Introducing the New Other Half of A Dot Does A Lot…

Hello, I am Kristie! I recently moved to North Carolina and was lucky to be introduced to my colleague Ms. Sarah Swilley (soon to be Stephens)! In a few short days (yes, days!) we really hit it off together, both professionally and personally!  She has quickly become a very close friend and colleague and shares a strong passion and love for teaching. We both agreed that we could get much more accomplished if we teamed up and put our minds together, so HERE we are… The NEW “A Dot Does A Lot Team”…

So a little about myself! I am also a Kindergarten teacher, (with my classroom and Sarah’s separated by only a column!)  I grew up in Arizona and New York and now reside in North Carolina. My boyfriend, Nick (who is also an elementary school teacher!), and I made the big move to NC and love the area and are even making plans to buy a house! Although it has been hard to move away from family and friends, we are incredibly lucky to be blessed with such awesome friends and coworkers…

Personally I have many loves, which include teaching, shopping, reading, teaching, chocolate, Italian foods, and did I mention teaching?!?... My dream job has been to be a Kindergarten Teacher, since I was in KINDERGARTEN myself! I am so excited to be fulfilling that dream and to have the opportunity to share my experiences with the teacher blogging community. I love reading your blogs and ideas and bringing them into my own classroom. I also truly enjoy having someone to collaborate with in addition to Nick. Nick and I have always been a good team together and continuously bounce ideas and resources off of one another. Having Sarah around to discuss our ideas has greatly influenced us both and we both appreciate her constructive criticism and positive collaboration...

I am huge literacy advocate; I believe it is important to include reading and writing in every aspect of the day! I think that we as teachers need to portray our love for reading and writing (as well as math and other subjects across the board) so that our young scholars learn to be confident in those academics…  I am also a huge advocate for Children with Special Needs. I always take each student’s individual needs into consideration while planning and creating activities. This is something that comes easily for me, as I grew up with a sibling who has had to overcome several struggles presented by his ADHD and Asperger’s. I also saw where and how he struggled throughout his schooling and aspired from a young age to help ensure that other children didn’t come home from school feeling the way he did…

I could go on forever about my interests and beliefs about education, but I want to stop before I get too involved!  (I want to make sure I still have something to blog about later!)  I am very excited for this opportunity to blog with Sarah and look forward our future as team bloggers! We both hope you like what you see and decide to continue reading! J