Mrs. Lindy Hafemann

The joy I feel when teaching my students is indescribable, but I will try...Being a teacher for many, many decades has filled my "Teacher Heart and Mind" to the brim with opportunities to share my expertise and professional development with a variety of ideas, creativity, compassion and caring love for my students. Having the opportunity to be Christ the King Parish School's 5th grade teacher fills my "Teacher Soul" to overflowing because I can share my Greatest Love, Jesus Christ.  While on a 5th grade field trip to San Juan Baptista Mission in California at age 10, I personally encountered the Absolute Love of our Living Jesus present in the Eucharist of the tabernacle of the old church.  I knew then that He is the Pearl of Great Price for which I had been yearning and searching. After my mother's death shortly after my encounter with Love, I was able to go live with my father's family in Australia, where I was baptized a Catholic two weeks after arriving.  It is a gift each and every day for me to not only teach and share the Truth of the Catholic Church with my students, but to also pass on the wonder and beauty of God's Creation through the many subjects we learn about in our 5th grade curriculum: Religion, science, math, language arts, health, social studies, history, geography, P.E., music and art.  My teaching career began as a Montessori-trained preschool, kindergarten and first grade teacher in California, where I eventually became a director of a K through 8 private non-profit school.  After moving to Oregon, I have only taught in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Portland---preschool, third grade, middle school religion, science, language arts, math, and social studies.  For the past 30 years, my heart-felt compassion for students who struggle with reading, spelling and writing has been fueled by concerns for my own son's dyslexia diagnosis, which seemed hopeless at the time when he was 8 years old and a non-reader.  I stand ready and willing to offer my experience, strength, hope and expertise for any and every child I am privileged to teach, but I know that I am not alone in my desire to help and do whatever it takes for every child to feel successful and loved.  I am the servant of Our Lord.  

When I am not involved in teaching, lesson planning, creating curriculum and fixing up my classroom, I tutor students with dyslexia.  I also love to attend as many parish activities as I can, travel during the summer, garden, raise chickens, spend time with my very patient and generous husband, and visit my adult children and their families.