Kelly Elementary SchoolCynthia Stubenrauch
Happy new school year! My name is Cynthia Stubenrauch. I have taught in Portland Public Schools for 11 years at Marysville School. I was fortunate to be selected to teach 3rd grade at Kelly. It's a wonderful change that I'm looking forward to.
A little about me...I love to read, walk my dog, and spend time with my husband. I've traveled to Australia, Mexico, Canada, Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Vermont and Tucson, Arizona, among other places.
I read lots of different kinds of books. This summer I reread all of the Harry Potter books, rewatched all of the movies, and then went to see the final film at the theater. It was fantastic, though really not for children. The books start with Harry 10 years old. It's appropriate for children as young as 9 to read the first book; the second at 10; and so on. So the last movie is really most appropriate for high schoolers and adults. I can make recommendations of books at many levels.
Right now I'm reading a lot of books about cities to prepare for teaching about the city of Portland. We'll start off with some mapping activities involving each student's bedroom, home, and street. Then we'll explore maps of Kelly, our neighborhood and community. We'll finalize our exploration with Portland. We'll work on different kinds of maps; physical, political, topographical, etc. We'll also use the Storyline Method to explore how city streets develop, create characters that will work at businesses on the street, and experience events that can happen in a city. I'm hoping we'll be able to go on one or more field trips to explore Portland. I hope this information gets you excited about the coming year.
I taught fifth grade at Marysville last year. As part of our year, we studied economics. Below is a video of a field trip we went on to JA BizTown, on Foster and 77th. Enjoy!
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying goes on among Kelly students and students across the country. Cyberbullying occurs when new technologies such as computers and mobile phones are used to harass or bully somebody. The perpetrators often use SMS, e-mail, chat rooms and social networking sites to spread their message.1 The results of such bullying can be quite serious. Students can respond violently to it and consequences for the victims and the bullies can be severe. The results of such bullying can be quite serious. Students can respond violently to it and consequences for the victims and the bullies can be severe.
Even if you do not have Internet access at home, students may use it at friends’ houses, the library and via mobile phones. Please note that students are not allowed to use social networking sites at school. However, they are taught how to behave on such sites. So what can you do to protect your child from being a victim of cyberbullying? What can you do to prevent your child from being a cyberbully?
Get to know your children’s friends and their friends’ parents or guardians. Ask friends’ parents about Internet use in their homes. Discuss the use of social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc.) When your child goes to the library, go with them and monitor what they do. Ask your children to show you which sites they like to visit. But it's usually not a good idea to forbid them from visiting certain websites; instead teach them how to act when they are there.2
Your involvement with your child, their friends, their friends’ parents and so on goes a long way toward protecting him or her from being bullied through electronic technology and from bullying others with it as well. If you have questions, there is plenty of information on the Internet under the key word “cyberbullying.” Talking with your child’s is also a resources for you. Together, we can protect children.
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1 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222104939.htm
2 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222104939.htm
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Cynthia Stubenrauch, M.S.T.
Teacher
Kelly School
503-916-6350
