Kathy Kittredge will retire in June after 40 years of teaching and 30 years teaching Harvard fourth-graders. (Photo by Kathryn Costello)
“Teaching is a wonderful career. I wouldn’t have chosen anything else,” said Kathy Kittredge, who is retiring after 40 years in the profession, 30 of them spent in the fourth grade at Hildreth Elementary School. She has found 9- and 10-year-olds to be “a perfect age.” (And her husband loves the fourth-grade jokes she brings home.) “It’s hard to leave the children behind. But it’s time to go.”
Kittredge said she has loved teaching in Harvard because of how highly education is valued. The parents want their children to do well, the teachers have high expectations, the kids are highly motivated, and the administration is supportive of creativity and innovation. But Harvard has something more—it has community resources. Kittredge believes that it is the PTO and the Harvard Schools Trust that make things happen in the schools that would otherwise be impossible.
“I have dipped into the Schools Trust several times,” she said. Back in 1995 Kittredge and now-retired fifth-grade teacher Terry Monette launched the Nashua River Watershed Project. They used a grant to develop the project over the course of three years of two-week summer workshops. For 20 years fourth- and fifth-grade students have taken canoe trips on the river to study ecosystems and animals, with a curriculum that meets the grade-level standards. Kittredge remarked that this past April’s trip had been bittersweet for her.
Another Schools Trust grant provided hardware for a weather network. The WeatherBug equipment is on the outside of the building by Kittredge’s room, and instantaneous live weather data, including alerts, are received in the classroom. Purchased primarily for the fourth-grade weather study unit, the WeatherBug is a resource for the entire school.
“Science is a passion,” Kittredge announced (although it was already clear). She added, with obvious pleasure, “There are so many people here who love science.”
As the science vertical team leader at Hildreth, Kittredge has had the opportunity to strengthen the science curriculum. One of the most exciting changes has come about through the Engineering Is Elementary group, whose resources have helped to focus the Hildreth science program. Kittredge calls their notebook of design ideas the “frosting on the cake.” After giving instruction about a particular topic, a teacher then offers a related design idea where students get to be engineers, using their creativity to investigate and design on their own. For example, after learning about water and dams, small teams of students design and build a dam and see what works and what doesn’t. “It is some of the best science I have seen,” said Kittredge; it’s that added design piece that makes all the difference. She noted that when she asks her students what they have enjoyed, the responses that top the list are always those from Engineering Is Elementary. It’s hands-on, and often students learn more by failure than they do by success.
Kittredge said she is glad she was here to see technology in the classroom. She regards technology not as a replacement for traditional methods of teaching but as a great addition for kids—they are the ones that will be using it out in the world. She admires the pace at which technology has been introduced at the school, sort of filtering down from the fifth-grade iPad project.
“I have worked with some of the finest people you’d ever want to meet,” said Kittredge, lauding the dedication of her colleagues and the administration. She said that to work at Hildreth you can’t stand still: “You need to be constantly challenging yourself.” As one listens to her, it is obvious that she has been creatively setting and meeting challenges throughout her career.
For the near future, Kittredge will be busy with preparations for her daughter’s October wedding. She looks forward to traveling with her newly retired husband. And she doesn’t rule out involvement with education in some way. Who knows? Future fourth-graders might meet up with Kittredge when she engineers a new ecosystem on the Nashua River.
