Meet the Teachers

Owner, Director, Teacher

Trisha Dart is the proud owner of Little Ones Learning Early Education. Trisha worked at area early education programs as a Lead Teacher, Assistant Teacher, and Natural Playground Coordinator for nearly a decade before starting Little Ones Learning. These included Milestones Child Development Center and Aldersgate Center for Child Development where she worked with children 1-5 years old.

Trisha has two college degrees including a Child Development Degree, General Education Degree, and she takes on average 35 hours of professional development training annually.

Trisha is married to Christopher and has two daughters named Kora and Zola. She has 2 dogs named Shiloh and Max along with 2 cats named Callie and Tilly.

Trisha volunteers her time as a co-troop leader with girl scouts. She also volunteers on the MiAEYC Advocacy Committee, Mainspring Early Care Alliance Advisory Committee, Coalition to Expand Childcare Western Region Advisory Committee, and the GSQ Advisory Committee. 

Trisha enjoys reading fiction novels, camping, gardening, swimming, game nights, and watching the Michigan Wolverine's play football.

Substitute Teacher

Christine Mullennix aka Grandma as the kids call her, is Trisha Dart's mom. She subs for Trisha occasionally when Trisha has an appointment. Christine began subbing for Trisha in 2016 when Trisha was pregnant with her 2nd child. Chris is married to Lee and has 1 dog named Dylan. Chris and her husband enjoy camping and riding on their side by side Yamaha on trails up by Baldwin. Chris enjoys doing jig saw puzzles and crafting.

Children's Yoga Instructor and Licensed Master Social Worker

Zoe Gates comes to Little Ones Learning on a monthly basis to teach yoga. She owns Full Bloom Children's Yoga and Mindfulness. 

She is a Licensed Master Social Worker, a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and a children's yoga instructor. She lives in Grand Rapids, MI with her two incredible children; a five-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son and her husband. She worked in foster care as a children's therapist from 2011-2017. She earned her children's yoga certification in 2019.

"As a children's yoga teacher, it is my passion to share the value and joy of yoga and mindfulness with the younger generation. These classes provide kiddos an essential early start to understanding the body-mind-emotion connection. This is the foundation which will also develop healthy and necessary social and emotional skills along the way. "

You can contact her at: Fullbloom Children's Yoga and Mindfulness 

Music and Creative Movement Instructor (Certified Nurturing Pathways Instructor®) 

Regina Lum comes to Little Ones Learning on a monthly basis to teach a music and movement class. She owns Little Feet: Movement for Developing Minds. 

Hi there! My name is Regina Lum-Witkoske. I grew up taking ballet and piano lessons and the 15 years of dancing and playing music have helped me grow physically, social-emotionally and cognitively. I’ve gained confidence and a positive attitude, I’ve learned about teamwork, camaraderie, sense of belonging, self-motivation, resilience and perseverance. I didn’t understand how and why these activities helped me in those ways, I just knew that I want to be able to provide these opportunities to other children someday!

After graduating with a Bachelors in Business and Administration, majoring in Marketing and Management, I worked at different youth organizations that aligned with my dream of providing opportunities for young children to succeed. However, I was itching to work directly with children and parents! At the same time, I became a mom and in my search for activities to do with my daughter, I came across Nurturing Pathways, which connected the dots for me on how and why movement and music supports the physical, social-emotional and cognitive development of a child. So I decided to become a certified Creative Dance instructor through Nurturing Pathways and finally able to use my passion and training in dance!

NURTURING PATHWAYS®

Little Feet uses the Nurturing Pathways® curriculum which was developed in 2001 by Christine Roberts who combined her passion for dance with brain development and early childhood. After years of teaching dance and performing professionally, Christine wanted to turn her attention to the formative years that constitute a prime time for learning; infant up to school aged, mostly because of her son’s condition. Christine’s son Sam was left paralyzed and brain injured at 4 months old due to an adverse reaction to the whole cell Pertussis vaccine which immobilized his developing brain and body. Through learning about her son’s condition and intensive rehabilitation, she realized that the early years affect the brain-body connection and how critical they are for the rest of one’s life! So, with her experience as a dancer, teacher, and Sam’s rehabilitation, she created Nurturing Pathways!

You can contact her at: Little Feet: Movement for Developing Minds 

Husband

Christopher Dart is Trisha's Husband. He doesn't spend a lot of time in the classroom but the kiddos do get to know him. They call him Mr. Chris. Chris is an IT Director for the Kent Intermediate School District.