“A Guide, Not a Teacher” – Maria Montessori
Montessori staff is not in the classroom to ‘instruct’ students in the traditional sense. They guide the child in choosing learning materials that are both appealing and challenging to the child, based upon their abilities, interests, and previously mastered lessons. Once a child has received a lesson on any material, they are free to choose it as often as they like – each time gaining more skill and insight – until they have “mastered” the work and become disinterested. This cycle is similar to how a child chooses the same bedtime stories over and over again, memorizing each page, yet still enjoying the whole story.
All of Waves of Wonder staff is CPR & First Aid Certified. All have background checks as well, through Florida’s DCF (Department of Children and Families) and/or DOE (Department of Education).
We are lucky and proud of the qualified, loyal faculty and staff whose daily team efforts provide the strong foundation of our school:

Director and Owner
Ms. Jennifer Bartolomeo leads the programs, administration and staff ensuring smooth operations and exceptional standard of education. She is an American Montessori Society certified teacher who has been with the school since its inception in 2009. She has taught the Toddler, Primary, Lower Elementary and Upper Elementary class. Mrs. Bartolomeo has been working in education since 2005 and has a degree from Florida International University in Psychology. She is completely bilingual in Spanish and English.
Teaching and children are her first and true passion, but in her spare time she also enjoys farm life, reading, and spending family time with her husband and son who also attends the school.
Infants
Ms. Cecilia is the Lead Infant Teacher bringing over 18 years of education experience to our school. Previously, she was a Director of a Daycare and has worked extensively with Infants and 2 year olds. She is great at making all the infants smile and laugh. She is Bilingual in English and Spanish.
Outside of school hours she enjoys spending time on her boat, dancing, going to the beach and hosting BBQs with her family.

Infants


Toddlers
She is a big fan of Disney and the spirit of Christmas. She also enjoys spending time at the beach.

Toddlers

Toddlers
Primary

Primary

Primary


Lower Elementary

Lower Elementary
Upper Elementary

Upper Elementary
Ms. Linda is our Assistant Upper Elementary Teacher and has been with Waves of Wonder for over two years. Previously, Ms. Linda taught Pre-K4, First Grade and Third Grade for 24 years at Saint Ann Catholic School in Old Naples. Ms. Linda has a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from University of South Florida. Ms.Linda is also a Six Trait Writing certified teacher and possesses the Tribes Teacher (Holistic Learning) certification from Kansas City, Missouri. Naturally, Ms. Linda uses this experience to teach our elementary students art and creative writing. Ms. Linda’s hobbies include painting, swimming, Tides Club and caring for her pet birds – a talking Cockatoo named Roxanne and two Parakeets named Topaz and Celeste.


Administrator & Substitute Teacher

Teacher's Assistant & After School Care
Healthy Lunches
Mr. Guillermo is our School Chef. For the last 6 years he has been helping various schools feed the kids nutritious and tasty meals. He truly has a desire and a love for cooking. Seeing the children enjoy what he has created for them makes him happy!
His hobbies reflect his work and are centered on none other than food, food and BBQing while spending quality time with his family. Mr. Guillermo’s twins attend Waves of Wonder’s Upper Elementary class.
