Grade Three
Kathleen Flanagan is starting her thirteenth year teaching third grade at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School. She is originally from New York but has lived in Florida most of her life. Miss Flanagan has a B.A. degree in Elementary Education from the University of South Florida. Before coming to our school, she worked in Pinellas County public schools for nine years as a Title I teacher. Miss Flanagan also taught as a Sunday school catechist at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Largo for seven years. She is a Dunedin resident and a member of Our Lady of Lourdes parish.
Email Ms. Flanagan here!
About her Classroom
The fabulous Ms. Flanagan brings up our third grade students in the land of literature. Upon entering the third grade classroom, children are greeted by hundreds of books that fill the tall shelves long the walls. Having mastered basic reading skills, students dive into a new experience of “reading to learn” rather than “learning to read.” Our third graders learn the values of friendship, integrity, honesty, and character by encountering literary favorites like Fern, Ramona, and Henry Huggins.
A former Title I Reading Specialist, Ms. Flanagan cannot help but share her contagious passion for reading with all of her students. She describes Beverly Cleary as the “Fairy Godmother” of third grade, and this year during read alouds, the class is striving to read all of the novels of literary genius in honor of her 100th Birthday.
Ms. Flanagan strives to integrate project-based learning into the curriculum, as her personal philosophy is to keep students “interested and engaged” through interactive, hands-on education. ”I am always bringing new ideas and projects into the classroom,” she explains. ”My mission is to help kids find success,” and by bringing a variety of projects, lessons, and assessments into her curriculum, Ms. Flanagan empowers each of her students to succeed.
Our third grade students are always giggling while practicing memorization strategies. ”We sing a lot!” Ms. Flanagan jokes, “And we play a lot of games. Multiplication is a huge part of third grade and I want to give them strategies (like songs and games) that they can use at home.” This same skill is applied to the memorization of prayers in Religion, as students learn hand motions and movements to aid their process.
Students in third grade are increasingly aware of the greater community around them, and the concept of community is the root of Ms. Flanagan’s classroom. Community is the theme of third grade, and is integrated into Social Studies, Religion, and daily classroom management. Students learn about our local Dunedin community, studying its history, government, and public services. They also look at Dunedin from a more global perspective, through the comparative lens of their continental study. Ms. Flanagan’s class spends the entire year exploring North America, taking in one region at a time with a study of culture, geography, and of course, community. Within the classroom, students work to earn play money that they can spend at the Community Store, integrating basic economic concepts into daily routine.
Finally, this theme of community flows into the Religion curriculum as students develop a personal relationship with Christ and understand His call to serve those in need within our local community. ”It is an honor and a privilege to teach Religion,” says Ms. Flanagan, a former catechist, “it comes so naturally in all that we do.” Truly, Christ is present in our third grade class. Catholic verbiage is woven into all classroom conversation and across subject areas.
We are blessed to have Ms. Flanagan as a part of our school community and are grateful for the engaging experience she gives our third grade students.
