By SARI ZEIDLER
It was a lesson about the letter P.
No doubt, lessons about participating in the global community start early at Old Mill Road.
Each week, Isseks takes her class on an imaginary field trip to another part of the world inspired by a letter of the alphabet. Already the class has traveled to Texas, Hawaii, Japan and Italy.
On Jan. 22, the class visited Paris. While lessons stem from the alphabet, Isseks's lessons teach much more.
"How do we thank the people of France for the Statue of Liberty?" she asked the class, after explaining that the statue symbolizing American freedom was a gift from France. "We are polite when we visit them," she said, continuing by teaching polite phrases such as "please" and "thank you" in French.
"This all started because they didn't know their address," Isseks said. That sparked an idea for the teacher, who is new to the North Merrick School District this year, a leave replacement for kindergarten teacher Jennifer Costanzo. Isseks decided to combine the lesson about local community with one about the world community, tied together through an initiative called "writing for a reason."
"Writing for a reason" is exactly what it sounds like -- a method of teaching literacy that incorporates real-life tasks. Isseks gave the example of shopping lists, or in the case of her fictitious weekly excursions, post cards home.
Each week students write out their return addresses, practicing the initial lesson that Isseks sought to teach. She also cuts no corners to see that students have a memorable trip to easily associate the place visited with the letter of the week.
On the trip to France, students ate croissants in a classroom-turned-cafŽ, complete with red-checkered table cloths.
"She always decorates and makes sure there's an atmosphere," said Sandra DeVries, a building substitute assisting in class that day.
Children recalled a candy rolled to look like sushi, followed by, "Japan starts with J."
Comments about this story? Szeidler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
