Second grade English-Language Arts (ELA) and Social Studies teacher, Mrs. Crystal Naugle, has 12 years of teaching experience within a cyber school throughout her career. After graduating from Geneva College with a B.S. in Education and teaching certifications in Elementary (K-6), Special Education (N-12), and Reading Specialist (K-12), she began teaching at another cyber charter school as an elementary teacher. She also later pursued an M.Ed. in Reading from Slippery Rock University.

“Since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” she said as she looked back on what began her career as a teacher.

Now, as a PA Distance 2nd-grade ELA and Social Studies teacher, Mrs. Naugle plays a vital role in her student’s reading and writing skills and their understanding of the world around them.

“In ELA, we use Reading A-Z, which is an online program that we use that teaches skills aligned with state standards,” she said. “We go over comprehension skills each week when reading stories.”

Mrs. Naugle also utilizes Fundations, a systematic reading program to learn basic skills, in her ELA classes. The program helps students with phonics/word study, high frequency word study, reading fluency, vocabulary, handwriting, and spelling. Every week, Mrs. Naugle reads her students a new story that aligns with the curriculum.

“This week, I read them a book without showing them the pictures. I had them draw what they visualized based on the words,” she said.

Mrs. Naugle is currently teaching her students how to write in cursive. Students use their provided writing paper to practice their cursive letters and scan it in using their printer/scanner so she can view it.

Each month, her students also write a unique 2-3 page story where students use their writing paper to practice their handwriting skills while using their imagination.

“In Social Studies, I previously taught students about different communities - urban, suburban, and rural,” she said. “I try to incorporate a lot of videos to keep them interested and engaged.”

“Coming up next is a workforce and economics unit where we will talk about jobs, earning, and saving money, and a lot of other things,” she said.

Mrs. Naugle also focuses on incorporating Career Education & Work (CEW) topics using Smart Futures within her classes. Every month, the second graders are taught a unique topic that follows along with the CEW curriculum and the topic of that month’s focus.

Mrs. Naugle utilizes a variety of techniques to help keep her students engaged during their live learning classes. Namely, she solicits the help of an owl puppet that she calls Echo. During each class, Echo will appear on the screen when her students are practicing letter sounds. Their owl friend will “echo” the sounds along with them, which is how she got her name. Mrs. Naugle also incorporates a lot of music breaks during class to give her students some time to pause between topics.

Every quarter, Mrs. Naugle does a quarterly check-in with each of her student’s parents.

“In addition to our quarterly check-ins, I reach out to parents with students who may need additional help,” she said.

She also holds daily virtual office hours where she can help students with homework or with any questions they may have.

“Parents are also welcome to come to my office hours, too, which happens a lot,” she added. “We want to be available whenever a parent or student needs us.”

When asked about her experience at PA Distance, Mrs. Naugle explained that her favorite part is the fellowship between teachers and staff.

“The community we have here is amazing,” she said. “We are always helping each other and having that support system creates a great workplace atmosphere.”

“I’m really excited to be in second grade and I’m already impressed by the quality of work that my students are doing,” she said. “I love seeing when my students make progress and make connections with past lessons,” she said.