NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For Allen Samuels CDJR Teacher of the Month, Faris Elementary 2nd grade teacher Kristen Christner, she's trying to help get kids who haven't had a normal school year yet to grow into what they need to be later in elementary and catch up for some of the learning loss from the last couple of years.
"They are needing some extra help with their reasoning skills and higher level thinking," Christner said. "A lot of them have that base knowledge of being able to add and subtract within 100 and read short passages, but being able to go deeper with their knowledge and being able to apply it into everyday life."
Second grade is a pivotal year for kids in their learning journey.
"Kindergarten through second grade is learning to read," Christner said. "After second grade, it's reading to learn. We're really making sure that we have those reading skills and that they can be proficient readers. We are also doing a lot with addition and subtraction fluency and having some basic number sense and math skills. That way, they are ready to apply it in harder work, starting in 3rd grade."
Christner wants her classroom to be the place kids want to be.
"I would say, just being able to love on these kids and provide a safe and fun loving environment for them," Christner said. "Academics is important and I want my kids to be able to learn how to read and I want them to be proficient in academics, but my main focus is being able to meet their emotional needs and provide a safe and fun environment for them to be at. I grew up in kind of a rough home life and I know some of these kids do also, and school was my safe place as a kid. I want to be able to provide that for my students, of them just feeling so safe and so loved here at school, so that they can thrive as a whole child, not just as a student."
Christner acknowledges that it will continue to be an effort to know where the holes in learning are for each child until we have enough normal years in a row to have kids get back into a routine.