I believe a teacher needs to recognize children as unique creations of God, accept each child’s potential and provide experiences that will allow them to fulfill their spiritual, emotional, educational, social and physical needs. I feel we should provide our students the opportunities to grow in their relationship with God, their peers and the world around them as they learn in an environment of academic excellence.

I want my students to be actively involved in their own education. I try to encourage, support, and most importantly, motivate my students to care about their academic future. I believe students learn best in a fun, safe, non-threatening environment. I think they learn best through real-world experiences. Students are encouraged to bring their own stories, experiences and ideas into the classroom. Opportunities are provided for them to work together and learn to respect one another’s differences. Since children have different abilities and unique personalities I believe it is my job to be passionate in the way I teach so my students will be able to do their best.

January Update – Happy New Year

We are placing special emphasis on the character traits this year. During the months of November and December we discussed and demonstrated ways we can care for one another. We worked with the fifth graders, earned money and provided a Thanksgiving meal for a family in need. We also became involved in the Water Project. For two weeks we made water our main beverage. The money we saved by not drinking other beverages was given to Lutheran World Relief. They will use this money to help provide water for a village in Africa.

During the month of January we will be discussing the character trait of responsibility and its importance not only in our classroom, but also in other aspects of our life.

Multiplication and division continue to be our focus in Math. We will be working with multiplication patterns, multiples of ten and multiplying two, three and four digit numbers.

In Social Studies we are learning about the Spanish explorers and life in the missions. We will be completing a PowerPoint mission project with the help of our computer teacher, Mrs. Hawkins.

In Language Arts we are learning more about verbs and writing stories using the traits of writing. We are concentrating on ideas and voice. We continue to practice our letter writing skills by corresponding with our pen pals at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran School.

Mary Ann Friedrich