*Mrs. Baxley has 25 students in her morning class and 22 students in her afternoon class. Classroom pets are various frogs, mice, lizards and birds when they’re not residing in Baxley’s home.

*She has taught at Thimmig for 3 years. Previously, Mrs. Baxley taught at a private preschool, in a correctional home for girls, fifth, fourth and second grades in Colorado Springs and even a yoga class here and there. “I like to teach, I can teach anything no matter where I am,” she said. Baxley is a Colorado native and attended college in The Springs as well. She and her husband have two children, ages 8 and 10, who both attend Thimmig.

*About Thimmig: “I like it here because they have high standards,” she said. “Each year I know I’m going to become a better teacher.”

*In the classroom: “We do real meat and bones work,” she said. Mrs. Baxley said her students are learning letter sounds, shapes, reading sight words, counting, learning geometry and graphing in math and about the water cycle and about the human body in science. They will learn about the presidents and money when they get back from holiday break. “We figure out what they know already and make them grow from there,” she said. “I see giant leaps from the beginning to the end of the school year.”

*About teaching kindergarten: “They all love to go to school, I’m still magic to them,” she said. “I get to be their first teacher and that’s an honor for me. I get to teach kids how to read; I feel very honored that I get to do that. They do work hard and I ask a lot of them. I’m very proud of my students.”  

*Her advice to parents: “Read to your children often, read to them now.”