Mrs. Shari Payne teaches kindergarten at Wasatch. She loves watching children begin to believe in themselves! She also loves watching them surprise themselves by what they can do! When Mrs. Payne was young, she loved the Brady Bunch. She can still identify the episode by watching the characters before they even start talking. She took ice skating lessons when she was a kindergartener, and she cried every lesson–but even now she can ice skate backwards really well! Mrs. Payne has a fluffy cream robe that she loves so much that she often wears it over her clothes at home. Her husband calls her robe “your Precious.” Mrs. Payne enjoys walking, laughing with her mom and 4 sisters, and talking to her friends! Her favorite foods are mangos and watermelon, and molten chocolate lava cake.

Parent Feedback:

—It’s 8:45pm and I just hung up with Mrs Payne. She called to check on both of us – mom and student- after a terribly bad kindergarten drop off, mid semester, out of the blue. She handled the whole situation with confidence and patience. She reassured me in her calm way that we did the best we could and tomorrow will be a better day. This is my 6th child in kindergarten, and my oldest just graduated, so we have had many teachers through the years, but I have never had a teacher so personally and individually meet my child’s needs. She has made such a positive impact. My daughter does love school, she feels safe, she feels loved, so tomorrow will indeed be a better day, with Mrs Payne’s smile encouraging her each bumpy or smooth step along the way.

—Mrs. Payne has basically superstar status at our house – Brighton loves going to kindergarten every day and can’t say enough good things about her. I’m so grateful for what a kind, attentive and patient teacher she is and that she’s making Brighton’s transition to school so positive and fun.

—Mrs. Payne goes above and beyond to help students reach kindergarten objectives in the most loving, engaging, and fun way possible! She truly prepared my son for 2nd grade! Not only that, but she found ways to extend learning for all, at whatever level they were in the classroom. I love her classroom update emails, and in every conversation it felt like she TRULY KNEW my child. She guided us in a lot of academic pursuits for our child, and made us feel so loved throughout the year. She is truly a gift to the children she serves tirelessly. We love you!

—Shari Payne was a truly amazing kindergarten teacher. She helped my daughter feel so comfortable and safe. Her class was such an excellent place for my daughter to launch into school.

—We are so grateful that from our first encounter with her when we came in for testing and didn’t even test with her, that she came to talk to us and gave us some guidance and helpful feedback as we prepared to have our medically complex son start kindergarten. She was so kind and welcoming. She was also aware of his needs and connected us with the school nurse to make sure we had a plan in place for his health and medical needs to be covered while he’s at school. She has been aware of his needs and struggles and has helped him get the extra help he has needed to support him with his learning and adjustment to going to school. When we have provided feedback, she was so willing to help him and us improve the situation to make sure he felt more empowered and comfortable. She has taken the time to talk with us or email us about her or our concerns or ideas of how we can better support Dieter. She also took the time to write him a note in response to one that he wrote to her which was very meaningful to him and us. We are so grateful for her knowledge and expertise and how she uses it to bless these kids’ lives and to help them love learning. We are so grateful for the fun ways she shares what is happening with students and what they are learning through her instagram posts. She took the time to email a quote from Dieter which we loved as well. We are also grateful for her genuine love, care, and concern for Dieter and each of her students! She has made it so much easier for us to know that he’s in such great care as we’ve adjusted to having him start school as well. Dieter says, “She helps me in case I need help. She tells me what I do, and I do it. She’s nice. She has fuzzy rewards! She helps us do something fun! She’s the best teacher ever, and I love her!”