I am so excited to be a part of Queen Anne Elementary and launch my career in a place that values creativity and innovation. I am honored to be among this fantastic staff and community.This is my 3rd year teaching kindergarten at QAE and can't get enough of it! I grew up in Bothell, Washington in a loving family of four. Thanks to many family vacations, I've developed a love for travel. I love visiting other parts of the world and learning about various cultures. I've spent time in Belize, Japan, Mexico, Australia, and Europe. This summer I got the chance to travel to Zambia with our principal and other QAE teachers to start building a relationship with the teachers and students at Dwankhozi Basic School!
I view teaching as an opportunity to empower students as individuals. My classroom is designed to promote students as active participants within a larger community of learners. From the physical arrangement of the classroom to the behavior expectations I have for students, the essence of a community is embedded throughout. In my classroom, students have choice in their own learning and learn to become self-directed learners. Students will leave my class with a sense of pride in their ideas as well as the ability to think critically about the world around them.
What we do at school all day!
Volunteering at QAE
Volunteering at Queen Anne Elementary I hope that all of you find a way to help out at our school this year! It is a lot of fun for the kids and for the adult volunteers! If you are able to make the commitment to volunteer regularly in the classroom, fabulous. I love having the help! At Curriculum Night (Thurs, Sept. 27th) I will show you how to sign up for classroom volunteer time slots on our volunteer spot website. When you sign up for a spot, I will work with you to determine what classroom work you are most comfortable doing. Ways to help in the classroom include working directly with the students, helping prepare for upcoming projects (cutting or copying paper), scanning student work for e-folios, emptying/stuffing go-home folders, etc.
To work in the classroom on a regular basis, you !must take a volunteer training session. (See school website for schedule into) In the training you will learn about classroom expectations, adult boundaries, addressing discipline, and how to use equipment and find supplies.
You will also need to fill out background check paperwork, now required by the Seattle Public Schools for all volunteers who have any contact with children. Carla Kirch, our Administrative Assistant in the main office, can help you fill out this paperwork.
In addition to regularly scheduled classroom volunteers, there will be lots of opportunities for volunteers to help out. You can sign up for a single time slot, volunteer for one of the classroom parent jobs (see list below), chaperone a field trip, attend a literacy celebration or school assembly, teach us about a special talent or skill you want to share, etc. If you can't get to our campus, you can visit the work we are doing on our classroom website and your student's e-folios and make comments from your home.
Parent Jobs The parent jobs currently up for grabs are: - auction liason - party planner - snack coordinator (send out reminders re. family snack contributions) - class photographer (take and collect class photos throughout the year to be used for the yearbook and website photo albums) - technology coordinator ( download pictures, scan & post student, work to student e-folios, blog with kids)
If you have any interest in taking any of these on, please let me know!
Thank you in advance for all of the support you will provide your kindergartener this year. It is invaluable!
Beginning of the year info
Classroom Supplies Instead of having students bring school supplies, our school asks for a $50 supply donation from each child. Supply donations are used to buy all of the classroom supplies, art and project materials needed in bulk and with our education discounts. Using community supplies teaches students how to share with others and treat materials with respect so that they last longer. Checks will be collected the first week of school and can be made out to Queen Anne Elementary. Remember, this is a donation. If you are financially unable, just let me know.
Pick up/ Drop off On the first day of school, you are welcome to walk your child into our classroom and greet other kindergarteners and family members. When the 9:30 bell rings, I will ask the students to wave goodbye to their family members and come sit with me on the teaching carpet. Please do your best to say goodbye! It is usually much harder for the parents than the students!! Before leaving the building, please take time to fill out the "how do we go home" chart hanging on our door.
After the first day, you are welcome to drop your students off at the playground 15 minutes before the first bell rings. When the bell rings, your students will line up on our class spots (it will be marked in chalk) and I will come get them to start the day. At the end of the day, I will walk the students out as well. You are welcome to meet your student in the hall, out on the playground or in the designated pick up spot. Before taking your student, please make sure you make eye contact with me so we know they are safe. I will have an adult walk students riding a bus out to the bus lines as well. If your child is ever to go home in a different way than indicated on the "how we go home" chart, it is really important that you write an email to let me know. Often, kindergarteners will get mixed up!
Snack Families will be asked to send snack 3 to 4 times throughout the year. A schedule will be sent home early in the year and the snack coordinator will send families reminders when their turn is coming up again. Please send healthy snacks like pretzels, cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain crackers, etc. Please avoid any snacks that have nuts and hydrogenated oils.
Students will be scheduled to share (show and tell with a theme) on the same day that they bring our snack.
Classroom Websites & Student E-Folios This will be my primary form of family communication. I will blog weekly, posting photos, videos and students comments regarding what we are up to in class as often as possible. Please visit our class site ( it will be linked to the QAE site soon, but in the meantime you can access it directly at yokoyama.queenanneelementary.com) and sign up to receive e-mails about blog posts.
At Curriculum Night, I will walk you through our classroom website and the resources it contains. I will also introduce you to your student's e-folio and teach you how to edit it so you can help me capture your student's growth this year!
Birthdays At QAE we love birthdays. We love to celebrate them and realize this is an important part of elementary school. We also believe that we can celebrate them in a meaningful and fun way without filling our kids with sugar. Therefore, if you choose to celebrate your child’s birthday at school, you may do so by donating a book in their name to the classroom. We will sing happy birthday, read the book and celebrate without treats, snacks or gifts. Teacher birthdays will be celebrated the same way.
Homework We will talk about this more in depth at curriculum night. However, the kindergarten team believes that kindergartners work very hard throughout the day and we don’t want them (or you) stressing about homework at home. Therefore, we will give families ideas of activities (both on-line and off-line) that can be done at home to help students’ learning - but it will be done on your own timeframe.