
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 6, 1995                   TAG: 9511060096
SECTION: NEWSFUN                    PAGE: NF-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TEACHER OF THE WEEK

On Monday mornings in the fall, the talk in Linda Wade's fifth-grade classroom at Stanleytown Elementary School is football. And it's talk Wade encourages.

"I do an activity that my fifth-grade teacher, who also happened to be my aunt, had my class do," Wade said. "It's a project centered around sports, and the kids love it."

Wade's pupils are required to choose a college football team at the beginning of the school year. Each writes to his or her team, requesting all the free information about that team available.

On Mondays, they are required to know who their team played and what the score of the game was. The pupils follow their teams through the season, and if their team is good, through the postseason and bowl games.

"It combines lots of skills - math, history, language/arts and geography, Wade said. "And it's really fun, especially if their teams played each other."

"Ms. Wade doesn't do everything out of textbooks. She makes learning fun, said the pupil who nominated her. "Overall, she is a great teacher."

Wade, who has taught fifth, sixth and seventh grades for 26 years, said she loves fifth-graders because, "They're still young enough to be sweet."

A Henry County native and graduate of North Carolina State University, Wade loves reading and football.

by CNB