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District 15 Teacher Named Golden Apple Winner
 Kristie Charles, a third-grade teacher at Hunting Ridge School, has been selected as one of ten Chicago-area pre-kindergarten through third-grade teachers to receive the 2006 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, exemplifying the highest standards and practice of the teaching profession. Dominic Belmonte (pictured left), a representative of the Golden Apple Foundation, surprised Charles in her classroom March 16, presenting her with a basket of red apples topped with one symbolic Golden Delicious apple.
Charles had previously been named one of 30 finalists selected from among 850 nominations of teachers from Cook, Lake and DuPage counties. The Golden Apple Awards Selection Committee, comprised of 90 Chicago-area educators, made the selections, seeking to identify teachers who demonstrate distinguished classroom practice, professionalism and collegiality, set high standards for themselves and their students, and who exhibit the  ability to create a classroom environment conducive to learning, the ability to reflect on practice, creativity, and commitment to students and their learning, among other things. Two members of the selection committee observed each of the 30 finalists in their classrooms and interviewed principals, colleagues, parents and students before making their final selections.
Charles and the other Golden Apple winners will be honored at an awards ceremony in Chicago May 13 which will be televised on WTTW, Channel 11. Each winner will receive a tuition-free fall-term sabbatical at Northwestern University, a personal computer from Apple, a $3,000 stipend, and membership in the Golden Apple Academy, which has inducted 200 expert teachers in the past 20 years.
 Charles, now in her 12th year of teaching with District 15, previously taught second grade in District 93, Carol Stream, for ten years. She received certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards in 2001. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with an emphasis on early childhood from Northern Illinois University, where she also earned her master’s in elementary education with an emphasis on language arts.
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