‘I get to love my students’: U-46 kindergarten teacher builds bonds with parents to help kids learn

Kristin Meredith always knew she was destined to work with kids, but she didn’t expect to find her place in a classroom surrounded by 5-year-olds.

Now, 21 years later, she can’t imagine finding a more fulfilling profession.

“Being a teacher is a tangible way that I love people,” Meredith said. “I get to love my students. The opportunity to play that part in a small part of their life — that’s really just a gift.”

Meredith has been teaching kindergarten in Elgin Area School District U-46 since 2004, and eight years at Highland Elementary School in Elgin. Originally from Bettendorf, Iowa, she spent a lot of her childhood volunteering at church or elementary school events. This allowed her to discover her love of working alongside children.

“I just really loved watching kids and teenagers have like that light bulb moment when they understood a topic,” Meredith said.

Meredith moved to Elgin to attend Judson University, majoring in elementary education and stepping closer to her teaching career.

“I didn't decide that I was going to study education, actually, until my senior year,” she said. “I knew that I wanted to work with youths or students in some way.”

After graduating from college early, Meredith was offered a long-term substitute teaching position in U-46. She says she questioned her ability to flourish as a kindergarten teacher after always expecting to work with older students. But Meredith fell in love with instructing younger children more than she expected.

“I love that kindergarten students just learn and grow exponentially everyday,” she said. “For the most part, they really love school, and so that’s really fun.”

Beyond the students in her classroom, Meredith knows how important it is to form strong relationships with their parents.

“It’s such a big honor and a responsibility to be, often, a family’s first connection with the school,” Meredith said. “I love empowering families … helping them see themselves as partners and as a team with the school, and to help them see themselves as a child’s teacher.”

Meredith says U-46 allowed her to develop play-based lessons, which has proved to be beneficial, allowing students to learn in a multisensory way.

“There’s a time of our day when students are able to have creative play,” Meredith said. “So they’re building with blocks and they’re acting out what happens at a doctor’s office.”

All the while, Meredith can hear students expressing themselves using oral language, and recognizes how many social, emotional and interpersonal skills they’re developing as well through play. She’s grateful her school gives her the freedom to teach kids in the way she knows is best.

Sarah Rabe, executive director of elementary schools for the Larkin Network in U-46, says Meredith is “the teacher that every kinder parent would want for their child.”

“She is innovative and understands what the rigor and equity work can look like in an early childhood classroom,” Rabe said.