Writer A group of giddy first-graders shuffles tennis balls with short hockey sticks inside a ring of bright orange cones on the blacktop behind Markham Elementary School. They're scurrying to find enough rubber letters to spell out a word. Ten jumping jacks.
Some children giggle and the more competitive types frown as they maneuver through the maze.
Before the kids have a chance to stop laughing, she moves onto the next task, keeping the fun alive as she turns a floor hockey exercise into a lesson about consonants and vowels. That spunky, creative teaching style Torricelli has used over the past nine years is a big reason why the Vacaville Unified School District chose her as its 1999-2000 Teacher of the Year. But it's not the only one. Colleagues applaud her as the type of teacher who goes the extra mile - but quietly, not for recognition. It's kind of hard to be pointed out with all those other teachers who work just as hard.