Staff
Adriana Mojica
Co-Founder of Maravilla
Head of School
Elementary Directress
Contact Ms. Adriana:
Adriana Mojica is Head of School and Elementary co-teacher at Maravilla Montessori School. Adriana has many ties in the Montessori community and co-founded Maravilla Montessori with Kristin Polk to bring a love of the fine arts, nature, science and languages to the Waukesha area.
She graduated Cum Laude from the University of Alaska with a bachelor degree in Psychology with an emphasis in learning and cognition and human development, as well as Sociology with an emphasis in the sociology of education. She is trained in Elementary I and II through Seton Montessori Institute, one of the most prestigious training institutions available nationally. Additionally, she has received fine arts education through the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and participates annually in their Creative Educators Summit. She regularly trains and gives workshops to Montessori teachers in Chicago area schools to help them bring their curriculum to life and keep the children engaged.
Because of her dedication to her broader community, on her days off, she shares her culinary skills with the students at James Madison Academic Campus to bring her culturally rich recipes to their curriculum. Her cultural heritage articles and recipes have been published in Edible magazine and she has been a regular contributor used to bring awareness to the importance of supporting local farms. Through her experience in culinary arts, she developed a robust Montessori cooking program that uses geography and culture to give students a culinary arts education that ties in their curriculum with a hands-on experience.
Adriana received training in FLES (Foreign Languages in Elementary Schools) through one of the oldest Montessori Schools in Chicago and was lead Spanish teacher for their elementary program. She has been involved in the Suzuki music program through the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music for half a decade and attends the Winter Suzuki training in Madison to keep up to date on her music theory and musicianship practices.
Adriana has been involved in the education field for over 14 years, first in traditional schools as a Spanish and art teacher, and then entered the Montessori world in 2015 to teach toddlers through middle schoolers. Her love of the arts, music, nature, and peace education make her a gentle, caring, and intuitive guide.
Adriana has two children of her own that have been in Montessori from early start primary to middle school. She wholeheartedly believes in Montessori education and is proud to bring a culturally rich program to the Waukesha area.
Kristin Polk
Co-Founder of Maravilla
Executive Director
Elementary Co-Teacher
Primary and Pre-Primary Assistant
Contact Ms. Kristin:
Kristin Polk is the Executive Director and Elementary co-teacher at Maravilla Montessori School. Kristin knew she was destined to work with children when in high school she worked as the Tot and Day Camp Director and Playground Specialist of the New Berlin Parks and Recreation Program. Kristin graduated summa cum laude from UW-Milwaukee, earning a bachelor of science degree in Elementary and Middle-Level Education with a minor in Language Arts. Following graduation, she stepped into her first teaching and leadership roll when hired to collaboratively develop the first multi-age program in the School District of New Berlin. She gained 16 years of experience teaching multi-age, third grade, and fourth grade in this fully inclusive and 1:1 technology-device district.
During her teaching time in New Berlin, Kristin engaged in many district professional leadership opportunities. As a New Berlin teacher, Kristin served on the district writing committee, district and school leadership team, district data retreats, district and school mission and vision committee, Waukesha County Reading Council, district representative for the Professional Learning Communities Institute with Rebecca and Richard DuFour, and representative for the CESA 1 district’s educator effectiveness committee work with the Charlotte Danielson Framework. Kristin was recognized for her efforts by being nominated for the Herb Kohl Teacher Fellowship Award four times. A special highlight for Kristin was being included in helping pilot Lucy Calkins’ recent draft of the Reading Units of Study and getting part of her classroom lessons published in the curriculum guide.
During her tenure in New Berlin, Kristin engaged in many professional growth opportunities. Some of the many literacy trainings included training in the Six Traits of Writing with Ruth Culham, Writing Workshop and the Units of Study with Lucy Calkins, and Writing Institute through the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. Special interest in providing successful inclusive environments in her classroom led Kristin to also seek graduate level classes in neurodiversity in the classroom, emotional behavior disorders, technology as a transformational tool, and full-inclusion collaborative co-teaching models. Kristin is also committed to growing in administrative knowledge by taking Educational Leadership courses through Colorado State University and Cardinal Stritch University. Serving as an adult-teacher, Kristin had the opportunity to share her knowledge in her school and district as a teacher trainer for SMART Boards, SeeSaw, Everyday Math Curriculum, and full-inclusion co-teaching. In addition to these leadership tasks, Kristin enjoyed her role on the parent/teacher co-curricular committee, student council advisor, forensics coach, and school-event face painter.
