Welcome back, Mrs. Bassett!

Though certainly not new to our community, we’re delighted to welcome Mrs. Mary Bassett back to our campus as one of our first-grade teachers. Mrs. Bassett has a long history with our school, taking on different roles since she and her husband, Mr. Matthew Bassett, our IT, Facilities, & Maintenance Director, arrived in 2015. In the past, she’s acted as our kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade teacher, been a substitute teacher for almost all ECC and elementary-level classes, and has led parent courses.

Now, Mrs. Bassett is thrilled to rejoin as one of our first-grade teachers while sharing the class with Mrs. Zugelis Brito. Mrs. Brito has been a teacher in our ECC for several years and is now divvying up her time as a first-grade teacher and in the corporate role of Curriculum Coordinator. “It allows both of us to share a class and teach, which is something we both have a lot of experience in, but also do other things,” says Mrs. Bassett. “The fact that we’ve taught together on and off before allows us to have that trust for each other.” Last year, Mrs. Bassett acted as a substitute teacher for our kindergarten class and worked with Mrs. Brito in this context.

Along with Mrs. Brito, Mrs. Bassett works with Mrs. Jessie Gao and Mrs. Cherry Wu. Mrs. Gao is exceptionally supportive in Mrs. Bassett and Mrs. Brito’s shared class as their teaching assistant. Mrs. Wu leads another first-grade class, and for portions of the day, both classes combine to learn together. Mrs. Bassett says each teacher brings “a calm and consistent presence in first grade, along with many years of experience.” With this vital team of support, Mrs. Bassett says she can ensure students are in good hands at all times, and she looks forward to all that students will learn and how they’ll grow this year.

“The students really, in first grade, they come into their skills as a reader.” During students’ years in the ECC, they learn to sound out words and memorize sight words, yet first grade is often a breakthrough year where they’ll begin to read and write on their own. It’s a year for them to see their abilities. “They can see themselves as a writer and see themselves as a reader for the first time.”

With this rapid growth in reading and writing, Mrs. Bassett notes students tend to strive for perfection and often struggle when they don’t understand each word or spell each word correctly. She stresses that “learning is a process. Reading and writing are skills, and our goal is not for them to memorize and write accurately every single word… we want them to be able to express themselves as writers. We want them to feel equipped as readers to sit down and look at a book and figure out what the story is.” She says she wants the classroom to be a safe place for students to make mistakes, where trying is celebrated. “We all make mistakes. That’s how we learn.”

To ensure students’ continued excitement, motivation, and investment in learning, Mrs. Bassett creates a connectedness to lessons, builds on what they already know, and introduces new topics. She shares that in recent classes, students learned about being citizens. She connected this to being citizens of their family, classes, teams, and more, so they could understand that in each setting, they have roles and jobs. This gives them a platform to consider being accountable and introduces methods for how students can agree and disagree in kind and productive manners.

We’re so excited to welcome Mrs. Bassett back to our campus. We know our first-grade students will thrive. Welcome back, Mrs. Bassett!