Henrico's teacher of the year focuses on classroom kindness

In kindergarten teacher Cristina Lynn’s backyard, a flock of 12 chickens – the grown-up chicks from an egg-hatching project her kindergarten class held last year – live in a coop.

Lynn, who has taught kindergarten at Shady Grove Elementary School for her entire 18-year teaching career, said that the project was one of the most fun she has ever done with her class.

“My students got to learn about the life cycle of chicks,” Lynn said. “We had to be very calculated – there was a ‘chick cam’ where our students and families could watch them. It taught them a lot about responsibility.”

Lynn wanted to become a teacher since she was very young – about the age of the students she teaches now. She was the first person in her family to go to college, attending Longwood University, and she began her career as a student teacher and later a long-term substitute before becoming a full-time kindergarten teacher.

“I didn’t set out to teach kindergarten, I just wanted a classroom of my very own,” Lynn said.

Her successful career reached another pinnacle recently, when she was named Henrico County Public Schools’ “Teacher of the Year” by the school district, winning against four other finalists. She was surprised with the win in her classroom Dec. 12, during her school’s pajama day.

Though kindergarten wasn’t necessarily her aim as a teacher, Lynn said she now can’t imagine ever leaving the grade.

“My job as a teacher is to teach children how to become learners,” Lynn said. “I try to create a culture in the classroom rooted in love, kindness, making mistakes, and learning how to work with people different from yourself.”

Lynn, who was one of the Henrico Citizen’s “Henrico’s Top Teachers” in 2019, considers herself a firm classroom manager, making sure her students know what expectations are and upholding the rigorous academic standards of her school. Since she started teaching, kindergarten has become more academic and less play-based, she said, though she still tries to integrate “purposeful play” into the classroom.

Though her classroom environment is rigorous, it’s also a loving and caring one. Kindness, Lynn said, is the key to making successful students.

“If a child feels safe, loved, heard, and trusted, they’ll do anything that you ask,” Lynn said.

Lynn admitted that there have been challenges in the past few years – after the pandemic, many students came to kindergarten unprepared, for example. Some had not been to a preschool or had much opportunity to interact with kids their own age. But she strives to include every student in the classroom, saying that she loves to see her students flourish.

When she spoke with the Citizen recently, she was busy cutting snowmen out of paper – part of the presents she was planning for her students’ upcoming winter party.

“A teacher’s work is never done,” Lynn said. “I always bring stuff home because I try to be fully present with my students in the classroom. At home I’m working on gifts, projects, crafts, cutting out, laminating. I’m always busy, but that’s also what makes it fun.”

One of the things that Lynn emphasizes is that teaching is a learning experience – not only for her students, but also for her.

“It’s definitely a job where students are learning and teachers are learning right alongside them,” Lynn said.

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Anya Sczerzenie is the Henrico Citizen’s education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar. Sign up here for her free weekly education newsletter.