My name is Carolyn Thomas.  I teach second grade at St. Maria Goretti School. It will be my fourth year teaching second grade.  It will be my sixth year in my teaching career.  I graduated with a BA in Elementary Education from Illinois State University.  I just graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with my MA in Early Childhood Special Education.  My teaching philosophy is each child learns differently. So I need to address each child’s learning style in the classroom to achieve a successful school year.  I am inspired by my mother. She has been a teacher for over twenty years.  She is always trying to be creative and different each school year.  She still loves to teach. I want to be like her after teaching for twenty years.  Something exciting this year in second grade is our school unit is “Polar Exploration."  Second grade will be doing a unit on both the North Pole and South Pole.  We will be doing group lessons, activities, and field trips!