A Clover Park School District story.
Our CPSD Staff Spotlight this week features Evergreen Elementary School kindergarten teacher Perry Nathanson.
This is Perry’s second year as a teacher, and she has enjoyed beginning her CPSD career with the Evergreen team. “I work with great people, and I really enjoy working with military students,” she said. “They’re very resilient, and I admire how they overcome different obstacles and thrive as young learners.”
She did not immediately know she wanted to become an educator but fell in love with teaching when she worked for a daycare in college. “I just loved those little kids, so I thought teaching kindergarten would be great for me,” she said. “Seeing them develop and grow so much during kindergarten is amazing. They will start the year and not know all their letters. By the end of the year they’ll shout out different letters and words from signs in the hallways.”
Kindergarten has been a great fit for Perry because she knows she is helping instill an early love for learning in her students. “This is their first experience coming to school, so I try to keep them engaged and make sure they enjoy school and like to learn,” she said.
When students leave Perry’s classroom, she wants them to have a passion for knowledge as well as an eagerness to be kind to those around them. “I focus on treating other students and teachers with respect,” she said. “Many kids missed out on aspects of socializing the past couple of years, so I try and help them as they learn to be around all kinds of new people.”
