www.mountunion.

edu
4/25/2021

Dear XXXXXX’s Family,

Hello! I am Ms. Thomas from the University of Mount Union. These past few months I have been working
with XXXXXX on reading and writing skills in Mrs. XXXXX’s classroom. I’m writing this letter to share
with you what I have learned about XXXXX’s abilities in reading and writing throughout this experience.

First, I would like to share some of XXXXX’s strengths with you. One area in which XXXXX is strong is
phonics and phonological awareness. Specifically, XXXXX can identify onset-rimes, basic syllables, and
basic phonemes. He can also state consonant sounds, long and short vowel sounds, short vowels in CVC
words, digraphs and -tch trigraph, r-controlled vowels, and variant vowels. These are all very important
language skills that show he has a great foundation! Another area XXXXX shows strengths is writing, as he
correctly uses a formal and objective tone as well as multiple supporting details. I gave XXXXX a writing
prompt and he wrote a solid paragraph about his favorite video game Fortnite. He used his supporting details
to describe the game to myself, someone who has never played the game. Finally, I wanted share that
XXXXX’s attitude towards school is another one of his strengths. It was a privilege to work with a student
who does not give up and tries his best to stay positive! XXXXX has many other strengths as well, these were
just a few I wanted to highlight.

In addition to strengths, I found areas in which XXXXX could improve. XXXXX has a lot of great foundation
skills but struggles with the decoding of words. In the word identification assessments, I noticed he would
struggle to read longer words because he was not able to sound them out. Another area in which XXXXX
could use additional practice is writing. XXXXX has strengths in writing but also areas for improvement. For
example, in his first writing sample he lacked proper capitalization and punctuation. This is the area that I
focused on most with him. At the end of our time working together, I gave XXXXX a post-test over these
writing skills and he scored a 9 out of 10. I was very excited to see him show such major improvement.

I feel that with extra practice, XXXXX will continue to show growth in the areas of decoding, reading and
writing. XXXXX has expressed to me that you are a hardworking, active family but I do want to suggest a few
short activities you could do together at home. I know that reading is not a favorite of XXXXX, but any extra
practice can help him improve his vocabulary, fluency, and overall reading skills. Having XXXXX read even
just little things can help. For example, if you are driving past a billboard ask him to read it to you or if you are
watching the new ask him to read the headlines. These are a few ideas that you may be able to incorporate into
your daily activities but really just any extra reading will help him improve. As for his writing, I know that this
is another area XXXXX does not get too excited about. While working with him I was able to see great
growth, but I know he has more untapped potential. A few ways that you could try to incorporate writing into
your daily activities could be asking XXXXX to write one thing he learned from each class that day. He has
quite a few different classes so I would expect this to be about a paragraph. I would encourage him to practice
writing a proper introduction and conclusion. Another way to incorporate writing would be having XXXXX
write in a journal. I personally like the idea of a journal because it gives him the freedom to write about
whatever he would like to write about. These are just a few ideas I wanted to share with you so that XXXXX
may continue to grow.

Department of Education
1972 Clark Avenue • Alliance, OH 44601 • (330) 829.8212 • FAX (330) 823-3363
I want to truly thank you for allowing me to work with XXXXX. I have learned so much during this
experience and I hope to have left a positive impact on XXXXX. He’s such a kind young boy, and I really
enjoyed being able to work with him. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at
thomasmb2022@mountunion.edu.

Respectfully,

Mackenzie Thomas

Department of Education
1972 Clark Avenue • Alliance, OH 44601 • (330) 829.8212 • FAX (330) 823-3363