Kindergarten

Home 5 Kindergarten
Teachers: William Lawrie
Paraprofessionals: Sue Longto and Sam Doubleday

Who is Mr. Lawrie?              

This is my sixth year teaching Kindergarten at Pelham Elementary. Even though I get such amazing joy from teaching I still want to be a Beatle.

After living in New Jersey, Boston, MA and Madison, WI, I moved to Amherst in 2014 with my family. I was lucky enough to stay home with our newborn at the time for nearly two years before I got back into education. I worked in Early Intervention at an organization called Reach, as a paraeducator in Northampton and finally at Pelham as the Kindergarten Teacher.

Before getting into education, I worked for John Hancock, started my own dog walking business and played in several bands in New Jersey and Boston, MA. I loved the experience of meeting new people whenever I played shows (or walked dogs) while creating and expressing myself through music.

At Pelham Kindergarten we begin to learn about letters, building the foundation for phonemic awareness. For math, we build a community of problem solvers who listen to the mathematical thinking of their peers. We spend a lot of time outdoors exploring nature, observing changes in weather, searching for signs of animals and creating nature art. The heart of this classroom is focused on establishing and evolving through anti-racist teaching and learning. We want our kindergarten voices to be heard and stand up for those who are not.

In kindergarten we love to find our voices through creating and playing with others. We sing, we dance, we play and we learn all day long. I take great pride in teaching the kindergarten class pop, rock, punk, and soul songs. My classroom is a band; we support each other when we need it, and pick each other up when we need help. The kindergarten team is here to help you feel safe and proud of who you are. We can’t wait to learn and grow with you.

For more information on how things are in my classroom please email me at .

Best,
Will Lawrie