Schools Out For Summer!

So, the girls had their last day of school on Thursday. I still can't believe how much they have changed in just nine months. Just looking at them makes me a little teary eyed. They are all getting so big.

Alivia is on her way to becoming a great second grader! She has learned a lot this quarter including beginning contractions, telling time to the hour and half hour, adding three numbers together, and lots and lots of spelling and sight words. Currently she is reading 87 words correctly in one minute and knows 343/360 sight words. She is a great reader! Her writing has improved significantly and is starting to mature in sentence complexity. Just keep practicing handwriting and letter and number reversals over the summer. Alivia has a very strong number sense and can manipulate numbers in complex ways to solve more difficult problems. Thank you for supporting her at home. Make sure to keep reading over the summer. Alivia, I have been so lucky to be your teacher this year! Keep working hard and come back to visit me. 

Notes from her report card: McKayla has been such a pleasure to have in our fourth grade class this year. McKayla has shown growth in her leadership abilities throughout fourth grade. McKayla has journeyed across the Oregon Trail in Idaho History and learned about the history, importance, and dangers of wildfires in Idaho in science. In Match class, McKayla has learned about geometry and decimals. McKayla has shown growth on both STAR assessment, see the great trend line on the graphs. Please read and practice math concepts over the summer in order to stay ahead for fifth grade. As McKayla begins fifth grade in the fall, remember to continue to ask great questions and remain focused. I have enjoyed having you in class this year McKayla. You are a wonderful young woman with a love for learning and live. 

It was such a joy having Natalie in our classroom! She's a kind, sensitive, and thoughtful student. She's a good friend to others inside and outside of our classroom. Natalie has good work/study skills. She starts her work promptly and stays on task finishing it accurately, neatly and on time when its on her educational level. Natalie is working hard on reading in Mr. DeForrest's group. She read 6 words per minute on the fall IRI and she read 24 wpm on the spring IRI. She's still significantly below grade level but she's excited to read anything on her level. Natalie had a 92% average on her modified spelling tests for this last nine weeks. Super job, Natalie! Math is more doable for Natalie. She's mastering her math facts to 18. She's working on mastering money and problem solving strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems within 1000. She's enjoying fractions and multiplication. Natalie's positive, hardworking attitude, friendly personality and bright sunny smiles made our room a great place to be! 

And her report from Mr. Deforrest: Natalie's reading comprehension has shown a lot of improvement this quarter. She is returning to the story to help her with answering comprehension questions. Natalie is averaging between 70% and 80% accuracy on comprehension assessments. Natalie is averaging between 25 and 30 words per minute on fluency assessments. She is becoming more efficient with her phonics skills. 

McKayla, McKayla and her teacher, Natalie

One last thing, Natalie and McKayla both received the courage award for their classes. Each month, Garfield does a character trait of the month. Then, they pick one or two students who display that character trait and they get an award. Both my older girls got courage this time. I love how the school encourages them to learn about good behavior and reinforces it by rewarding when they see it in action.