by Nancy Martin 

Heatherwood’s annual Spell-A-Thon took place in October. Although the Spell-A-Thon is a major fund-raiser for the school, it gives students a chance to shine academically.

Parent Katie Wright volunteered as chairperson of the event. She traveled to classrooms with a wagon full of incentives depending on the amounts raised for correctly spelled words. The prizes included "Harry Potter" books, t-shirts and Pokémon Game Boys. The grand prize winner became the proud owner of a kitten (of course with her parent’s permission.)

Students were given grade-level appropriate words. They had a two week study period, then were tested in class. 

The results were wonderful. One hundred percent of the students participated in the Spell-A-Thon. One hundred seventy students achieved 100 percent on their tests. These students will be awarded with a special Heatherwood picture frame. Spellers attaining 100 percent were also entered into a drawing for a trip to the toy wagon for an extra gift of their choice. 

One "100 percent speller" from each class was chosen to make a selection from the toy wagon. Congratulations to those 18 students: Hailey Coyle, Conner McGraw, Thomas Wright, Christopher Hale, Michael Williams, Katie French, Kristen Lewis, Alyssa Lawson, Jackson Porreca, Andrew Hyde, Keats Baker, Matthew Getty, Lorena Cannon, Sarah Ball, Adam Sammakia, Eric Cote, Ileana Gutow, and Steven Edelfelt. 

Congratulations are also in order for all the "100 percent spellers" and to Jessica Jones, the grand prize winner, who raised $550 and won the kitten who now goes by the name of "Spell."

Through the efforts of Wright, teachers, staff and students, over $13,000 was raised.
 
 

Another successful fund-raiser this year was the sale of gift wrap. The high quality wraps, bags, bows, cards and gifts were manufactured by Innesbrook Wraps. Ann Thomaier worked very hard to get the word out to parents and students about the sale. Approximately one third of the students participated in the fund-raiser and raised over $6,000.

The top seller was fifth grader Alison Cochran and fourth grader Tracy Babb won a CD player in a raffle.
 
 

First graders at Heatherwood are enjoying the challenges of learning with their teacher Teri Tenge aka Miss T. Although this is Miss T’s first official year as a teacher at Heatherwood, she is very familiar with the school, because she was a substitute teacher last year. 

Miss T has come a long way from her home in Alaska to teach in Boulder. She received her degree in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University. She traveled and spent a year as a third grade teacher in Nicaragua before moving to Colorado. 

"I love Heatherwood," she said. "My passion is teaching, and it’s great to be working at a school with such creative educators."

When not at school, Miss T loves to spend her time reading, running and playing volleyball.