About Us

Ms. Mel

Thank you for showing interest in Little Bear Montessori Preschool!

My name is Melissa Swanlund, educator and owner of Little Bear Montessori Preschool.

My goal is to make sure that children enrolled in our preschool receive an excellent early childhood education, in a space catered to the young child, in a calm and safe home away from home experience.

Children will make new friends, learn manners, practical life skills, and preschool fundamentals in language, mathematics, culture, sensory, music and movement.

I work endlessly to create a great educational experience for the young child and to create great relationship with parents as well.

With over 16 years of experience, you can rest assured your little bear is in great hands!

Our Mission Statement:

At Little Bear Childcare & Preschool, it is our mission that all children are encouraged to succeed by providing a foundation of developmentally appropriate experiences where all children can succeed in a safe and nurturing environment.

We believe that each child is a unique individual and that all children can learn. Our preschool program provides an inclusive and diverse setting that recognizes children's varied abilities, interests, needs, and learning styles.

We believe children learn best through meaningful play. Our high quality child centered early childhood education program reflects the integration of physical, cognitive, social, emotional, language, self-help and aesthetic areas for the total development of the child. Meaningful play encourages curiosity, discovery and problem solving which allows individual growth and development of a positive self-image.

We recognize that parents are the child's first teachers. Children learn best when parents are involved in their educational program. The primary bridge between home and school is the involvement of family and community.

I would love for you to choose our program for your child because my work is my passion. I strive every day to create a great preschool experience for you and your child. I understand choosing a preschool for your little one is an important decision. If you choose LBCP, you are not only choosing a great preschool for your child, you're also supporting a hard working mother of four, an experienced caregiver and preschool teacher that cares deeply about her work and loves her job. :)

Please read my resume, family information and silly tidbits of information to better understand me as a person, below to learn more.

-Melissa Swanlund

Age: 37 years old (DOB: 9/24/1986)

Work Experience:

Personal Finance Coach (Aug 2018-Current)
Dona International Certifying Birth Doula 2019 to current (DoulaMel.com)
Founded Little Bear Childcare & Montessori Preschool in 2007
CVS Pharmacy (Cashier promoted to Photo Supervisor, promoted to Pharmacy Technician, promoted to Shift Manager) 2003-2006
Child Care since 2002.

Education:

I am always continuing my education in Early Childhood Education through several ways. One is being a member of NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) and Ohio AEYC, and attending conferences for Early Childhood Education. I also do lots of online training, and book studying in the ECE field. I Graduated from Whetstone High School in 2004, and Northwest Career Center with a certificate in Animal Management (Dog grooming & training, Small animal & reptile care) in 2003.

Achievements:

Birth Doula Certificate via Dona International
Childbirth Certificate via Dona International
Breastfeeding Certificate via Dona International
Member of Dona International
Member of Ohio AEYC (Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children and NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children)
Certified by Protecting God's Children
CPR/First Aid
Former Cub Scout Leader, with Youth Protection training certificate from the Boy Scouts of America
Background check on file with Ohio BCI&I and FBI

Personal Life: Mother of 4 beautiful smart boys, ages 17, 15, 12 & 10. I am a proud debt free, wild-schooling, queer polyamorous Buddhist entrepreneur! I am an open book and pride myself in living an authentic life.

Strengths:

Hardworking
Organized
Creative
Professional & friendly
Thinks and acts quickly
Has Initiative
A passion for teaching, and working with children
Reliable, only "called off" (closed Little Bear unexpectedly) three times in 16+ years (twice because I had a terrible flu and once because I was in labor with my second son)

Interests: In my "work life", I enjoy working with parents who are laid back, easy to communicate with, reliable, kind, and have a mutual respect and appreciation for my work and for my family and I. It is important to me that families have a sense of trust. I completely understand leaving your child in the hands of someone else can be very worrisome, however trust is important, it is important that we have a great relationship in order for the well being of your child. Working with these types of families is what makes my job awesome. I also enjoy the behind the scenes of my preschool, like lesson and activity planning, website design, graphic design, advertising, and more. I am very passionate about my work. I love my job! :)

In my personal life, I love listening to music and dancing. I love many genres of music but my favorite is EDM (Trance/House/Dubstep) and rock (Falling In Reverse, FFDP, Godsmack, etc). I enjoy spending time with my partners and my children, doing family activities, watching movies, going out to eat, or hosting dinner parties and bonfires at home. I enjoy taking care of my fur babies, reptile babies, and feathered babies as I am a huge animal lover. I also enjoy traveling, cruising is my favorite! Fall is my absolute favorite season, Halloween is my favorite holiday. :) I'm a striving minimalist (minus clothes & Halloween decor lol), I enjoy organizing, and doing home renovations, as I spend a lot of my time at home! LOL I also enjoy gardening, baking and hiking. I'm also a personal finance coach, I live a debt free life and enjoy teaching others how to live a debt free life as well. My goal is to live a happy, stress-free, debt-free, authentic, simple and fulfilling life.

Ms . Mel

Ms. Mel

Little Bear Assistant Teachers

I don't leave my own children or my little bears in the hands of just anyone. My assistants understand how important my work is to me, and that I would never allow anyone to damage what I have built.

You can be sure that if I trust my helpers, you can as well.

Although my preschool is open 50+ hours a week, I also work very hard when my preschool is closed. In my "off hours", I spend many, many countless hours lesson planning, advertising, meeting with new families, taking extra training courses, not to mention cleaning, sanitizing, and organizing the preschool and our home.

Burnout is a very real thing. Burnout happens when teachers are over-worked, they get tired, stressed and resentful of their work. When teachers are burned out, they can't do their best job. It is not good for the children to have a teacher that is working non stop. Having my assistants, allows me to be the best that I can be, I am more refreshed, since I am working shorter hours and allows me to balance my family/work life better, attend appointments, etc. :) Over the past 17+ years, several friends and family have assisted in running LB in the afternoons.

I am very blessed to have the village that I have! :)

Read more below about my current assistant.

Ms. Karla

Ms. Karla is our afternoon teacher, she works Mon-Fri 2pm-6pm. Ms. Karla is Mr. Will's Sister and one of Ms. Mel's best friends! During the school year she works as a Columbus City School Special Needs Preschool Instructional Assistant. She is off in the summers so she is joining us here only in the summer so I will be looking for a new reliable assistant in the fall. We adore Ms. Karla and are so thankful to have her join us! :)