Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Greetings!

 
Greetings as we begin our2012-2013 school year! I am very excited about the opportunity to be the Kindergarten through 2nd grade teacher at the Tetlin school this year. I have a genuine passion to teach children of any age, and I honestly do, "whatever it takes" to see children succeed. 

Most recently, I spent the past four year living in Botswana, Africa, with my husband where I taught mostly English as a second language learners in grades kindergarten through fourth. Previously, we were long time Alaska residents.  Most of our years in Alaska were spent living in the interior bush community of Galena, where I taught Title I reading and kindergarten after my children left for college. For a number of years before obtaining my teacher certificate, I was part of the classified support staff in addition to serving on the local school board. My husband and I also ran a small an air taxi service from our home. For over 30 years, we were very happy living in a rural community among the Athabascan people of the region. It is great to be back in Alaska and I am looking forward to an incredible  year in Tetlin!

 Our first four days of school flew by, and I believe all the students enjoyed their first week. We are working on classroom routines and discussing 6 key things needed in our classroom environment to have the most successful year possible.  I am including a few pictures of the students working on a painting project to go with their Love and Belonging key. We will learn about three more keys this week.




Please remember about the "Welcome Back" potluck dinner at the school this Thursday, August 30. I am looking forward to meeting all of the students' families and answering any questions you may have. See you then!