After 20-odd years teaching first grade at Sheridan Elementary School Phyllis Pederson -Mrs. Pederson as I will always know her - retired at the end of this school year.

This got me thinking about my elementary years at Sheridan. I'd like to give thanks to not only Mrs. Pederson, but to all of my elementary school teachers and to the school itself.

The school and much of its staff, it seems to me, have often gone above and beyond what is asked them. Teachers like Mrs. Pederson - and I had more than one in my five plus years at Sheridan - create a learning atmosphere that results in their students smiling when they fall asleep at night and excited about another school day when they wake up the next morning.

Events like a back-to-school parade, an ice cream social and an end-of-the-year pool party make a school feel like a community, almost like a family. My only request is please don't stop these things. They do have an influence.

As kids grow into adults they remember the teachers that cared about every single child, they inwardly grin when thinking about the teacher that had a bathtub right in the classroom and dressed up as a cowboy to help her students learn capital letters. They fondly recall marching proudly down the streets to celebrate the start of another school year; I know I do.

Brian McMurray, Bloomington