By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
School is back in session across the Castle Country, reuniting students with their favorite educators. Following a summer break filled with reading, Castle Heights Elementary looks to continue this literacy push while emphasizing full child development.
Castle Heights Principal Wendy Fluckey, alongside Instructional Coach Renee Strate, joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss the re-acclimation to school for the students and what goals the school is seeking to achieve throughout the school year.
Opening our discussion, Fluckey shared some of the summer work performed by administrators and faculty alike. “We were in the building a lot, working at our own time, just trying to prepare while trying to enjoy our summer as well.” Adding,” We’re excited to be back in school to have the kids back.”
Over the summer months, the school put a heavy emphasis on reading for its students. One program encouraged to keep the students engaged is their ‘Summer Reading Wall’ program. Strate explained,” In May, we had a great video produced with teachers and students discussing why they love reading, which kicked off our summer reading program. And the state of Utah bought four books for every kindergartner through third grader. So that was super exciting. And they got those books in the mail during the summer. Our PTA then generously donated funds, allowing all our fourth graders to receive four books. So they had plenty to read at home.”
Strate continued,” We started a summer reading program to go along with that, and what happened is kids could log their books over the summer, and they put them online on our website. And then at the end, we had reminders throughout the summer to keep them pumped up … And everyone who read six or more books during the summer gets to be in our summer reading parade. And that’s scheduled for Sept. 18. We’re super excited. We’ve got the mayor, the ambulance, the police and the fire department coming. So, we’re all going to parade on Homestead Boulevard – every kid who is part of the summer reading program. And their parents get to come and cheer for them. And then all the rest of the students will be out on the sidewalk cheering for them as they go by.”
Fluckey added to the topic, discussing the improvement the school has seen in reading,” Looking at our data, we’ve just seen a slow increase in the number of students who are proficient. Our reading data from the end of last year showed that 78% of our students were proficient in reading. So we’re seeing just that slow increase of proficiency, and we’re just really excited about that.”
The principal also spoke on other goals the school is seeking to achieve throughout the academic year,” We also set our math goals. We set goals for attendance. We set goals for citizenship and behavior. So we try to focus on the whole child just to become better each year.”
In addition to the classroom side of the equation, Fluckey also shared an admiration for the school’s PTA, which helps keep students engaged with activities. “We have such great parent involvement and such a strong PTA,” expressed Fluckey. “They have so many fun activities planned, from Reflections to Red Ribbon Week to Walk-to-School Night. They are always doing something to make our school a better place for the kids and for the teachers.”
To stay up to date with Castle Heights Elementary, you can visit the school’s website or find them on Facebook.