children early in life about their invisible buckets. She is an early childhood educator and author of ten Bucket Fillers books, including the bestseller Have You Filled a Bucket Today? Carol has personally presented at more than 1,000 schools. Her books are published in 12 languages and are known worldwide, with more than three million copies sold.
Rachel Bell
Beyond ABCs: Teaching the Life Skills that Matter
Rachel Bell is a former elementary teacher who taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade at a private, Christian school before becoming a stay-at-home mom and content creator behind Life with Little Learners. She is passionate about hands-on learning, creating engaging classroom experiences, and making learning meaningful and fun for young children. Through her teaching experience and love for early childhood education, Rachel enjoys sharing practical ideas, activities, and resources that help educators create joyful, developmentally appropriate learning environments. She loves encouraging teachers with realistic, easy-to-implement strategies that support both student learning and classroom connection.
Kole Cornman
FLAME Foundations: Igniting Math Success Before the Lesson Begins
Hi! I’m Kole Cornman, the kindergarten teacher behind Tinytotswithmrc! 🍎✨ I’ve been teaching kindergarten for 3 years and love creating a classroom where learning feels magical, engaging, and full of joy. I’m passionate about hands-on learning, literacy, classroom community, and helping little learners build confidence from day one. I’m also the creator of FLAME Foundations, a foundational math approach designed to help young students truly understand and love math. Through social media, I share classroom ideas, routines, and inspiration for fellow educators who believe kindergarten is one of the most important (and fun!) places to be.
Taylor Crossland
The Power of the Spinner: Creating Engagement Through Classroom Incentives
I’m a kindergarten teacher, content creator, resource creator on Teachers Pay Teachers, and founder of CrafTay Corner with a passion for creating fun, engaging learning experiences for young learners. I love sharing classroom ideas, teacher tips, organization inspiration, and educational resources with teachers and parents through social media. As both a teacher and a mama, I enjoy combining creativity, real-life classroom experience, and a love for education to inspire others in and out of the classroom.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube | TPT Store
Erika Deane
Making Math Meaningful Through Hands-On Learning
IÂ am a former kindergarten teacher with six years of classroom experience and a passion for early math education. I now create engaging math resources that help primary students build strong number sense through interactive learning experiences. My resources are designed to support teachers with meaningful math activities that can be easily implemented in the classroom. Through my social media platforms, I model math activities and teaching strategies that showcase effective ways to use manipulatives during math instruction. My mission is to help teachers make math fun, accessible, and confidence-building for young learners.
Laura Filtness
Supporting Separation Anxiety
Laura Filtness, M.Ed., is an experienced school counselor with over 15 years. A strong advocate for professional development, Laura served on the board for TSCA for over six years and was honored as the TSCA Elementary School Counselor of the Year in 2017. She also holds multiple ASCA Specialist certifications.
Laura is the author of “My Brain Is Like a Puppy”, “30-Minute Groups: Executive Functioning,” and “Separation Anxiety”, all reflecting her commitment to practical, engaging, and inclusive support for all students. She has presented at the state and national levels on topics including mindfulness in schools, supporting students with ADHD, and using literature and cooperative activities to enrich counseling lessons.
Laura has supervised counseling interns from local colleges and universities and actively mentors new professionals in the field. Outside the classroom, she and her therapy dog, Boss, volunteered at grief camps, hospitals, university stress-relief events, and school reading programs.
Kayla Hair
Before They Write: Building Fine Motor & Writing Foundations in Kindergarten
Kayla Hair is a kindergarten teacher and the creator behind Move Mountains in Kindergarten, an online community dedicated to supporting educators with practical, classroom-ready resources and strategies. Through her courses, membership, and digital resources, she helps kindergarten teachers feel prepared, confident, and supported throughout the school year.
Kayla is passionate about simplifying planning, strengthening classroom management, and creating systems that make teaching kindergarten more manageable and enjoyable. Her mission is to help teachers feel ready for Monday morning without spending their entire weekends planning. She loves sharing real-life ideas and tools that educators can immediately implement to create calm, engaging, and successful kindergarten classrooms.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube | TPT Store
Kristina Harrill
From Sounds to Strong Readers: Hands-On Phonemic Awareness Made Simple
I’m Kristina, a former Kindergarten teacher and mom of three, and the creator of Sweet for Kindergarten. I help teachers and parents build strong early literacy, writing, and fine motor skills with simple, low-prep resources. My goal is to make early literacy instruction clear, effective, and easy to use so you can support confident, independent learners without the overwhelm.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | TPT Store
Bethany Humphrey
The First 5 Minutes of Math: Warm-Ups and Routines That Build Strong Kindergarten Thinkers
Bethany Humphrey is the Lower School Math Specialist at The Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee. With over a decade of experience in elementary education, she has taught multiple grade levels across Tennessee, Mississippi, Nevada, and New Mexico. Bethany is passionate about helping students build deep mathematical understanding through engaging, hands-on instruction rooted in the Singapore Math approach.
