I had the chance to view a video produced by IPA teacher, Lori McGregor and some of our second grade students. (Grade two teachers are Darci Asato-Garcia, Patty DelaCruz and Sandy Romo.) The students read and illustrated A Girl Named Helen Keller, by Margo Lundell, as part of their unit called "Cracking th e Code."

For most adults in the United States, the story of Helen Keller is well-known, largely due to a play and several versions of a movie called The Miracle Worker, which focused on Keller's teacher, Annie Sullivan. To know that our second graders were becoming familiar with this inspirational story through multi-sensory experiences re-affirmed my conviction that there are moments of greatness in the daily life of our school when IPA provides for kids remarkable experiences and achievements.

The basic facts of the story are these. Helen Keller suffered blindness and deafness as a result of illness when she was two years old. In the world of 1887, twin handicaps like these often resulted in institutionalized, lost lives. No doubt the Kellers...