Welcome to fifth grade!! My name is Susan Spizzirri and I am so excited to work with your child this year. Let me tell you a little about myself... I grew up in the city of Chicago, but moved to Flagstaff about 10 years ago. I completed my bachelors degree at NAU in Spanish. During that time I completed two semesters of school in Mexico and lived there for about a year and a half. After returning to Flagstaff, I worked as a long-term substitute teacher for several different teachers in FUSD. For the past two years I have worked as a facilitator of Team Mastermind classes at Mountain School and several other schools in FUSD. I have also been working on my graduate degree in elementary education and I graduate in December. I am proud to call Flagstaff my home and excited for the opportunity to be part of the wonderful community of Mountain School!

I look forward to working as a guide and facilitator for your fifth grader as he/she explores the world around us. I think it is in children's nature to be curious and I plan to promote an environment that will foster inquiry learning in all subjects. In order for students to be excited about their learning, I think it is important to offer the freedom of choice concerning their work, in the form of where, when, and with whom they perform certain tasks. They will also be provided many options for different projects so that they will feel ownership over their learning. With this freedom of choice comes the responsibility of the students to be productive and our management plan in the classroom is important in regulating that. The thoughts and feelings of the students are of utmost importance and they will have daily and weekly opportunities to voice them in a cooperative community setting.