Welcome to Fourth Grade!

August 16, 2023 | Posted in: Class Updates

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Hello! Welcome to the online home of PGS Room 209. During the school year, I will update this website with information about activities happening in Room 209, bulletins and news items, current events related to what we’re studying in class, and much more.

It’s going to be a great year in fourth grade! There are so many new things to learn, and there are some really interesting activities coming up!

About Me

I asked my kids, Charlie (entering grade 8) and Caroline (entering grade 5) what I should tell you about myself.  Here’s their report from this summer, as well as some of their ideas from previous summers:

• I have three favorite places to be: Westmoor Park (in West Hartford), Enders Falls (in Granby and Barkhamsted), and Gillette Castle State Park (in East Haddam). Have you ever visited any of these places? I call these my “happy places”.
• I also love to visit Atlantic City, New York City, Boston, southern Rhode Island, and Northampton, MA.
• I love to wear fun ties and have over 100 in my collection.
• I like to watch my kids play baseball and soccer.
• I love to kayak!
• I love to play Rummy 500, a fun card game, with my family (and, well, just about anyone else)!
• We enjoy the 1998 Disney movie “The Parent Trap”.  (Yup, I admit it.  I really do like it more than an adult should! :-D)
• I love to cook all kinds of things, and especially to grill.
• I collect typewriters and try to repair them. I have at least 20 at home.
• I love Del’s Lemonade!  If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a famous drink in Rhode Island.  It’s like a lemonade slushy, but trust me – it’s unique!
• I enjoy Star Trek – a lot!
• I love math.
• I like visiting historical places, like Philadelphia.
• I enjoy listening to lots of different kinds of music, but I especially like Billy Joel, Alanis Morisette, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, and more!  We have a record player which we like to use a lot.  I still collect albums.
• I played the trombone for one year when I was in fourth grade, but then I switched to singing for the next decade.
• My favorite multiplication fact is 7×6=42.  (I don’t know why, but it is!)
• I always prefer having recess duty to lunch duty.  Even on the coldest days of winter!
• My favorite “extra” part of my job is seeing my former students graduate from Avon High School each spring.
• I love to teach math and science! (But I also really enjoy teaching reading too.  Ok, also writing! That’s why I like teaching elementary – so I get to teach all the subjects!)

I live locally with my wife, my son (Charlie), and our daughter (Caroline).  In my spare time, I like working on home improvement projects, making things in my woodworking shop (especially using my lathe), kayaking with my family, finding “good eats” at local farmers’ markets, or just relaxing by cooking, reading, listening to old time radio shows from the 1940s and 50s, or watching the news. I collect old reel to-reel tapes of music, all sorts of vintage technology, typewriters, antique or unusual telephones, funky ties and tie clips, and all things related to Star Trek.  I enjoy trying to play different instruments, and while my guitar hasn’t gotten much use lately, I’m learning to play the ukulele and I enjoy playing my harmonica.  Of course, I also love cheering on my favorite sports teams: the Boston Red Sox (Don’t worry Yankees fans, I promise not to be mean!), the New Britain Bees, and the University of Hartford Hawks basketball teams.

I enjoy coming up with interesting ways in which I can use technology in the classroom. (You can definitely expect to use your Chromebooks a lot in Room 209, as well as other technology tools!) I love to teach all subjects, but I especially enjoy teaching math and science.

Click “more” to learn more about me and fourth grade!

I graduated from the University of Rhode Island summa cum laude in 2004 and have a degree in Elementary Education and Psychology. I also have a Masters Degree in Educational Technology from Central Connecticut State University‘s Center for Innovation in Teaching and Technology.  In addition to my teaching role at Pine Grove School, I work to help teachers integrate technology into their teaching in meaningful and valuable ways as the PGS technology leader.

This will be my 20th year teaching at Pine Grove School. I taught third grade at PGS for five years before moving to fourth grade. While in college, I learned how to teach by working in classrooms in grades 3, 4, and 5. I have also taught kindergarten, first, and second grade summer school, and I have interned with an elementary school principal in East Hartford.  I have a background in experimental research in the field of social psychology, so you’ll probably see my interest in research and statistics come through this year during math lessons!

It’s going to be a great year in fourth grade. There are so many new things to learn, and there are some really interesting activities coming up!

We’ll learn about…

• the science behind some of your favorite playground activities
• how you can draw your way to solving math word problems
• ways you can craft a story that is well-developed and captivating for your reader
• how you can learn to enjoy poetry, not just understand it
• some of our country’s most fascinating landmarks, big and small

…and so much more.  Hold on tight – it’s going to be an amazing 180 days!

We will also have an opportunity to meet on Monday, August 28.  If your last name begins with A-L, please plan to come at 1:30.  At 2:15, I look forward to meeting students and families whose last name starts with M-Z.

Welcome to fourth grade!

Best,