Teacher Appreciation Week: Mama Duck and the reading specialist

Okay.  We don't usually go cutsie around here.  But, in honor of our local city schools celebrating teacher appreciation week, I had to post this one.  Get ready for the warm gooey feelings, Checkered Flag fans.

Flock of ducklings melts hearts at Chesapeake school
By Mike Connors
The Virginian-Pilot  CHESAPEAKE

A member of the G.A. Treakle Elementary School family recently gave birth - to 17 children.

In 2010, a female duck found her way to a courtyard near the center of the school on Gilmerton Road in Deep Creek. Donna Sheffer, a reading specialist with a green thumb, decided to create a garden for the duck to enjoy.

Sheffer put in flowers, shrubs and even a tiny pool with a few inches of water. She came in on weekends and into the summer to make sure everything remained clean.

The duck must have felt comfortable: She has returned every spring since. Kimmy Dajon, a computer teacher and one of Sheffer's closest friends, noticed her this year on March 26, one day after Sheffer's birthday.

"Momma Duck's back!" Dajon exclaimed.

April 22, 17 of Momma Duck's eggs hatched.

The news spread quickly. Students peeked through windows at the ducklings every chance they got. Teachers focusing on life cycles and habitats started using them as learning tools.

Catherine McCabe's second-grade students wondered how the ducklings could walk and dip into the water at only a few days old. McCabe explained they are precocial - able to move around on their own shortly after hatching.

Books and videos are useful teaching tools. But the students are energized because "they actually have the animals there to see," McCabe said. "It is exciting."

The story has a somber note. Sheffer died of cancer in 2011 at age 54. Those close to her still grow wistful talking about her warm personality and love of nature.

"Every time I see these ducks, I think of her," friend and second-grade teacher Brenda Petty said.

The Treakle community has found its inner Sheffer, though.

Students don't mind that they can't eat in the courtyard. "We don't want to bother them," second-grader Tony Rouson said.

Faculty members make sure their new family has adequate food, as Sheffer would have done.

Principal Shelia Johnson noted last week the ducklings might not be able to fly before the school year ends. If that's the case, she will have to make sure they are fed over the summer.

Nearby teachers did not miss a beat.

"I'll come help you," they chorused.  (end of article)

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