Hi I'm Mary Kluck, First Grade Teacher and I love to Travel!
SCHOOL: Ledgewood School
CLASS: First Grade/e-mail [email protected]
SCHOOL PHONE: 815-623-2837
Hi, I'm Mary Kluck. I started out teaching 1st grade at Ledgewood in 1993. I taught first grade for ten years. Then, I decided I needed a change. So I moved to second grade over at Stone Creek. I ended up teaching second grade for eight years. Then things changed, and the district needed a veteran teacher back in first grade, so I made the switch back down to first grade over at Stone Creek. Then, the reconfiguration of the schools came along, so I had to move back to Ledgewood to teach first grade. This is my seventh year teaching first grade. I love children, I love teaching, and hopefully your children will love being in my classroom! Add all that up and I have taught in the district a total of 25 years.
I graduated from Moorhead State University in 1990 with a Bachelor's Degree in Education and a Master's Degree from National Louis University in 1999. Beyond my Master's, I have taken 50 more hours. What can I say, I love to learn! I continue to take workshops and read up on the latest techniques with the help of the internet.
Not only do I love to learn and teach , but I also LOVE to travel! Speaking of travel, one of my favorite vacations was a trip to the land down under, AUSTRALIA! This trip was amazing for many reasons! I was able to cross off so many things on my bucket list! First time traveling to Australia, first time at the Sydney Opera House to see our first opera, first Bridge Climb at night, first time watching little penguins come in from the ocean and find their burrow, just to name a few! The people were amazing and they really do say, “G’day, Mate!” The sights were amazing from coastal views, to farmland, harbours, and rolling hills. As if all of that wasn’t enough, we saw an abundance of wildlife; kangaroos, wallaby’s, koala’s and penguins, fur seals, and the powerful owl.
My next favorite vacation was our trip to New Zealand! Even though we only saw the North Island it was a trip to remember. My highlight of this trip was taking a ride in a Seaplane over many of the surrounding islands. Then, we were able to hike up one of the islands we flew over, and once we were at the top, the 360 degree views were amazing! My husband teaches some classes at Peak Fitness and those classes originated in New Zealand. So we were able to visit the Les Mills facility and meet many of the people he has been watching and learning from for years. I also have a fascination with caves and we visited one that had Glowworms! Talk about colorful! When you look up at the top of the cave, all you see are these blue lights from the glowworms that look like stars! Yes, I would love to return to New Zealand and Australia someday!
A couple years ago, my family and I traveled to Thailand! My daughter was in the Peace Corps and was teaching English in Thailand. So we went for a visit. We had the opportunity to see southern Thailand, Krabi; the coast is beautiful! Then it was off to Bangkok where the city is buzzing with people. Next stop Chiang Mai...people in Thailand are always happy and smiling. Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles. So true. It's amazing how happy people are but have so little. A lesson for all of us to learn. My favorite stop was seeing my daughter's school and her students! School in Thailand is a lot different than here in America. It was adorable though, the students were learning to speak and read English! It was an amazing day! The picture at the top at the end, is from our day with the elephants. We all adopted an elephant for the day! We each had our own elephant to bond with and to take care of! We are talking about feeding, cleaning, checking to make sure it is healthy, and exercising it....that means riding on top of it while going through the forest! It was an amazing day that will be etched in my memory for a long time. Elephants are very sweet gentle creatures! I'm thankful we had the opportunity to visit my daughter and take in as much of Thailand as we possibly could.
My daughter Courtney is married to John. John was in the Army for about 4 years and is currently in the National Guard. Courtney graduated in March of 2018 with her BSN. She is a full time nurse at OSF working on 3 East. Her husband John is taking classes to become an engineer. They will both be moving to Janesville in September. Hannah is a senior at Colorado State University which is located in Fort Collins, Colorado and is going into Sociology and Criminal Justice. She is looking forward to being done with school and looking into possible jobs when she is finished.
Mission For The Class
My mission for the class is to be a "bucket filler" creating a safe place to learn, and to have fun in the process. This class will learn what it means to be a "bucket filler" together. I want all students to do their best!
