Hello Arlene Hein Families!  My name is Marty Hock.  Teaching is what I do during the day, but there is more to me than you can find in room D4.  I love teaching and being with fifth graders, but my passions go beyond the classroom!

My girls have stolen my heart.  I have a beautiful wife, Kerri, who also teaches in our district at Toby Johnson Middle School.  She is the Family and Consumer Life teacher there in the electives department.  You may be more familiar with her position if you go back in time.  We used to call her class “Home Economics.”  Kerri teaches cooking every other week, house cleaning, sewing and the like.  She is also an award winning cook, winning the Stubb’s Big Ol’ Barbecue Contest!  Her recipe for Lone Star Fish Tacos was published in the Raley’s Something Extra magazine, she was featured on KCRA Channel 3 noon news, and the Stubb’s company sent her to Texas to visit the old barbecue trail.  She is my compliment and partner in every way.

Emily is an eighth grader at TJMS.  She is active in cheerleading, student leadership, volleyball and church activities.  Samantha is a fourth grader in Mrs. Whitney’s class.  She is my artist and performer.  Like Emily, she is an avid cheerleader and she brings a smile to my heart every day.  Most days you can find us working on homework afterschool.  Julia is my little sweatpea.  She is a second grader in Mrs. Robert’s class.  Like her older sisters she has joined cheer as the Wildcat mascot.  She brings joy to anyone who knows her.

I am an avid backpacker, packing all over the Walker River, Emigrant forest area.  I enjoy fishing the high Sierra streams, but mostly, you can find me throwing a ball in the chilly mountain lakes to my yellow Labrador Retriever, Boomer.  Boomer, some of my best friends and I hiked 25 miles over a four day trip this past July.  There is nothing more beautiful than viewing the endless moutain ranges from Leavitt Peak just north of Yosemite.

If you want to get on my good side, Reese’s peanut butter cups are the way to my heart.  Is there anything better?  Maybe Sunday afternoons.  Sunday afternoons, you ask?  I also love the NFL and the Dallas Cowboys.  You’ll find me folding laundry on Sundays, watching the big game, eating my wife’s football food.  I can’t wait to pester 49ers fan, Mr. Emmons, and the football fans in the D pod on Monday mornings.

I’m a pretty simple guy.  I love to teach and I always strive to grow as a teacher.  I love good food, fun and family and friends…and I love kids.  I can’t wait to get to know you and grow with you.  It is amazing how lives come together, even for short periods of time, and are forever linked together!  Here’s to a good year!