With school in full swing, teachers in Castle Country are now preparing for mid-quarter activities such as book fairs and parent-teacher conferences. Sally Mauro Elementary is no different. Castle Country Radio sat down with fourth-grade teachers Jared Chiara and Tiffany Shire to talk about the Sally Mauro Bulls, summer preparation and what is coming next for the school.
Chiara first discussed what preparations the teachers went through in the summer to get ready for student’s return to school,” We had some money left over for some professional development, and the SLT team from Sally Mauro went to Florida to a big event called Get Your Teach On.” he continued,” And we spent three days in Florida getting some good ideas on how to liven up things at school, how to get our kids excited about learning and to boost us up to help us stay excited about teaching as well.”
Moving on to the topic of the start of school, Shire explained what it’s been like for the fourth graders,” it’s an adjustment I think for the students and the teachers. We’re getting back into a routine, getting organized, working hard and maybe having some homework, but the kids are doing great. There’s so much good energy at the beginning of the year for teachers and kids. And we’re excited because we like to keep things fresh in our classroom. We have a field trip to the State Capitol in December and we try to do fun and engaging things in our classrooms.”
Coming up next week for the school is a mixture of fun and serious with both parent-teacher conferences and the Scholastic Book Fair taking place. “Next week, Wednesday and Thursday, there will be parent-teacher conferences. The notes go home today, so parents keep an eye out for those, but it’s a busy week next week. We’ve also got the book fair all week coming in.” stated Chiara. Shire added to this saying,” And Scholastic will be the one doing the book fair. Some years we can’t get Scholastic, but it’s a great one this year. So people should come and get some books.”
One change that has been consistent throughout the state is the new language arts curriculum, which Chiara opened up explaining,”districtwide, we got a new reading curriculum, new language arts curriculum called CKLA, but it’s been an adjustment. It’s a good curriculum, but like it’s already been said, there’s a new routine we’ve got to learn and quite the schedule to get back to with that CKLA and it’s pretty rigorous, but it’s been good. ”Shire tagged in, stating,” It’s rigorous and they’re raising the bar of what they expect students to be able to do and the critical thinking and writing. So we’re excited because it’s been great so far.”
Jumping back into the fun side of teaching, we asked both teachers what they enjoy most about their career,” I love building the relationships with my students. I love getting to know them. I love how so quickly we can turn into a classroom family. And if the kids are happy coming to school and feel safe and loved, then that’s when optimal learning takes place.” explained Shire
Chiara also answered sharing.” I think I’d have to agree with Tiffany. I think that the biggest thing is just building that family in your classroom, learning to know the kids and getting to be friends with them and understanding how everybody’s going to learn and grow and function together.”
For more information on what’s coming up for Sally Mauro Elementary, you can visit the school’s website or Facebook page.