Hello and welcome to our website! I'm so glad you're here! My name is Raye Wood and I am a 2nd grade teacher at  Sibley Elementary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This is my 6th year of teaching in GRPS. I have taught 2nd, 4th and 5th grade during my time in the district. I like teaching "big kids" but I also really enjoy the innocence and spunk of the little guys who still like school and don't think I'm too big of a nerd :) It helps that they repeat what I say so when I tell them 2 million times that I am fabulous, they start to say it too and that is good for my self-esteem *wink*

I received my Bachelor's degree in English-Language Arts at Grand Valley in 2006.  I returned to Grand Valley and obtained my Master's degree in English as a Second Language in 2010.  I love to learn and hope to instill that "life-long learner" mentality in all of my students. Knowledge is power! During the 2011-2012 school year, I am working toward National Board certification in the area of Literacy: Reading-Language Arts for Early and Middle Childhood (ages 3-11). It is a pretty intense process and I am excited about learning more about myself as a teacher during this year-long adventure.

I am a mom of 3 girls: Emily who is 16 and in 11th grade, Bree who is 9 and in 4th grade and Jill who is 8 and in 3rd grade. Mr. Wood works for AT&T taking care of air pressure leaks in gross manholes!

I love to read and often have 3-4 books that I am reading at a time.  I also really enjoy writing and often spend 30-40 minutes a day writing in my journal just to capture thoughts and ideas of what is going on around me.  In November 2011,  I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which is a contest to see if you can write a 50,000 word novella in 30 days. I participated as a first-timer this year, despite the craziness that is always the month of November for teachers (conferences and report cards) and am happy to say that I made my word count goal! I LOVE writing and after a lot of revision and editing, I am hopeful to send this book off to be published.