February 2, 2000

Spirit of cooperation brings classes together

By Justin Trapp
Herald staff writer
       Everyone remembers some sort of inter-school rivalry when they were in school. It was always the seniors against the freshmen, or the big sixth-graders against those tiny fourth-graders. When Jody Meyers, fifth-grade TAG teacher, and Brian Klauer, fifth- grade regular education teacher, saw some rivalry beginning in their classes at Traverse City Central Grade School, they found a way to stop it.
      Make them learn to like each other by making them work together.
      "There was this friction between the two groups, so Jody and I said 'Let's do something about that,'" Klauer said. "The kids get together now and it's literally not an issue."
      It's not that the friction between classes was extreme, Meyers said. More than that, she and Klauer wanted a chance to collaborate and get the kids interested in learning through hands-on projects.
      So far this year, Klauer's and Meyer's fifth-grade classes have worked together on bird pellet dissection, a weather station, and the Math-A-Thon.
      The $2,294 raised by the fifth- graders through Math-A-Thon goes to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Students are given 10 days working in groups to complete more than 175 math problems. The students' pledges paid anywhere from $.03 per right answer to $.21 per right answer.
      The event, Meyers noted, will be held annually beginning this year. It runs the latter part of November and through December. Problems that students receive include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and story problems, among others.
      Another collaboration between the fifth-grade classes involves a weather station. The weather project, which Meyers heard about through a Math/Science Tech Center, is a small, student-assembled weather station that is mounted on the roof of Central Grade School.
      Not only did the students assemble the station, they painted, built, and mounted it on the roof. The weather station includes a barometer, a thermometer, a wind gauge, a wind speed gauge, a weather vane, and a rain gauge.
      Though it hasn't happened yet, Klauer and Meyers are hoping that soon kids will gather data from the weather station daily, distribute it to other area schools, and pass the information along to TV 9&10.
      Since this is his first year at Central, Klauer said Meyers has been very supportive, almost acting as a mentor. Meyers, who is in her second year in the Talented and Gifted program, insists that the efforts between the two are completely equal.
      Despite their modesty, the two teachers are in agreement when it comes to their students. Kids need informative hands-on projects, Klauer said, and they need to have a good time doing them.
      Meyers also felt strongly about the message behind all this collaboration and good will.
      "I want the kids to see that they can get something from everybody, and that everybody has strength," she said.