TEACHER FEATURE: DEE RICHARDS BUILDS LEARNING FOUNDATIONS FOR FIRST GRADERS

SCOTT CITY -- Dee Richards enjoys building educational foundations.

She's been in the building business since she started teaching first-graders at Scott City Elementary School 27 years ago.

"I believe first-grade teachers lay the foundation for the rest of a child's school career, so we have to make sure that foundation is strong," said Richards, who is married to Cape Girardeau Central High School Principal Gerald Richards. "It involves not only developing the basic skills but also a positive attitude toward school."

Richards said it's important to encourage first-graders to like school. Doing that doesn't mean having "fun and games" all day long, she said, but it does mean finding creative ways of teaching.

"Puppets are one creative learning tool, because children are able to relate to the feelings displayed by them and in turn can communicate better," Richards said. "On the first day of school, I use Mickey and Minnie puppets for a skit showing how excited they are about their first day of school. I also use puppets to review skills."

First-graders take everything literally, Richards said, so you have to be very careful when you are speaking to them. On one occasion, she said, she gave her students homework and told them to "do it tonight." One little girl was told by her mother when she arrived home to do the work "right now." The first-grader replied that she couldn't "do it now, because Mrs. Richards said to do it tonight and it isn't night yet."

Richards said she enjoys her job because first-graders are eager to learn. It is wonderful to teach them new skills like reading, she said, because their eyes light up when they master the skill.

"I have never had a child tell me that he or she did not want to learn to read," Richards said. "Instead, first-graders are very anxious to read. I love teaching these children, because the joy they show when they see their progress is exciting for me as well as them."