CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — With schools beginning this week and next for many students across Western New York. Teachers are also getting ready to welcome them back to their classrooms.
Natalie Minotti is a fourth-grade teacher and Amanda Nguyen is a kindergarten teacher. They said their first year will have a learning curve, but they also know that they can lean on their support systems for help.
When it comes to the pandemic, Minotti said it has impacted students. Especially since her students were in Kindergarten, which is a fundamental grade.
According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, reading skills have dropped to the lowest point in 30 years in recent years. This is from a nationwide test given 4th and 8th graders. This does however vary by community. Minotti said she will be there to help with whatever students need and the struggles that they may have.
Both Minotti and Nguyen are coming in with a fresh set of eyes, but they are excited to welcome all their 19 students each and his is what they hope students get this academic year.
"What I always say is, everything that I needed to know I learned in kindergarten. Like, this is the foundation of their education. I just want them to go for the rest of their educational career know life skills, social skills, obviously like educational things, but I just think its important to figure out who you are in kindergarten, what you like and what you don't like and then take that with you for the rest of your educational career," Nguyen said.
"They will always have a home and this is their last year here, because 5th grade starts, that's their middle school. So they are leaving fourth grade so that's their last year here. I want them to know that they can always come back and that they will always have a home and that this will always be their place," Minotti said.
Nguyen said it is important for them to make their classrooms feel like a home for their students.
Minotti will be a teacher in the same school district she want to growing up and working alongside a teacher who inspired her growing up. So, this is a full circle for her. Both teachers are excited to see what this year will bring them.