Indian Trail kindergarten teacher Kristy Hopkins set an ambitious goal for her students last fall. She aimed to get all her students to independently write four sentences on one subject by the end of the school year.
“When kids enter kindergarten, their writing skills vary widely,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “Some students can write words. Other students have never written a single letter and need to learn the basics. My goal set a high bar for all students, but my students love learning and worked hard to achieve it!”
Mrs. Hopkins used District 58’s rigorous new English-Language Arts curriculum resource, Benchmark Advance, to guide her writing instruction. Finally, last week, she felt her students were ready and challenged them to write a four-sentence story about their favorite season. Every kindergartener in her classroom achieved this goal!
“I am so thrilled and proud of my students!” Mrs. Hopkins said. “It’s amazing to see the progress they made.”
This photo gallery depicts some of Mrs. Hopkins' students' stories. We edited out student names to preserve privacy.