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Teachers at the Old Town School

Tisa Batchelder

Wiggleworms Program, Lullabies, Meet the Instruments

Tisa began teaching Wiggleworms in January, 2000. She spent a year as a visiting teaching artist in a dual-language Head Start and Early Head Start Program at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning in North Lawndale. For over 10 years she sang in playrooms and bedside as a visiting teaching artist at Chicago hospitals, including Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and Comer Children’s Hospital. She is now a visiting artist at Chicago Methodist Senior Services’ Wesley Place, singing for those with advanced memory loss. In 2006 Tisa wrote and illustrated a children’s book based on her experiences in the early childhood music room, Tisa Plays Guitar and Strange Things Happen. She helped to develop curriculum for several programs at the Old Town School of Folk Music, including Wiggle-N-Strum, Wiggleworms Songs for Guitarists, and Kodaly-Inspired Group Piano. Tisa appears on the CDs Wiggleworms Loves You and the Old Town School of Folk Music Song Book, Volume 2&3. In 2012 Tisa was honored to be chosen for the Ragdale Teaching Artist Fellowship for Music Compostion. She is currently teaching Lullabies, Wiggleworms, Little Red Piano, Group Piano, and Young Voices. Tisa earned her BA in Literature from Univesity of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.


Photo by Ren Picco Freeman

Education: BA in English, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Started at the Old Town School in May of 1997


Group Classes for the session beginning 08/28/2023

Wiggleworms 12-24 months with Tisa Batchelder

for kids with birthdays between: 08/29/2021 and 10/29/2022

$208 ($188 members)

08/29/2023 – 10/17/2023 (8 meetings)

Tuesdays · 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM · In-Person @4544 N Lincoln Ave

Class is full — Call 773.728.6000 for waiting list info

Wiggleworms 6-12 months with Tisa Batchelder

for kids with birthdays between: 08/29/2022 and 03/29/2023

$208 ($188 members)

08/29/2023 – 10/17/2023 (8 meetings)

Tuesdays · 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM · In-Person @4544 N Lincoln Ave

Lullabies with Tisa Batchelder

for kids with birthdays between: 03/01/2023 and 08/29/2023

$136 ($116 members)

08/29/2023 – 10/17/2023 (8 meetings)

Tuesdays · 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM · In-Person @4544 N Lincoln Ave


Group Classes for the session beginning 10/23/2023

Wiggleworms 12-24 months with Tisa Batchelder

for kids with birthdays between: 10/24/2021 and 12/24/2022

$208 ($188 members)

10/24/2023 – 12/12/2023 (8 meetings)

Tuesdays · 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM · In-Person @4544 N Lincoln Ave

Wiggleworms 6-12 months with Tisa Batchelder

for kids with birthdays between: 10/24/2022 and 05/24/2023

$208 ($188 members)

10/24/2023 – 12/12/2023 (8 meetings)

Tuesdays · 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM · In-Person @4544 N Lincoln Ave

Lullabies with Tisa Batchelder

for kids with birthdays between: 04/24/2023 and 10/24/2023

$136 ($116 members)

10/24/2023 – 12/12/2023 (8 meetings)

Tuesdays · 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM · In-Person @4544 N Lincoln Ave

Wiggleworms 2 years with Tisa Batchelder

for kids with birthdays between: 10/27/2020 and 12/27/2021

$182 ($165 members)

10/27/2023 – 12/15/2023 (7 meetings)

Fridays · 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM · In-Person @4544 N Lincoln Ave

Wiggleworms 6-12 months with Tisa Batchelder

for kids with birthdays between: 10/27/2022 and 05/27/2023

$182 ($165 members)

10/27/2023 – 12/15/2023 (7 meetings)

Fridays · 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM · In-Person @4544 N Lincoln Ave