TEACHNER'S CORNER: TEACHER NAMED QUEEN FOR A DAY AT ST. VINCENT'S

Yvonne Fath-Thomas students made her queen for a day as a surprise for her birthday.

Fath-Thomas teaches second grade at St. Vincent de Paul Grade School in Cape Girardeau.

During the party, her students tried to guess things about their teacher, where she was born, her favorite book and favorite food, and how old she was.

Fath-Thomas was happy to provide the correct answers until it came to the question about her age.

"One little boy said I was 13, so I giggled yes that's how old I am."

However, another students knew that Fath-Thomas must be older. She could drive. "You're right," she told the students. "I'm at least 16."

Fath-Thomas has known she wanted to be a teacher since before she was 16. "I love to teach another person something new and to see their eyes light up when they understand it," she said. "I love learning from them and each day is different."

To encourage her second-grade students to write, Fath-Thomas has students generate stories to be presented as books, plays, posters, puppet shows or flannel board stories.

Fath-Thomas's students start with a writing folder. They start with a brain-storming session to generate story ideas. Students write first drafts, learning all along about complete sentences, capital letters, punctuation and paragraphs.

The young writers share their stories with friends to get ideas on story development and what can be done to improve the story. The students proof-read the final products together before the stories are published, in whatever method the students choose -- book, play, poster, puppet show, etc.

To help teach the students phonics, Fath-Thomas has a mystery word project. Letters are scrambled and students work to figure out the mystery word and then other words that can be made from the same letters.

Fath-Thomas has been teaching six years. She earned a bachelor's degree in early childhood education and a master's degree in elementary education with emphasis in early childhood education.

She and her husband have a pet dog named Cinnamon. She enjoys reading, exercising, doing crafts and fixing up her 90-year-old home.