My name is Mary Burns and I am currently teaching second grade at Brown School. I have taught in South Portland for 15 years, working in grades kindergarten through grade three at Small, Skillin, Marsh, and Brown. I received a M.Ed. in Literacy Education in 1996 and I am close to completing an endorsement in ESL. Helping children to love reading is my favorite part of teaching. If you would like to learn more about my second grade class, please visit our classroom website

Welcome to second grade. I am so excited and thrilled to be able to teach your beautiful children.

It doesn't seem possible that I am starting my thirty-seventh year teaching in South Portland. I knew the moment I entered Saint Joseph's College and volunteered in the primary schools that teaching was my devotion.

Each year is always my favorite because of the precious new students who are filled with a wonderful energy and awe as they discover the joy of learning and of being involved in our classroom community.I have not only taught in all of the buildings except for one, but I have also taught every grade from first grade to fifth grade. This teaching span has given me an overview of all the skills necessary to prepare children to be successful students.It has also provided me with a great span of materials that are below and above grade level.It is such a privilege to be able to work with children and to witness their growth developmentally, socially and academically.

My husband and I have two daughters who went through the South Portland School system. One is a nurse and the other one is a counselor. We also have four beautiful grandchildren and one more is on the way in May.This is definitely the best time in life for us!
My teaching style includes a lot of movement, music, songs, dances, plays, poems, spontaneous sharing and role modeling. Now, I can even include cooking since our beautiful room on the third floor has a kitchen! The students are always encouraged to share their unique language and traditions, their musical talents and their general knowledge with the class.

I am the newest teacher on the 2nd grade team and am delighted to be teaching at Brown Elementary School this year. I am especially looking forward to the rich classroom opportunities that will be available to us as we are joined by a number of international students at our school. When I was eight years old, I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I spent most of my childhood attending bilingual (English/Spanish) schools. While in college, I also lived in Europe for a year. Both experiences reinforced to me how important it is to learn about other cultures. Thus, we will be exploring many different worldwide customs as part of our study of communities in second grade this year.

I followed a somewhat unusual path into teaching. After attending Middlebury College (Vermont) and then M.I.T. (Cambridge, MA) for graduate school, I worked as a city planner for a number of years, while moving around the country with my husband, an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. During this time, I often helped out at my three daughters’ school as a parent volunteer. I quickly discovered that I loved working in the classroom! So, I returned to graduate school and received my teaching certification from the University of Pittsburgh. I am now just a few credits short of receiving my Masters’ in Education and am greatly enjoying my second career.

My goals for this year are to foster a love of reading, writing, and problem-solving in my second graders. This is a very inquisitive and cooperative age. We will be making the most of the children’s natural curiosity and growing maturity with more hands-on, group projects as well as increasingly independent reading and writing activities during center time. I welcome the assistance of parents who would like to volunteer to help with these projects.

I live very close to the school so please don’t hesitate to say hello if you should see me in the grocery store, walking my dog on Willard Beach, or riding my bicycle along the waterfront path. If you have any questions, I can most easily be reached at my school email address-- briggsla@spsd.org or we can arrange to speak by phone before or after school hours.