Amelia Earhart Elementary first-year teacher gets nominated as the March ‘One Class At A Time’ winner

March's 'One Class at a Time' winner is Heather Claborn from Amelia Earhart Elementary.

It was her first year teaching first grade. Claborn never expected her first year as a teacher to be in a pandemic meeting with her class virtually but she made the most of it and is receiving the recognition she deserves. She had several nominations from her students.

“Its been amazing and getting to know these kids through the internet and they’re learning to read through the internet I mean who does that!? It’s absolutely amazing!” Claborn said.

She was so thrilled to finally meet her students in person for the first time.

“We were having a dance party in here," she said.

Claborn plans to put the $500 award towards more crafts and inclusivity supplies.

“Multicultural paper so it’s paper for different skin tones and then they have those in crayons and for clay," she said. "I mean there’s so many things; I have an empty classroom so so many things and so many art materials. You can’t see but there’s already art on the walls and we’ve only been back for a week and a half," she explained.

This award was made possible by our sponsor Walter Clark Legal Group.

“We’ve never given the award to a first-year teacher but congratulations and looking at what was said about you by those who nominated you; it’s really touching because you pay out of pocket to provide materials to the kids who don’t have it,” Walter Clark said.

The principal at Amelia Earhart Elementary also shared some kind words about this month’s recipient.

“As a first-year teacher, Mrs. Claborn, she is just knocking it out of the park with her children," Ann Morales said. "She probably has 100 percent of Zoom kids on and engaged in the classroom; walking through her classroom you just want to sit down and enjoy it," she added. "She’s got kids that are reading extremely well, know their letters and sound and her technology skills are phenomenal," she said.

If you know a deserving teacher, be sure to nominate them here: https://kesq.com/one-class-at-a-time/#//