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One Class at a Time: Valley View Elementary School's Amy Westphal

OCAT Amy Westphal
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Posted at 10:25 AM, Mar 21, 2023
and last updated 2023-03-21 12:25:07-04

POLSON - This week’s One Class at a Time winner teaches at Valley View Elementary in Polson, and she's all about teaching her young students to exercise their brain muscles.

“Well we have a new reading curriculum and it has a knowledge section and a skills section," explained Amy Westphal.

Mrs. Westphal's classroom is home to both kindergarten and first grade students.

For these young students, her classroom is usually their first opportunity to experience a school learning environment.

But even though their young bodies might be small, Westphal wants to help their minds grow big and strong.

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“They dress up as doctors and they have little stations where they have puzzles, like the little kindergarteners have their puzzle to put together, and I just find different activities for them.”

She will use her $250 One Class at a Time grant to purchase a variety of new items for her classroom that connect with the different units she teaches.

She’s hoping things like a stethoscope for a human body unit, or a crown for a kings and queens unit will make learning fun and realistic.

“Cause they’re reading, they’re starting to learn that whole reading lightbulbs is kind of a fun thing to see, it’s like it’s automatic — it’s not automatic, but they just learn so much in such a small time.”

Westphal will soon have lots of new additions to her classroom after today, all to help the brain muscles keep growing.