Amalia Pretel-Gray

FIRST GRADE TEACHER FOR 2024-2025

GRADES SPECIAL SUBJECTS, FRIDAY EC LEAD TEACHER

Amalia was born in Brooklyn, NY. Her father was from Peru, and her mother was from the Philippines. They met at the International House at Columbia University, and instead of returning to their respective countries, they married and settled in Queens, NY, where Amalia was raised. She is the oldest of seven children! Every day was an adventure, providing many opportunities for learning and collaborating.

Her first experience of teaching the Waldorf curriculum was in 1995 at the Garden City Waldorf School, where both of her sons were attending fourth and sixth grade. While she was invited to teach her first group of first graders, she was attending Foundation Studies at the Franz Winkler Adult Education Center to explore what lived behind the Waldorf method. She attended Antioch University of New England and completed her training in 1998. Over the past 28 years, she’s worked at a handful of Waldorf Schools across the East Coast. She also has a masters degree in learning challenges from Teachers College from Columbia University, and a bachelor degree in English Literature from Queens College. In 2020, she began teaching in a Waldorf inspired homeschool abroad and relocated to Dripping Springs in 2023. She is happy to share many of the Waldorf principles with this community at Living Oaks. Her grandchildren live in Seguin, so she feels even more blessed to do what she loves most - teaching children - and being near her grandchildren!