Amy Warren!

Congratulations to Church Street Elementary School teacher Amy Warren - Hamden's 2013-2014 Teacher of the Year!

Amy is a fourth grade teacher at Church Street School.  She joined the Church Street team in 2011 after teaching mathematics and science at a Bridgeport middle school for three years.

In her classroom, Amy supports an active learning environment where students are involved in hands-on lessons and activities. Amy encourages students to complete kinesthetic exercises during their daily transitions to increase alertness and energy. She has written and been awarded multiple grants to support her active classroom.

Beyond academics, Amy tries to instill important social values among her students. For example, she and her class organized a Thanksgiving Food Drive last fall, supporting local community groups like the Keefe Center and St. Anne’s Parish. Her students also created banners and signs for the New Haven Motor Transport Unit of the United States Marine Corps as they returned home from Afghanistan in the spring of 2012.   Amy strives to create independent thinkers throughout the school year and dedicates her class time to peer collaboration, active learning, social outreach, and problem-solving.

At Church Street School, Amy works as a mentor for beginning teachers and serves as a cooperating teacher for pre-service teachers. She chairs the staff climate committee, serves on the vertical data team, and works on the "Super Kid" committee to support positive student behavior at Church Street School.

Amy’s involvement with students does not end in June. She works closely with an international travel group called Discovery Student Adventures, leading student field trips in the summer months. She and her students have traveled to Costa Rica, Paris, London, and Scotland, completing various service projects and experiencing international cultures.

Amy is currently completing an internship for her Sixth Year degree in Educational Leadership at Southern Connecticut State University.

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The Hamden Teacher of the Year honor is an annual award. Teachers in each school nominate and select from their staff one exemplary teacher, who then "competes" among other schools' nominees in front of a district panel.  The committee then makes the final selection for our Teacher of the Year.  

The Hamden Teacher of the Year represents our district at the state-level Teacher of the Year competition.