What an exciting time of year. I love the anticipation of a fresh new school year. My name is Shelly Duffield and this is my 19th year teaching in Madison. Formerly a 4/6 teacher on the east side, I made the switch to 6th grade four years ago. I also have a special education degree and a 316 reading license for reading interventions. My passion is teaching writing. Learning how to write well, is an important skill that I will help develop in your children throughout the year. Teaching Social Studies and Reading are other subjects which I love to teach. I have two young boys and in our spare time we are in constant motion. We like to swim, bike, run, camp, and be outside. If Cross Country is an interest, I am one of the coaches here at Hamilton. In our classroom, we work extremely hard on building classroom community where all students feel valued, respected, and unique. We will create this safe community through daily use of Circle of Power and Respect and Social Emotional Learning Lessons. This blog will be updated almost daily and include things such as: summaries of lessons taught, social emotional goals, pictures of anchor charts from lessons, homework, upcoming important dates, and assessment dates. The intention of the blog is for parents to catch a glimpse of the school day but it is also our expectation that students check it nightly to access homework or review a lesson taught. I am looking forward to meeting my new classroom of learners and their families. Please contact me with any question, comments, or concerns. I can be reached at msikorski@madison.k12.wi.us.

I'm excited to be back at school and can't wait to get started on this new school year.  Each year at Hamilton, I feel that I learn as much from the students as the students learn from me and each other and I'm sure this year will be no different.  We're very privileged at Hamilton and on the Duffield/Kruger team to have a truly diverse set of students from different parts of the country and some from different parts of the world.  It's not uncommon for our classrooms to speak multiple languages and to have lived all over the world - these students add to the rich culture of our classroom and provide a unique learning experience.

     A little about me.  My family has grown lately to include me, my wife Amy, my 2 daughters Rose & Lola (Rose is 2 and Lola is 1), 2 cats and our Welsh Springer Spaniel Polo.  I grew up in The Milwaukee area and started my teaching career in the Milwaukee Public Schools.  I've been at Hamilton Middle School for 7 years now and I'm always impressed by our awesome staff and students.  

     This year I will again be acting as a district representative on the science leadership team, where we are working to get our science curriculum more aligned with the new NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) that were put out in the last couple years (http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards).  As a resukt, our students will participate in a pilot program for potential future sciecne curriculum and may participate in some units and activities that may be different than some of the 6th grade students on other teams.  

     In 2017-2018, I'm looking forward to the awesome learning and community building opportunities.

Justin Kruger

jfkruger@madison.k12.wi.us