Hello fellow Timberwolves!

I am Ms. Susie Strong and I am thrilled to be a part of the pack for Year 5! I too, went to school in Loudoun County and am a proud graduate of Stone Bridge High School. Go Bulldogs! After Stone Bridge, I spent four years at Longwood University getting my Bachelors in English Education. I couldn't bear to leave just yet, so I stayed one more year to get my Master's of Education in Reading, Literacy, and Learning in order to be a licensed reading specialist. I have experience with teaching all the way from pre-k to high school but have found my passion to lie in middle school Language Arts.

In my free time, I get to the beach or the lake as much as possible. I am especially fond of Maine beaches, where I spend two weeks every summer with my family. I am even going to be married on my favorite Maine beach this September! Although there is something particularly special about reading near the water, I spend much of my daily free time reading. If I find myself reading at home, my pet cats are constantly by my side fighting for more attention than I am giving to the pages of my book. The picture I chose to add here is from my trip to the British Isles a few years back. I was lucky enough to visit Shakespeare's home, Stratford-Upon-Avon. I am posing with a statue of him just next to his childhood home, where I got to walk on the same stones he walked on a mere 455 years ago!

My goal for this year is to have each of my students feel safe, welcome, and excited back in the building. I hope we can all end the year with a newly rediscovered love of reading and writing! You will find a number of quotes and inspirational thoughts around my room, so you will quite literally be surrounded by good thoughts - like a favorite of mine from Roald Dah, 'If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."