Meet the Team
Dedicated & Certified
Crossing the Zojila Pass, Kashmir, India
¡Hola! and welcome to Pío Pío Preschool, a passion project created by sisters and educators, Michelle and Alexandra Stewart Carbonell. For us, Pío Pío has been a dream that has been many years in the making. Combined, we have over 30 years of teaching experience in public and private schools in the U.S. and around the world, and all of our experience has led us to this point: to be able to offer you and the South Austin community a unique and high quality progressive preschool education, where each child can grow, learn, and build a sense of belonging as creative and inspired bilingual lifelong learners. Let us take this opportunity to introduce ourselves!
Michelle Stewart Carbonell
Co-owner and Lead Teacher
"If you can walk, you can dance, if you can talk, you can sing." -Zimbabwean proverb
Hi! My name is Michelle, and I am an artist, educator, and mother, and am so excited to welcome you to Pío Pío. After a life-changing experience on the Camino de Santiago with Alexandra back in 2005, my focus in life changed to education and the arts, with the mission of working to make the world a better place. Coming from a family of artists and educators, this didn't come as a surprise! I have studied and explored many different avenues of education throughout the years and around the world, and find a real personal connection to the Reggio Emilia approach, as it allows for the child to exercise their innate creative nature, and for the teacher to support this endeavor, through her personalized guidance and her skill at creating the environment as "the third teacher"- something that I find true meaning in. With the idea that Nature is the best classroom, learning from the world around us is not only the simplest way for children to feel connected to and responsible for our planet, but also a way to mindfully acquire new knowledge.
I combine my passion for visual arts and music every day in my craft, to supplement, challenge, and inspire each of my student's goals and visions, whether that be by encouraging a child's focus and concentration in a student-led project, developing their listening skills and physical awareness and expression through yoga and music, or by writing a song together that we can all share and enjoy. My album, Little Folk Songs, was a product of this passion, and I look forward to releasing an album of Spanish language songs in the near future. Encouraging bilingualism in today's world is something I am fully dedicated to, as it not only builds and strengthens bonds between people, but allows for the formation of important neural pathways within the brain that every child will take with them for the rest of their lives and allow them to be better communicators, thinkers, peace makers, and creators. I am proud to dedicate myself to our children today for a better tomorrow, and look forward to meeting you soon!
A bit more about me:
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Bachelor's Degree from the University of Florida
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Teaching since 2006 - Austin, Vietnam, Spain, and Thailand
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Experience in Reggio, Montessori, ESL, and Public School systems
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Texas Certified Early Childhood-6th Bilingual Educator
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Certified Radiant Child Yoga® Instructor
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Singer/Songwriter, Multi-instrumentalist- "Little Folk Songs"
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Languages spoken: English, Spanish, French, Vietnamese
Alexandra Stewart Carbonell
Co-owner and Lead Teacher
¡Hola! I am Alexandra, and I am an educator and mother with many years of experience teaching in schools around the world. My sister and I come from a family of educators and so I began my journey as such at the young age of 20, when I became certified to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) in Barcelona, Spain, where our mother is from. My first experiences in the classroom sparked a passion for teaching and I found my true calling when I started working as a Preschool teacher in a school that followed the Reggio Emilia approach in Hanoi, Vietnam. I was so inspired by the idea of an emergent curriculum and a philosophy of education that sees young children as capable and active members in their own learning. I really felt like I had finally found an educational philosophy that aligned with my values; a philosophy that promotes creativity, curiosity and critical thinking. I love that in the Reggio approach, children are given a voice, and that their ideas, feelings and concerns are given the consideration and respect they deserve. The idea that children have 100 languages with which to express themselves, and using the arts as a vehicle for self-expression really resonates with me as well, as the arts have played an important role in my own life and self-expression. My son attended the same school that I was working at and I could see first-hand from both a teacher’s and parent’s perspective how the Reggio Emilia approach can help young children develop a true love for learning, build a sense of community, and provide a nurturing and inspiring environment where they can grow into confident, creative and caring individuals.
As my son grew, I moved on to working at international schools in both Xi’an, China and Bangalore, India that follow the International Baccalaureate (IB) framework. This is a system of education adopted by top schools around the world which focuses on inquiry-based education and, like the Reggio Emilia approach, shares the vision of the child as a capable and active agent in their own learning. During my time working in the IB Primary Years Program, I had experience as a lead teacher in the pre-kindergarten classroom as well as experience as an elementary Visual Arts teacher.
While living and working internationally was exciting and brought me so many wonderful experiences, friendships and life lessons, I feel so grateful to now be able to call Austin home and work together with my sister on this vision that we have talked about so many times over the years.
A bit more about me:
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Bachelor's Degree from the University of Southern California
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Teaching since 2008 - Austin, Spain, Greece, Vietnam, China, India
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Post-graduate Certificate in Education from the University of Nottingham (UK)
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Experience in the Reggio Emilia Approach and IB Primary Years Program - Early Childhood and Visual Arts
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Professional development from Reggio Children, International Baccalaureate Organization and Harvard University’s Project Zero
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Languages spoken: English, Spanish, French, Greek