Welcome to 1st Grade!!!! 

Hi, I'm Ms. Gossman!  This is my seventh year teaching 1st grade and I couldn't be happier.    

First Grade is a transitional Montessori Class.  We use hands on manipulatives and activities to reinforce particular skills.  Students are also allowed periods of time in which they explore new things through manipulatives and works.  We start to transition students into the next phase of their education by introducing books, workbooks and seat work.  However, we try to choose activity based education and assessment whenever possible.  This type of student work is done in an environment that  allows for academic and social development.

This environment allows us to have a unique place for each child in our classroom. Some students will already know how to read and will need to be challenged.  Some students will need some support as they are in the exciting emerging stage of reading and some are just learning that words and letters have meaning.  Some students may already know some of the basic math facts along with other more sophisticated math concepts, while others may only recognize numbers or know how to compare them.  The first few weeks of school are used to assess the children’s prior knowledge and abilities.   Throughout the year, these along with other assessments will be done periodically to best keep the children in appropriate leveled reading and math groups.  Through these small groups I will get the opportunity to work at a more personal level with all of the children.  I look forward to working with and getting to know all of them while on this growing journey through 1st grade.

There are many areas to the website that I know you will find great value in. My goal is to make this website not just a tool for me, as the teacher, but to connect with parents and also provide a learning tool and resource for the students.  In addition to exploring our classroom page, please feel free to check our our school webpage:  Mt. Clemens Montessori Homepage