ABC's With Modeling Clay

Hello new friends! I am so excited to meet you and have you in my classroom! :) My name is Erin Purdie and I am a mother of three (Burton 8, Poppy 7, and Penelope 5) from Richmond, VA.  I was an elementary and special education teacher for 5 years before leaving the classroom to stay at home with my babies. I taught self contained autism (in a 6th/7th grade setting), 6th, 4th, and kindergarten special education, and 4th grade general education. 

I love being at home with my children and teaching them through play, movement, and games. We try to make "learning" as fun as possible, without even realizing we're learning :). I am excited to bring this into the outschool classroom by learning with toys, movement, and play in an energetic and fun way.  Through teaching in the public school and playing with my own kids, I have developed a lot of fun ways to learn! 

Being a librarian, I also love to read on my free time. My favorite book is "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" by Mo Willems. My kids love anything by Sandra Boynton and the Pout Pout Fish books. I also enjoy following Jenna Bush Hager's book club and reading her suggested books, when I have time ;).



Class Policies:

1) If a class is small or has especially talkative students, we may end a little earlier or later, but I will always try to end on time. 

2) If a scheduled class does not meet the minimum enrollment, I will contact the parent before class time to offer to transfer their learner to a new day and time. If requested, I may choose to teach the class at the original time. 

3) Classes will begin on time, even if all learners are not yet present in the classroom. To respect the time of the learners in the class, I will contact absent learners after class to see if they had technical issues or other challenges. 

4) If no learners are present in the classroom, I will wait 10 minutes into the scheduled time before exiting the classroom. 

5) If I am late because of having technical challenges myself, I will offer to stay late or transfer learners to a new session.

6) I expect for learners to treat each other kindly in class and to show respect for everyone present. I treat others the way I want to be treated, and I expect the same in return.