{"id":1369,"date":"2026-03-10T10:20:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/2026\/03\/10\/staff-spotlight-tami-namminga-infusing-plenty-into-first-grade-learning\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T10:20:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:20:56","slug":"staff-spotlight-tami-namminga-infusing-plenty-into-first-grade-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/2026\/03\/10\/staff-spotlight-tami-namminga-infusing-plenty-into-first-grade-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff Spotlight: Tami Namminga Infusing Plenty into First-Grade Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post is part of the Lynden Schools Staff Spotlight series<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First graders in Tami Namminga\u2019s Fisher classroom get to move around and have some fun during the day, but they can also expect to get stretched academically. That\u2019s the way the veteran teacher\u2014and Lynden alum\u2014encourages the students to focus while they learn about academics, life and getting ready to move to second grade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Role<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Namminga\u2019s 24th<\/sup> year teaching and her 17th<\/sup> in Lynden Schools. It\u2019s a full-circle moment for a Lynden native who attended Fisher Elementary and graduated from Lynden High School. After college in Iowa, six years teaching in Colorado Springs and one year teaching in Burlington-Edison, Namminga rejoined the Lynden school community in fall 2009 as a reading intervention specialist. Soon, she was leading her own first-grade classroom, a spot she\u2019s been in now for over a decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy goal is to use time wisely, add enough movement, add enough fun, make it meaningful and engaging, but also stretch each student to learn all they need to learn to be ready for second grade,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of the school year, Namminga worked with her students to set goals for the year. It\u2019s a mantra the students repeat every morning: \u201cWe are here to learn math, reading and more, so we can grow up and get smarter.\u201d Each aspect of that statement has special meaning. Namminga says she especially enjoys first grade because of the emphasis on reading. \u201cKids grow so much in their reading skills in the first-grade year,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s more than the classic academics. Fisher has three school-wide expectations, including asking students to be safe, be respectful and be responsible. \u201cCharacter development is woven into our day as we don\u2019t just teach students academics, but we teach them how to solve problems and interact with each other in a positive way,\u201d Namminga says. \u201cI also love creating a sense of community in my classroom each year where the students think of others and take care of each other.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting to Know Tami<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teaching never stops for Namminga. Along with her husband, they have five biological or adopted children ranging in age from 19 to 9. Their oldest is a Lynden High School graduate and the youngest came home from Hong Kong in December and started at Fisher in January. \u201cSupporting them as mom keeps me busy outside of work and their activities keep me connected to the community,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, the family is renovating a 1942-built home in Fisher Elementary\u2019s neighborhood. \u201cIt gives me a chance to be creative and plan in a different way,\u201d Namminga says, \u201cwhich has been rewarding as well. We love living in our school\u2019s community where we can see students and families and enjoy local events.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part of the Lynden Schools Staff Spotlight series First graders in Tami Namminga\u2019s Fisher classroom get to move around and have some fun during the day, but … Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Bernice Vossbeck Elementary","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynden.wednet.edu\/bernice-vossbeck-elementary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}