Welcome+Letter+2011

Dear Students and Families,

Welcome to fourth grade at Jefferson's STEM Program. I like to call us STEM4 because it sounds cooler that way. I have spent the entire summer thinking and dreaming about our school year. I hope you have too because we're all in this together! I'm sure you already know that this is the first year for STEM at Jefferson and so YOU are about to have an exciting year!

If you are new to Jefferson don't worry, so am I. Last year I was teaching at the Middle School. I taught there for three years and before that I taught for three years way out west in Oregon. I have two little boys and an old grumpy dog named Sagan. My wife is a super-cool woman who has a skull collection (they're fake) and teaches dance at WSU. I am crazy about bicycles, especially when I get a chance to fix them. I also like to do all the things that Winona is great for, canoeing, climbing, hiking, snowshoeing and sledding. I play the guitar and love music too.

A lot of people have been involved with the planning of your work this year. There are four other STEM classes, K-1-2-3, and us! Every STEM class is going to start the year with an awesome learning experience where you'll raise and release your own monarch butterfly! As we raise them, fourth graders will learn about measurement, symmetry, observations, data collection, critical thinking and analysis and of course the beauty and wonder of living things. We'll partner with WSU students to create and exhibit online collections of work. We're even going to create a Stop Animation Movie (SAM) to show at our Butterfly Fair. That is only the beginning. You are going to have to work hard this year but it is going to be fun!

This summer I have been involved in lots of training, just like going to school for teachers. The entire STEM team has attended Lego Symposiums, STEM Summits, Inquiry Training, Daily 5 Training....all ways to insure your success this year. At the Lego training I learned how to blend reading with engineering and robotics, and I learned how to help you make SAM movies. There are 9 new robots on the shelf and cameras on laptops just waiting for you to learn with! It is really exciting!

This website will be the main information site for our class. I welcome you to look around the site, participate and offer your expertise. I also welcome you to the beginning of a great year. I am very excited to meet you and your family.

Sincerely yours, Mr. Paulsen