Room 306: Meet Mrs. Moir

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MEET MRS. MOIR

Here I am in my office at home with one of my favorite helpers, granddaughter Kate. This is where I update my web page, post my grades, and develop curriculum. In the back on the left you can see part of a comfy chair for reading and in the background you can see that I have books at home, as well as at school.

Several years ago I read an article about what parents can do to help a child be successful in school. One suggestion is to talk to the principal about your child’s teacher’s education and credentials. Wow! This brought to mind a line of over 1200 parents waiting outside Ms. Antrim's office! Somehow I doubt this would be the best use of her time, so I’m happy to present a short biography here. Do not feel obligated to read this -- there will not be a quiz!

I was born and grew up in Los Angeles where my father was a professor of business at the University of Southern California and my mom was an intrepid volunteer, active with Faculty Wives, Town and Gown, various women’s groups, PTA, scouting, etc. By the time I graduated from high school I was an enthusiastic Trojan who had attended many football games, so of course I went to USC! After some time spent in liberal arts, I transferred to the School of Business and graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration (with honors).

I married Jim Moir, whom I had met in freshman English, and we lived in Guam and Coronado while he was an officer in the Navy. We have two children, Megan and Patrick. After some years of being at home with our children, I returned to school at CSUN to earn my teaching credential. As I was almost finished, we moved to San Diego and USIU was very accommodating in accepting my completed units. I finished my K-12 Multiple Subject credential and then stayed home with the kids.

As an “at-home mom” I was a Brownie and Girl Scout leader (and was active on the Girl Scout Gold Award selection committee until two years ago), Den Mother, team mother, was very active in Children’s Hospital Auxiliary both on the local and county-wide level, and worked part-time. I enjoyed my volunteer work and was amazed when I started teaching at Twin Peaks 18 years ago that PUSD would actually pay me for such rewarding work! While I’ve come to enjoy the paycheck (and will feel the sting of our pay cut this year) , I still love what I do and look forward to school.

Our children are grown: Patrick is also a graduate of USC in public policy and management (with honors) and both he and his dad have MBA’s from USC. Megan graduated from Scripps College in Claremont with a degree in English (with honors).

Here are the three big boys from Las Vegas: Dylan, Peter, and Jake. Big Jake joined our family after little Jake was born, thus the two little boys share the name.

From top to bottom: Dylan, Jake, and Peter in our front yard in Scripps Ranch. Isn't this a great picture even if it is a couple of years old? The tree is a popular prop for the family so here are the three boys with Mom and Dad:

Patrick, his wife Lara, and their family (Colin, born July 7, 2009, and big brothers Peter, 3 1/2, Dylan, 9, and Jake, 7) have been living in Las Vegas but plan to return to San Diego soon. Life is never dull in their house! This year Dylan is in fourth grade and Jake is in second grade.

Baby Colin - 2 weeks old

Megan taught fourth grade for five years in Encinitas and then spent two years teaching 8th grade language arts in Gilbert, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix), where she and her husband, Jason, live. Megan and Jason are the proud parents of Jake, our first grandchild, born August 3, 2004 and his little sister, Kate, born August 15, 2008. He just turned five and pirates are a real passion at this time! He and I play pirates by the hour. --- Aarrrgh! Megan is a stay-at-home mom and is very active in her church. Jason operates his own business, selling office and industrial furniture and interior hardware.

Pirate Jake

Jake designs treasure maps for our pirate play. Here is a large one on his easel at our home called "San Diego, Arizona" as opposed to our San Diego, California house. Be sure to check out the compass rose on the right!

We took to grandparenthood most enthusiastically! Since we wanted to have an active role in Megan, Jason, Jake and Kate's lives, we bought a little house in Gilbert in the spring of 2004. We spend a lot of time there, primarily during the summer months when I'm off – it isn’t many people who boast of a summer home in Arizona! But, under the right circumstances, enduring temperatures over 105 on a steady basis makes sense (This year they could boast of 30+ days over 110 -- oh goody!). Jim and I have a routine for the drive to Gilbert. With our usual stops and a book on tape, the miles fly by. We enjoy taking an active role in the lives of Jake and Kate and of course, we love seeing their parents. We savor our baby sitting opportunities and "sleepovers." Most summers I spend four or five weeks in Gilbert and Megan and the gang came out twice to escape the heat. The Fourth of July in Gilbert isn't much fun since it is too hot to do much. Scripps Ranch has a great parade and wonderful traditions, so they frequently visit then. This year we also went to the Del Mar Fair and saw Maddie's piggie but missed her (One of my students). Isn't it great that Poway has kids active in 4-H?

