Stella Carter

My name is Stella Carter.   I am excited to begin my 22nd year at Sacred Heart School.  I love working with the earliest learners where they seem to grow each day!  I try to create an entertaining, engaging and creative classroom to promote learning, but most importantly, foster the social emotional growth of preschoolers.  All of their learning is through play and experiences.  It is so exciting to introduce 3 year old's to the love of God.  Every day brings unexpected learning opportunities for the children as well as myself!

I have a Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and Psychology from the University of Illinois and am currently working on my Early Childhood Certification.  My best accomplishment is being a Mom to three beautiful and wonderful children, now they are all grown adults and are out there in the world working.

           Prior to teaching preschool, I was an assistant in both Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten.  I also taught Everyday Math for grades kindergarten through second grade for three years.  I love and still enjoy teaching the After School Enrichment classes.  I also love being in the Library with the children.  I read books to the younger crowd and have the readers read pages from a book.

I have also worked as a Dental Assistant in many aspects of the dental field for over 25 years. I had helped with implant procedures in the office and the hospital. The best experience I have had was when I worked in orthodontics and I saw the growth of the children and their beautiful smiles. Loved showing the children how to floss and brush their teeth with their braces. I have had the chance to make retainers and other appliances related to orthodontics.

I love introducing and teaching the children about the love of God. When I start talking about Jesus, the children become very attentive. You can see their eyes widen with surprise when I tell them that He knows the count of the grains of sand at any beaches and when I tell them that He knows how much hair strand each one has!   They were just in awe!  When I was reading a book about an angry ant to the children, one preschooler said, “Ms. Carter, the ant needs to talk to Jesus”. It almost brought me to tears. I really loved that because I feel I am making an impact on these children, that they are really listening to the messages I am trying to convey about our faith.

I am working alongside with two amazing assistants. Mrs. Eileen McCarthy helps the class Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. This is her sixth year at SHS. She was a Sacred Heart parent for fifteen years. Ms. Kate Anderson helps the class on Mondays and Tuesdays. She is a Sacred Heart School alumni. This will be her fifth year at SHS.