Mrs. Kim Pratt was very surprised to find out she was the Valley’s Top Teacher.
“They are so sweet,” shares Mrs. Pratt. “And of course, I start crying, but they are used to that because I cry when I read books, and we cry for happy things.”
There is a whole lot of love in the second grade classroom of Mrs. Kim Pratt at Columbia Elementary School. On this day they were having a hot chocolate party as a reward for good behavior.
“She just cares about us, she just loves us all,” says Abigail Brooks, a second grade student.
“I always know Mrs. Pratt is going to do something nice,” adds Alexis Mack, a fellow second grader.
She teaches kids to become good citizens and leaders. Not only do they have fun parties, they are always doing fun learning activities as well.
“If it is not fun or they don’t laugh, they are not going to retain it,” explains Mrs. Pratt.
“If we want to learn like fractions, we will get some Hershey bars and we will use Hershey bars instead of paperwork,” says Alexis.
Mrs. Pratt has been teaching for 30 years. She says when she became a mom, is when she became an even better teacher. She calls her students her “babies.”
“Because I understood that is somebody’s whole entire life sitting right there in front of me,” shares Mrs. Pratt. “And I would want the same as a mom. So that is how I teach them, I teach them like they would be mine.”
“She gives us hugs and she helps us on a lot of things,” smiles Abigail.
Mrs. Pratt creates a safe place for kids to grow and even make mistakes.
“I always tell them. that is why pencils have erasers, because it is okay to mess up, because we can always fix it and do better,” says Mrs. Pratt.
She puts her whole heart into teaching her students, and she says that is because they mean the world to her.
“I love teaching, I love the students, I love being with them every day, I miss them on the weekends, I love being with them,” Mrs. Pratt says with a smile.
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