I want to make sure that I really build their love of learning and that they love to come to school every single day”

Elizabeth Esslinger

Stanley-Boyd Elementary School is lucky to have Elizabeth Esslinger as a Kindergarten teacher. Elizabeth is a dedicated, compassionate teacher with a heart for learning who isn’t afraid to let her students get a little messy in the process. 

Growing up, Elizabeth moved around a lot with her family due to her dad’s job. She’s lived in Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota, Mondovi, and Mosinee, where she met her husband when they were both in the same middle school. A fun fact about Elizabeth is that her and her husband, who began dating each other when they were thirteen years old, share a wedding anniversary with her parents and her in laws!  She jokes that no one can forget that anniversary date!

After graduating from Mondovi High School, Elizabeth attended UW-Stevens Point where she majored in early childhood education and minored in early childhood special education. In 2016, her husband, Hunter, who currently works for the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department, was working as an officer with the Stanley Police Department so Elizabeth looked for a closer job and found one at Stanley-Boyd. The Stanley-Boyd students and their families quickly found a place in Elizabeth’s heart. Fast forward seven years later and Hunter and Elizabeth have two young girls, Brooklyn (3) and Olivia (1), Ruby, the dog and Pumpkin, the cat, and a house on some land north of Stanley. Elizabeth and her family love spending time together outdoors, especially hunting or fishing. Their dog, Ruby, is a beloved member of the family who is very patient and loving with the young girls. She is also an accomplished hunting dog having retrieved almost 600 birds in her lifetime!

Esslinger enjoys vacationing yearly with her family at their cabin in Canada. She mentions that she loves to go fishing and has been going to the same family cabin since she was three years old.  She’s excited to share this family tradition with her own children, mentioning that they visited Canada twice this past summer and that her daughters love it, especially her oldest daughter Brooklyn, who is the same age that Elizabeth was when she went on her first trip to Canada. “She loved it. She wanted to catch all the fish. She is a good fisherman,” Esslinger remarks sharing that Brooklyn isn’t scared of any aspect of fishing, even the messy, slimy parts.

Elizabeth was active in her choir in high school and still loves to sing. She is a self-proclaimed “HUGE Taylor Swift fan,” and says that there is usually music playing in her classroom and she usually sings right along to it.  When Elizabeth can find a few spare minutes in her busy day, she loves to read or work in her flower beds. “I love plants and flowers,” she says and adds that if she wasn’t a teacher, she would probably be working at a greenhouse. 

Elizabeth loves being a Kindergarten teacher but shares that being a Kindergarten teacher wasn’t in her original plan.

“I always loved school myself and I love being around kids. I originally didn’t think I wanted to do kindergarten. I started in Stanley as a 1st grade teacher, but I have been in kindergarten for 7 years now!” she exclaims.

Being a teacher is a fast-paced job where you are always on the go, but Elizabeth says that her students taught her to “slow down and enjoy the little things.” When asked if any of her previous students have impacted her life, Elizabeth answers, “All of them, I think of my past students every day.” She says that one of the most enjoyable things about teaching is when former students come back to say hi or give her a hug and she hopes that she makes an impact in her student’s lives. 

Esslinger’s simple advice to parents is to read to their children every night. “The most important or biggest thing they can do is read every night,” Elizabeth states emphatically. And that advice she puts into practice with her own family, especially her daughter, Brooklyn, whose favorite book is ‘Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom.’ Elizabeth reveals that the book is a favorite of her kindergarten classroom as well. “I have it memorized,” she comments.

Since becoming a parent herself, Esslinger’s homework policy has changed. Knowing how much time it takes to parent, she doesn’t send as much homework home. “Spend your time with your kids at home,” she tells parents. She feels that after school family time is very important. “I tell my kids their homework when it’s nice outside is to get outside, go play outside.”

Elizabeth mentions that she does a lot of “messy” projects in her classroom. She feels that her students learn better through hands on learning and mentioned that some favorite classroom activities are tracing letters in sand or shaving cream, making applesauce, and carving pumpkins.

 “Kids always get excited when they see the sand trays come out. We play a lot,” she states. “It’s really important to me for them to be able to know how to interact with other kids and be able to share and have those social interactions and be able to just be a good person.” She elaborates that the academics like reading, and writing will eventually develop, but it’s important to her to build a good foundational base for her students where they know how to share and use their words to communicate.

“We do play a lot in kindergarten. It’s very important to me and we get messy.” Elizabeth explains that she feels that sensory learning is important to offer to her students.

 “I want to build their love of learning. They have the rest of their little scholar careers in front of them. So, if they don’t like kindergarten, then it’s going to be tough on them. I want to make sure that I really build their love of learning and that they love to come to school every single day,” she comments.

Elizabeth is looking forward to enjoying the rest of the school year journey with her students. “January/February is a magical time in kindergarten, they just start to put everything together that we have been working on and the kids take off in reading. It is really fun to see them start to understand the skills and see their confidence grow,” she says.

Elizabeth is an amazing educator whose own love of learning is developing her students into accomplished Stanley-Boyd Orioles!