‘Wait … I get it!’: Arlington fourth grade teacher Katee Prenzlow

Published 2:27 pm Monday, October 5, 2026

Katee Prenzlow’s fourth grade students at Arlington are learning about elections and voting in social studies, and they started with Oreos. “We voted blindly on Oreos and then we taste tested so we could be informed voters, and some of our answers changed,” Prenzlow said. “We are talking about how voting is both a right and a responsibility!”

She wants students to see that in every subject. “Whether we are working on math, reading, science or history, I want students to understand how their learning applies to the world around them,” Prenzlow said. “I want my students to leave my classroom thinking, ‘I can actually use this.'”

Students in her room are not sitting still much, she said. “If you spent a morning in my classroom, you would see a lot of movement, conversation and learning!” Prenzlow said. “My students are rarely sitting and listening — they are talking through their thinking, working together, asking questions, solving problems and learning from one another.”

Mistakes are part of it. “We love to talk about our mistakes as opportunities to make our brains grow!” she said.

Prenzlow said her favorite part of teaching is watching students go from “I can’t do this” to “Wait … I get it!”

She saw it happen recently with a student who was struggling with a math concept. “We slowed down, talked through their thinking, used some manipulatives so we could get our hands on the math, and connected it to a concept they already knew,” Prenzlow said. “Then it clicked! The look on their face changed, and they immediately wanted to try another problem on their own. Those moments are what teachers live for!”

Asked what her students would want in this story, Prenzlow pointed to classroom meetings and the little traditions that make the room feel like a community. “We take time to laugh together, share about our lives outside of school, celebrate together, and we never take ourselves too seriously!” she said. “Those moments may not always show up on a lesson plan, but I believe they are SO important.”

“My students know that our classroom is a place where they belong, their voice matters and where we are all part of the same team!” she said.

Asked what she hopes students take with them, Prenzlow said, “More than anything, I want my students to leave my classroom believing in themselves.” “I want them to know that being smart doesn’t always mean knowing everything — it means being willing to ask questions, try again, make mistakes and keep going,” she said.

“If years from now, they forget their math strategies and they don’t remember the vocabulary words we worked on, but they remember feeling valued, capable and excited about learning, then I will feel like I did my job!”