Huntsville College Preparatory School is proud to recognize Mrs. Kathleen Pate for her continued dedication to teaching and inspiring our scholars. Since January 2022, Mrs. Pate has devoted her time and expertise to furthering the education of the 3rd and 4th graders at HCPS through hands-on learning.
When asked her what her most recent favorite activity she had done with her scholars was, Mrs. Pate shared about the science unit, Animals Through Time.
“First, we learned about fossils and how they are made, then we did a series of hands-on activities to help us explore fossils even further. In our first activity, we simulated a fossil dig with paper fossils. The scholars had to identify traits of the fossils to determine what habit they would have lived in when they were alive. They also had to classify several mystery fossils using the observations they made with the others. Then the scholars ‘worked’ with a paleoartist to help them draw dinosaur illustrations. We used what we know about modern animals in coordination with fossil images to provide recommendations to the artist to help draw a concavenator dinosaur. In the final activity, we studied and calculated if we could outrun a dinosaur by measuring our stride and comparing it to that of a dinosaur imprint fossils. We determined that in a foot race, we would likely lose. We ended the unit by taking a virtual field trip to the Field Museum in Chicago to see ‘Sue’, the largest T-rex fossil ever discovered.”
Alongside her work in the classroom, Mrs. Pate completed her master’s degree with a 4.0 last year while still teaching, is continually active in HCPS’ events, and is the head coach for HCPS’ Cheerleading team. When two scholars decided to create a cheerleading team last year, Mrs. Pate joined them as coach to help develop the program and create a team, that would eventually be a competition cheerleading team, completely from scratch. She has voluntarily invested her time and energy to ensure HCPS’ cheerleaders are gaining skills as much as they are gaining confidence.
HCPS is a K-12 private school that prioritizes the implementation of an individualized academic experience that builds sustainable scholar achievement, collegiate pursuit, and confident leaders. Our approach to education creates academic success for scholars who thrive in a small, yet comprehensive, classroom setting, and has proven to be successful for scholars with ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, anxiety, and high functioning autism.