Teaching students that they are capable of learning and doing great things is Mrs. Skye Marie Nicolls, known as Ms. Skye to the preschoolers. She celebrates her birthday on August 12th and was born in 1978. Her family of seven consists of her husband, Mark, her boys, Wyatt (23) (who has become a familiar face at River Valley Elementary as well!!!), Mason (18) and Trenton (14) and her girls, Morgan (19) and Haillie (19). She also has 5 cats, who sleep with her every night; she admits that she is a crazy cat lady. Her orange boy, Cougar, is the most fabulous cat ever. She also has her kitties, Mac, Magnolia, Xena and Achilles. She has two dogs named Shadow and Pika. She has the classroom guinea pigs, Gene Simmons and Willie Nelson, which brings her pet total to 9.
She obtained her teaching degree from Wayne State College, after a great deal of driving from Lawton to Wayne, NE. and back. She is in her 3rd year of teaching. She teaches Preschool (preschool all the way) and in preschool they do it all. She believes her students would be surprised to find out that she is an open book. They are mostly surprised when she tells them that she does not live at school and that she has a mom.
Her favorite thing to do for fun is to relax by reading a book with a coffee cup in hand and a cat in her lap. She loves to be crafty and sew, crochet, knit and cricut. Her son, Trenton and her love to go fishing even though they are really bad at it.
Some of her favorites are:
- The color sky blue or ed.
- Food-nachos that she would never tire of. She is not totally unhealthy because she has liked every single vegetable that she has ever tried.
- Book is "Wuthering Heights" because she loves movie versions of period dramas and makes it her goat to read all of these classics. She didn't read much when she was younger but Jane Eyre was always a go to in high school. When she read this other familiar Bronte' novel, she was shocked by how glued to it she was and it surpassed all other books and jumped to the top of her list.
- Movie-she loves so many movies that she really can't pick just one, but she is going to say that "Bridget Jones Diary" is one she has always loved. She also loves old movies and musicals because her mom would pick one out that she thought she would like every Christmas and birthday and they would watch them together.
- Song-depends on her mood and she listens to country, oldies and heavy metal. She loves George Strait and "Amarillo By Morning" is a song she listens to over and over.
- Sport-her dad makes her watch golf when she is at his house now and then.
- Sports team-she really couldn't care less about but her brother is a Rams fan, so she will root for them on his behalf.
Her exceptional thing about teaching is that she loves the relationships that she is able to make with these children at this age. They are so excited to see you in the morning and hug you before they leave. The excitement that you see just radiating from them over everything is catching. The growth that they make from the beginning of the school year to the end is so profound that it is easy to remember why you do what you do every day.
She shares, "Having my babies grow up and no longer need me home 24/7 was rough. I started looking for something to fill that void. I went back to school at WITCC at 35 and had no idea if I could even pass a class. I never looked back."
Mrs. Nicolls (Ms. Skye), thank you for all that you do!