In her current role, she supports K–5 teachers through instructional coaching, curriculum development, intervention support, and professional learning. She is especially passionate about number sense, math discourse, and creating classrooms where students feel confident taking risks in math. Bethany has presented at national conferences on student engagement and innovative teaching practices and is known for blending creativity, energy, and practical strategies into her work with both students and teachers.
Jen Jones
The Foundations of Foundational Skills: What the Kindergarten Brain Needs to Build Reading Systems
Jen Jones is a literacy consultant, curriculum writer, and the founder of Hello Literacy and Hello Decodables. With over 30 years of experience as a teacher and literacy coach, she specializes in helping schools align assessment, instruction, and practice with the Science of Reading.
Jen is the creator of the Quick Phonics Placement Assessment, designed to help teachers efficiently group students and turn reading data into targeted, skill-based instruction. Her work is used in classrooms across the country to support foundational literacy development through explicit, systematic teaching and aligned decodable texts.
Jen is passionate about bridging the gap between assessment and instruction so teachers can make confident decisions that lead to stronger reading outcomes for every student.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube | TPT Store
Sharyn Kish
Engaging Games for Energetic Kindergarteners
Sharyn Kish is a full-time kindergarten teacher in Ohio. She has over 26 years of teaching experience and was recognized as an Ohio Teacher of the Year in 2020. Sharyn is passionate about literacy, student engagement, and active learning in the classroom. Her goal as a content creator on Instagram is to provide teaching tips and ideas that help and inspire other educators.
Allie Mayberger
Student Engagement: Engagement Strategies For the First 5 Days of School
Allie Mayberger is an experienced classroom teacher, distinguished demonstration teacher, and national conference presenter. With a passion for student engagement, classroom management, math, and reading, Allie is recognized as a master in creating dynamic learning environments that captivate our primary learners.
Armed with a wealth of experience and innovative strategies, Allie is dedicated to empowering educators with practical tools to enhance classroom instruction and inspire student success cross-curriculuar. Allie's session will unlock the secrets to fostering meaningful student engagement and transforming teaching practices. Connect with Allie on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and YouTube at @daysinkinder - she can't wait to meet you!
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube | TPT Store
Zeba McGibbon
Stop Classroom Conflicts Before They Start: Teaching Kids How to Play and Work Together
Zeba McGibbon is a kindergarten teacher from Massachusetts with 12 years of teaching experience across K–3, curriculum creator, children’s book author, and creator of Kindergarten Cafe - a platform dedicated to helping teachers work smarter, not harder, and rediscover the kindergarten magic. She is the host of The Kindergarten Cafe Podcast with 90,000+ downloads, where she shares classroom-tested strategies, practical ideas, and encouragement for kindergarten teachers from arrival to dismissal.
Through Kindergarten Cafe, Zeba supports educators with resources, trainings, and materials designed to save time, reduce stress, and create engaging, purposeful learning experiences. She is also the author of the Caring Critters children’s book series, created to help young children build important social-emotional skills. Trusted by thousands of educators, Zeba is passionate about helping kindergarten teachers create classrooms where both students and teachers can thrive.
Stephanie Nash
Classroom Setup Secrets for a Smoother School Year
Stephanie Nash is a former classroom teacher with 13 years of experience teaching grades ranging from Grade 1 through 6. Throughout her teaching career, she loved helping create organized, engaging, and student-friendly classroom environments that made daily routines easier for both teachers and students. She now specializes in creating practical classroom decor, organization, and classroom management resources that help teachers create calm, functional, and welcoming spaces without the overwhelm. Stephanie is passionate about sharing realistic, teacher-tested ideas that actually work in busy classrooms.
Jennifer Orr
Multisensory Strategies for Building Foundational Literacy in Kindergarten
Jennifer Orr is an award-winning educator, literacy consultant, researcher, and founder of Eyewords. With over 28 years of experience in education, Jennifer has worked as a K–3 classroom teacher, special education teacher, English Learner specialist, and system literacy leader. Her work has focused on helping young learners build the foundational skills needed for reading success, including letter-sound connections, high-frequency word learning, phonemic awareness, and early reading confidence.
