By Kelly O'Connell Reporter
News 3 On Your Side
It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time to honor a great teacher with the MEA Golden Apple award. News 3 On Your Side
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Stumble It!This week’s winner is first grade teacher Dawn Smith from Downtown Elementary in Columbus.
Parents are waiting for their children to reach the first grade just so they can have Mrs. Smith as a teacher.
Mrs. Smith started out teaching kindergarten and then moved to first grade.
She had Felicia Weaver’s daughter in both kindergarten and first and now Mrs. Weaver is waiting for her pre-k daughter to have Mrs. Smith too.
She came to school with News Three to say thanks.
It’s a typical day for Mrs. Dawn Smith and her first graders.
Reading, reading and more reading.
But today is a little different than most.
Mrs. Smith is being honored for being a great teacher.
Felicia Weaver nominated Mrs. Smith for the golden apple.
Her daughter was in Mrs. Smith’s class and she wants her to know just how much she appreciates her.
“I think it’s very important for each child, as well, as their parents for them to feel that they are Mrs. Smith’s only person and she makes everyone feel that way, its really great,” says Weaver.
But it’s not just this mom who’s saying thanks.
“I’m very honored, it means a lot to me, her daughter is like an extension to mine so for that they would think that much of me is obviously very important to me,” says Smith.
Mrs. Smith’s students keep her busy.
Twelve boys and five girls keep her on her toes.
But she says the most important thing that she teaches is reading.
“I feel like my job is to teach your child to read because if they cannot read by the time they leave first grade, they're going to struggle through school,” says Smith.
And her students are eager to grab the books.
“Cause she reads books on the carpet and reads books at our desk,” says Jerome Culp, a first grader.
Her love for her students and her dedication to their reading skills are why she is this week’s winner.
“I think she's the epitome of what a teacher should be, she cares about the children, and I just hope she realizes how much we as parents appreciate her,” says Weaver.
Wednesday she got a glimpse of their gratitude.
Mrs. Smith has been teaching for eleven years.
Before that, she worked in the corporate world, teaching adults.
She says, it may surprise you, but teaching first graders is a whole lot easier than teaching adults.
If you have a teacher you’d like to nominate for the MEA Golden Apple, go back to our homepage and click on the golden apple.
