Hello! We welcome your child to
our class. We are looking forward to a year of happy and
successful learning experiences. Let us introduce ourselves to
you. We are Mara Phipps and Sarita Benson, and we will be
your child’s teachers.
Mara was hired in 1990 from the state of Hawaii. She grew up in
Hawaii and taught 1st and 2nd grade there while finishing up her
Master’s Degree in Reading and Language Arts at University of
Hawaii at Manoa. This will be Mara's 18th year in the
district where she has taught 2nd, 3rd and 4th at Highland Terrace
and Sunset. Cooking, scrapbooking and traveling are some of
her interests. Mara has two children, Jana who will be
starting 7th Grade this year and Alex who will be starting 4th
Grade.
Sarita got her degrees at the University of Washington and was
hired in 1990 to teach 3rd grade at Briarcrest Elementary.
She spent 10 years there teaching 3rd and 4th Grade. She
spent the next 7 years teaching at Sunset. This will be her
18th year in the district. Fourth Grade is Sarita's favorite
grade to teach, so she is very happy to be teaching it at Brookside
this year. Aside from loving her job, Sarita enjoys hiking
with her kids (Alex 10 years and Emma 8 years), gardening,
watercoloring and traveling. Alex will be starting 5th Grade
this year in Seattle, and Emma will be starting 3rd.
We are excited to be job sharing in 4th Grade this year as we have
many different experiences and a wealth of knowledge to
share. Sarita will be starting the week off, teaching Mondays
and Tuesdays. Mara will conclude the week teaching Thursdays
and Fridays. We will be teaching alternating
Wednesdays. We are very happy to be a part of the Brookside
Faculty and your child’s teachers.
We are excited to be
sharing this very important year with your child. Fourth
Grade will be a year of much excitement and growth.
Looking forward to a terrific year,
Sarita.benson@shorelineschools.org
Mara.phipps@shorelineschools.org
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