Kate is a delightful little girl who crawls at warp speed -- it is great fun to chase after her! In this photo she has backed up and gotten stuck under the ottoman. This is San Diego, California.

And playing in "San Diego, Arizona."

Megan will not be happy with these pictures since Kate has matching bows, flowers, or headbands for every ensemble. Mommy likes them on, Kate likes them off. I'll try to include a picture with a bow sometime. They are quite cute!

Jake also likes to help me cook. Here he is dealing with the chocolate frosting for Grandpa's birthday cake. Tough work but someone has to do it!

Jake very conveniently was born in early August so we could be there when he was born and have been able to celebrate his birthdays with him. This year it was a pirate (surprise) theme and the eight children had a wonderful time celebrating his fifth birthday. We're so glad we can see him regularly!

We got to escort Little Jake to his first day at kindergarten on August 10 this year:

Like many teachers, I returned to school to obtain a Master’s degree. This time I selected Chapman University and was very impressed with the course work required to obtain my degree in educational administration (with honors – okay, so we are overachievers!). For a time I thought I wanted to be an administrator but I discovered that I didn’t want to leave the classroom and the kids, the same reason my dad always gave when he was asked to be Dean. I love teaching and having the opportunity to make a difference in the life of a young person. I love to learn and try hard to instill that feeling in my students. Two years ago I earned an English credential which allows me to teach English in grades 7 - 12. As a result, I am teaching three eighth grade English classes and two seventh grades this year. It is fun!

This is much longer than I had planned but I hope you feel you know a little about me, as well as my background. I realize that you are entrusting me with someone very special to you and I take my responsibility seriously. I am not an “easy” teacher but I am fair and will do my best to prepare your child for the future.

If you have any questions, the easier way to communicate with me is email, using ellen@moir.org. This goes to my home so I can respond when I am rested.

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If you are not already bored to tears, here are some older pictures:

My husband and I enjoy traveling during the summer and last year we visited the South. We flew into Atlanta, had a wonderful visit there, including the Margaret Mitchell house; then saw some plantation homes not ravaged by Sherman. Our next stop was Macon and then on to Savannah. We spent the 4th of July in Savannah, in a fabulous inn overlooking the river. Although we could see the fireworks from our room, we went out and watched with the thousands along the river. We visited the Juliette Gordon Low home, a real thrill for someone who was active in Girl Scouts until a year or two ago.

We also visited Charleston, where the walking tour was fabulous, albeit hot. After Charleston, we headed into the mountains and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, the home of George Vanderbilt. It is incredible and although huge and beautiful, felt like a home. By then we had a handle on afternoon rain so we viewed the gardens first thing in the morning. That way, we could explore the house while it poured outside. It didn't constitute a problem for us! The following day we explored the Thomas Wolfe home and, in the rain, drove through the Blue Ridge mountains.

Our longest day was from Asheville down to Morehead City with stops at the furniture stores and Wake-Forest on the way. The next morning we got up at 4-something, so we could catch the early ferry to Ocracoke on the Outer Banks. That was a particularly memorable day. We met a wonderful family from Iceland, visited Cape Hatteras lighthouse, and ended up on the beach at Kill Devil Hills. The next day we saw Kitty Hawk and then headed up to Virginia to visit with old Navy friends.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Finally, we returned to Arizona to await the birth of our new granddaughter, Kate:

This chair thing is okay, says Little Jake when he was about 1! (Do you see the resemblance to "Bob" from the Quizno's ad?)

This is Peter James Moir, born Wednesday, December 21, 2005. In these pictures he is a day old. Note the proud grandparents! His mom had the two big boys, Dylan and Jake, when she and Patrick married.

Peter has two big brothers to show him the ropes: Jake was 3 1/2 and Dylan, 5 1/2 (a big kindergarten student).

Note the S.C. Hawaiian shirt on "Grandpa" -- we're at the Phoenix Zoo in the children's section. Jake liked the John Deere tractor much more than that scary carousel with the horse that went up and down. Naturally, he had Grandpa on one side and Daddy on the other.

Jake and Grandpa spending a few quiet minutes during a busy Christmas Day.

"Hey, look at Elmo and me riding in my new red wagon" (yes, we carried it from San Diego to Las Vegas to Gilbert but it was worth it! Every kid needs a red wagon!

Jake at Grandma's birthday in Gilbert, Arizona at the Rocking R Ranch (several years ago)! Ride'em, cowboy!

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Ellen Moir
Twin Peaks Middle School
14640 Tierra Bonita Road | Poway, California 92064 | (858) 748-5131
Poway Unified School District
ellen@moir.org