Welcome

Welcome! I am so excited to join Sarah Smith Elementary this year. On Friday, I met many parents and almost all of the students in our 2006-2007 class. I know that this will be an exciting year. First, let me tell you a little bit about myself. This is my first year at Sarah Smith, but my fourth year teaching. I graduated from Miami University and am currently working towards a Masters of Arts degree from Agnes Scott College. I recently went to Japan with 200 other educators through the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Program. I studied the Japanese culture and compared our school systems. The Japanese schools placed a heavy focus on ecological awareness as well as personal well-being of the students. I hope to use what I learned through the Japanese in my classroom this year.



I have many goals for this year, and I am sure that the students do as well. First, the fourth grade team wants to improve the technology use inside the classroom. We would like our students to use powerpoint and become proficient in scanning documents to create their own e-portfolios. Secondly, I would like to see all of the students lead and participate in inquiry based discussions through our Junior Great Books reading program. I can't wait to see the engery that the students will bring to the discussions. Finally, I hope to improve the problem solving and math awareness of the students through discussions and classroom explorations.




We will use this blog in class to reflect on what we learned, what we need to improve on, and share with the community the wonderful things we are doing in Room 5! I encourage the students and parents to share their comments. I look forward to an exciting and academically challenging year!