A Memorial Garden for Ms. Dias

Whimsical. Creative. Dedicated. Fun

These are just a few of the attributes that Heather Dias brought to her fourth and fifth-grade classrooms at the Horace Mann Elementary School for twelve years. Students who had the opportunity to work and learn under her tutelage benefited from her belief that every child is entitled to a public education which ignites their curiosity and propels them into a lifelong pursuit of learning. Effective teaching is a craft built on talent, devotion and love. Through her relentless advocacy and student-centered instruction, Heather Dias repeatedly modeled what good teaching looks and feels like.

Please help support the Horace Mann Parent Teacher collaboration in creating a memorial garden in her honor. This space will serve as an outdoor open classroom for future generations of young writers to find inspiration in their own small moments.

Fourth and Fifth Grade End of Year Reflections from her students

“If I were to give advice to the children who will be in Ms. Dias’s class next year, I would tell them, you don't need to be a whiz at math or writing and you don't need to love school, on the first day just come in with a smile and use your best effort and I assure you by the end of the year you will be undoubtedly proud of yourself.” - Arushi Shakrin, Class of 2017

“ At first, I thought poetry would be boring and easy. But then once Ms. Dias got into it, I realized that poetry is a beautiful thing that I really enjoyed. Poetry can have just as much emotion and lessons as a book can have.” - Leah Gelfand, Class of 2018

“My fifth grade year was one of my favorite years at Horace Mann because my teacher Ms. Dias turned boring into fun.” - Lila Anapolle, Class of 2019

“Ms. Dias expected a lot of us, but she made this year amazing in a lot of good ways.” - Peter Edwards, Class of 2019

“I am glad I was able to be in Ms. Dias’s class, because she really motivated me to give it my all, and put in the effort. If you work hard, you get to play hard.” - William Yanhs, Class of 2019

“When I walk through my classroom door I feel happy in a good, respectful learning environment. No one makes fun of you for how smart you are. My last year of Horace Mann was fun because we always played games together and no one made fun of each other. What I felt this year was a community.” - Logan Kelton, Class of 2020

“For the rest of my life, I will always remember how wonderful, kind, caring, funny, and adventurous Ms.Dias was.” - Cadence Conte, Class of 2019

“When you walk into my classroom the first thing that you will notice is the teachers are so kind and supportive. In the DIAK classroom, the teachers were understanding if you needed help, kind if you were feeling down, and most importantly accepted you for you.” - Celia Granofsky, Class of 2021

“One of the most important things was Fun Fridays because they got you working and earning your fun Friday which Ms. Dias called work hard, play hard is our classroom motto.” - Kevin Barberio, Class of 2021

“The best thing that happened to me this year was I got an amazing teacher.” - Shirel Moser, Class of 2021

“Out of all the subjects I’ve done this year my favorite has been writing. I never really liked writing so I was never really good at it. But Ms. Dias found ways to make writing fun. I enjoyed it for the first time in my life, and I saw how I had progressed through the year.” - Elif Uygun, Class of 2021

"Ms. Dias said if we worked hard, we would get a party. She called it a snowball. It was truly one of the most fun days I had at school." - Joseph Russo, Class of 2018

“Every morning, we would start with morning meeting. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. Ms. Dias would always make sure that everyone would say the person’s name of who they were greeting. She said that it made them feel good to hear their name.” - Maggie Edwards, Class of 2021

“Ms. Dias was the first teacher that I felt I could be truly honest with and she knows the real me.” - Natalie Guzman, Class of 2017

“I had Ms. Dias for two years. Most kids might think having the same teacher is annoying, but I think not because Ms. Dias was the best teacher. I knew when I walked in the room I was in for a crazy and fun fifth grade year." - Maria Malec, Class of 2017

"The SnowBall was the most fun day I had in fifth grade. Our class had earned the party by working hard. There were paper snowflakes and shiny disco balls hanging from the ceiling. I will never forget the fun time I had." - Andres Granofsky, Class of 2018

“When Ms. Dias saw I was scared to recite my lines, she put her thumbs up and smiled her “good job” smile. That is when the soft words of the poem came out of my mouth and it was like beautiful butterflies flying from flower to flower.” - Rebecca Liddell, Class of 2012

We invite you to leave your reflections in the comments.