NATCHEZ — When first-grade teacher Britt Williamson arrived at McLaurin Elementary School at the beginning of the school year, only 66 percent of her students tested on the first-grade level for math.

Half a school year later, 87.5 percent of them are testing at that level. Natchez-Adams County School District Superintendent Frederick Hill recognized Williamson’s success at a recent school board meeting.

“A lot of the time, we are not celebrating the short wins along the way,” he said. “Britt Williamson’s success is just one of the great things happening in the school district.”

Williamson said being recognized was nice, but her real reword was seeing her students succeed.

“I was very happy with their scores,” she said. “I’m very proud of them — I know they have been working hard and helping each other.”

And that’s where it started, Williamson said — getting the students together as a team.

“I was nervous starting the year as a first-year teacher, but I was really trying to motivate my students and make them comfortable,” said the University of Southern Mississippi graduate. “One thing we talk about every day is that we are a family.

“Families stick together — you don’t leave anyone behind.”

The next step for Williamson’s class was spreading the message of love.

“They love me, and they know I love them,” she said. “I think that makes a big difference. If they enjoy coming to school, they like the teacher and the school, I think they’ll perform better.”

Williamson learned early on that some of her students don’t have a great home life, and emphasizing family and love for those children is particularly important.

“Some students come here from a pretty hard life,” she said. “I really want to make sure that my classroom can be at least one place where they feel safe in.”

If her students don’t get breakfast or dinner at home, she makes sure they do at school. The school also provides healthy snacks such as oranges, apples and bananas.

From there, it’s as simple as making sure the lessons are as interactive and visual as possible.

“I know that’s how I learned best when I was that age — getting up from the desk and being as hands on as possible with a project,” Williamson said.

For example, skip counting — 5, 10, 15, 20, or 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 — doesn’t have to contain students to their desks.

“When we did skip counting, I would give them a number to hold up, and they would basically get to be that number,” Williamson said. “They would hold the number up, or just stand up. They learn better if they are not just sitting still.”

Learning measurements has so far been the class’s favorite element of math.

“They would take the ruler and, with a teammate, divide up and measure everything in the room,” she said. “It’s been raining a lot, but when it stops, we’re going to the playground. I know they’ll have fun out there.”

When it comes time to take a test, this hands-on approach helps.

“When they are looking over a problem, it sort of clicks in their heads,” she said. “They can visualize how they solved it.”

Moving around is a key, as is backed up by research. She uses the Move to Learn Mississippi videos in her class.

“If I can tell that we have been sitting for too long, I’ll stop what we are doing, then we’ll watch the Move to Learn videos,” she said. “After that, they are ready to learn. It really helps to keep control of the classroom if you take the time to do the little things like that.”

Teaching at McLaurin has been a great experience so far, and she’s looking forward to the future.

“I love my students — I’m so blessed to have them,” Williamson said. “I love working with students at this age — they are so curious, and I get like 50 hugs a day.”