Kristin is a proud parent of two children who benefited from the Montessori environment for nine years. Kristin has served as a trained assistant in the infant toddler, primary, and elementary level classrooms. She has greatly enjoyed serving as a trained co-teacher in Lower Elementary Montessori classroom. She has also completed the academic portion towards becoming a certified Lower Elementary Montessori guide through an AMS accredited teacher training center. Kristin believes every child is an individual with unique learning abilities and needs. She fosters a calm, respectful, and safe learning environment by building supportive alliances with students and their families. She is excited to ignite the passion of learning for all the students in the Maravilla community.
Dalia Aranda comes to Maravilla Montessori after teaching in Mexico for several years at the early childhood level. After starting her career in Mexico, life brought her and her family to Texas and then here to Wisconsin. During this past year she has led a dual language classroom of third grade students for the School District of Waukesha. Teaching has always been a passion of Ms. Dalia, but she always knew she wanted more out of her teaching experience.
Her aspirations to find what was missing led her to learn more about the Montessori method. Finding that it is a more respectful and natural rhythm for children, she wanted this for her own children as well. Ms. Dalia sees how the Montessori philosophy applied authentically can positively impact all students.
Ms. Dalia has a bachelor’s degree in Education and Human Development, as well as certifications in positive psychology and the psychology of education. She has had the privilege of experiencing the world of bilingualism in education more in depth since coming to the United States. Helping students adopt Spanish as a second language is a challenge that fulfills her need to teach creatively. This is a valuable skill that she brings to Maravilla to build a robust biliteracy program for our primary students to prepare them for our bilingual elementary curriculum. Additionally, as part of her commitment to our school and to prepare her for a cohesive teaching team, Ms. Dalia has completed the first portion of her Montessori certification through Seton Montessori Institute.
Dalia is excited to begin sharing her knowledge with her little, but great students. She is ready to celebrate and share her own Mexican culture, and at the same time learn and embrace each of the different origins of her students.
Everyone talks about peace, but no one educates for peace. People educate for competition, and this is the beginning of any war. When we educate to cooperate and be in solidarity with each other, that day we will be educating for peace.”
Maria Montessori, 1937, Copenhagen.
Todo el mundo habla de paz, pero nadie educa para la paz, la gente educa para la competencia y este es el principio de cualquier guerra. Cuando eduquemos para cooperar y ser solidarios los unos con los otros, ese día estaremos educando para la paz.”
Maria Montessori, 1937, Copenhague.
Patty Recinos
Primary Assistant and Spanish Teacher
Contact Ms. Patty:
Patricia Recinos (Ms. Patty) is the primary room assistant and serves as the building Spanish Teacher and building sub. Ms. Patty is fluent in Spanish and also supports the instruction and practice of Spanish with the students at Maravilla.
Ms. Patty comes to Maravilla with over 14 years of experience in childcare settings. During her time caring for infant through preschool aged students, she was known for her nurturing nature, creativity, and reliable multitasking. Continued professional development in her field gave her the opportunity to learn about Montessori, and she was drawn to the philosophy and approach here at Maravilla .
Ms. Patty was born in Guatemala and her family moved to Los Angeles, CA when she was 16 years old. She graduated from high school there and then did two semesters in business administration at a community college. Shortly after, she married her husband and moved to Austin TX. While there, Ms. Patty substitute taught in her oldest son’s preschool and soon got offered a permanent position. She was trained in early childhood education and got her certificate from Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Ms. Patty had the opportunity to teach diverse groups of students, and as a result, she learned a variety of teaching techniques and gained a lot of experience. In 2018, she moved to Wisconsin and here, she has been continuing work as a preschool teacher. Additionally, as part of her commitment to our school and to prepare her for a cohesive teaching team, Ms. Patty has completed the first portion of her Montessori certification through Seton Montessori Institute.
Kristen Grassman Evert (Ms. Kat) brings decades of teaching experience to Maravilla Montessori. Her bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has led her to teach in both private and public school settings. She further pursued masters degree level work in Children’s Literature, which has continued to be a passion for her. She has the added experience of homeschooling her own 4 children from early childhood through high school, something that gives her the ability to view the importance of the individual child in a smaller community of multi-age students.
Ms. Kat has spent her time working with 2 ½-3 year olds in a school that focused on play and learning the independence needed for the next level of development. She focuses on fostering the highest appropriate levels of independence for her students by supporting their natural desire to learn and grow. Her position at Maravilla Montessori will allow her to continue that focus as she helps guide the children in the Pre-Primary class and onto the Primary level.
Ms. Kat is committed to continuing education and is a member of the Wisconsin Registry. She has completed a portion of training for the infant toddler level through Seton Montessori Institute this summer to form a solid team with the rest of our teaching staff.