OMES teacher recognized by Full Moon Bar-B-Que

Oak Mountain Elementary School teacher Janice Lacey received a special award last week as part of Full Moon Bar-B-Que’s teacher appreciation week. Full Moon had asked families in the Birmingham area to nominate their favorite teachers for the chance to receive a grand prize.

Lacey, who teaches third grade, was selected out of more than 175 nominations, according to Brailyn Hardy with KC Projects PR, and received an iPad, $100 gift card to Full Moon and a $50 gift card to a school supply store. Her class also received T-shirts and a visit from Moon Man on May 10.

“From what some of my kids said, several of their parents nominated me. Full Moon sent me copies of three of the emails my parents sent, and they just said sweet, sweet things,” she said, noting that the emails included comments on the life lessons that students have learned and how they have grown.

Lacey is in her ninth year of teaching and has had a unique opportunity with her third grade class, in that she also taught them last year in the second grade.

“It’s amazing because most teachers start with a fresh batch of kids they don’t know, and we started this year with a batch of kids I knew inside out already. I already knew where they were, I already knew what they can do, I already knew what their struggles were,” Lacey said. Every nine weeks, all of her students improved and continued to improve their reading levels, Lacey said, which was an accomplishment she was very proud of. “I wish every teacher could do it [teach a class for multiple years] because it’s phenomenal where you can go when you know where they’ve been.”

Her students and their parents were also a support system, she said, as she learned how to teach a new grade level.

“I told them on the first day, ‘This is not going to be easy because I’m going to have to do homework too,’” Lacey said.

While the prizes from Full Moon BBQ were great — Lacey said she planned to use the gift card to buy dinner for her family and relax instead of cooking — she said teaching isn’t something she does for an award or special gifts.

“I do it without thinking about it, it’s just what I do,” she said. “I don’t do it for anything other than the kids because the kids are the prize.”