Kristen Smith, a fifth grader, nominated Sherea Cook (right) for the 11Alive Class Act Award.
Doraville - Sherea Cook loves to shop and her fourth grade students know it.
"When I see something for half price, what percent is that off the regular price?" Cook asked the students during a morning math lesson.
They all raised their hands to tell her the answer.
"I really like it when I see three-fourths off the regular price? " she said. "How much is that?"
"All of my students know, I'm a shopaholic," said Cook.
Whether it's shopping or anything else - Cook weaves life into the math lessons she teaches to fourth graders at Evansdale Elementary in DeKalb County.
"When Justin Bieber's song came out, 'Baby, baby, baby.' I sang that so much. We count the beats. We count how many times he says 'baby'. We estimate how much he's making, salary, millions. We're talking about how many commas for the millions place," she said.
Cook is always looking for ways to pump kids up about learning.
"I say you will not leave my classroom until you have learned something that you're going to take with you, not only to 5th grade, but for life," said Cook.
That's certainly true for Kristen Smith, who is now fifth grade, but stops by Cook's class every day. She nominated her former teacher for the 11Alive Class Act Award.
"When I started to become a patrol, I saw the news everyday and I saw Class Act and I thought that Ms. Cook deserved to be on Class Act," said Kristen.