Partnering with Nature in Early Childhood

Catherine Koons-Hubbard, MEd, is the preschool director at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Milwaukee, WI. She earned a master's degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania and has more than 15 years' experience as an environmental educator. She has written multiple articles and created an online course on nature-based early childhood curriculum and assessment for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Catherine presents widely on the topic of nature-based early childhood education at regional and national conferences. Patti Ensel Bailie, PhD, is one of the leaders in the national nature preschool movement. She is an assistant professor of early childhood education at the University of Maine at Farmington and has worked in early childhood environmental education for 30 years. She is the founding director of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center Preschool and served as the codirector of the Early Childhood Outdoors Institute at the Fontenelle Nature Association in Omaha, NE. She presents at regional and national conferences on connecting young children to nature.