My name is Allie Brown, and I am a fourth grade teacher at Gravenstein Elementary School. To learn a little more about me, please read below!
Mrs. Brown the TEACHER~Welcome to our classroom website! I am so happy you are here! This year marks my 20th year of teaching and I feel so lucky to truly love what I do. Being an educator brings me so much joy and it is the thing that I am most passionate about. I look forward to making each school year engaging for the students in my class. Although I enjoy all the curriculum that I teach, my favorite subject is Social Studies! I love bringing the past alive for my students! Through the use of accents, costumes, and our classroom time-traveling cupboard, my goal is always to get students enthusiastic and curious about the world around them. Our Tour Through Gold Country three day camping trip where we pan for gold and visit historic gold rush sites only helps to foster this love and excitement.
In addition to teaching 4th grade, I have held many other roles during my tenure at Gravenstein, including serving as a mentor for new teachers through a program called BTSA. In 2020, I was humbled to be nominated best teacher of Sonoma County through the Press Democrat's Reader's Choice Awards. Last year, I was honored to be selected as Career Teacher of the Year by Sebastopol Rotary. A highlight of this experience was riding in a convertible in the Apple Blossom Parade and waving to former and current Gravenstein families!
Mrs. Brown the ATHLETE~Outside of the classroom, I live a very active lifestyle. I grew up playing soccer, basketball, and volleyball, though soccer was by far my favorite sport. Today, I enjoy jogging and have run several marathons and half-marathons over the years. I participated in my first triathlon sprint a couple of years ago and loved the challenge. I also really enjoy yoga, hiking, backpacking, and pilates.
Mrs. Brown the HOBBYIST-In addition to working out, I also enjoy many other creative hobbies like sewing, singing, reading and writing. I grew up participating in drama and choir and was a part of the Santa Rosa Symphonic Chorus for many years after I graduated college. I really enjoy bringing music (and my guitar) into the classroom. In addition to music, I enjoyed being a part of a local women's writing group. I have been fortunate to have a couple of smaller writing pieces published over the years, including an op-ed by the Press Democrat about the return to in-person instruction.
Mrs. Brown the FAMILY GAL-My husband and I own an old farmhouse out in Bloomfield (near Valley Ford) and love working around the property. We have chickens, sheep, goats and a vegetable garden that the chickens love to help themselves to. When we're not working around the house, we love to travel. We take a summer road trip each year in our travel-trailer and have traversed over 25,000 miles together! Our goal is to visit all of the national parks someday. We're up to 24 parks thus far! We can't wait for many more adventures to come.