Lowell Elementary in Sioux City

On Tuesday, March 14th our day started with a visit to Lowell Elementary in Sioux City. We were greeted by school secretary and SCESPA member, Joyce VanWeert (at right). I presented Joyce with a "magic wand" (hand-made by ISEA receptionist Betty Linn) as I have done as I've traveled throughout the state this year to all school secretaries. I thanked Joyce on behalf of the 32,000 members of ISEA for the magic she does every day for Iowa's students. We all know we couldn't do our job in schools without the work Joyce and her colleagues do. Thanks, Joyce for all you do every day!


Amy Snodgrass (at left), Lowell Elementary Special Education teacher and Sioux City EA building rep, organized a breakfast reception for Marlin Jeffers, Siouxland UniServ Unit President and myself to meet with members before the day with students began. Amy also serves on the Siouxland UniServ Unit Executive Board and does so much in her building and in her local to connect members to the association. Thanks, Amy for all you do as a leader on Team ISEA!


I had the opportunity to read in three different classrooms at Lowell Elementary. The first class I shared a favorite book with was Mrs. Anderson's 2nd grade. Thanks students for being such great listeners and helping with our read aloud!


The second group of students I read to their class was in Mrs. Ofert's 5th grade. Before reading aloud I had the chance to observe Mrs. Ofert review with her class terms they had learned in a Science lesson. The students were sharp! Mrs. Ofert demonstrated great skill in drawing out the knowledge from the previous day's lesson.

How lucky we are to have great teachers like Mrs. Ofert and Mrs. Anderson teaching in Iowa schools!

The third great classroom teacher I had the chance to meet was Mrs. Foulk. I was given the opportunity to read aloud to Mrs. Foulk's 3rd grade. The students did a tremendous job of making predictions based on what we had just read and seemed to enjoy the read aloud.

Thanks, Lowell Elementary students for working hard and making your best effort every day!