IMG 1679Elizabeth Bell comes to Sierra Expeditionary Learning School with 10 years of experience in elementary education, ranging from Adventure-Based Curriculum to international and public school classroom teaching.  Ms. Bell taught Kindergarten, First Grade and multi-age 1-2-3 in India, Vermont and Incline Village.  She was later employed as an Art Teacher for young children at the KidZone Museum, where she taught exploration-based classes and was responsible for creating new policies and programs.  Most recently, Ms. Bell worked as a home-study teacher, guiding her own children on a long-term, multidisciplinary study of local history.  Their culminating project, Going West with the Donners can be viewed on youTube.

Ms. Bell has a proven track record of creating opportunities for collaboration and togetherness and is eager to bring those skills to the team at SELS.  She has developed collaborative planning teams at her school sites, lead Writing Scoring Guide workshops, implemented Family Math and Literacy Nights and presented early-literacy acquisition seminars to both school boards and parents.  

Ms. Bell has worked with English Language Learners in a variety of settings.   She and her daughters spent this past spring in southern Peru, volunteering as academic tutors at a community project for children.   Prior to that, her work has included teaching Kindergarten to a multilingual population in south India and serving as a teacher and administrator at a summer school for ESL students in Massachusetts.

Ms. Bell holds a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Smith College and had the honor of being selected as Teaching Fellow at the Smith College Lab School.  

She has lived in Truckee for ten years and loves trail running, backpacking, crafting and curling up with her children and a good book.  Her husband and two daughters are all excited to be a part of the SELS community.