Nevada State College

303 South Water St.

Henderson, NV 89015

April 22, 2014

Mr. & Mrs. Smith
6754 High Tree Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89345
Mr. & Mrs. Smith,
First and foremost I would like to introduce myself; I am currently a senior at Nevada State College
and I am pursuing a career in Elementary Education. As a course requirement, I was randomly
assigned to a school and accordingly to a third grade student; I had the pleasure of being assigned to
work with your daughter Sally. My role was to use different assessments to measure her levels in
different areas of literacy; specifically reading, reading comprehension, letter sounds, words and
writing among other areas. I assessed Sally on five different occasions using five different
assessments and consequently I was able to measure and determine her current levels.
In the area of reading and comprehension Sally is above grade level. Sally is able to read 100 words
per minute. In order for Sally to continue progressing in this area I suggest continuing to practice oral
reading with higher-level texts; fifteen minutes a day is essential. In addition, asking her questions
about what she has read would enhance her comprehension skills. I also recommend reminding her
to take notes as she reads, which is another great assistance for comprehension.
Sally is doing fantastic in the area of language and sounds, known as phonemic awareness. The only
component of this area that I would recommend practice on is syllables. I suggest practicing activities
that involve word parts. Sally and I practiced a few games that can help her in this capacity. Ask her
to show you how to play the apple and the bushel and slap jack. Sally would greatly benefit from
practicing syllables by playing these fun games.
In the area of identifying and manipulating small units of sounds, known as phonics, Sally scored
mostly at benchmark, which is the highest level. However, in a few areas of the assessment Sally
scored at Strategic. This level shows that she is meeting requirements for her grade level but would
still benefit from practice. Sallys teacher has been given a report of my findings and
recommendations and she will be working with Sally in class to improve the skills in which Sally
scored at strategic.
Lastly, based on the writing assessment I administered to Sally I have determined that Sallys writing
needs some improvement. Sally will be able to develop her writing by practicing effective word
choice and sentence variety through the use of mentor texts; these texts provide examples of good
writing and work as a model for students. Sallys teacher will be able to provide a list of mentor texts
for Sally to work with. Reading and imitating these mentor texts will help Sally improve her writing.
Sally was a pleasure to work with; I have confidence that she will progress satisfactorily. Thank you
for allowing me to work with her.
Sincerely,

Isis Palma