Chandler kindergarten teacher wins Gaydos and Chad’s teacher tribute

PHOENIX — A teacher at a Chandler elementary school has been named KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Gaydos and Chad Show’s Pay Tribute to a Teacher winner for July, presented by Your Valley Toyota Dealers.

Andrea Meyers teaches kindergarten at Sanborn Elementary School in Chandler. During her teaching, her ability to teach them at the start of their education inspired one former substitute paraprofessional teacher in her class to nominate her for the $2,500 prize.

“I was absolutely blown away by watching the work Ms. Meyers was doing,” the substitute teacher wrote. “The task was enormous, she had 30 brand-new, wiggly, clueless, sweet-as-can-be, 5-year-olds to teach everything to!”

“This class includes students needing one-on-one paraprofessional help, and students speaking languages other than English, and she was doing it.”

For Meyers, she said there’s no other grade she’d rather teach.

“I always say my classroom is our family since we spend most of the day and weeks together, and we start to build that classroom community so that we all feel comfortable and know that we’re each here for one another,” Meyers said.

Earlier this year, a former student returned to her classroom to tell her she wanted to be back in kindergarten “not because it was easy but because I miss you and you made me feel loved at school.”

“That was everything I needed to hear,” Meyers said. “That they know that they can come to my room, come to me and they’ll feel loved just like as if they’re at home. I can’t imagine being in any other grade.”

With the prize money, she said she wants to take all of the kindergarteners enrolled at Sanborn Elementary, not just her class, on a field trip.

Although the school hasn’t made plans for the kindergarteners yet, Meyers said she’d like to take them to the Phoenix Zoo.

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