About the Author:
Tressa Azpiri is the founder and lead teacher of the Puddle Stompers preschool and kindergarten program on Vashon Island, in Washington, where she has provided a high-quality early childhood program for more than twenty years. Her goals as an educator have always been to teach children in a loving and safe environment, to provide days bursting with adventure and joy, and to meet each child‚s developmental needs. She has a degree in early childhood education from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and American Sign Language (ASL) training from Seattle Central Community College and the Washington School for the Deaf. Tressa and Kirsten Dennis co-authored an ASL curriculum for hearing students in the Redleaf Press book Sign to Learn. The integration of ASL into her curriculum has helped Tressa provide a calm and stable environment where hearing children are motivated, engaged, focused, and excited to learn. The use of ASL in her classroom has enriched her program and touched the hearts of her students.
Publications:
Sign to Learn: American Sign Language in the Early Childhood Classroom (Redleaf Press, 2005)