Hello Highland Lake Kindergarteners,

I am over the moon to have you in my class this year. We are going to be on this amazing adventure together. This is my third year teaching at Highland Lakes.

I began my teaching degree side by side with my Mom, you might get to know her as Oma.  Together we taught at our camp, Imagine That, in Paradise Valley each and every summer since 1979.  I remember sitting in my closet, which seemed enormous at the time, chalk in hand, old textbooks picked up from garage sales, teaching my stuffed animals arithmetic and writing.  After graduating from Arizona State with my degree in Elementary Education and emphasis in math and Early Childhood, I taught at the very school I had attended growing up in Paradise Valley.  There is something special about coming home to your school, your community, your home. I hope you will feel that way too when you graduate here from Highland Lakes and come to visit your teachers and reminisce the numerous memories you created here on campus. 

After marrying a pilot in the Air Force, we traveled the world and across many states.  We have lived all over the United States, traveling from the west coast to the east and back again.  During our travels I was able to teach the first few years of marriage. I taught 2^ndgraders in Colorado based on a year round school system where we went to school for 9 weeks and then had a three-week vacation.  I loved it. Then I had the most amazing experience teaching kindergarten to ten foreign students at a NATO Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.  They taught me some of their native tongue and I was able to teach them English.  They blessed me with so much culture and I was fortunate enough to meet up with several in their home towns when we moved to Europe the following year.  I also taught 5^thgrade Science while living in Texas.  Not my area of expertise I will admit, but they taught me you can come from nothing and have the most drive and potential over those who are given everything. 

The military life was not the most conducive for the teaching life style.  For the past 16 years or so I was fortunate enough to stay at home for the most part to be a mommy, a wife, a volunteer, a cheerleader etc. for my family.  I have two beautiful daughters who are my everything.  Emily is 17 and a Senior at Sandra Day and Maddie is 15 and a Sophomore. Upon moving back to Arizona I decided to dabble back in to my love of teaching.  After endless hours of volunteering in the classrooms, sponsoring PTA events, hosting squadron children’s functions, and homeschooling my daughters for grades 2-5, I decided to teach again. 

Now to Highland Lakes. This has been home for the past two years.  I once lived in this neighborhood, right here on Kimberly Way. Twelve years ago we purchased our first house here and it was home, until the military moved us.  I had imagined my girls walking to school as I did.  So they say you come home, and I have. I am so happy to be here at Highland Lakes with you and your family.  This truly is a family community where you will be loved and cherished.  We are not just your child’s teacher for the year, but for a lifetime.   

My door is always open when I am here. Please come in and chat before or after school. I am here almost daily by 8 and most days until 4:15 sometimes 7 pm.  Those in my class have my cell number. Please feel free to text me if you have a question or a concern. I will get back to you at my earliest convenience. 

I would love you to volunteer in our classroom. If you have not gone through the volunteer training yet, please see our calendar in your child’s folder. Dates are listed on it. You can also check the district website as well.  I am looking for helpers to help, not only in the mornings, but afternoons as well, or those who don’t mind taking work home as well. 

I hope you have a wonderful year in Room 503.  I think it is going to be grand.  I love your child as if he or she is my own. I want you to know, I truly want what is best for him or her, not just for the moment. 

Have a wonderful day and if there is anything I can do to make your experience better, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Jenn Hayden