Between preschool and Sunday school, Tammy Nobbe shares her love of learning six days a week

Tammy Nobbe teaches children six days per week – five at her job at the Cary Park District preschool and Sunday school at Bethany Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake.

Nobbe said she always wanted to be a teacher.

“As a little girl, I would always play school.” Her fondness for children started when she was one herself. She babysat and competed in a Little Miss pageant. She later ran a pageant for smaller kids.

Nobbe went to Southeastern Missouri State University, where she got a teaching degree. She graduated and taught first grade in Texas before leaving the education profession to raise her kids. She was involved in her kids’ activities, including leading her daughter’s Girl Scout troop and son’s baseball and hockey teams.

When her children got older, her husband suggested she go back into teaching. And for the past 15 years, Nobbe has been at the Cary Park District, where she teaches 4- and 5-year-olds each weekday.

Nancy Herbster, the park district preschool’s director, said she’s known Nobbe for a long time, since their sons played hockey together. Herbster said you never know who’s having more fun: Nobbe or the kids.

“It’s awesome to work with her,” Herbster said.

And she said Nobbe realizes each student needs something a little different from her and can manage challenging students.

“She’s firm, but loving,” Herbster said.

Nobbe teaches preschoolers and kindergartners at Bethany Lutheran’s Sunday school class. She’s also taught Sunday school, Christian education and vacation Bible school during the summers for the past 28 years.

Nobbe has had former students, when they approach confirmation age, come back and ask to help her with her classes. And a few have gone on to become teachers themselves.

Nobbe said she loves looking at the world through children’s eyes. It’s also the little moments she cherishes. She said some of her favorite memories are when she’ll be teaching an important concept and a student will say, “Mrs. Nobbe, I just love you.”

Sometimes she sees the lightbulb go off, and she said she loves the moments when you can see the students’ excitement and love of learning. Other times, she’ll hear them using kind words and being gentle with each other, and she feels good knowing they’ll grow into good people.

Nobbe also has been involved in teaching an “On My Way to Kindergarten” class in the summers. She said it’s her fifth year doing the six-week program, which culminates in a field trip to the school during the last week.

In the Tuesday-Wednesday program, they brush up on kindergarten readiness skills like colors, shapes and math, Nobbe said.

But at the end, the kids take the bus to school and meet the principal and look at the classrooms, cafeteria, gym and playground. Nobbe said the trip helps reduce the fear and anxiety kids have about going to school. The program has been “well-received,” Nobbe said.

And during COVID, she made videos for Sunday school. She said the church reached out and asked if there was any way she could videotape weekly.

The Nobbes got a green screen and Nobbe would read a story and sing songs and pretend the students were in front of her. She would also make a craft or do something to go along with the lesson.

Every Sunday at 9 a.m. until the church was back in person, the video was posted. She said she became a “little Mr. Rodgers” during that time, and she loved doing it and got great feedback. People said they “couldn’t wait to see Ms. Tammy,” Nobbe said.

Nobbe said she hopes to make the students feel loved and even with the most challenging students, Herbster said, “she loves them all.”