My name is Miss Camp and I will be your teacher this year. Two years ago I taught school in Alaska. Alaska is very different from New York. I lived in a town that you can only get to by plane or boat because there are no roads that lead to it. It was fun to ride on the boats because whales would come up out of the water and surprise us! Some of my favorite adventures in Alaska included flying around Mount McKinley (the tallest mountain in North America), walking on a glacier, flying in planes that land on water, deep sea fishing, and kayaking.
I also enjoyed looking out my window and watching bears walk by!
Something I learned in Alaska is that the people there like to tell "tall tales," particularly about the size of fish they catch. Do you know what a tall tale is? We will be writing some this year! When an Alaskan is done telling their story, they say, "And that's the truth, Cheechako." I used to be a cheechako but I'm not anymore. Can you guess what a Cheechako is? Click here to find out!
If you would like to see some more pictures of me in Alaska, click on Alaska Pictures.
I did not grow up in Endicott. I grew up in Connecticut. If you would like to see pictures of me when I was growing up in Connecticut, click on Childhood Pictures.
I decided to become a teacher because teachers get to learn as much as students do, and learning is so much fun. Learning something new is like being a detective, an investigator, an explorer, an inventor, a scientist, or an author. Another great thing about learning is that we can make lots of mistakes and not worry about them. 
Mistakes are great because they help us learn!
One of the reasons I wanted to move back from Alaska is so that I could be closer to my family! My nephew Daniel is the one holding the brooms. He is almost 2 1/2 years old! His dad is one of my brothers. His dad loves to work in the yard. So does Daniel! On the right is a picture of Daniel and I from Thanksgiving, 2001.
I have a new nephew named Joshua who was just born this year. Joshua's mom is a real-life rocket scientist! She helps to send rockets up into space. She came to visit our class last year! Joshua's dad is my brother. He got his pilot's license last year and has already taken Joshua flying. In this picture, he is wearing the headphones to protect his ears while he is flying in the plane!
I have another brother who LOVES to read books. I call him 
the "Hobbit Genius" because he's read Lord of the Rings so many times - from as far back as 2nd or 3rd grade! Last year I read The Hobbit to the class, and the "Hobbit Genius" came to visit and answer everyone's questions!
My dad is the one who put all the tennis balls on our chairs! He has a very cool job. He designed a few parts of the rocket, called Atlas 5, that blasted off into outer space on August 21, 2002! He's not a rocket scientist, though. He's an engineer.
My mom is the one who painted our rocking chair and made the pillow for it. She also made our beautiful green, blue, and purple curtains. My mom comes from a huge family. Her great-grandparents came to America from Sweden in the 1860's. Her dad (my grandpa) had eleven brothers and sisters, so my mom has a LOT of aunts, uncles, and cousins. This summer we went to Colorado for a big family reunion. There were about 200 of us! It was fun!
