Published: March 01. 2012 2:00AM

With graduation for all ages only a couple of months away, we can’t help thinking about our favorite teachers and how much they mean to all the students lucky enough to know them.

Madeline Haynsworth had just that kind of impact in mind when she visited Europe in 1919 to study the methods of teaching young children reading, writing and arithmetic. She brought back with her an entrenched philosophy of phonetic reading and the use of manipulatives for learning all subject matter.

The Haynsworth School was created in 1921 and today the same philosophies remain. The photo here shows Madeline Haynsworth seated in her station wagon, along with her staff and Haynsworth students from the early days.

From the looks on their faces, we’d say her goal of teaching children a love of school was a big success.