Hi there.  My name is Scott Galabota and I am very excited to be a 3rd grade teacher!

Background: I was born in Philadelphia, PA and spent most of my childhood in Racine, WI.  I have one older sister, Amy.  I graduated from Washington Park High School and went to a small liberal arts college a few hours north, Lawrence University.  I graduated in 4 years with two majors, psychology and philosophy. 

After exploring a career in inpatient psychiatry, I went back to school at Stanley British Primary in Denver.  I spent a year learning in Sue and Olivia's classroom of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students.  Our classroom was centered around the tenets of constructivism and experiential learning.  If students create meaning from their interactions with the world (constructivism) then our job as teachers is to create learning-rich experiences for the children (experiential learning.)  

I took this approach into the first classroom I led on my own.  For 2 years I taught a 3rd and 4th grade classroom at Ebert Elementary in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver.  During this time I finished my Master's degree in Educational Psychology.  This course of study focused on how people learn and helped me better understand what the students in my class needed. 

That same summer, I also married Cindi at her family cabin in the northwoods of Wisconsin.  Cindi is the love of my life and we just celebrated 21 years of marriage.  We have 2 children: Donovan is 18 and a Freshman at Colorado State University, Corinna is 3 and a eighth grade student at the middle school.  Our family has two dogs: Hadley is a 7 year old Shepherd-Husky mix and Square Peg (Peggy) is a two year old cattle dog-terrier mix?

The year after our marriage, Cindi and I moved to Southwest Colorado.  I taught 3rd grade for a year in Ignacio and 6th grade math/science for a year in Bayfield before settling down in Pagosa Springs.  My first position in Pagosa was as a Kindergarten math teacher.  I learned a lot as I helped the youngest students in our district build a strong math foundation.  After that, I moved to the middle school and was charged with helping students learn 6th grade math.  Sixth grade is a year of transition with many challenging secondary math concepts introduced. 

I am very excited to be back teaching 3rd grade and that I get to work with 8 and 9 year olds as they develop into fluent readers and thoughtful students.  

When not teaching, I enjoy spending time with my family, walking my dogs, hiking, mountain biking, listening to a wide variety of music, cooking and baking.  I enjoy taking photographs and talking about art.  Stop by my room sometime and look at the prints I have hanging on the walls.