It's the end of a busy school day and the busses are still being called. I'm standing in the classroom chatting with Mrs. Henry as I wait for an opportunity to photograph her. As each bus is called her students, boy or girl, each give her a hug as they leave saying a farewell that could almost be regretful. Could they be so enthusiastic about their teacher they're sad the day is over?  Bucking that tired cliché that kids are "too cool for school" sits Margie Henry, one of Terraset's second grade teachers.

  
Mrs. Henry has been teaching at Terraset since 1990.  Before that, she taught in rural Lancaster County, PA.  So, altogether, she has been teaching for 35 years.  At Terraset, she has taught grades one through three including some multigrade classes.  Margie wanted to become a teacher from early on. In seventh grade she had a simply fantastic social studies teacher. That teacher was so enthusiastic and brought so much joy to the lessons that Margie thought, "I want a job like that, too!"

Like most teachers I have interviewed, the biggest joy in Mrs. Henry's job is that "aha" moment her students have when they finally understand a new concept... and those moments when there may be a small mismatch... once, when learning cursive writing, a student told mom and dad they were learning cursing in school! 

 

Needless to say, it takes some work to get students to that aha! moment and that is the biggest challenge, finding ways to make every lesson new and exciting.

 

Margie takes that challenge very seriously. In fact, she is one of only three teachers at Terraset to have National Board Certification. Getting this certification is voluntary but serves to complement the state teacher license required of all teachers. Mrs. Henry has recently renewed her certification and it will be good for the next ten years. She told me it is difficult to put the benefits of going through the certification process into words. "The actual process of getting board certified requires a teacher to look at their own teaching practice in a much more in depth and thorough way. I learned so much about my teaching when I went through the process. I learned to spend more time reflecting on the lessons I have taught and how I can use what I learned to make my next lessons better. I [now] have more specific personal goals for my own teaching." 

Mrs. Henry spends quite a bit of her summer planning for the following school year.  But when she isn't planning she loves to garden, travel and spend time with her Italian Greyhounds.

 
Congratulations to Margie Henry on her National Board Certification.  As I'm sure her enthusiastic students can attest, she is a great teacher!

The first release, on May 2, of Brook Trout reared in Northern Virginia schools was a 100 percent success with all 19 fry surviving the two hour trip to the property of Mr. and Mrs. Phil Daley on Little Stony Creek near Woodstock, VA. Thanks to the Terraset Nature Club's careful nurturing of the eggs delivered from Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries hatcheries in October, the Brookies have a new home. 

 

The biggest winners, however, are the students themselves who learned about a range of topics related to biology, chemistry, and habitat. Mrs. Cury and Nature Club volunteer teacher, Dianne Rose, have already declared they will do it again next year.

Terraset Girl Scout Daisy Troop #2128 earned their "Make the World a Better Place" petal for planting trees at the new Reston Nature House. 

 

In celebration of Earth Day and under the guidance of Claudia Thompson Deahl, Environmental Resource Manager with Reston Association, the girls planted nine (9) Red Bud and Red Cedar trees along Glade Road on Monday afternoon, April 19.  The girls enthusiastically shoveled, planted and watered the seedlings, and more importantly, they learned how valuable trees are to our community; trees remove harmful gasses from the air.  We're so proud of our Daisies for making our community a better place!