New Teacher at Sinnott: Melissa Wong

Most people may not think of moving furniture and dusting shelves as the work of a teacher preparing for the new school year, but that’s a lot of what Melissa Wong, a brand new fifth grade teacher at , said she finds herself doing these days.

“Right now, I’m doing a lot of moving and cleaning furniture,” she said with a laugh.

It may sound like grunt work, but in truth, Wong couldn’t be more excited about it—because, this year, it’s her classroom, and that means, she gets to set it up any way she wants.

“I get to put the tables any way I want, I’m dusting off every single shelf and I get to decide what books I want to put on them, and what materials I want to have on hand in the classroom, or what I want to get rid of and get out of the way,” she explained.

Though she has been working in classrooms in the local school district for more than two years now, this will be the first year Wong is a fulltime teacher on staff, with her own fifth grade class.

Wong, who lives in Milpitas with her engineer husband and daughter, also a student in the district, was a student teacher for one year, and last year was a long-term substitute for a fifth grade class at for six months while a teacher was on leave.

Wong said she has a special affection for the local district, and therefore was overjoyed to get the permanent job at Sinnott this year.

“I really wanted to contribute back to the community I live in,” she said, adding that she has been a Milpitas resident for more than 10 years. “So that’s why I wanted to stay in the district.”

In addition to setting up her classroom, Wong has been studying the standards and curriculum for hew new class for most of the summer.

“So I already have an outline of what I want to teach, but now I need to meet with all the other fifth grade teachers to make sure we’re all in line with each other about the pace and timing of the teaching,” she explained.

As a fifth grade teacher, Wong said, she will be teaching her students every subject except science, for which Sinnott has a dedicated teacher.

“So, everything else is me—the math, English, social studies, P.E., art, and everything else in the curriculum,” she said.

It may be a lot of work, but Wong can’t wait to get started.

“I’m very excited to have this opportunity to teach a fifth grade class. I really enjoyed it when I was a student teacher, so I already know I really like the curriculum,” she said. “I also really enjoy the kids at this age; they listen to instruction and they like to learn, and they really like the curriculum too, so it’s a really fun grade to teach.”