Class size: 12 students

Highlights: 1st grade:  Learning how to read. 2nd grade:  Learning how to write in cursive.

Goals for the year: 1st grade: Reading skills, independent study habits. 2nd grade: to instill in each student a desire and interest in reading and writing. To establish a sense of community and teamwork.

Field trips:  Alameda Public Library every three weeks, Farmer's Market, and Oakland Zoo.

Verse:  Live as children of light.... and find out what pleases the Lord. Eph. 5:8b,10

Teacher and Principal Mrs. Jean Busby will begin a new adventure this year by teaching a combined 1^st and 2^nd grade classroom.  She will do this with the capable help of Teaching Aide Mrs. Mary Hiemenga, who will focus on the 1^st grade class.  Mrs. Busby has taught at ACS since 1987 and has previously taught kindergarten, 2^nd grade and, most recently, 3^rd grade. 
      Mrs. Busby is originally from Missouri where she earned her BS in education from Southwest Missouri State.  She loves social studies and is looking forward to opening the doors of knowledge for her students.
         “I love seeing the children’s eyes sparkle as they learn new things” says Mrs. Busby.  “It’s a wonderful blessing and privilege to be a part of their lives.”  One of her favorite Bible verses is Proverbs 22:6, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

Teaching Aide Mrs. Mary Hiemenga will be working with Mrs. Busby in the 1^st and 2^nd grade classroom.  She spent the first years of her life in Minnesota and then moved to San Mateo when she was 6 years old.  She has a bachelor’s degree from California Lutheran University and received her California Teaching Credential from Cal State Hayward. Mrs. Hiemenga has been working as an aide at ACS in the lower elementary grades since 1997.