Maggie Ball, Director & Teacher

Maggie Ball, our dedicated Director, has a remarkable 12-year journey at Little Wonders. She began as a participating parent alongside her son and later, her two daughters. Enchanted by the impactful teaching at Little Wonders, she eagerly embraced the chance to become part of the staff.

As a Little Wonders teacher and former co-op parent, Maggie is able to share her wealth of knowledge and experiences with new parents. As Director, her unwavering commitment lies in cultivating an environment where young families can come together to create and nurture a strong, supportive community.

Suzanne Zaino, Teacher

Teacher Suzanne is celebrating 20 years at Little Wonders this year. Before Little Wonders, she completed her undergraduate and Masters in Education at Stanford. She’s a mother of two grown children and has over 30 years of teaching experience, starting with a decade as a high school social science teacher, with half of that teaching at-risk students.

Suzanne began her journey at Little Wonders as a participating family in 2001, where she learned so much and still maintains very close friendships with other parents from that first class. As a teacher, she loves experiencing the growth and delights of little ones and inclusion in people’s families. She firmly believes that raising children takes more than just the parents – both parents and children need other family and friends actively in their lives, and she is passionate about being one of those other people in the lives of our Little Wonders families.

During the pandemic, Suzanne ran an in-person K-3rd social-emotional learning pod for 2.5 years. Working with a small group of elementary students (5-8 students), she connected with each child individually to understand their feelings, their ability to express their needs and hone their ability to be a good friend while playing, exploring and getting messy.

As a group, Suzanne facilitated working through differences in temperaments, academic abilities, and physical strengths. She is very interested in understanding the neuroscience of emotions for children and adults and that informs her recommendations. Also during that time, Suzanne pioneered new virtual Little Wonders classes for elementary support and continued the tradition of preschool support because parents needed a non-judgmental space to learn, share, and explore their challenges and wins as parents and as individuals. Those classes have been so popular, Little Wonders has decided to continue them and this year is offering two sessions of the elementary support class.

MIREILLE MCKEE, TEACHER

After over 20 years as the Director of Little Wonders, Mireille feels privileged to continue teaching and supporting families in her “semi-retirement”. Mireille is as committed as ever to supporting our families and her spirit is always lifted by this community as we play, learn and grow together. She continues to enjoy parenthood, now with grown children, and is grateful that they keep inspiring her to be a better person every day.