Your hometown?
I grew up living outside of Fort Dodge. I graduated from Manson Northwest Webster.
How long have you lived in Fort Dodge?
Article Photos
Christie Gruber has been teaching for six years.
Three years.
Do you have family in Fort Dodge?
My parents live here.
How long have you been teaching?
I've been teaching for six years.
What's your favorite subject to teach?
Reading.
What is your favorite memory of school when you were in Kindergarten?
I really liked the Letter People and the Star Student of the Week.
Who do you look to for inspiration in teaching?
Other teachers.
Do you have a favorite book?
It's hard to choose just one! I'd say Where the Wild Things Are and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.
What's your favorite game?
Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. I'm always surprised when we pull them off the shelf and one of the students has never played the game. It's fun to teach them a new game.
Can you recall a fun school project?
My favorite is the Flat Stanley project. Students color in a picture of Flat Stanley. They mail them somewhere outside of Iowa and ask the recipient to keep track of the places that Flat Stanley visits. Then he returns with a letter, pictures, and possibly memorabilia of the places he's been. We share all the responses, journals and pictures and display them. The students get to learn about new and different places. Once I had a student mail Flat Stanley to Taiwan.
What's your favorite part of the school day?
Reading, whether teaching reading or reading to the children.
Biggest changes in school between when you were in school and today?
School (kindergarten) is much more academic now. When I was in kindergarten it was just a half-day with lots of playing and socializing.
What makes Cooper a great place to teach?
The people I teach with.
What do you enjoy most about your students?
Seeing where they're at when they begin and watching them grow throughout the school year.
Students speak out:
"What do you like best about Ms. Gruber?"
"Playing." Naiven M.
"She reads us stories." Tjaden J.
"She gives us tests." Peyton H.
"Reading. She reads to us." Ashlynn H.