By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
As reading, especially in Elementary schools, takes center stage across the state, Castle Heights Elementary stands as a shining example of what is possible in the classroom. To discuss this focus and other happenings at Castle Heights, Principal Wendy Fluckey joined the KOAL newsroom for this week’s Carbon School District Update.
Opening our conversation, Fluckey first spoke about a recent celebration by the second grade classes at the school to conclude their Westward expansion unit. “It was really fun, I had the opportunity to go in and enjoy some of the lessons, and it was just fun to see how the teachers dressed up in character. Several of the kids dressed up in character. They did a room transformation to kind of represent the era, and it was just a great learning unit.”
The school also recently wrapped up its most recent batch of parent-teacher conferences, providing an opportunity for educators and guardians to connect. “A big shoutout to all of our parents for coming and attending, just to collaborate with the teachers so that we can again keep those lines of communication open, and we had a great attendance rate.”
Fluckey also gave a shoutout to school counselor Amanda Ori: “She does a phenomenal job here at our school, and it’s so hands-on and so good with our students and just a huge part of our school and our culture.”
Switching gears, Fluckey discussed the school’s reading program and the results they’ve seen three-quarters of the way through the school year. “Not only do we really encourage the students to read over the summer, but nightly to do the reading. And here at school, my teachers work hard in collaboration to really track student growth, and monitor what they’re able to do so that we can gear lessons both in the classroom and interventions toward what the student needs to grow.”
She continued,” I’m very pleased with my school. We just completed our midyear testing, and my third graders on the state test scored a 68% Proficiency rate, which is way above the state average. Overall, our scores scored a 71% proficiency rate for midyear. So we are just really excited about the growth that we’re seeing year after year.”
Closing our conversation, Fluckey stated,” Just a big thank you to everyone for your continued support. Making sure that your kids come to school because if they’re not here, they can’t learn; and research shows that we need 95% attendance, and the more parent support we have, the better off the kids do.”
To stay up to date with Castle Heights Elementary, visit the school’s website or follow them on Facebook.