Welcome to fifth grade!  I live here in Marion with my daughter, Hope (14).  I also have 2 sons, Braden and Boston.  Boston will begin his first year at SIU-E this year, and Braden, and his wife Autumn, will be seniors at Missouri Baptist University.  I graduated from S.I.U. in 1994 with a degree in Elementary Education. Since then I have taught kindergarten in Carterville, fourth for a year in the St. Louis area, and fifth grade for two years in that same St. Louis school.  This is my sixth year at Washington as a fifth grade teacher and I am honored to be a part of such a wonderful school of caring people!