TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Classroom gets safety makeover

ADVERTISEMENT

By ANGELA DINAPOLI

Special to the Tribune

Published: October 28, 2009

SEFFNER - The excitement was no match for the cold air as 17 students walked bright-eyed into their brand-new classroom Oct. 19 at Mango Elementary School.

The classroom buzzed with activity on this morning - all thanks to Honeywell Hometown Solutions and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Rewa Chisholm, Mango Elementary's brand new math and science resource teacher, was one of five grand prize winners of a $10,000 classroom makeover. The Got 2B Safe! Awards Program recognizes those teachers with the greatest commitment to teaching child safety.

Chisholm and other teachers nationwide submitted brief lesson plans emphasizing Got 2B Safe's rules for personal safety. A fifth-grade teacher at Robles Elementary at the time, she submitted her ideas on how to incorporate student and community safety into her classroom. To Mango's good fortune, when Chisholm accepted the position as a resource teacher, her $10,000 classroom makeover came with her.

Chisholm worked with a design team to create a math- and science-based, technology-rich environment where she will continue to increase Mango's student achievements.

Diane Tomlinson's fourth-grade class was hand-selected by Chisholm to be the first students to enter the new classroom. Principal Felicia Davis greeted the students, along with the design team from Honeywell.

Similar to an episode of "Extreme Makeover," the door was flung open to reveal the brand new classroom. The center of the pod (a pod contains four classrooms with a common space in the middle) received the royal treatment by the Honeywell design team.

The students could not contain their surprise at the difference. The chocolate-brown carpet adds a warmth to the room and is a stark difference from the dark green Berber carpet found in other classrooms.

The retro-style, wooden student desks create an art-deco look that is not often found in a public school classroom. The entire room had been re-organized and plastered with math, science and informational posters. Even with all that, the students' eyes could not be torn away from the large island in the center of the room.

Students feasted their eyes on top-of-the-line technology. An LCD projector and MacBook Pro glistened next to the state of the art ELMO. Even with all that, Chisholm could not contain her enthusiasm over the hand-held video camera, which she held even while accepting her award.

Angela DiNapoli is a writing resource teacher at Mango Elementary School.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT