WELCOME BACK!!

I hope you had a super summer and are ready for the adventures of 5th grade. I can't wait to share this year with you.

I look forward to seeing you at...

MEET THE TEACHER DAY

Thursday, September 2nd

1-2 pm

and then we are off and running as...

SCHOOL BEGINS

Tuesday, September 6th

7:50 am

Meet Mrs. Tuttle

Let me let you all in on a little secret...
I really do have a first name.
It's Melissa.

Of course, I expect all my students to continue to call me Mrs. Tuttle, but isn't it fun to know my real name too. Now that you know that little fact, let me tell you a bit more about me.

I have lived in Ocean View, Delaware (it's near Bethany) for the past 11 years, but I grew up in Maryland just a bit north of Baltimore. At home, I live with my husband, Dave, son Dylan (he is in 4th grade with Mr. Harp) and my daughter, Zoe who is 5 and will be attending Morris for Kindergarten this year. We enjoy spending time together and you can often find us at the beach or on our boat fishing or crabbing. During the winter we enjoy hanging out in front of the fireplace roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and playing some board games.

When I'm not hanging out with my family I enjoy reading, shopping, taking pictures, and blogging on the computer.

I graduated in 2004 with my Bachelor's degree from the University of Delaware, and earned my Master's Degree from Wilmington University in 2007. I am also proud to be a Nationally Board Certified Teacher which took a lot of hard work and dedication to complete a portfolio, videotape my teaching, and many tests. I love to learn and am always looking for ways to improve my teaching.

This is my 7th year of teaching! I taught 5 years in 3rd grade and last year I graduated to 5th grade where I had a blast!! I know that this is going to be another fantastic year in 5th grade for all of us and am excited to get it started.

I am blessed to be able to say that I truly love my job!!

A Class Blog?

One thing about me is that I greatly enjoy technology, especially the world of blogging.

As a teacher, I am constantly looking for ways to improve my communication with my students families so I have created a class blog in hopes of fostering more open communication between us. In previous years, I have used the blog to post all sorts of class information such as our goals, rules, management system, schedules, homework, school and class happenings, and other helpful information.

Last year, however, I created a class webpage for all that pertinent information and decided to turn the blog over to my students.

They will be using this blog to share information on what is happening in our class as well as school activities. Throughout the year the blog will also be used to highlight student achievements, share pictures from our classroom, post book reviews, as well as share some our finest writing pieces. The possibilities are endless and my hope is that my students will enjoy this purposeful writing.

As we add more content to the blog, you will find a list of subjects over there on the right to help you navigate through the posts. Each child will have their own subject, as will I, so you can click on a name to find any posts written by them.

The best thing about blogs is that everybody can be a part of the community through comments. My hope is that you will support the authors and participate with our class by leaving comments. You may notice that below every post there is a place that says "# comments." If you have any questions or comments you can post them right there. All you have to do is check where it says "Anonymous," or set up an account if you like, and then type what you want to say, sign your name, and submit. That's it! All comments will be emailed to me where I will moderate them and once they are approved will be seen on the blog.

I am very excited to share this experience with my class and can't wait to read what they have to say! I am open to any new ideas that you may have for making the blog easier to navigate, topics you would like to see being addressed, or any other questions or concerns. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or questions!! I will also spend a short time during Open House explaining the blog and how it works.