In the morning, students perform daily tasks like lunch count and pencil sharpening. After the flag pledge, they have Pirate Time with the 4th graders, where they work on reading skills. The day then moves to music or P.E., depending on the day of the week, with Scholastic News on Fridays. The rest of the morning is spent doing Language Arts. The afternoon curriculum includes math and science, with either library or guidance. Friday afternoons are dedicated to art. The part of the day the third graders enjoy the best is the three recesses they get. After lunch, they read aloud from a novel. They are currently reading Farmer Boy By Laura Ingalls Wilder. They end each day with Kindness 101, a video clip highlighting inspiring stories. After the video, they spend 5 minutes writing in their journals, using the prompt from the video that day to spark their minds. There is a lot going on in Mrs. Knodel’s classroom. In social studies, Mrs. Knodel and her students explored Native American groups, their lifestyles, and daily living based on natural resources. They learned about the Lakota alphabet with the help of a high school student; they also learned all about the Sioux usage of bison parts, and art activities where they made bison robes and owner sticks. For math, they are currently focused on multiplying and dividing operations, with strategies for solving equations. They also learned rhymes and songs for facts and practiced drills to reinforce them. When it comes to Mrs. Knodel’s favorite memory of the school year so far, she can’t just pick one, though she does enjoy the insect art collection that is displayed in her classroom. She enjoys when students bring in insects from home to add to the collection. She says it shows just how curious they really are and their love of learning. She really enjoys her students’ sense of humor and that they have the ability to joke around with her. Mrs. Knodel sees her classroom as a family and enjoys when they can put their guard down and have conversations about life lessons. Looking ahead for the rest of the year, Mrs. Knodel is excited to continue their learning process, witnessing students grow into knowledgeable and productive individuals, and share their life experiences with them through her stories that match up to their curriculum and especially with the German Christmas she has planned. Mrs. Knodel said she has been teaching 3rd grade in Avon long enough that she had to do the math to figure out how many years it has been. She has been teaching in Avon for 21 years. For three of those years she did team teaching with 4th grade, where she taught Math, Social Studies and Science. The other 18 years have been just 3rd grade. Before coming to Avon, Mrs. Knodel worked in the Bon Homme school district as a SPED para, a certified tutor, and 3 years as a 5th grade teacher. Outside of school, Mrs. Knodel’s favorite thing to do is spend time with her grandsons, Huntlee and Henry, who are soon to turn 2 and 1. She loves to see them quickly run up to her and greet her with a hug whenever she sees them. They enjoy playing dinosaurs, reading, singing, dancing, and doing nursery rhymes. They enjoy going on adventures like overnight trips or just going to Ron’s Market, where Huntlee likes to push his own cart, but her favorite thing to do with her grandsons is snuggling. Mrs. Knodel is also an avid camper. She enjoys kayaking, fishing, and attending Christian music festivals with her extended family. She recently went on her first cruise and is planning to book another in the future. She also enjoys working on jigsaw puzzles at home while drinking a hot cup of tea and as comfortable as can be. Here are some fun facts about Mrs.Knodel: her dad was a career man in the U.S. Air Force when she was born. She moved 10 times before she came to Avon when she was 12 years old. She was born in New York, and has lived in various places including Maine, Arizona, South Carolina, and Germany. Her family once packed up a big green tent in their Volkswagen van and traveled around to various countries in Europe. They visited Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Denmark, and Luxembourg. Her dad was a hillbilly from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, so she and her family spent a lot of time there visiting Granny, Pa, and their relatives. She even has some neat Cherokee artifacts and fun stories from her time in the mountains. Mrs. Knodel has had experiences in a variety of cultures, as she has an aunt who was born and raised in Thailand and another born and raised in England. Growing up around different Air Force kids also exposed her to all the cultural backgrounds they had. Mrs. Knodel says that some third graders believe she is an alien and others are convinced she has an extra toe on her left foot. She also says she may have subtly led them to think these things, but will not deny or confirm either.