"My daughter, Alana, is in Mrs. Pool's 2nd grade class at Greencastle-Antrim
Primary school. She has had wonderful teachers each year at Greencastle,
but Mrs. Pool has had the biggest impact on her and the year is far from
over. Mrs. Pool has worked with my daughter's chattiness by giving her
the chance to be social as she helps other students. She has high
expectations, and challenges Alana to be responsible for the quality of
her work. Mrs. Pool's high expectations have given my daughter the
self-confidence to begin to read at the level everyone else has known she
was capable of. Mrs. Pool provides her students with a unique classroom
setting, where they work at tables, on a couch, or on the floor.
There is only one desk in the room, and it is mostly used for the listening
center. Mrs. Pool works with students at their own level. There are
several different math and reading assignments going on at the same time,
and very few students have the same spelling list each week. She
works with a specially trained "reading dog," Domino, who comes to the
classroom to listen to the students read. Mrs. Pool works to reward good
class behavior, and the students have earned a pajama day and have had
lunch in the room with Mrs. Pool. Before Thanksgiving, she took them
to the "school farm," Tayamentasachta, for a picnic
lunch. Alana wants to add that "Mrs. Pool rocks! And I mean it."
This letter was submitted by Michelle Moore.