Mrs. Chris (l) and Mrs. Tammy (r).
Mrs. Chris has been in preschool since 1998 and has worked as everything from assistant, co-teacher, director and has even had her in-home program! She has also worked in programs in Roanoke, Salem and Asheville, NC. This is her second year as the Early Childhood Special Education teacher at McCleary Elementary.
Her assistant Tammy Flinchum has worked with K-eighth grade special education students, and this is also her second year in preschool. Mrs. Tammy has worked at McCleary for a total of eight years and previously worked in Florida.
At the recommendation of her high school English teacher Mr. Bolte, Mrs. Chris started looking into teaching as a profession. She took one early childhood course at VWCC and LOVED it…and, as they say, the rest is history!
Mrs. Chris graduated from Craig County High School in 1996 and went to VWCC, graduating in 1998 with an Early Childhood Development Degree. She graduated from Hollins University.
In 2011 she married one of her best friends from high school, Brandon. They currently live in New Castle with their two girls Hannah and Tiffany. Mrs. Chris loves to read, spend time watching the girls in their activities and travel! As a family they enjoy finding any excuse to see a beach, traveling as much as possible and enjoying lots of time exploring new places. As a teacher, her family is often found coming into the classroom at night or on the weekends helping me move, hang, build or otherwise change things around! They also live with a variety of pets, and that number seems to change daily!
Mrs. Tammy is a Craig County Public School alumni as well. She is married and has two girls, Makenzie is a senior this year, and Kate is a labor and delivery nurse. She, her husband and Makenzie live in New Castle with their sweet puppy Fletcher. Mrs. Tammy loves to read and travel when time allows. As a family, they enjoy riding bikes together and spending time outdoors.
Mrs. Chris and Mrs. Tammy love being in preschool in Craig. The best thing this year about teaching in Craig has been the opportunity to share classroom experiences! Preschool has middle school seventh-grade science buddies and eighth-grade reading buddies that visit and do amazing things with their little kiddos. We are also partnered with the Craig County Women’s Farm Bureau Committee and have a great garden where the preschoolers have enjoyed planting, watching things grow and snacking on squash, tomatoes and most recently peppers. We also learned that even when watermelons are HUGE and green, they might not always be ripe!
-Submitted by Andrea Jennings
