About Me and Our Classroom

 First Grade            Room 107                Twelve Bridges Elementary School          434-5220   

My name is Vanessa Gutierrez and this is my 20th year teaching and my 19th year at Twelve Bridges Elementary School.  I have taught in the Center Unified School District, the Chico Unified School District, as well as the Durham Unified School District.  I have taught in the primary grade levels and come from a large family of teachers.  This is my 20th year teaching first grade.  I am a proud daughter to parents who have been married for over 49 years.  My dad works in medical consulting and auditing and my mom retired a couple years ago from teaching first grade for 20 years so I have all of her experience to draw from as well as my own (plus the added bonus of her help weekly in the classroom). I have one sister, Stephanie, who is married to Dominick, and they have my nine year old niece Sofia Rose and my almost 8 year old nephew Nicholas Dominick.  In March I celebrated my tenth year of marriage to my fabulous husband Jose Gutierrez, and we have our first child, Maximiliano Keith who turned 8 on April 3 this year and it's hard to believe how fast that time has gone!!  We also have our almost 4 year old, Louis 'Louie' Alexander who, because of distance learning I got to spend much more time with! Both of our boys are so happy and bring us such joy each and every day!  Everybody that meets Max compliments us on what a great, laid back, enjoyable kid he is and can't believe that he ever has a bad day because he seems to always have a smile on his face.  Max will be going into third grade at First Street School in the GATE program this year and I'm so excited for his new adventure (he's been at TBE with me TK-2 so it's going to be an adjustment not having him here on campus with me this year?.  Louie has a more fiesty temperament than Max but he just brings joy to anybody he interacts with or even passes in the store.  Jose and I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time this summer with Max and Louie.  We also got a puppy in December last year so we've had fun with our girl, Dorothy (Dottie), this summer.  Though she's a puppy, she's a big girl-German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix.  She brings us all a lot of joy!

Jose and I spend some of our weekends fine-tuning things around the house.  We are currently moving to Lincoln (will be moved in officially Aug. 26) and are looking forward to working around our new house.  Since the arrival of our sons, we both greatly enjoy any free time that we might have playing with them and watching them learn and grow.  I also enjoy spending my free time (there's not as much of that now that we have Max and Louie) reading, taking pictures, camping, fishing, spending time with my family and friends, and hopefully someday playing soccer again on a co-ed team with my husband.  

Classroom projects that I have loved to share with my school kids are: habitat exploration through animal science and social studies; comparison of Customs Around the World; the study of gardening, plants, and life cycles; and the writing of their very own Autobiographies. Over the years, it has been my pleasure to share many favorite books with my class. Among my favorite book series for children are “Magic Tree House,” and “Flat Stanley.”  

This year’s class will get to learn the Common Core Standards through our adopted language arts curriculum.  We are excited that students can also look forward to an exciting and educational assembly and field trips about animals and habitats (Wild Things Assembly and Woodcreek Nature Center).  There's the possibility of a field trip to learn about recycling, our planet, and research in a library (Roseville Utility Center), as well as a field trip to Roller King.  Additionally, as a first grade team we are still looking for new and exciting field trips or presentations that we can sign up for this year.  

I enjoy teaching children how to read, and making their beginning educational experience a successful one.  In my class your child will be treated with respect, and will feel successful.  Though I love my summers with all 3 of my boys, I'm really excited to begin another school year teaching your kids!  Ask any former student of mine or their families-I feel like I acquire new members of my family each new school year.  As I'll tell your kids, once you're my kid, you're always my kid and I will always be in your child's corner as they learn and grow, even once they've left my class.  I've loved going to students graduations from both high school and college, as well as watching them get married and start families of their own. 

I am so excited and looking forward to meeting and teaching your children this school year! I am looking forward to building a great partnership as we work together to make your child's first grade learning experience a memorable, fun, and successful one.