The Beacon Award Winners 2006
Lynn Beaulieu and Kim Bartolo of the Fayetteville Manlius School System, NY
Both Lynn and Kim teach advance curricular topics in two of the elementary schools in the Fayetteville/Manlius school district in New York state. Several years ago they introduced a unit in the fifth grade advanced reading class consisting of the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. In addition to reading a selection of the stories the students explore deductive logic, forensic science, and the Victorian age. This unit has proven to be so popular with the students and an effective multidisciplinary educational vehicle that it has become a permanent part of the curriculum.
In the course of this unit, they are supported by members of the Mycroft Holmes Society of Syracuse who have provided research material and visited the classes every year.
This unit is now a permanent part of the fifth grade curriculum. Plans are underway to introduce The Hound of the Baskervilles as part of the ninth grade reading curriculum in the near future.
They each reach, in the fifth grade, about thirty students a year. So for five years that would make approximately 300 young readers that they have introduced to Sherlock Holmes to date and there will be more every year.
Although not yet converted to full-bore Sherlockians, some of their students have exhibited great enthusiasm for the stories and continue to read additional material after the unit ends.
The future pool of Sherlockians from Central New York may grow largely from the efforts of these two Beacon winners.