Teachers aren't honored all that often. So it was a nice buzz for the seven New York City math and science teachers chosen to receive the very first Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

The awards were created by the Fund for the City of New York, and given out in a ceremony at the Great Hall in Cooper Union.

Nick Vitale, who teaches 9th grade mathematics and science at Banana Kelly High School in the Bronx, says he tries to engage his students in both subjects by analyzing water quality in the nearby Bronx River.

"I have my students keep a scientific notebook which is kind of in the tradition of Darwin or Leonardo Da Vinci," he explains. "They're documenting their own thinking and what they're doing and these learning experiences that they're having and actually trying to reflect on that."

Vitale has been at the school for a decade and was nominated by students and parents, as well as his principal, Joshua Laub. In describing Vitale's Bronx River Project, Laub says "it's learning cause and effect but it's a whole different kind learning when the cause is industrial pollutants and the effect is our neighborhood has the highest asthma rate in the country." Laub said he couldn't see a direct correlation on test scores or graduation rates. Just under half his kids graduate in four years. But "our students seem a lot more engaged in math and science," he says.

Fifteen year-old Angela Sarfo, an 11th grader, says the river project is "hands on. Instead of being bored in a class and not paying attention we get to go outside and really learn new things."

Mary McCormick, president of the Fund for the City of New York, says her organization wanted to put the spotlight on extraordinary teachers because "science and math education is perhaps our biggest challenge in this country."

Each teacher receives $5000 and their schools get $2500 to strengthen their science and math programs. About 100 teachers applied for the awards and were chosen by a committee. The money came from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Fredrick Nelson, who teaches integrated algebra, geometry and pre-calculus at Wings Academy in the Bronx, said his school will hopefully use the extra money for calculators and "an LCD projector for my room so I can enhance my teaching from a technology perspective."

The other award winners are:

Katherine Cooper, who teaches biology, science research and biomedical ethics at Townsend Harris High School.

Michael Holmes, who teaches honors chemistry, honors biology and film at the High School of American Studies at Lehman College.

Michael Klimetz, who teaches Earth Science, physics and A.P. physics at John Dewey High School.

Richard Lee, who teaches biology and A.P. biology at Bronx High School of Science.

Homer Panteloglou, who teaches honors living environment and marine biology at the High School of Economics and Finance.