Hello! My name is Zoua Thao. I was born in Laos and came to Minnesota in 1980 and have not lived anywhere else in the US besides Minnesota.  I got married in April of 1994. I have 3 children - 2 boys and 1 girl. I was a student of St. Paul Public Schools since 3rd grade.  This was the grade I started when we first came to the U.S. I attended North End Elementary and, in 1990, I graduated from Johnson High School. In 1994, I graduated from Northwestern with my Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education.  My license is to teach grades K-6. In 2006, I graduated from Hamline University with my Master's degree in Education, with an emphasis on poverty. I started teaching in 1994 at Mississippi Elementary and stayed until 1999. There, I taught Kindergarten and 1st grade. I made the switch to Wellstone in 2000 and have been here teaching Kindergarten since then. 

Thank you for taking the time to read our Kindergarten website for information.  You can also get more information about what is happening in our class by reading our Kindergarten News that come home once a month. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or concerns. It is my pleasure to have the opportunity to work with you and your child this school year. 

Here's a poem I love: 

"All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten"

by Robert Fulghum

Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in Kindergarten.

Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday School.  These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. 

Be aware of wonder.