About Us

     The Class:
The students at the heart of this blog have been curious groups of fifth graders living in  south-central WI.  They enjoyed hands-on projects and finding things out for themselves.  For several years, the students saw each of the three fifth grade teachers for 90 minutes a day.  Mrs. Steven taught science, writing, grammar, and orthography (structured word inquiry).   Most of the posts in this blog are about the orthography we learned, but there are also posts about other subjects too.  If you have any questions or would like to learn more about us, please contact Mrs. Steven at msteven@cambridge.k12.wi.us.

    The Teacher:
I recently retired with 26 years of experience in a fifth grade classroom (27 if you count the one year I was actually a fifth grader).  I preferred the kinds of projects that incorporated skills from several academic areas, and when possible topics that were in the everyday lives and environments of my students.  I also believed that students needed practice throughout their K-12 education with thinking on their feet and presenting their work to an audience.  While I often had students present things to their classmates, I also had them present to the whole school (Science Fair and Photosynthesis Follies).  They also worked with younger students, teaching them about English spelling.

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences had long been my guide in choosing classwork choices and study options.  Having students aware of this theory and then having them identify their own strengths among the seven Intelligences that Howard Gardner named, allowed each student to be less inclined to compare him/herself to his/her peers.   It also explained why each student needed to develop a unique list of effective study techniques.

Another area of specific interest to me over the last ten years was  how the brain learns.  I had taken several courses and attended workshops dealing with this topic.  My plan was to demonstrate to students that things like repetition, use of rhythm, use of color, and amount of information all affect the likelihood of being able to store the information in their long term memory.

Currently I mentor new teachers in my school district and teach online classes in Structured Word Inquiry and Teaching Grammar to children.

14 thoughts on “About Us

    • I would be happy to set up a schedule for a course. If we compare windows of time, 3pm – 8pm CST converts to 8am – 1pm AEDT. You are 17 hours ahead of me. Would you prefer a weekend morning or a weekday morning?

  1. G’day Mrs Steven and students,

    Thanks for registering for the September 2013 blogging challenge. Make sure you visit the blog every week starting 8th September, when the first challenge is published.

    If you want a reminder sent to your email each week, use the “Subscribe by email” on the right sidebar of the challenge blog.

    Also make sure you visit blogs from other classes around the world with similar ages – see list in blog header.

    Feel free to add the 2013 badge to your blog.

    Miss W or tasteach – challenge organizer

  2. For my Civil War battle, Stones River and Murfreesboro come up with different beginnings and endings. I think there is a first and a second battle. Can you please help me?

    -Molly

  3. Oh, Mrs.Steven. When I was sick, I was playing around with some of the settings, and Kyra’s blog name owlgirl1202 all showed up.Do you want me to show you at recess how to do it?

  4. This site is awesome! I wish we had done something like this back when I was in your class. 😀 I hope to see everyone at the elementary school tomorrow!!!
    ~ Emma B

    • Thanks Emma! We are enjoying this new way to share what we do. I’m glad you made a comment, and I hope you make some more in the future! My current students would love your opinion on their blog pages or on our main page posts!
      Thanks!
      Mrs. Steven

  5. I really like using color, rythym, and repetition in our grammar books. I also like that when we learn, we learn with more fun than other places because we use fun things. -Saphire:)

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