"At Sallie Zetterower, our mission is to inspire every student
to think, to learn, to achieve, and to care."
Book Fair Hours are 7:30-2:00 Sept. 18-22
You may Shop Online from Sept. 11-25 at scholastic.com/fair .
- Shop for an extended time
- Expanded selection of books
- All orders ship free to the school
- All purchases benefit the school
Sallie Zetterower Elementary School's teacher of the year is Susan Parrillo.
This is her story:
My name is Susan Parrillo, and I am a fourth-grade English language arts and reading teacher at Sallie Zetterower Elementary School. I have been an educator for 20 years, 12 of those with Bulloch County Schools and Sallie Z. I received my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the State University of New York College at Cortland, which is a well-known teachers college. Prior to my move to Georgia, I taught in Greenville, NC and Fairfax, VA.
I believe I was born to teach. It’s in my DNA. My maternal grandfather was a principal, and my older brother and several cousins are all retired educators. My biggest influences to become a teacher; however, came from my elementary school teachers at Salem Hyde Elementary in New York: Miss Carey, Mrs. Klim and Mrs. Hall. They created vivid and abundant memories for me and my classmates. Eventually, I knew I had to create these types of memories and experiences for all the students I would teach throughout my career.
Creating lasting memories for students may seem like a daunting and expensive task, yet I found the answer to be very simple: BOOKS! The best way is to read books to them. Then, read more books to them, and after that, read even more books to them. Early on in my career I came to realize how much students loved it when I read aloud to them.
I show students how reading books takes them on an adventure of a lifetime. Every book I read out loud to them provides those magical words penned inside to make connections and crystal clear visualizations in order to take our class on an exciting adventure together. My hope is that I instill a love for reading in each and every one of them.
Once I have my students hooked on books and the doors have swung open to all the adventures they can experience, I focus on their thinking. Reading is thinking. With these adventures and memories we’ve created through reading books, they are then surrounded by ideas. Ideas they can write about. I have developed many students who are readers into writers.
It is equally important that parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and volunteers read to children. Children need to see someone other than their teachers read to them. Reading is a way to teach children that their education is important. An education is the ticket to wherever they want to go.
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Hayley Greene, CCC
