USD 377

Hi! Welcome to my “about me” page. I am Alison Ostertag. I have been teaching in the USD #377 district for quite awhile – the 2024-25 school year marks my 30^th year with the district as a teacher...I’m not sure if you can count my middle & high school years here or not?? I was one of the first students to attend A.C.C.M.S. – when the school, that is now the elementary school, was opened as the middle school in 1976. I graduated from A.C.C.H.S. in 1984. I went on to get my Bachelors of Education from Washburn University.

  I taught for several years in the Topeka 501 school district but when I started my family I decided that I wanted my children to have the same hometown experience that I did! I started with USD 377 in the fall of 1991 at Lancaster Elementary where I taught 4th Grade for 4 years. I, then, taught 2nd Grade at Effingham Elementary for 3 years, followed by 18 years as a Reading Recovery/Title 1 teacher- a program that allowed me to work with 1st Graders who were experiencing challenges learning to read.  In 2015, the district decided to go a different direction with our intervention programs and I was allowed the opportunity to run several 1^st/2^nd Grade reading groups and 2 separate Reading Labs as well as continue my Title 1 duties. Then, in 2016, I started my tenure as a 1^st Grade teacher – which has, quite possibly, been the most exciting and challenging position in my entire teaching career. I never fully understood the responsibility involved in helping prepare our little people to be ready to tackle the rest of their educational careers until I landed smack dab in the middle of 1^st Grade. Our mantra is, “Work smarter, not harder” and I am constantly telling my students that “today is the easiest day of your life”… and believe me, truer words were never spoken!

  Allow me to get back on track… I have also been the A.C.C.E.S. yearbook photographer, creator and editor for the past 6 (or maybe 7?) years. 

  In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family, being outside with my animals, photography and sewing.