Teacher of the Month: Ellery Bailey

OLATHE, Kan. — As the new school year starts, FOX4’s Teacher of the Month is back to school, too!

August’s winner is Ellery Bailey, a kindergarten teacher at Prairie Center Elementary School in Olathe.

A native of Leawood, Mrs. Bailey says she fell in love with learning years ago when she was in Miss Kennedy’s first grade at St. Michael the Archangel. Now, she tries to pass that kind of care and passion on to her kindergarten class.

“I think she’s what gave me my love of learning for sure,” Bailey told FOX4’s Loren Halifax during our visit to her classroom. “You could tell that she cared about the job, she cared about us.”

But while she knew she loved learning; Bailey didn’t realize she loved to teach until after she graduated with her bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas. After graduation, she took a gap year before graduate school, to teach English in Spain.

“While I was there, I just fell in love with the classroom,” Bailey said. “I knew that’s where I needed to be.”

Bailey is now in her fifth year of teaching at Prairie Center Elementary.

“I taught kindergarten for two years and then I went to third grade for one year,” Bailey said. “I learned that I’m a kindergarten teacher. So, I went back down to kindergarten. It was a fun year, but it was just different.”

Mrs. Bailey was nominated for Teacher of the Month by her husband, who is happy to see her recognized for all of her hard work and dedication to her students.

If you’d like to nominate an educator in your life for our monthly contest, click here .

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