A NOTE FROM THE TEACHER CAN EXPLAIN THINGS TO TOOTH FAIRY

Mary Koeberl knows that a note from the teacher can smooth things over with the tooth fairy -- she's done it.

As a first-grade teacher for over 20 years, Koeberl has written a lot of notes for her students, including one to the tooth fairy sent home along with a child's freshly pulled tooth.

Writing notes fits in with the lessons Koeberl teaches in her classroom at Oak Ridge School.

"We have adopted a new reading series in the first three grades at Oak Ridge this year," she explained. "It incorporates reading, spelling and language. In this series we are doing lots of writing. We are writing to express ideas and thoughts about our work as well as writing story books, posters, advertisements and other material for our class to practice reading.

"It is my experience that if a child doesn't feel good about reading and doesn't learn to enjoy reading very early, he or she will probably not be interested in it throughout their school career. Home involvement is very important at this stage," she said.

Koeberl attended Oak Ridge High School and Southeast Missouri State University. She graduated with a degree in vocational home economics, but went back to school after a year and a half to earn her elementary certification. She's been teaching at Oak Ridge for 22 years.

"Having taught all ages, high school down through junior high and the various elementary grades has helped me get a better perspective of the various responsibilities of secondary teachers compared to elementary teachers," she explained.

"I feel that this variety of experience has helped me in my attitude in working with younger children. I even get to use some of my home ec. training with my first graders. I have sewn on lots of buttons and stitched up split seams. We have done cooking projects, made pancakes, breads, cookies."

Koeberl has just 18 students in her class this year, one of the smallest groups yet. "It is really neat to teach a lesson and be able to get around to give individual attention and help to each of the children. It really proves to me that class size can be a very big factor in a child's progress in school."

She and her husband, Leonard, have two children, Andrew, 19, who attends Southeast and Alaina, 15, who attends R.O. Hawkins Junior High in Jackson.

She is a member of the Oak Ridge Community Teachers Association and the Oak Ridge Parent Teacher Organization. She attends St. John's Lutheran Church at Pocahontas and enjoys making crafts, sewing, quilting, reading, raising flowers and collecting a few antiques.