As the founder of Eyewords, Jennifer creates evidence-based, multisensory-phonemic literacy resources designed to support kindergarten and primary classrooms, English Learners, and students who need additional reading support. The Eyewords method and materials were used in a Stanford-led study published in Learning and Instruction, demonstrating that the Eyewords multisensory-phonemic approach significantly strengthened letter-sound connections and high-frequency word learning.
Jennifer is passionate about giving educators practical, research-based tools that make early literacy instruction more engaging, memorable, and effective for young learners.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube | TPT Store
Sarah Paul
Small Text, Big Impact: Engaging Activities to Maximize Decodable Texts
Sarah Paul has over 20 years of experience in education as a classroom teacher, tutor, and reading interventionist, including more than a decade focused on reading intervention and private tutoring. She has been blogging at Sarah’s Teaching Snippets since 2010. Sarah holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and a Reading Intervention endorsement. She has completed Orton-Gillingham training along with extensive professional development in structured literacy, including LETRS, coursework through PDX Reading Specialist, and other advanced training.
She is the co-founder of Logos Literacy Academy, where she develops courses and resources that help educators bring morphology and structured literacy into their classrooms. Currently, she serves as a coach, teacher, and trainer within her district’s high-impact tutoring program.
Tara Phillips
3 Things Every Kindergarten Teacher Should Know About Supporting Autistic Students
Tara Phillips is a speech-language pathologist, educator, and founder of Autism Little Learners. After 25 years working in schools, she now supports educators and caregivers around the world through neurodiversity-affirming trainings, resources, and her online membership community. Tara is passionate about helping adults create compassionate, engaging learning environments for young autistic children by focusing on connection, regulation, communication, play, and individualized support. She is also the host of The Autism Little Learners Podcast, creator of the Preschool Autism Summit, and author of children’s books that celebrate different ways of communicating and learning.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | TPT Store
Dena Scoullos
STEM Made Simple - Sparking Curiosity in Your Classroom
Dena Scoullos is a technology & enrichment teacher in Hazlet, New Jersey, teaching grades 1-4. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes technology, STEM, project-based learning, and hands-on activities. Outside the classroom, she runs Miss Tech Queen, on Teachers Pay Teachers, providing lesson plans, worksheets, and other resources to educators worldwide. Dena is also a published author and wrote a book titled, “Let’s Explore STEM."
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube | TPT Store
Keyana Session
From Chaos to Calm: Classroom Management in the First 5 Days
Keyana Session is a kindergarten teacher, educator mentor, and the face behind Little Miss Class In Session. With over 11 years in education, she is passionate about helping teachers create engaging, structured, and joyful classrooms. Keyana has built a community by sharing classroom management strategies, literacy ideas, small group tips, and honest conversations about teaching. She is also the creator of The Teacher Chat and Little Miss Mentorship, where she supports educators through coaching, professional development, and practical classroom solutions.
Liz Sherman
Differentiation on the Dance Floor: Making Inclusive Practices Clear
With over 15 years in special education, Liz Sherman brings energy, experience, and real talk to the work of inclusion. She’s passionate about creating equitable learning environments where all students thrive and cultivating cultures of acceptance and allyship. Liz has taught grades K–8 across Florida, Georgia, California, and Michigan in resource, self-contained, and co-teaching models, and has served as both Assistant Director and Director of Special Education, building inclusive programs and systems. She holds a master’s degree in Integrated Curriculum with a focus on Special Education and helps schools move beyond compliance toward true belonging— designing systems that work for both students and educators. Through her platform @InclusionDisco, Liz shares practical strategies, humor, hard truths, and inspiration for building schools rooted in disability acceptance, student voice, and collaboration.
Andriana Zarovska
3 Heart-Centered Routines for Calm, Confident Kindergarten Classrooms: Simple, effective routines to improve behavior and build a calmer classroom from day one
Andriana is an elementary teacher, classroom and behavior management coach, and the founder of The Active Educator. Through her signature Heart-Centered Method, she supports teachers in building calm, connected, and engaged classrooms by combining movement-based learning with social-emotional skill development.
After years of studying her own teaching practice and sharing real classroom strategies, Andriana has helped thousands of educators reduce chaos, strengthen student relationships, and create more meaningful learning environments. She is passionate about helping teachers reclaim their confidence and lead with clarity, empathy, and intention every day.
