Katie Hlavka

Welcome to 3rd Grade!

Hello! This will be my 6^th year teaching and I’m so excited to be joining the Third Grade team. I’ve been at Willow Creek for 3 years now, my first two in First grade. Before I came to Willow Creek, I taught 6^th grade English at a school in Brighton.

I grew up in Michigan and attended Michigan State University (Go Spartans!) and then began a job with Verizon Wireless. I moved to Colorado in 2005, where I finished my teaching degree at Metro State University. Before I was a teacher I worked as a manager for Verizon, then spent some time at home with my kids before going back to work full time.

My family and I love to spend time outdoors. We love to camp, hike, swim at the pool, have bonfires, and anything else that involves the mountains. I have 4 kids, Grace is 11, Ben is 9, Max is 7, and Mia is 4. My husband John and the kids and I also have lots of pets. We have a newfoundland (big giant dog) named Ted, a bulldog names Hazel, and three cats! We also just added a new leopard gecko to our crew named Lilo.

I am so excited to meet all of you! The most important thing in my classroom is having a sense of safety and community. Kindness is always an important theme, and I think it’s especially important now. I want every student in my class to come to school feeling safe, valued, and excited for learning. And of course ready to have fun! We will be doing lots of fun things in 3^rd grade including, Night of the Notables, mastering multiplication facts, learning about financial literacy, science experiments, and sharing stories in reading and writing. Third grade will be a year for you to develop more independence, build upon your current knowledge and understanding, and strengthen your thinking skills.