About Mrs. Newmeyer

I began teaching in 2002 and over the past 20 years, I've taught nearly every grade from 1st to 8th. I attended California State University, San Bernardino where I received a Batchelor's Degree in Liberal Studies and a Master's Degree in Holistic and Integrative Studies. While I love nearly all aspects of teaching 5th grade, my favorite subject to teach is writing. In fact, a few years ago I won a $20,000 CTA grant to create our school Writers Lab, which is a fun space where we bring our writing to life, and bring life to our writing. In addition to managing the Writers Lab, I am also the grade level coordinator for 5th grade, the AVID/Literacy Coordinator, on the district Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) team, a member of the School Site Council, and run the Student Council.  

 

Outside of the classroom, I am a Teacher Consultant with the Inland Area Writing Project, which means not only do I teach kids, I also present at conferences and local school districts where I teach teachers how to teach writing. I'm also in charge of coordinating and designing our IAWP quarterly magazine. 

 

Between my responsibilities here at TRR and my work with IAWP, I'm pretty busy, but in my spare time I (very slowly) write romance novels for Soul Mate Publishing. So far I've published three books, but don't worry, I write under a pen name so the kids can't accidentally stumble onto my books. 

 

So in the end, here's what you need to know about me . . . I love to teach and I love to write. That pretty much sums me up in a nutshell. 

 

1. My son just graduated high school and will be attending Crafton Hills College this fall.

2. My daughter is my mini-me and a sophomore at BHS. She writes too!

3. My husband is the Network Specialist for Redlands USD

4. Our former librarian, Mrs. Couch, is my sister. She's now the librarian at Mt. View Middle School.

5. I have an English Bulldog named Tilly. We rescued her right before the COVID lockdown and she ate a hole through the stucco of our house. Literally. 

6. I have a Russian Tortoise named Igor. When I first came to work for BUSD, I was told everyone had a class pet, so I adopted Igor. In reality, NO ONE had a class pet. But me. Igor will probably outlive me and might make an appearance in class some day soon. 

7. I can hula dance. In fact, my grandma, mom, older sister, me and my daughter all danced hula at various points in time. 

8. I can play the piano, albeit not very well anymore. 

9. I was named Teacher of the Year for Three Rings Ranch Elementary School in 2012.

10. I was named Student of the Year during my Masters Degree program. Who knew that was a thing?!