Ms. Amy Barth – affectionately called Ms. Amy by her students – the new Child Development teacher at Bellefonte Area High School, is making an impact on not just her high school students and preschool students, but also on the entire Child Development program in the school and district. 

Her goals for this year  include restructuring the program and reflecting on the current preschool practices. 

“I would like to reform the program by ensuring that the teaching is current and the ‘best practice’ for students. I would also like to create a developmentally-appropriate place for our preschoolers. Too often programs are adult-directed and don’t focus on the whole child,” Ms. Amy said. 

Ms. Amy has had many jobs that involve child development throughout her career. She started working at Bellefonte this year because she was interested in working with both preschoolers and highschoolers. 

“I really like the idea of having preschoolers working with hands-on learning and highschool students,” she said. 

Ms. Amy has six kids of her own: Micah, who is 15, Gracie, who is 11, Malachi, who is 9, Gabriel, who is 6, Asher, who is 3 and Elijah, who is only 6 months old. 

Some of her past jobs include teaching child development at Lock Haven University, being a Pre-K counts teacher, and directing a private preschool (The Acorn school). She is a liaison for the Professional Development Organization (PDO) and has worked in childcare.

“Ms. Amy has only been our teacher for a little while, but she is very promising and I can’t wait to see how she affects the students, preschoolers, and the program,” one of Ms. Amy’s students, sophomore Brayden Rosefsky said.