First Grade Teachers 2007-2008
 
Y G First Grade Newsletter  September 5, 2007 Volume 1 Meet Your Teachers Nancy Imamura and Sayaka Matoba are your first grade homeroom teachers this 2007-2008 school year. They are assisted by Ruby Bauer, Instructional Assistant, Marilyn Krumdieck, Instructional Assistant, Jeanne Mandrapa, Instructional Assistant, Jacqueline Alonso, Technology Teacher and Nick Shanks, Physical Education Teacher. Nancy Imamura, English Nancy has been a teacher at Yujin Gakuen since 1989. Previous to that she taught for 1 1/2 years in Los Angeles, California, 4 1/2 years in Bloomington, Indiana, and a year in Charlottesville, Virginia. This year will be her 25th year in the teaching profession. Nancy is married to James, a Professor of Physics at the University of Oregon Institute of Theoretical Science. Her daughter, Megan, is also a teacher and subs in Lane County and hopes to land a position in the Portland area. Her son, Ryan, is a senior at Stanford University majoring in Economics and plays Varsity Soccer. Her son, Eric, is a Junior at the University of Hawaii, Manoa in Honolulu and is majoring in International Business. All three children are alumni of Yujin Gakuen. Information about our first grade class can be found at: https://web4j1.lane.edu/~imamura. The YG First Grade blog site is at the 4j blog site which is: http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/imamura/ This year is the first year for the Houghton Mifflin Reading Program. There are over 700 new books in our classroom to read. Readings in Social Studies and Science will supplement our existing First Grade Curriculum. Sayaka Sensei plans to match her Japanese curriculum to some of the reading content themes this year. We both anticipate a busy, fun filled year and can’t wait to meet all our new first grade families. Sayaka Matoba, Japanese This summer, Sayaka graduated from the University of Oregon with a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education with a focus on Teaching and Learning. She was born and raised in Yokohama, Japan. She has been in the United States for five years. Sayaka enjoys playing sports and playing the piano in her spare time. Sayaka loves being around children. She looks forward to the challenges of the school year. She hopes that her classroom will be an “Oasis” for our first graders; a comfortable environment where they will thrive and learn. Nick Shanks, Physical Education Please welcome our new PE teacher, Nick Shanks. Nick just finished the PE Masters Program at OSU and also holds a license in Early Childhood & Elementary Education as well as in Adaptive PE. Nick has wonderful knowledge, creative ideas, and an enthusiasm for this position. Nick will make a great contribution to both Physical Education programs at Yujin Gakuen and Corridor. Jacqueline Alonso, Technology Jacque just finished her Masters in Elementary Education at the UO with an emphasis in Technology Integration. She has her own education blog, which has a lot of quality education links you might want to check out. The website is: http://jacqueseducationblog.blogspot.com/ Jeanne Mandrapa, Instructional Assistant  Janne teaches in both the Japanese and English first grade classrooms. She will be helping with both Japanese and math. At Yujin Gakuen, Jeanne helps in all the other Japanese classrooms, is our English Language Learner (ELL) teacher and teaches in our after school Homework Club. You can also see her outside supervising at recess. Ruby Bauer, Instructional Assistant Ruby is our Yujin Gakuen Library Assistant. Since we don’t have a librarian, Ruby is in charge. She welcomes parent volunteers to keep the library running smoothly. Ruby also spends an hour a day in our first grade English classroom checking in and out books for the Home Reading Program and works with a Leveled Reading Group. She also works outside supervising at recess. You will also see her supervising breakfast in the morning and in front of Yujin Gakuen as you arrive to school each morning.  Marilyn Krumdieck, Instructional Assistant Marilyn works in the first and second grade classrooms. She also helps in our Special Education Program in Yulan Graham’s Workshop. Marilyn will be leading a Leveled Reading Group in our class as well as doing ongoing assessments for our new Houghton Mifflin reading program. https://web4j1.lane.edu/~imamurahttp://blogs.4j.lane.edu/imamura/http://jacqueseducationblog.blogspot.comshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2
Thursday, September 6, 2007