Panama City - This week's Golden Apple award winner is a kindergarten teacher at Northside Elementary in Panama City. Kelly Lewis has been teaching kindergarten for 8 years. Her students are affectionately known as "Lewis' Lightning Bugs" because thier faces light up when learning something new.

In Mrs. Lewis' kindergarten classroom every new concept is an adventure of discovery. On this day, Mrs. Lewis was teaching about the number 18. Students use cubes to model it, trace it, and therefore, understand it. "What is your favorite thing to do in this class? asked Meredith TerHaar. "Math," said student Crayton Winn. "Why do you like math? Because it's fun," he replied. "They need the hands on so they can practice moving, manipulating, all that stuff that is sensory to help motivate the brain so they can take it all in and basically, essentially, just remember it," said teacher Kelly Lewis.

Mrs. Lewis says the inquisitive nature of kindergartners makes each and every day unique. "It's just a fun age, everything is magical to them, it's so great to see the growth in the students," said Lewis. "Mrs. Lewis works very, very hard to make sure her students have a strong educational program, but she also makes sure that there is a strong connection between home and school," said Wanda Robbins. "We fit as much as we can in the classroom, we go non-stop from beginning to end, but sometimes kids just need extra help, parent involvement is important," said Mrs. Lewis.

Congratulations to Kelly Lewis, this week's Golden apple award winning teacher. "She is the perfect teacher, she is the greatest teacher I had," said David. "I feel like at this age when they are young and learning is new to them, if we can make it fun then we can make learners for a lifetime," said Mrs. Lewis.