Supportive Fourth-Grader Returns The Favor

When 9-year-old Katie Dear flew to Seattle with former teacher Donna Langeman this month, Katie squeezed her teacher’s hand.

“She held my hand the whole way because I hate to fly,” Langeman said. “She had to support me this time.”

It was turnabout for the two.

Langeman had supported Katie three years earlier, during Katie’s mother’s bout with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system. She’s now in remission.

Langeman and Katie were going to Seattle to accept an award in a statewide student essay contest sponsored by the Washington Education Association. The contest, which received more than 400 entries in three categories, asked students to write essays about their most memorable teachers.

Katie, a fourth-grader at Browne Elementary, won the category for grades one to four. She wrote about Langeman, her first-grade teacher.

Katie spent two days on her essay, winnowing it down to a crisp, poignant page of fewer than 200 words.

“I didn’t want to go to school because I thought my mom was going to die,” Katie wrote. “Mrs. Langeman made me feel safe, comfortable and happy. It didn’t take long before I wanted to go to school.”

Last week, she had a little trouble remembering what she wrote.

“I’ve got to think about it,” said Katie, drawing her words out slowly. “She’s nice. She’s thoughtful.”

Katie’s an elfin wisp with blond hair tied back at the nape of her neck. She’s shy, doesn’t like to talk about her accomplishments, and often tugs and pulls at her face like it’s made of Play-doh.

Her father, Gene Dear, reminded her of why she wrote about Langeman.

“Remember, you were really concerned because Mommy lost all her hair?” Dear said. “And the kids - some of them weren’t very nice? What did Mommy wear? It was a turban - it was actually a scarf, but it looked like a turban.

“You were scared that when you would come home, Mommy wouldn’t be there.”

Katie didn’t want to remember. She’d rather talk about food, her favorite books - “Black Beauty” and “Heidi” - or sports, like basketball, softball and swimming.

She loves to read and has her own library, but she doesn’t want to be a writer when she grows up.

“I want to be a scientist,” Katie said.

The plaque for her award and a framed $250 U.S. savings bond hang on her wall.

Langeman, who’s taught at Browne Elementary for eight years, has her plaque in her room. She said knowing she made a difference in a student’s life is the greatest honor she could have.

“It was a hard time for Katie,” Langeman said. “She needed a lot of support and love at the time.”

Remembering Mount St. Helens

Students at Brentwood Elementary recently came to school at night and practiced making volcanoes spout.

It was May 17, the eve of the 15th anniversary of the explosion of Mount St. Helens. About 300 students and parents came to the school for multi-intelligence night.

Seven learning stations were scattered throughout the school and focused on subjects such as verbal skills, reading and intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence.

The children’s favorite station was the spouting volcano in the gym, said one of the organizers, Millie Hill, a fifth-grade teacher.

Students also liked playing the drums and xylophones softly during the volcano’s calm stage and loudly when the volcano exploded.

“The most wonderful part of it was to see the parents and kids work together on projects like this,” Hill said.

She said 42 students and 20 staff members helped set up and maintain the elaborate stations.

This year’s multi-intelligence night was the second one at Brentwood, in the Mead School District. The first one focused on Alaska.

Know your neighborhood

It started as an idea for a table top.

Now it’s a pilot program at Holmes Elementary for McGruff and the National Crime Prevention Council.

When students are finished with it, they should know their neighborhoods backward and forward. They should also know the safest route to and from school and where the McGruff safe houses are in their neighborhoods.

The program was the brainchild of P.J. Burgess, who originally thought about putting a map of the Spokane area on table tops so children could play on the maps.

Burgess then came up with the idea of maps of safe houses and school routes. Students at Holmes will complete three different maps - one for their bedrooms, one for their parents and one for their schools.

They will receive coupons good at McDonald’s, 7-Eleven and other businesses after they finish each map.

The maps arrived at Holmes this week. Students have less than three weeks to finish the three.

Burgess hopes the students will actually learn where the safe houses are, and parents will learn their children’s routes to and from school.

“When the child leaves home, they’re not the school’s responsibility anymore,” Burgess said. “If the parents aren’t home, whose responsibility are they?

“They’re the community’s responsibility.”

Shadle junior wins award

If Melissa Evans decides to go to the University of Rochester for college, she should at least qualify for free copies.

Evans, 17, a junior at Shadle Park High School, won the Xerox Award in Humanities/Social Studies this month. The award was presented by Xerox Corp.

Xerox Award winners are selected based on scholarship in the humanities or social sciences, leadership and community service.

“She’s very inquisitive and thorough in what she does,” said Mary Ryerse, who teaches humanities at Shadle Park. “She continually exceeds expectations.”

The award means that Evans could qualify for a full scholarship at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., if she decides to go there.

She hasn’t decided on a college, but she has decided what she’ll do for a living. Evans wants to become a novelist. She plans to major in English or communications.

The Xerox awards program recognizes students at high schools in all 50 states.

Education Notebook is a regular feature of the North Side Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a North Side school or about the achievements of North Side students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Write: Education Notebook, North Side Voice, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call: 459-5484. Fax: 459-5482.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Katie Dear’s winning essay This is Katie Dear’s essay about her teacher, Donna Langeman: By Katie Dear When I found out my mom had cancer, I felt scared. It was my first year in Washington. I was in first grade. I would have been lost without Mrs. Langeman. I didn’t want to go to school because I thought my mom was going to die. Mrs. Langeman made me feel safe, comfortable and happy. It didn’t take long before I wanted to go to school. She treated everybody with respect. It wasn’t always what she said. Sometimes it was the way she looked at us and hugged us that made me feel better. Besides being extremely nice, she was also a great teacher. She taught me subjects in a fun way. Not only did I learn a lot, I also learned that I can have a great time in school. I want to let Mrs. Langeman know how thankful I am. I will never forget her. It’s teachers like Mrs. Langeman that students remember.