Keeping it 'old school'

Like many other professions, the job of the elementary school teacher has changed over the years. And while change is often necessary, some maintain that something has been lost along the way.There is at least one Rocklin schoolteacher who teaches the way it used to be done. You could call it "old school."Kay Haug, 66, a fifth-grade Antelope Creek Elementary teacher, goes the extra mile to make the learning experience fun and memorable for her students.According to Antelope Creek Principal Matt Murphy, she is a "superior" teacher."She fundamentally cares about kids," he said. "Parents and kids that know her come back and see her. It speaks volumes about the relationship she builds with her kids."Murphy said she invests a tremendous amount of her own time, running a talent show and helping the kids to shine.Haug's last name is pronounced "Hage," except when she's at school - her students have renamed her "Mrs. Hug."Haug started teaching in 1963 in Monterey. After leaving the profession for a number of years, she returned 10 years ago to teach at Antelope Creek Elementary.She returned to teaching the primary grades (first through third), but due to enrollment issues, she ended up with a fifth-grade class."It was very difficult for me to go from teaching 6-year-olds to teaching 10-year-olds," she said. "I had a lot of help and after two years I could have gone back to teaching primary, but I grew to love this age group."One of Haug's two sons was working for the Bravo network in 2004 and 2005 when the network ran a nationwide contest to bring 50 children to New York to be in the cast of a Broadway play."It was a written contest," Haug said. "They needed to write an essay about what it would mean to them to perform on Broadway."Each year one of my kids won," she said. "I got to go with them to New York. I still stay in touch with them, one is in Utah and the other is in Idaho. Both are still interested in the performing arts."The school was also awarded $2,000 from Bravo. The money is used to fund the school's annual talent show.Teaching assistant Beth Meurer, 50, has been working at Antelope Creek Elementary since 1993. Before becoming a physical education assistant, she was Haug's teaching assistant."The atmosphere she creates in her classroom is very caring," she said. "She is the only teacher that is here all weekend, always on top of it, always the last to leave."Meurer sometimes has a breakfast club where kids come to class early and have breakfast together.Some students said coming back to Haug's classroom is like coming home, Meurer said. "She teaches like the teachers I had growing up," Meurer said.