Hannah Lindner-Finlay is delighted to join the Kindergarten Team at Academy. She is so pleased to have found a school that strongly supports nature- and play-based learning. Hannah observes her students closely, responding to their emerging interests while tying in the academic skills that are being practiced. She loves the way that Kindergarten students are developing a new sense of themselves as learners and members of a classroom community. Hannah strives to make her classroom a place where each child feels known and celebrated for who they are.

Hannah grew up exploring the woods and playing in the streams of Vermont. She attended Oberlin College and graduated with a BA in Visual Arts. After becoming a licensed educator through the Shady Hill School Teacher Training Course, Hannah worked for three years as a Kindergarten Teacher at the Gordon School, in Providence, RI. During her time there, Hannah helped to lead the yearly Multicultural Institute, and grew in her own understanding of what it means to educate for equity. Missing the nature-based component of her own early childhood education, Hannah completed her MEd in Nature-Based Education through Antioch University just before returning to Vermont with her partner, Jeremy. Since then, Hannah has had two children and has been in and out of teaching while balancing the needs of her young family. Hannah spent one year working as the Afternoon Forest Kindergarten Teacher at the Grammar School, taught one year of kindergarten at Dummerston School, and has collaborated with several schools as a nature- and play- based consultant. With her youngest child headed to preschool, she’s excited to return to the classroom again!