Miss. Colleen Keller

Ms. Allen has been at St. Francis of Assisi School since 2002 teaching the 3rd & 4th graders. She graduated from Portland State University with a BA in Elementary Education. Ms. Allen taught in the public schools for a few years after graduating from PSU. Previous to her teaching career, she spent four years in the Navy stationed in Orlando, Florida.

The students in 3rd & 4th grade step up to a whole new world of responsibility. They use homework planners and keep a reading log. Some of the classroom jobs extend throughout the school, such as recording lunch count, ringing the bells for recesses & dismissal, and helping the school librarian. In the third and fourth grade, Catholic students are given the opportunity to become Altar Servers. Many of the students enjoy serving Mass, both for our Friday school Mass and at the Sunday parish Mass.

The Social Studies unit for 3rd & 4th grade focuses on the Oregon Trail and the State of Oregon. Each of these topics is studied every other year. There is a culminating activity of visiting a historical Oregon site. In the past couple of years, the students have also made an Oregon quilt. The class works together in earning one hundred marbles. When the goal of 100 marbles is reached there is a ‘Marble Party’ where the students cooperatively choose a thirty-minute activity.

The third and fourth graders work hard and are eager to learn new things. Ms. Allen really enjoys teaching them.