Welcome Back to the 2026–2027 School Year!

 

Dear Families,

As we begin a new school year, I want to start by sharing a message from Mrs. Lauri’s Welcome Back letter that truly captures what I believe about the work we do together:

“Together, with the partnership and support of our families, we will create a safe, inclusive, and engaging environment where every student is empowered to thrive and reach their fullest potential.”

This statement encompasses my passion when working with your children. I see each child as a beautiful, unique creation—someone who deserves to be understood, valued, supported, and given every opportunity to thrive. Every student brings their own strengths, personality, interests, challenges, and way of seeing the world, and it is my privilege to get to know each of them.

Whether your child is joining me in the Emotional Regulation Classroom (ERC) or the In-Class Resource (ICR) classroom, they will receive my full effort, energy, and commitment. My goal is always to support, teach, guide, and encourage students while helping them become increasingly confident, capable, and independent learners.

 

A New Year in ERC

For our ERC students, I have spent a great deal of time this summer reflecting on our program and making adjustments that will help our students continue to grow—not only academically and emotionally, but also as maturing fourth graders.

This year, we will be diving into our new ELA programs, Fundations 4 and Arts & Letters. These programs provide systematic, intentional approaches to building and strengthening literacy skills, and I am excited to see how our students grow through these new opportunities.

Of course, learning is about so much more than academics. I will continue to bring in new interests, ideas, activities, and experiences to keep students engaged and excited about learning. At the same time, we will be diving more deeply into understanding our emotions, identifying our regulation needs, and developing coping strategies that students can use both inside and outside of school.

My hope is that our students will not simply learn what to do when they are struggling, but will begin to understand themselves well enough to recognize when they need support and which strategies can help them get back to a place where they are ready to learn.

I am incredibly excited to watch these students grow this year—and just as importantly, I am excited to grow alongside them.

 

A New Year in ICR

I am also thrilled to be back in 5th grade and working side by side with Mrs. Mayer again!

I often say that we are the “yin to each other’s yang,” and I think that is a big part of why our co-teaching relationship has been so successful in the past—and why I know it will continue to be successful this year. We have developed a strong sense of mutual trust, respect, and understanding. We know each other’s strengths, we complement one another, and we share the same fundamental belief: every student deserves to be educated, supported, challenged, and celebrated.

Most importantly, we share a genuine love and passion for our students and for creating a classroom where every child can experience success.

 

Here We Go!

A new school year always brings a little bit of everything—new goals, new challenges, new friendships, new discoveries, and plenty of opportunities to learn from one another.

I am looking forward to the laughter, the “aha!” moments, the celebrations, the challenges we will work through together, and all of the little moments in between that make teaching so meaningful.

Thank you for trusting me with your children. I do not take that responsibility lightly. I look forward to partnering with you, getting to know your children even better, and helping them discover just how much they are capable of accomplishing.

 

Here’s to a year of growth, learning, connection, courage, and countless reasons to celebrate our students!

 

Let’s make 2026–2027 our best year yet!

 

Warmly,
Bridget