WGN’s December Teacher of the Month is an elementary school teacher in Schaumburg.

Kimberly Savino’s love for teaching grew from when she was about 10 years old, exploring nature with her dad.

“I wanted to be an architect, artist, zoologist, environmentalist,” said Savino, a sixth grade teacher at Collins Elementary School in Schaumburg. “Somehow I brought that into teaching and I was able to make it all work.”

Mrs. Savino teaches all subjects to her sixth graders at Collins Elementary, and works in the same classroom where she was once a student teacher more than 20 years ago.

During her first year on the job, she won a coveted grant to make a classroom dream a reality.

And, her dream?

A traveling zoo.

“It would go from one grade to another for one week at a time, where all students in that classroom would be responsible for the cleaning, the feeding,” Savino said.

She ran the in-school zoo for 17 years.

“The teachers were terrified, but by the end they had snakes around their necks, holding tarantulas,” Savino said. “They had giant roaches on their faces, they had big huge millipedes in their hands, it was insane.”

She also worked with the school’s gardening club and engaged community members on the importance of establishing way stations for monarch butterflies.

“[Mrs.] Savino has worked on lots of tasks to help the environment,” said Jase Zydlo, a sixth grader at Collins Elementary.

Zydlo was the student who nominated Mrs. Savino for teacher of the month.

“She has a very strict attitude,” Zydlo said. “But that’s for our benefit because when you go to junior high, they’re going to want you to listen to everything they say no matter what so, she helps us prepare for that.”

Mrs. Savino has received plenty of accolades over the years – but she said this one really is special

“I really have to say and I mean this,” Savio said. “This means the most because it came from a student and somebody who has taken everything in like a sponge.”

Savino said she wants her students to leave her classroom believing in themselves, and their power to make a difference.

“You only have one planet, this is it. You can’t planet jump and go to the next planet when you’re finished with this one,” Savino said. “So, we talk about making good choices and making sure the world you leave behind is better for your children and grandchildren and there’s always giggles because they can’t even fathom they’ll be parents and grandparents someday.”

If you know an incredible teacher helping students soar, click this link to submit a nomination for next month’s WGN Teacher of the Month.