Thank you for stopping to see what is happening in our Diner Classroom.  The Diner is a special place a group of second-grade high-ability children call home.  This is where we are all learning and growing together.  We have fun in the Diner daily and can't imagine learning any other way.  

The Diner setting was chosen to promote "conversations" and collaboration, not the desire to eat food.  Comfort drives creative thinking and the willingness to learn.  Flexible seating is built into the entire Diner.   Everything they need is at their fingertips.  

Please take some time to look around our website and check out what is going on.

Who am I?

"People who are open to uncertainties are the pathfinders for the rest of us. They are the ones who walk on the moon, start important non-profits, and paint paintings worth falling in love with. We stare with them in admiration and shower them with opportunities and gratitude - not because they take big risks, but because they are willing to risk without knowing."  Seth Godin  

                                              This is a quote that I can relate to and aspire to each day in the Diner.

My name is Mrs. Kim Pinto (Kimberley), and I am the Diner establishment teacher. I have had the opportunity to teach elementary school for many years. My journey has indeed been one that movies are made of, full of intrigue and adventure. I love teaching.

You must know where my heart is to get to know me up close and personally. On a professional level, I love kids. I love the spirit they have and the journey I get to take with them each year. I like the challenge of unlocking learning and igniting a love of learning. Having the opportunity to teach one grade level of high-ability students is a dream come true for me.

I love to spend time with my family and friends, reading, writing, hand sewing, going to Chicago Cubs games, traveling, developing curriculum for kids, and enjoying a warm cup of black coffee. I am a homebody and enjoy the calmness of a simple life during the weekdays. I like to spend time in quaint coffee shops downtown in Lafayette and Chicago. Each season, I travel. I have an iKamper/Jeep camping combination that allows me to travel widely. I especially love to go to where my boys have created homes. I cherish each new adventure we all take together. Yes, this is especially fun going off the grid with them.   

I have created a unique little spot on this Earth. My favorite color is black, which I wear most of the time; simple for me. I love color accents, but don't be alarmed when my daily color is centered around black. I have a creative eye and enjoy the world of art. I created an art studio in a closet in Chicago called the Art Closet.  I sew, crochet, paint, and explore artistic endeavors within that space. I am also concerned about my carbon footprint as I travel my life journey. With that said, I am focused on recycling, eating a plant-based diet, shopping for my clothes at used clothes shops, sewing and hand-making gifts out of used materials, and leading a personal artistic life. We can learn a lot from the treasures and history people have carefully preserved, so an antique store is a little slice of happiness for me.

On a very personal level, I am a breast cancer survivor. My world was rocked on the last day of school, May 2013. I was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. The team of doctors for my surgery, radiation, and aftercare were top shelf. From the first day, I was told I would value life differently and look at the world with different eyes; that has indeed happened. I have grown in ways I never thought were possible. I have learned many things from this journey, not the least of which is cancer awareness. I have continued to have a few bumps along the way with some scares, but I remain cancer-free at each turn.  So, celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness is near and dear to my heart. And yes, pink is now a tiny part of my wardrobe. Would you expect anything else?

My Favorite Things

• Coffee: McDonald's black coffee and good old diner coffee.  (So that you know, I'm not too fond of Starbucks coffee. I know you would think I would, but I genuinely don't.)

• Book Store: Amazon 

• Color: Black 

• Sweet Snack:  Sweet Revolution vegan muffins and cookies. 

• Allergies:  Vegan is my preferred diet.  I get very SICK if I eat dairy or meat.

• Favorite Stores:  REI, Amazon, and Etsy (Not a big Target fan)

• Restaurants in Our Community: Happy China Chinese, Azzip Pizza, Maje Sushi, and Sushi Don

• Restaurants by Our Second Home, Chicago:  Elephant and Vine, The Chicago Diner, Smack Dab, Vaca's Creamery, Kopi  Cafe, Penelope's Vegan Taqueria, and Nori Sushi 

• Teaching Supplies: Amazon GIFT CARDS, of course!

• Passion:  I love the Chicago Cubs baseball team!  I have season tickets, Go Cubs Go!

• Travel: I love to travel! I have an iKamper/Jeep combo, and I travel and camp off the grid whenever I get an opportunity. My heart is in California (LA) and Colorado (Denver). 

      Yes, I am a unique and seasoned member of the Diner. I welcome you to come and join the fun!

Core Teaching Values

My first two core values are comfort and creating a love for learning. At the Diner, the daily goals are to make learning meaningful and find pathways that allow students to grow. The fun is that each child is so very different in all aspects.

I have designed a learning environment that supports these Core Values. The Diner has an open policy regarding seating, with comfy diner seating for each child. I am focused on an environment that enhances the love of learning. Comfort is the backbone of growth, my next Core Value.

The best way to describe how I teach is similar to this: True chefs are fond of saying "following a recipe" and "cooking" are not the same. The former can make you a nice meal. The latter involves the dynamic process of tasting and adjusting until the flavor balance is just right—with results that can be magical. So, yes, I cook daily in the Diner, not following a recipe.

I heard someone say that all Mrs. Pinto is worried about is growth. What an interesting comment that immediately made me burst into a big smile. Yes, GROWTH is one colossal goal I continue to have. Growth in all areas of a child has been my focus every year. I have spent much time discussing it with my students and their parents. Shouldn't that be the goal of a teacher and a person focused on instilling the love of learning? Isn't learning measured by the amount of growth a child makes in all areas? Growth is another core value that is dear to me.

