Students chart one bear of a journey

Despite his absence, the students have learned a lot from this special pupil: Mr. Honeybear, a stuffed animal that is the focal point for a unique project.

"Mr. Honeybear Travels Around New York State" is an integrated, on-line project created by Miss Vessa to help her students learn about the state. The effort earned her the New York State Model Schools Teacher Integration Award and a $1,000 grant for her school.

Something new

"In August, when I found out I'd be teaching fourth grade, I looked over the curriculum and wondered what could make this more exciting," she said.

Similar projects exist for learning about the United States or other countries, but none had been created for New York, so she designed one of her own in three weeks.

Bear in mind

While in each part of the state, Mr. Honeybear spent time in local classrooms and kept a journal of his activities. Each time he arrived in a new town, the Cohoes Catholic students began learning about his location through math, language arts and social studies.

According to the teacher, they had to find the grid square, longitude and latitude for each town as well as the distance he traveled from the last town and the total distance so far.

Visiting state

In addition, the students recorded and graphed the weather each day for all of the participating cities.

"The kids love it," Miss Vessa said. "For them, geography is exciting."

Prize-winner

"When I first created this project, I simply wanted to bring a real-world application for geography, math, English and technology into my classroom," she said. "I never dreamed that I would get an award or be interviewed for The Evangelist. Teachers always spend their own time looking for ways to make learning meaningful. It is nice to be recognized every now and then."

A native of Westchester County, Miss Vessa is pleased to be teaching at Cohoes Catholic. "I couldn't have done a project like this at a large school if I was a first-year teacher," she said.

Mr. Honeybear's itinerary for next year is already being planned.

"We're going to add to it next year," she said. "We also have video teleconferencing equipment that I'd like to use."

(Other Catholic school teachers to receive New York State Model Schools Teacher Integration Awards were Pat Stefanik and Carol Pepe, fourth-grade teachers at St. Pius X School in Loudonville. Their project, "An Investigation of Science Facts," involved using Power Point to help students review for the fourth-grade science test. For information on "Mr. Honeybear Travels Around New York," visit Cohoes Catholic School's website at www.cohoescatholic.org.)

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