Welcome to the Lily Pad 2015

Ms. Mack hiking in Jasper, Alberta, Canada!

Hi! I am Ms. Mack and I am so excited to be your teacher this year! You will love third grade, the Lily Pad (our room) and Marquette.  This will be a year full of new learnings, new adventures and a whole lot of F-U-N!

I am very interested to learn more about you, hear your stories and learn about your family, friends and interests.  First, I will share a bit about me:

I was born in Urban, Illinois, moved to the Washington D.C. area where I went to Kindergarten through 2nd grade.  Then, my family moved to Iowa City, Iowa were I lived for 14 years.  I went to college at the University of Iowa and went to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison...Go Badgers!  I am married to Dave and we live with 2 dogs, Faith and Hope.  I have 2 sisters, 4 nieces and nephews, 2 step-children and 6 grandchildren!  My husband and I live near the Henry Vilas Zoo and yes, I can hear the lions roaring in the morning when they are hungry for breakfast!

A few more things about me:
Favorite Color: Green
Favorite Season: Summer
Favorite Food: Chocolate (is that even a food?!?)
Favorite Animal: Dogs
Favorite Sport: Running and Hiking in the Mountains
Favorite Author: Roald Dahl
Favorite Hobby: Knitting
Favorite Movie: The Sound of Music
Favorite Children's Book: The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodle
Favorite Beverage: A Latte
Favorite Song: What a Wonderful World
Favorite Singer: Eva Cassidy

Leave a comment so I know you visited our blog! Have your parents sign-up for email updates so they will not miss any important information OR important photos and dates!

A new technology addition to The Lily Pad this year: We now have a Website!  I will "share" the site via an email invite but you can also follow the link below to get to it!

The Lily Pad Marquette Website

The Blog will have updates on our weekly activities in the classroom.  It is basically an electronic newsletter with tons of photos!  The website will supplement this blog.  Parents: I am very interested in your feedback.

I also would like to introduce you to other people who will be working in the classroom this semester:

Hello!

My name is Luke Rudolph and I’m very excited to be student teaching in this third grade classroom for the fall semester.  I completed the Elementary Ed sequence at UW-Madison and now just have my student teaching requirements to finish before I will be able to teach in a classroom of my own.  I have had an incredible time while attending UW and had the fortunate opportunities to study abroad for a semester in New Zealand and teach for 2 months in a small village in Uganda.  My entire family (and extended family) resides in Appleton, Wisconsin – 2 hours northeast from Madison.  I spent 7 summers working at a YMCA summer camp in the northwoods of Wisconsin, which is where I really developed my passion for working with youth.  It was there I learned to appreciate the outdoors and I love to work and play outside whenever possible.  Some of my favorite hobbies include hiking, canoeing, sailing, climbing, golfing, and skiing.  I look forward to working with all the students in our classroom and learning about who they are and where they’ve come from.  Establishing a fun and safe environment for students to learn and interact with their peers is a top priority for me.  Through all of my unique experiences, I’ve realized that people thrive the most when they feel comfortable being themselves, and I plan to embrace the diversity that each student is bringing to our classroom.  Let’s learn to accept everyone for who they are and understand how we can work together to accomplish our common classroom goals.

Mrs. Zwart

My name is Mrs. Zwart and I am the special education teacher working with third grade.  I have had the pleasure of working closely with Ms. Mack for over 20 years.  I also work with Ms. Henze's classroom (Penguin Place). You can also find me in the Flamingo Room. I enjoy reading, baking, gardening and of course, teaching. I live with my husband Mark and we have a 25 year old son, Alex.