• Welcome to First Grade!  I am so excited about teaching first grade at Atlas for my fifteenth year.  Before teaching at Atlas. I spent twelve years teaching first grade in Billings, MT.  I am a Montana native and a graduate of Montana State University.  I continued my education and received my Master's Degree in Early Literacy-Reading from Montana State University-Billings in 2000.  My passion is teaching young children to read.  I live in Hayden with my husband, Aaron.  We are at the next stage of parenting, known as "empty nesters!".  My son, Seth, is in his fourth year of college and attends the University of Idaho and studies Business Management, while my daughter, Kendall, is a first-year student at the University of Montana and is studying nursing.  She also dances on the Griz Dance Team. We spend our time outdoors, whenever we can, and enjoy traveling to Montana to visit our family.