“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up”
-Pablo Picasso
Welcome to Mrs. White's Class
Hello Everyone! Welcome to our class sites. For those who don't know me, here is a little info about me. The 2024-2025 school year is my seventh year teaching at Florence Elementary School. I have taught Title One, kindergarten, and coding camps at Florence. Before working at Florence Elementary, I taught preschool for two years, as well as kindergarten for two years at Corvallis Primary. I earned my Bachelors in elementary education at the University of Montana in 2008.
While attending the university I worked for the Space Grant Consortium where I got to travel to different schools across Montana presenting space science from NASA to K-12 classrooms. Before I attended the university, I was in the Marine Corps as a Spanish Linguist for four years. I was fortunate to be able to travel to all sorts of places such as Mexico, England and Europe. I love learning about new places and I hope your kids do too.
I have lived in Montana most of my life. I grew up in Hamilton and Butte. My husband, Kenny, and I met in the Marine Corps and decided Montana was the place we wanted to call home so we moved back after our enlistments were up. We were married in 2007 and have 2 boys Reid and Greyson.
We also have two horses: Orion and Artemis, a dog named Riggs, and a cat we call Zorro because he is a crazy ninja fighting cat. We just got three fish, Grape, Cookies, and Batman! We love hiking, horseback riding, and camping. I also love photography and READING! I spend many hours with my nose in a book.
Thanks for visiting, and I can't wait to meet all of you!
What's Happening
12/20/24
We made it through to winter break. The students k-3 worked so hard on their concert art show. They did beautiful work and should be proud. First and second grade learned about persistence of vision and made Thermatropes this week. Kindergarten worked on their fine motor skills and made cards. Third grade all wanted to continue in the lego robot lab, but sadly their time is at an end for now. I am hoping to get grades 3-5 into the lab at least twice each year, but with schedules and the amount of kits it does make it hard. The good news is Fourth grade is heading there next in January. Fourth and Fifth explored the history of stained glass and made mock stain glass ornaments/suncatchers. The seventh graders finished up the bulk of their digital awareness unit. We covered things like digital safety, digital footprint, Canva, and more. I cannot express how much fun I am having exploring all these ideas and topics with your students. I will try to be better about updating this site, however please know you can always email me with any questions at all.
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12/1/24
If anyone is interested in cataloging the k-5 student work so parents have digital access please reach out. I would love to try to do it, but I would take someone some time so a more regular volunteer might be helpful.
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11/22/24
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Greetings from the STEAM room.
It is hard to believe the first quarter is already done and we are well into our second. We have been working on so many cool projects across the grades. I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know each and every one of your children. One thing I want to mention is how I send home artwork. Each child makes a portfolio at the beginning of the year and while we are only able to fit in a couple big art projects each year due to also exploring the other areas of STEAM, we do keep them here until the end of the year. There are a couple reasons I do this, but the main one is that it is actually in our Montana Curriculum Standards to teach students how to present and select work for portfolio purposes.
I am also reaching out to be able to share a few things we have been working on in each grade so far.
Kindergarten has been working on the art element of lines, we made line lions and then made a chameleon collage, we have also been able to go to the steam lab and work on engineering centers. They were able to try their hand at spin art and they are currently working on a painting/collage for the winter concert.
First grade students have worked hard on learning more about color theory, making pumpkin art, they have also been able to explore the steam lab, create biodegradable 3-D sculptures, explored print making with a Veteran's day inspired Statue of Liberty picture and are finishing up their winter concert art.
Second grade worked really hard on a one point perspective and using warm and cool colors to create contrast, we spent a couple weeks learning the first steps in how to code using Scratchjr. It is a free app that teaches the basics of block coding. This will be a good stepping stone for our lego coding unit. We are currently working on art inspired by the artist Gustav Klimt and simultaneously working on another tree image so they can pick which picture they want to display at the concert.
Third grade has been focused on painting projects and are really rocking them. We completed a contrasting sun and moon watercolor painting and then jumped right into coding on Scratch. Scratch is just a step up from Scratchjr, many of them were able to code a Pong game already! We are just finishing up a watercolor painting of the Northern lights. These will also be on display as the backdrop to their concert.
Fourth grade has created pictures inspired by "The Great Wave of Kanagawa", made 3-D sculptures, worked on value by using charcoal to create a water droplet, and learned about circuits by making "artbots" using a motor, cup, markers, and popsicle sticks! Many learned about Kimuhimu weaving and are loving doing that in their spare time. We are just finishing up our 3 week introduction into Scratch.
Fifth grade has created a value painting as well as practiced color theory. We created dragon eyes using model magic, and then moved straight to the STEAM lab to start learning to code a robot made from legos. Their first challenge was to build a vehicle and code it to drive through a course which proved much more difficult than they imagined. We are going to be working on pictures inspired by artist Jen Aranyi next.
If you are ever around the school, I encourage you to swing by the upstairs hallway and check out our gallery.
If you ever have any questions please reach out, or if you would like to volunteer and have a keen eye for detail, I would love help prepping projects, making drawing books, or mounting artwork. If you are patient, creative and want to help do a project with the students that works too and please reach out! I am also looking for someone to roll a bunch of yarn into balls from the comfort of their own home! (boxes of it!) If you know someone who would like to take on this enormous task please let me know. I also try to keep my website as updated as I can.
10/21/24
We will be starting our Christmas art soon, so it is ready for the concerts! Currently 7th grade tech media is coding lego vehicles for a race, kindergarten is finishing up a chameleon project, first grade is going to be building styrofoam structures, second grade is working in Scratchjr, Third grade is finishing up working in scratch, Fourth grade is making art bots, and fifth grade is moving to our lego robotics lab this week.
10/17/24
It was so great to see everyone at conferences. Thank you to those of you who stopped by or let their kids work on our school mural! I will be sending out a newsletter at the end of each quarter. Look for it coming in November!
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10/9/24
See you all soon for conferences, be on the lookout for me. I am going to try to have a fun family activity for you to try with your child! Swing by and say hi. If you need to schedule a private time to meet with me, just let me know and we can find a time that works.
​10/7/24
We have finally finished our first art piece. They are starting to make their way onto our bulletin boards, please swing by and see them during conferences. I am hoping to display some up in the district office as well. Some of the classes have got to visit our STEAM lab for the first time this week and I believe they are really enjoying it. Different grades have different stations but included are all sorts of building centers, strategic stacking centers, earthquake building design station, and so much more. Other grades have started learning how to code and are excited to try more. Fourth grade is designing sculptures with a biodegradeable medium and fifth grade gets to start working in air dry foam clay next week to try to make dragon eyes.
9/15/24
Things are in full swing, we are starting with art projects focusing on warm and cool colors for second through fifth. Fifth is also working on value drawings and paintings. Kinder and First are focusing on all the different types of lines. Thanks to a generous donation by Lambert hotels we were able to purchase some much needed supplies to replace very worn out ones and get some engineering stations for our STEAM LAB.
8-5-2024
I am very excited to be the new ART/STEAM teacher, see everyone soon! I can't wait to see old faces and learn new ones!
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Mrs. White as a 3rd Grader (Yes, I did pick out my own clothes and they are rockin')
