Team

Ms. Ashley is originally from Texas and has lived in the Atlanta area for over 15 years. She brings her curiosity and wonder of the world, love of nature, the outdoors, the beauty and magic of childhood, joy of creating art, and storytelling to the children she cares for. Ashley was a co-op parent for multiple years with New Morning Community Preschool and Little Forest School, a co-teacher with Turning Sun, and previously homeschooled her 9-year-old and 6-year-old children.

Outside of Little Forest, Ashley is an avid cyclist who loves music, art, hiking, camping, kayaking, and exploring. She deeply enjoys spending time with her two children taking long road trips, having dance parties, making funny short films, playing board games, watercoloring, recording music, reading aloud, nature identification, bird watching, cooking, baking and snuggling their fluffy cats.

From her 2- and 6-year-old nieces to her students, Lydia always aims to learn and grow with children as we observe, question, predict, experiment, and draw conclusions together. Lydia is passionate about getting to know each student, creating relationships with them, and using children’s individual preferences to guide them to think scientifically and to observe and question the world around them. Lydia leads a rich program which illuminates the exciting intersection between science, art, nature and the children’s unique interests.

She enjoys spending time with her nieces, traveling to natural wonders with her family, crossword puzzles, yoga, and taking long nature walks. While snow is something she misses most from up North, she loves being able to take a nice long nature walk during all seasons down here in the South. Lydia enjoys nature because like children, it is consistently changing and always beautiful.

Ms. Alexess was born and raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Throughout the years, she has babysat relatives, taught children music at her church, been a camp counselor and worked at the Boys and Girls Club. In Spring of 2020, Ms. Alexess graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a B.A. in Communications.

One of Ms. Alexess' passions is music. She has written and recorded a few songs, sang in the church choir, joined a band and sang on National tv for an award show and a tv show. Because of this passion, she will also be teaching the music class here at Little Forest. Outside of Little Forest, Ms Alexess loves writing music, spending time with friends, being outside, spending time with her family and with her new puppy, Jynx.

Ms. Haley Sims - Lead Teacher, 2-3.5 year old class

Ms. Haley is the co-teacher for the 2-3 year old class for the 2022-2023 school year. She is originally from California and moved to Atlanta in early 2021. Before that she spent the last 12 years in Los Angeles managing a ceramics and art studio where she taught pottery, glazing and painting classes and hosted parties for children of all ages (and grown-ups too!) She was introduced to Little Forest School just after she moved to Atlanta, immediately fell in love with the school’s philosophy, and became a substitute teacher for the 2021-2022 school year. And now she is thrilled to be co-teaching the Stars class! When she’s not at school, Ms. Haley can usually be found hiking local trails, reading a book on her patio, or perfecting her gluten-free baked goods. She also volunteers weekly with Hands On Atlanta helping preserve the city’s beautiful parks while she continues to explore and discover her new city!

Ms. Jacqueline Dougherty - Lead Teacher, 2-3.5 year old class- 

Ms Jacqui has 10 years of experience in early childhood education and has worked with youth programs doing bicycle repair, community gardening, adult/peer education and museum education. She is passionate about honoring children's play, curiosity, and deepening our connections with plants and creatures. Drawing from her love of art and art history (B.A. FSU), she brings natural materials and aesthetic joy to the children daily in the form of invitations and open ended exploration. She enjoys experimenting with children to creatively utilize the resources in our surroundings in surprising and inspiring ways. She holds certifications in Early Childhood Care & Education Basics (TCC),  urban gardening, cycling instruction, and ASL I & II. She is beginning a Masters in Teaching, Art Education at GSU this fall.  As an adventurer and life long learner she enjoys hiking, biking, playing banjo and bass guitar, planting seeds, taking pictures, and making shadow puppet shows with friends. She lives in East Atlanta with her sweet partner and their dog Tinka.

Ms. Melissa Wood - Director 

Ms. Melissa is originally from Michigan and moved to Atlanta in 2007.  In 2012 she decided to go back to school for a career change and obtained a Masters in Early Childhood degree from Walden University.  She has experience working with children from 1 year to Kindergarten in private and charter school settings in Atlanta. She also enjoys volunteering with different organizations that support children in need such as Wellroot, Paint Love, Urban Perform, and Hands On Atlanta.  While teaching, she loves to incorporate open-ended materials for sensory exploration and hands-on experiences. In addition, utilizing nature to support learning different concepts and student understanding is a passion of hers. For 3 years she served as the Education Director for the non-profit Scraplanta. During this time she taught groups of children the importance of creative reuse and how kids can have a part in helping to protect the environment.  Outside of school, you can find Ms. Melissa exploring with her 7-year-old daughter, her husband, and dog Porter.  They enjoy hiking, camping, traveling, gardening, reading, and anything outside.