Welcome to STEM!

Dear Panther Families,

I am so excited to be a part of your Frisco Elementary teaching faculty, and I’m excited to work with your children in STEM class! STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and our class explores the process of engineering design, and we collaborate with teachers to connect classroom activities to real life careers. We will learn and practice good digital citizenship, too. Wait until you see the tools we will use to imagine, build, and reimagine!

I come to you from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, a town between Madison and Milwaukee. My husband Jason and I have two children. Our daughter Alex is a junior at Indiana-Bloomington, and our son Brendan is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (my alma mater! Go, Badgers!). We love live music, running, hiking, and skiing, much like everyone else in this beautiful county.

Professionally, I have taught six years of third grade, two years of fourth grade, and seven years of sixth grade, three years of which included fifth grade math. Most recently, I was our district Instructional Technology Coordinator and Instructional Coach for six years. I LOVE science and technology and encouraging students to be active participants in their community. Coaching students to be collaborators is a special passion of mine.

I can’t believe the STEM lab and makerspace we have, and I am grateful for the opportunity to further develop your children’s senses of curiosity and interests. 

I plan to use this exact blog to share resources and pictures with you every other week. If you click the 'hamburger' (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner, you'll see some favorite resources that you can explore with your family. Mystery Doug was proposed by my fourth grade niece, and Doug will get your child asking (if it's at all possible) even MORE fantastic questions about the world around them. Enjoy!

Careers are an essential part of STEM instruction, too, and I am very open to your ideas for guest speakers--virtual or in person.  I also hope to incorporate local STEM related businesses, and again, I am open to your thoughts. 

We will be using different things this year to practice design thinking. Consider dropping off the following at school in the office for us to use in the makerspace:

toilet paper tubes

cardboard

gently used or new crayons

gently used or new colored pencils

gently used or new markers

hand pencil sharpeners

Keep your eyes open for volunteer opportunities as well. This is going to be fun!

Sincerely,

Jen Mortensen

Frisco Elementary STEM/Coach

970-368-1500 Ext.1542

jennifer.mortensen@summitk12.org