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    Dear Parents/Guardians,                                                      family

     Hello! I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Lindy Mills, and I am your child’s new 5th grade teacher. I am very excited about the year, and can’t wait to get to know every child in my class. I know we will have a wonderful year together!

     I live in the district with my husband (teacher at ST) and stepson, who will be a 4th grader at ST. I enjoy traveling, running, hiking, reading, history, and teaching! I completed two half-marathons last fall, and I hope to run a 10-miler in Disney in the spring!

    I grew up in Newtown Square, and attended Marple-Newtown Public Schools throughout 8th grade.  I transferred to Episcopal Academy for high school. Upon graduation, I went on to Lafayette College. I majored in Psychology and graduated Summa Cum Laude/Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Science. I chose to pursue my career in teaching, however, because of my goal of inspiring a love of learning in all children.

     I attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, and received my Masters in Elementary Education in the period of ten months. During this time I student taught in Northeast Philadelphia (1st grade) and in Merion (3rd Grade) for the Lower Merion School District. Upon graduation, my career path followed a typical first year teacher’s: I became a Per Diem Sub for T/E and Great Valley. I subbed for 6 months, and then was asked to be a long-term sub in 4th grade at GWES. I taught third grade for nine years at KDM, helping me to gain invaluable teaching experience, and learn more about my teaching styles and myself as a person. I'm excited to be in 5th grade at GWES again for my nineteenth year of teaching (10 years in 5th grade)!

     My goal is to provide a welcoming environment where all children feel that they belong, are valued, respected, and heard. Building connections and relationships is vital. Additionally, a goal for this year is to help your child gain the most out of his/her 5th grade experience, providing invaluable preparation for the middle school. I wish to set all of my students up for success by catering my teaching styles to meet their individual interests and needs. Common Core standards will serve as a guideline to daily lesson plans, and assessments will be given to reinforce standards. I will look to my fellow teammates to help me achieve my goals for this school year.

     I also hope to establish a home-school partnership with every parent. I wish to keep every parent/guardian informed about school happenings, homework, long-term assignments, field trips, individual progress, class progress, etc. I ask parents to sign assignment books every night as a way of making sure your child keeps up with his/her responsibilities as a student. I will often make phone calls home or send notes home for a variety of reasons, specifically to maintain the home-school partnership. I will also ask parents to volunteer to help with class parties, field trips, and serve as guest readers. With the support of all parents in our classroom, we can all help each child have a successful school year.

     In order to help maintain the home-school partnership, I ask you to contact me via e-mail or phone (before school or after school only please, unless there is an emergency). My e-mail address is lmills@gvsd.org. Our school phone number is 610-647-6651 and my extension is 1006 (please leave a message). I’m very excited to experience a fabulous school year with your children, and look forward to meeting every parent at Back to School Night on Wednesday, September 7th.  Here’s to a great year!

     Sincerely,

    Lindy Mills