Miss Penny
Extraordinary Elms Before School Lead Teacher

Penny A.  joined the Treehouse team in August 2024.  

Penny is married to Bernie and has 3 children - Evan, Tanya and Nicole.   She is blessed with 6 grandbabies, who are the joy of her life.

Penny enjoys camping, being outside in her gardens and coming up with fun experiments to do with her grandchildren.  Penny's favorite late winter past time is making maple syrup from trees in her back yard.

Penny has been working with children for almost 28 years, From infants to 5th grade.

 and is currently certified from the Department of Early Education and Care as

• School Age Group Leader

• Teacher Preschool

• Teacher Infant/Toddler

Penny is CPR/First Aid certified, expires January 2027.

Miss Krissy

Assistant Director / Classroom Support Specialist
Preschool & School Age focus
Extraordinary Elms After School Teacher

Krissy Hathaway joined the Treehouse team in August 2023 and held the role of Mighty Oaks Lead Teacher until her promotion in June of 2024.  Krissy is currently our Assistant Director / Classroom Support Specialist. 

Krissy moved  to Westfield in 2023 after growing up around Northshore MA. She now lives with two of her best friends and their cat Missy. Outside of school she loves reading, playing games with her friends, spending time outside, and visiting her family and their 6 dogs. 

Krissy holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, earned in 2020 and 2021 respectively. She currently holds the following Department of Early Education and Care certificates:

• Director I

• Lead Preschool Teacher

• Teacher Infant / Toddler

• School Age Program Administrator

Krissy is CPR/First Aid certified (expires January 2027). 

Krissy has been working with children in a variety of settings since 2016. She was inspired to follow a career path in Early Childhood Education after volunteering for the preschool where her mom works as a director and building relationships with the children there. Graduating in 2020 meant she kicked off her career in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, where she independently taught a class of 7 preschoolers while working towards her Master’s Degree and student teaching remotely. Most recently, she has spent the last two years working primarily with the transitional kindergarten program at an outdoor, play based center. This will be Krissy’s fourth year as a lead teacher and she is so excited to further her career and bring her passion for nature based learning to Treehouse!