August 26, 2026

Dear Parents of Students in Mrs. Monge’s 4th & 5th Grade Combo Class, 

Welcome back to school! I’m so excited about the school year and I’m so happy to be your child’s teacher for Combo Class! 

I have been working very closely with Mrs. Hetterle, our fifth grade teacher, and Mrs. Chung, our fourth grade teacher, as I plan for teaching both grades at the same time! I spent a lot of time this summer collaborating with the other 4th & 5th grade Combo teachers in the district as well.

As you may have heard, this will be my 40th year of teaching. Wowza! I bought myself a t-shirt that says that.

Here is my history of teaching in a nutshell:

• For my first 15 years, I taught special education including as a resource teacher, an SDC teacher, and an inclusion facilitator. During those years we lived in and moved to four different states for my husband’s job. So, I taught school in AZ, CA, VA, and IL!
• For 19 years I  taught at Rancho Vista Elementary in our district. For the  first two years at RV, I was a Special Day Class teacher. For 14 of those RV years I taught 4th grade (one of these was the online year), and for three of those RV years I was a 4th & 5th Grade Combo teacher. 
• After the pandemic year which included teaching 35 fourth graders online from three different schools, Dapplegray Elementary asked me to come over. So, I moved over to Dapplegray the following year, where I taught 3rd grade.  Then my class looped with me to fourth grade the following year, and lastly I taught 4th and 5th grade Combo Class for a year! 
•  I retired from teaching in June 2024 after 37 years of teaching.
• I subbed a lot at private schools the fall of 2026 and did a little bit of extra work in the district.
• After a few months, a feeling came over me and I realized that I wasn’t ready to retire. I was rehired and started teaching 4th Grade at Lunada Bay Elementary in January 2025!
• I’ve been here ever since!

While I am a very experienced teacher, I am feeling new and young and fresh! How lucky I am to feel this way!

My education and credentials include the following:

• BA degree in Elementary Education from ASU
• Masters of Science Degree in Education, Mathematics, from Walden University 
• My teaching credentials are in Special Education, Multiple Subject credential, and CLAD endorsement. 

My goals for teaching the Combo class this year are:

• To make it a special, happy place.
• To teach all 4th grade standards to the 4th graders, and beyond
• To teach all 5th grade standards to the 5th graders, and beyond
• To do and be included in all of the grade level activities
• These things will all happen!

Some ways the class will be organized:

• I will post my weekly lesson plans in the Combo Google Classroom for the students and you to see. I’ll send you these plans in weekly emails every weekend for the coming week.
• Homework plans will be printed for students to glue into their agenda books on Mondays. Most homework is due on Fridays. These homework plans will also be posted in the Google Classroom.
• I’ll post my welcome back video in our Google Classroom. Here is the QR code (below) for the movie if you’d like to see it here instead. Just aim your phone camera at the QR code. Enjoy!

More information about me:  

• My husband and I just had our 40th wedding anniversary on the 4th of July. We have two adult daughters, Nicole and Sara. We also have a grandson, Owen, who lives with us, along with his mom, Nicole. Owen will be in fifth grade at Soleado Elementary, which is our neighborhood school.
• My hobbies include going to the beach, Catalina Island trips, pool days, Art, combo planning, concert going, music in general, our pets (dog and cat), book club, movies, and biking along the strand.

Lastly I’d like to mention that some of my favorite years of teaching have been the Combo years. This will be my fifth time teaching a 4th & 5th grade Combo Class. It’s a creative challenge for me and I love that!

Please feel free to email me any time at [email protected] . I’m very good about answering emails. Warmly, I welcome your child to this year ahead. We are going to have a great school year!

Sincerely,

Laura Monge, MS Ed

4th & 5th Grade Combo Teacher

Lunada Bay Elementary

PVPUSD