Welcome!
My name is Sabrina Brandenburg, and I will be your Language Arts teacher this year! This is my sixth year as a fourth grade Language Arts teacher, but I taught at Norwayne Middle School as the Title teacher for three years before moving to fourth grade.
I enjoy reading, writing, traveling, and photography - all four things which I feel fit hand-in-hand. I have written my own Young Authors' story in the past, alongside my students, and have shared my writing with them. I enjoy reading and writing Young Adult fantasy (think Bridge to Terebithia, The Tale of Desperaux, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter) and realistic fiction (such as Because of Winn-Dixie or Frindle), but I also enjoy reading and writing poetry (one of my poems is hanging in the back of my classroom). I haven't traveled much in the US (aside from a few church mission trips in high school, as well as to neighboring states to visit family), but I have been to at least one city in each of the following countries: the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England (and Wales), Scotland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. I take lots of photographs and journal about the things I've learned, compiling them when my trip is over. My students enjoy looking through my Shutterfly books about my trips, though mostly for the pictures!
This year, we will read a couple of novels as well as many stories from the Reading Street textbooks, we will use the Lucy Calkins Writer's Workshop model to improve our writing skills, and we will work on writing five paragraph essays in order to prepare for the state test (if we have them this year) and their future as Language Arts students. We will also work on listening and speaking skills, which may build towards an end-of-year project.
I'm excited for the new year and to be back in the class with the kids; it's up to you to help make it a great one!
Sincerely,
Miss Brandenburg