Deltona, Fla. — Nadine Yowell celebrates learning by spreading cheer for all to hear not only this holiday season but every day in her classroom.

This holiday season Nadine Yowell is showing her students that above anything else, learning is the best gift. She says, “I like having fun therefore I want them to have fun because what better way to learn than to have fun? They don’t even know they’re learning.”

During a recent visit to Yowell’s class, she was using grinch equations along with some sweet treats as a fun way to encourage learning. She says she loves seeing her first graders soak up the knowledge.

“One of the other things that I love about first grade is that they come in and their brains are like sponges. They learn so much. I have parents who at the end say, ‘I can’t believe that they’re reading like this or doing this type of math and I say you’d be surprised. It will surprise you. They surprise me all the time,” she said.

She encourages students, even at this early age, to think on their own.

“In an instant world that we live in now, I think it’s amazing to teach them how to solve a problem and not just be given the answer,” she said.

Teaching for thirty-two years, it was a teacher who inspired Yowell to choose a career in the classroom. She says, “I’m a product of Volusia County schools and I had a sixth-grade teacher when it used to be an elementary school and she was just amazing. She made learning fun. She did lots of hands-on things.”

Most of all, she encouraged Yowell to pursue her dream.

“When I graduated high school, and she knew I was going to college to be a teacher, she wrote me this beautiful note of encouragement. Her name was Mrs. Phelps, if she remembers,” she said.

Yowell is now encouraging her students the same way.

“So they’re like my kids. I tell them I’m their mom when they’re here,” she said.