Kristina Frame has been teaching for six years. This is her second year at Fireside Elementary. Frame was a kitchen professional and also worked in media and communications before switching to teaching.
“When my kids both entered grade school I knew I wanted to accompany them on their adventure, so I went back to school to get my Master's Degree in Special Education,” she explains. Frame was a resource teacher before she moved to Fireside and started teaching third-grade gifted students.
“I love third grade for many reasons, one of which is that our science and social studies topics are super cool!” says Frame. “We learn about habitats and ecosystems, sound and sound waves, and light and the eye--we even dissect a cow's eye!”
Frame and her students also enjoy making a shoebox float parade, which is “an idea I adopted from friends I worked with at the start of my career. We have lots of fun in third grade!”
Frame wanted to be an astronaut when she was young, but she also spent a lot of time playing school. “I used to come home from school when I was in the fourth grade and set up my bedroom like a classroom,” she says. “I would tape paper to my closet doors to use as my chalkboard, set up my stuffed animals as students, and even grade papers!”
Remote teaching was a wild time for educators, including Frame. “I found a live scorpion in my lesson plans once,” she recalls. “I had to do something with it because I was teaching live—that was a crazy year.”
Frame loved chemistry when she was in high school, and today she loves teaching science and social studies. “I think history is fascinating and I love learning how the world works,” she explains.
Outside of school, Frame enjoys reading, biking, hiking, baking, and traveling with her family “so that we can go on epic hikes and eat epic food,” she says.
Her advice for students is: “Don't compare yourself to others. This life is not about the destination, it is about the journey. Great wisdom can be found in challenge and adversity—take the hard road! You will thank yourself for it later.”
