Mrs. Sweet

Personal

I joined the faculty at Stella Niagara in September 2021, but my history with the school is much longer than that. I worked as a lifeguard in the Center of Renewal in high school, I coached the Stella Niagara Swim team while in college, my father was a boarding Cadet here in the 1960s, my grandparents were in the Founder’s Club, and I send my two children to school here. I am so privileged to be able to walk through the doors each day and work with distinguished faculty and colleagues, and to be a part of the education of your children. In addition to teaching 3rd grade, I also coordinate the Room Parents, run the Scrip program, and I am once again coaching the swim team.

Teaching Philosophy

I truly believe that who children learn with is as important as what they learn. I use Responsive Classroom education techniques in all areas of the curriculum to foster social-emotional learning, while setting clear and high expectations for quality of work and behavior. I believe in creating a loving and safe environment for learning, complete with strong boundaries and rigorous coursework. We get up for brain and movement breaks throughout the day, and I believe that being in nature with organic materials is the best way to learn. We also focus on fostering our classroom family and community, and the result is an environment where all students feel heard and free to learn.

What students will learn in my class

In 3rd grade, the students will cover topics from multiplication and division to geometry and fractions in Math class. We will learn about ecosystems, forces and motion, life cycles, organisms, and weather in Science as well as Outdoor Education. Social Studies will cover the environment, economics, government, citizenship, and the 50 states. English Language Arts is reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and cursive handwriting. Through close and guided reading, we will cover fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures. We will determine the central message of texts and explain how it is conveyed through key details. We will read informative and explanatory texts, and be able to comprehend complex literature including stories, dramas, and poetry. In grammar we will learn pronoun-antecedent agreement, verb tenses, reciprocal pronouns, parts of speech, comparatives/superlatives, complex/compound sentences, punctuation, possessives, and English language conventions.