We are going to have an awesome year!
Your partner in education,
Mary Kluck
CLASS: First Grade/e-mail [email protected]
SCHOOL PHONE: 815-623-2837
Hi, I'm Mary Kluck. I started out teaching 1st grade at Ledgewood in 1993. I taught first grade for ten years. Then, I decided I needed a change. So I moved to second grade over at Stone Creek. I ended up teaching second grade for eight years. Then things changed, and the district needed a veteran teacher back in first grade, so I made the switch back down to first grade over at Stone Creek. Then, the reconfiguration of the schools came along, so I had to move back to Ledgewood to teach first grade. This is my seventh year teaching first grade. I love children, I love teaching, and hopefully your children will love being in my classroom! Add all that up and I have taught in the district a total of 25 years.
I graduated from Moorhead State University in 1990 with a Bachelor's Degree in Education and a Master's Degree from National Louis University in 1999. Beyond my Master's, I have taken 50 more hours. What can I say, I love to learn! I continue to take workshops and read up on the latest techniques with the help of the internet.
Not only do I love to learn and teach , but I also LOVE to travel! Speaking of travel, one of my favorite vacations was a trip to the land down under, AUSTRALIA! This trip was amazing for many reasons! I was able to cross off so many things on my bucket list! First time traveling to Australia, first time at the Sydney Opera House to see our first opera, first Bridge Climb at night, first time watching little penguins come in from the ocean and find their burrow, just to name a few! The people were amazing and they really do say, “G’day, Mate!” The sights were amazing from coastal views, to farmland, harbours, and rolling hills. As if all of that wasn’t enough, we saw an abundance of wildlife; kangaroos, wallaby’s, koala’s and penguins, fur seals, and the powerful owl.
My next favorite vacation was our trip to New Zealand! Even though we only saw the North Island it was a trip to remember. My highlight of this trip was taking a ride in a Seaplane over many of the surrounding islands. Then, we were able to hike up one of the islands we flew over, and once we were at the top, the 360 degree views were amazing! My husband teaches some classes at Peak Fitness and those classes originated in New Zealand. So we were able to visit the Les Mills facility and meet many of the people he has been watching and learning from for years. I also have a fascination with caves and we visited one that had Glowworms! Talk about colorful! When you look up at the top of the cave, all you see are these blue lights from the glowworms that look like stars! Yes, I would love to return to New Zealand and Australia someday!
A couple years ago, my family and I traveled to Thailand! My daughter was in the Peace Corps and was teaching English in Thailand. So we went for a visit. We had the opportunity to see southern Thailand, Krabi; the coast is beautiful! Then it was off to Bangkok where the city is buzzing with people. Next stop Chiang Mai...people in Thailand are always happy and smiling. Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles. So true. It's amazing how happy people are but have so little. A lesson for all of us to learn. My favorite stop was seeing my daughter's school and her students! School in Thailand is a lot different than here in America. It was adorable though, the students were learning to speak and read English! It was an amazing day! The picture at the top at the end, is from our day with the elephants. We all adopted an elephant for the day! We each had our own elephant to bond with and to take care of! We are talking about feeding, cleaning, checking to make sure it is healthy, and exercising it....that means riding on top of it while going through the forest! It was an amazing day that will be etched in my memory for a long time. Elephants are very sweet gentle creatures! I'm thankful we had the opportunity to visit my daughter and take in as much of Thailand as we possibly could.
My daughter Courtney is married to John. John was in the Army for about 4 years and is currently in the National Guard. Courtney graduated in March of 2018 with her BSN. She is a full time nurse at OSF working on 3 East. Her husband John is taking classes to become an engineer. They will both be moving to Janesville in September. Hannah is a senior at Colorado State University which is located in Fort Collins, Colorado and is going into Sociology and Criminal Justice. She is looking forward to being done with school and looking into possible jobs when she is finished.
Mission For The Class
My mission for the class is to be a "bucket filler" creating a safe place to learn, and to have fun in the process. This class will learn what it means to be a "bucket filler" together. I want all students to do their best!
We are going to have an awesome year!
Your partner in education,
Mary Kluck