Honeybee Preschool is a small learning collective founded and operated by early childhood educator Emmalee Almroth (Emma). Born and raised in Portland, OR Emma has over 15 years of teaching experience in a variety of styles including Montessori, Reggio Emilia and RIE as well as decades of experience in music, movement and visual arts. 

While attending the University of Oregon Almroth immersed herself in a variety of subjects ranging from Elementary Education to Anthropology, graduating in 2008 with degrees in Spanish and Latin American Studies. While at college Emma began teaching at the campus childcare center. The program emphasized and encouraged play-based, exploratory learning and social-emotional development. From there, she embarked on her life-long career in Early Childhood Education.

After graduating Emma began working at a Montessori-based preschool in Portland, Oregon working as both a Lead Teacher and an Assistant Director. In 2010, she moved on to the Northeast Portland school Growing Seeds and became immersed in the Reggio Emilia philosophy that incorporated emergent curriculum, in-depth exploration, long-term projects, and comprehensive documentation. 

Emma relocated to Venice, CA in 2013. She began working at the renowned community-based school First Years Preschool. Emma worked under the tutelage of early childhood expert and internationally-celebrated author Margaret Grundstein, an educational pioneer with over 4 decades of administrative and educational experience in the field of social-emotional and cognitive-based early childhood education.

After 6 wonderful years in southern California, Emma returned to her home town of Portland, OR with the hope of starting a program of her own. Honeybee was licensed and launched in fall of 2021.

In September of 2022, Honeybee expanded to full-time with the addition of a wonderful teacher: Ellison Waterworth! Ellison began her work in early childhood in 2018 in the Pre-K program at Duniway Elementary here in Portland. Her patience, creativity, energy and excitement to learn contribute so much to the Honeybee community!