Meet Culbertson Teacher Judy Haines

Marple Newtown Patch is featuring great teachers in the Marple Newtown area who deserve some spotlight. Teachers give a lot to their students, schools and studies and we'd like to recognize them and say a simple, thank you, for all that they do. She started off teaching at Culbertson until life took its turn but came back full circle.

Name: Judy Haines

School:

Grade/Subject(s): Third Grade/All Subjects

Years in the Industry: 19 years

Teaching History:  I began teaching at Culbertson Elementary School in 1986 as a first grade teacher. I taught first grade for 11 years and second grade for one semester. In 2001, I resigned from my job to stay home with my children. In 2003, I began teaching the Pre-K class at my youngest child’s nursery school and remained there for four years. In 2008, I was lucky enough to be rehired at Culbertson School where I have been ever since. This past year, after teaching fourth grade for three years, I became a third grade teacher.

What do you like most about your job? 

I enjoy building trusting relationships with students and parents; it is always better if thecteacher, the student, and the parent(s) can work together as a team. I also enjoy takingctime at the end of the school year to reflect back on my students. It is very rewarding when you think about who your students were at the beginning of the year and who they are at the end.

Why did you become a teacher? 

Becoming a teacher was not a lifelong dream or goal of mine, but something I
happened to stumble upon. I was having difficulty determining my career path during my sophomore year of college when a friend suggested I take an elementary education course. I did, and I have never regretted it. I love my job!

What do you like best about your current school (projects, programs or activities that your school is a part of): 

I worry about our planet and what it will be like for future generations. In April of this year, the third-grade teachers at Culbertson dedicated two afternoons to Earth Day in an attempt to raise our students’ awareness about their responsibilities for taking care of our earth. 

The children visited various stations: they participated in a “Plant Facts” scavenger hunt, made “We’re Saving the Earth One Penny At a Time” piggy banks out of discarded potato chip cans (where they then saved a total of $153, which was donated to The Pennsylvania Resources Council, a local nonprofit conservation organization), made pencil cans out of discarded icing containers which were used to store their writing tools, wrote their individual ideas of how “I Can Be Kind to the Earth,” and participated in an Earth Day game using the classroom SMARTBoards. 

The two afternoons were fun-filled and educational. I hope this will become a new Culbertson School third-grade tradition.