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Know Your Pelicans

Meet Irene Turner

First Grade Teacher

Know Your Pelicans

What is your favorite thing about Packer?

I love working in a PreK to 12 school where I have the opportunity to see my former students grow and develop into such caring, reflective, open, and confident individuals. I have now been at Packer long enough to teach the children of some of my former students, which is an incredible privilege. I treasure the continuity and deep sense of community that I experience at Packer on a daily basis.

Describe a favorite or memorable moment in your classroom at Packer.

In the course of more than 30 years at Packer, I have many fond memories, from a classroom visit by author and former parent Paul Auster, to our collective response to 9/11, to our surreptitious capture of a mouse in a humane Havahart trap.

One of my favorite memories, however, is a recent one. I have been reading The Trumpet of the Swan during lunch to my first graders for many years, which they love. Last year, just as we finished the book, my worn-out copy literally fell apart. Not soon after, one of the students presented me with her brand new copy. She wanted to make sure that I would continue to read The Trumpet of the Swan to "new" first graders.

What is something that most Packer people wouldn't know about you?

I love to cook for family and friends and always look forward to summer vacation when I can tend my vegetable garden and flowerbeds. Oh... and I enjoy a good cocktail.

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