PUSH is another Core Value I find extremely important for meeting your potential. Yes, I understand adults' apprehension with the push involved in achieving growth with a child. Ultimately, taking each child out of their comfort zone and placing them at their level is different for the Diner Kids. In a High Ability classroom, each child starts at a higher level. But, of course, it is "their" level. Adults want to fix the problem when a child is uncomfortable or unsure. But haven't adults been fixing children's issues since they were very young? My goal is for adults not to look at this as something to fix but rather to support and encourage. The goal is to move roadblocks students are hitting behaviorally or academically because of this paradigm shift. Growth can be such a rewarding experience. Your parent relationships may need to grow and change with your child. Allowing push is something you will give your child, and they will receive many rewards by doing so.

What does all of this mean for each Diner child? Keep the positive flowing and set positive, realistic limits on the home front. Conversations about how video games work lit up some light bulbs in the class. In video games, you get to the next level by winning a battle, getting to the other side, or collecting things. In every instance, it is complex and uncertain. There is something difficult you have to attain to go forward. What happens when you get to the challenge is critical. One strategy is to get online and find cheats. If you can't take a shortcut, getting to the next level in a video game takes time. The need to be done takes over. The other path is to keep pushing your effort and refuse cheats. You get to the next level by showing great effort and doing the work. This is just like life. This is where the challenge of learning is the same. A video game is an example, but it mirrors learning.

Adults have spent a lifetime experiencing the rigor, effort, and excitement involved with growth. So why wouldn't everyone want to teach society's most treasured gifts "how" to handle the push positively and exhilaratingly? Parent support is essential as the Diner continually tries to build positive choices and solutions to struggles and remove roadblocks. Together, this can be a positive way for each child to learn. Each Diner child is a difference-maker in the world...I am confident of that.

The History of the Diner

The Pinto Diner does have a story. Many people stop in and ask how it all began. Can a classroom have a history? The bigger question is whether a diner is a classroom. Both questions are yes! There are several parts to the diner's history. The first part started when I was a little girl. I spent countless hours with my Grandma. My Grandma and I had an exceptional relationship, and we were very close, almost like a mother and a daughter. I learned a great deal from the time I spent with my Grandma.

Since my Grandma was an impoverished lady, our adventures often ended in splitting a hot dog and a Coke at a local diner. It seemed like hours just melted away as we sat in a diner booth talking about EVERYTHING. Our two favorite hangouts were the Downtowner and the Fifth Street Coney Island (now Sunrise Diner). My Grandma couldn't drive, so the diners were within walking distance of her row house apartment on Fifth Street. Diners bring a warm memory to my mind whenever I think of them.  

As an aside, in Fall 2018, my husband and I sold our family home and moved downtown on 5th Street. Can you believe my new home overlooks the street I used to walk down with Grandma? In addition, my apartment overlooks the Sunrise Diner and the Farmer's Market. What an incredible adventure we are on. Yes, this was on my bucket list: moving downtown.

Is my Grandma named Maxine? No, that is someone entirely different. Why is Maxine's table on the wall outside of the Diner? Well, because the first table I ever had in the Diner was the one Maxine gave me. Yes, the same table is on the wall. There was only one table before the booth, and other diner tables, diner counter, and stage arrived. There was only one table... Maxine's. Maxine was the mother of a dear friend, Wash. That table is the same table my friend Wash sat at his entire childhood. When Maxine finished the table, Wash gave it to me for my classroom. It has been in the Diner since the beginning. Unfortunately, it became so shaky that the children could no longer use it in class. That is why it is now proudly displayed on the wall outside of the Diner.

Where did the Diner counter come from? I have carried on the tradition of eating in diners with my two boys, Brent and Alex, so the Diner counter is part of this. First, Brent and I visited our favorite diners and measured their counters. Then Brent and his friend Chris came home and BUILT a counter for The Pinto Diner. Yes, they are both very talented!

Why a diner as a classroom? At Burnett Creek Elementary, we focus on building a comfortable learning environment. The most relaxing place I could think of was a diner. It simply makes sense. With others' generosity and many grants I have attained, the Diner has become such a wonderful place. Please step in and take a look. It truly is a vision that began many years ago with my Grandma, Violet Foster, some conversation, a hot dog, and a Coke.

Final Thoughts

As I write this, I realize the faith you all place in me daily in the Diner. Not only do you bravely send your child to a classroom that looks like a working diner, but you also send them to a classroom with a unique teacher. Steven Johnson (he studies where good ideas come from) frames my Pinto Diner's design philosophy even further. He looks at the spaces that have historically led to unusual rates of creativity and innovation. He notes that this creativity and innovation usually start with a hunch. Hunches come together when you provide systems for those hunches to collide. He points out that coffee houses were engines of creativity because they created a space where ideas could mingle, swap, and create new forms. He also points out that the historic increase in connectivity has genuinely been the one overriding factor that will allow people to pull their "hunches" together. That is where the Diner comes in. My goal is to create an environment where these creative hunches will collide. But my Diner goes beyond the stage set and looks like a diner. My goal is to develop the historical community diner environment. The place where you can sit and chat, hunker down with a book, pull up a chair, share an idea, and ultimately experience the comfort necessary to openly travel safely down a new educational road and take a hunch to the next level.

The environment I am developing in the diner includes allowing students to sit each day comfortably, read and write authentically, solve real-world problems, and learn independent/group researching skills. With a significant focus on effort, work ethic, and growth, you have all the necessary ingredients.