Kate Sydney
Assistant Director/Teacher- Outdoor Lab
Kate Sydney (aka Ms. Katydid) is excited to join the Outdoor Lab staff in the fall of 2018! While being new to the staff, she is not new to the Outdoor Lab and has participated in nearly 20 overnight trips with her 5th graders in APS. Most recently, Kate was a 5th grade teacher at Glebe Elementary, but has held a variety of positions in her over 16 years in APS. Kate, who became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2005, has been an educator for nearly 30 years. The first 10 years of her career were spent in her home state of Wisconsin. While much of her experience was gained as an elementary classroom teacher, Kate has also held several leadership positions, including working at the state and local level on policy related to educator quality and teacher certification and licensure.
Kate has a passion for teaching science and has pursued professional opportunities in science throughout her career. She has spent time working side by side with scientists around the world to expand her science knowledge. This has included opportunities to band birds in Western Australia, tag wild goats in Greece and tag and track black bears in the US.
While at Glebe, Kate worked to establish an outdoor learning space, including working with her students and the Northern Virginia Audubon Society to establish a wildlife sanctuary, where students could observe urban wildlife. Kate also worked with the Virginia Bluebird Society to establish an Eastern Bluebird Trail on the Glebe campus, and worked with a team of volunteers and her students to monitor the boxes, allowing them the opportunity to practice real-world science.
In her free time, Kate enjoys hiking and learning all that she can about nature! She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and two pugs.