Chippewa Valley Montessori Charter school teacher honored with Golden Apple

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - Our Golden Apple award tour makes it’s next stop at Chippewa Valley Montessori Charter school to recognize fourth and fifth grade teacher, Madeline Blaser. Her peers say her students love her energy and compassion and appreciate what a team player she is.

Montessori principal Pam Hermodson presented Ms. Maddy with the Golden Apple award. Maddy loves the opportunity to teach kids back-to-back years, a chance for her students to build their confidence and teach the importance of empathy.

“There’s a huge shift between when you are in those lower grades and when you transition into middle school because now you are trying to establish friendships so you need to how to navigate that. You’re going from having one teacher to lots of different teachers so knowing that you can talk with others and you can express your thoughts and be vulnerable with people and knowing how to do that before you get out there is huge for those kids. Because they get an opportunity to recognize that they have value and their thoughts are worth being shared, that’s what I want to send them into middle school with,” says Blaser.

Hermodson says Ms. Maddy is much beloved by her students.

“She’s just been teaching fourth and fifth grade and she’s just cares all about the students and their academics. But she goes above and beyond with teaching respect and that trickles down to the kids too so the classroom is just a family. It’s amazing just to walk in and hear all the buzz but it’s always kind and caring and the students know it’s a safe place,” explains Hermodson.

Madeline and Chippewa Valley Montessori Charter school will split $1,000 in grant funding from the Eau Claire Public Schools Foundation and she will be honored at the Golden Apple awards banquet on April 14th.

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