HANNIBAL TEACHER NAMED
2006 BETTER BEGINNINGS AWARD RECIPIENT

Ms. Sara H. Cole, a first grade teacher at Fairley Elementary School in the Hannibal Central School District has been named the 2006 Winner of the Better Beginnings Award.  The award, which is sponsored by the Board of Regents and celebrates the life and career of Helen Bach Moss, a local educator, recognizes elementary teachers who are gifted in finding and nurturing the strengths of each student.

A prize of $1,000, a framed certificate of recognition, and a book on innovative teaching techniques will be presented to Ms. Cole by New York State Education Department administrators during a ceremony held at the Fairley Elementary School on June 9.  Ms. Cole was selected as the 2006 Better Beginnings Award Winner after consideration of entries submitted throughout the State.  Ms. Cole has taught first grade for thirty-one years, and her principal, Roseann Schoonmaker, says that she has a special talent for seeking and creating imaginative ways of enabling students to do well in school.  When, for example, the school noted that students showed decreased writing skills and gross motor skills, Ms. Cole began to address the problem by integrating reading with experimentation in science.

Ms. Cole is best known for being the designer and writer of the school’s annual first grade circus.  Each year she tailors the circus so that all of the first graders can participate and have a part that they can perform successfully.  The school holds two performances of the circus:  one during the day, for the school children; and one in the evening, for the community.  The Hannibal Central Schools district is located in a small rural community, and the district superintendent is reported to have remarked, “There are two big occasions in Hannibal:  high school graduation night and the first grade circus.”

Runners-up for the award were Mr. Tom Huller, a Sixth Grade teacher at Clinton Middle School in Clinton, New York, and Ms. Kathleen Brickell, a Gifted and Talented teacher at Northwood Elementary School in Hilton, New York.

Applications for the Better Beginnings Award are available in October of each year from the Teacher Development Programs Unit of the New York State Education Department at (518) 486-6042.  They are also posted online at http://www.highered.nysed.gov/kiap/TEACHING/BBA/bbanarr.htm