Feature Teacher: Hilltop Primary's Kathy Ireland

By Lorrie Ham

Kathy Ireland, a third-grade teacher at Westonka's Hilltop Primary School, has been selected as the Lord Fletcher’s Feature Teacher for November.

Ireland has been teaching for 38 years, all of them at Hilltop Primary School.   She taught music at Hilltop for 12 years and has conducted many operettas during her tenute. Her favorite was “The Wizard of Oz.”  

Ireland remembers two students who went on to acting and music careers—Tristana Ward and Jay Goede. She also remembers when the fifth and sixth-grades were in the elementary schools.

Kathy taught second-grade for eight years and says her favorite thing about second-graders was how they mature during the year. She then taught fourth grade for three years and for the past 15 years has been teaching third grade.

Kathy attended over 20 Wolf Ridge Environmental Camps.  Her first experience was at Camp Isabella with the founders, Doug Hage and Tom Osborne. She then went on to camp at Wolf Ridge, when the new camp was built.  

Kathy also taught Intramural Dance after school with boys and girls. She giggles as she thinks that she taught square dancing and line dancing.

When asked what is so great about Westonka, Kathy says it is the parents, children and staff.  

“It is such a community area and it is such a good feeling to come to work everyday and it is such a delight,” Ireland said. “Everyone is so welcoming and Westonka is my home away from home.”

Kathy loves to teach writing and poetry. Her students make a poetry book each year, and Ireland uses the opportunity to bring out healthy helpings of humor and fun. The kids love it, and there are many laughs in the room.

Kids always come back and share a folk tale that they wrote back in third grade. She still uses books by former students Mitchell Turner and Kristine Pitts to demonstrate poetry (they won first and second place at the State Fair, and each made a copy of his/her book for Kathy to share). These students are now out of college.

Kathy just loves the district and loves teaching. She says a teacher has to have humor everyday and just enjoy teaching and the students.  

“I am thankful to have a job that I absolutely love!” she said.

Each Feature Teacher receives a certificate for brunch for two at  Lord Fletcher’s.