Cruz, Stacy
Email: stacy.cruz@spps.org
Phone: 651-293-6606
Qualifications: Winona State University If your child is not to ride the bus on a specific day or their normal routine changes, please send a note to school or call. I do not answer my phone during teaching times. The best time to reach me by phone is during my prep hour or you can leave a message and I will return your call at the end of our day. If you’re researching schools, I recommend that you stop in for a visit! I look forward to meeting you!
Mrs. Cruz
My name is Stacy Cruz she/her and I have been a teacher for Saint Paul Public Schools since 2010. I spent 8 wonderful years at Crossroads Elementary and moved to Global Arts Plus in 2018. I truly love the Global Arts community and seeing the arts in many areas of the school day is amazing!
Here is a little bit about me:
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Lakeville Minnesota with an amazing family. I am the middle child of three. I have an older brother named Shawn who lives in AZ and a younger sister named Ashley who lives in IA. My husband Miguel and I live in South St. Paul with our two boys Marshall and Marty. Marshall is currently a second grader at Global Arts Plus!
Where did you go to school?
I graduated from Winona State University with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education with emphasis on Pre-primary (birth-sixth grade).
What do you like to do?
When I am not teaching I LOVE to travel! I am always up for an adventure and want to see all the wonderful things the world has to offer. I enjoy hanging out with my family! You can usually find us at a local park, riding our bikes around town, playing board games or eating pizza.
Why do you love to teach?
There are SO many reasons I love to teach, but I love to see children feel empowered through learning and seeing children feel successful once they have learned a new skill!
Who was your favorite teacher?
I have been truly blessed with having some AMAZING teachers throughout my lifetime; but I have two teachers who really stood out amongst them all. My first-grade teacher, Mrs. Strike; she taught with such love and care that made me fall in love with school. My fifth-grade teacher also made a huge impact on me, Mrs. Frenchshu; she made me the most organized, focused learner I could be and truly set me up for success in school.
Responsive Classroom
Our classroom will be a Responsive Classroom!
The Responsive Classroom is an approach to elementary teaching that emphasizes social, emotional, and academic growth in a strong and safe community. The goal is to enable optimal student learning. Created by classroom teachers and backed by evidence independent research, the Responsive Classroom approach is based on the premise that children learn best when they have both academic and social-emotional skills. The approach therefore consists of classroom and school-wide practices for deliberately helping children build academic and social-emotional competencies.
Guiding Principles for Responsive Classroom:
Seven principles, informed by the work of educational theorists and the experiences of exemplary classroom teachers, guide the Responsive Classroom approach:
- The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum.
- How children learn is as important as what children learn.
- The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.
- There is a set of social skills that children need to be successful academically and socially. These skills form the simple acronym CARES – cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control
- Knowing the children we teach is as important as knowing the content we teach.
- Knowing the parents of the children we teach is as important as knowing the children.
- Teachers and administrators must model the social and academic skills they wish to teach their children.
Behavior Plan for a Responsive Classroom:
There might be times where the students lose their self-control and need to take a break. Here are the steps that we will go through when this happens in our room when a student loses their self -control.
1. Take a break and once student gains self -control they can decide to come back and join the group when they are ready.
2.Take a break and teacher decides when to invite the child back to the group
3.The child needs to gain their self -control by leaving our classroom and go to a buddy room.
We will all have a chance to model and practice taking a break and using a buddy room at the beginning of the year. Make sure to read our weekly newsletter to hear all about the Responsive Classroom games, greetings, learning, and much more we will be doing throughout the school year!
* Weekly Newsletters are e-mailed on Friday.