Off and away

CEDAR RAPIDS - Leading up to the last week of school, Prairie Creek Intermediate School Associate Principal Amber Welch distributed a box of tissues to each of the school's sixth-grade teachers.

She knew they were going to need them this week.

The last day of school is always an emotional time, but sixth-graders at Prairie Creek have had the same teachers since the start of August 2010, leading to an overflow of sad farewells on the last day Thursday.

“It's very tough,” teacher Michael Young said. “I didn't fully realize how close we had grown until it was time for them to go.”

This was the first full cycle at the school where students had the same teacher for two years, a process called “looping.” Welch said the change was a net gain for the school.

“Things happened pretty much as we expected they would,” she said. “We saw both academic and emotional gains from the students.”

The students seem to enjoy the new configuration. Welch and Principal Sue Skala distributed a survey to more than 250 students at the school to get their feedback. More than 80 percent of respondents said they felt that looping improved their academic performance, helped them feel safe and led them to develop stronger friendships.

Some students, Welch said, did say they would have liked more time to get to know students in the other classes at the school. She said the school was considering an special all-grade recess period in response.

To help commemorate the occasion, Skala and Welch gave a copy of the book “Oh, the Places You'll Go!” by Dr. Seuss to each of the teachers, signed and personalized by their students.

The children will head across the College Community campus to Prairie Point Middle School as Prairie Creek prepares to start the looping cycle over again. This year's fifth-grade teachers are boning up on the sixth-grade curricula, while Young and the other sixth-grade teachers are meeting their students for next year - the new fifth graders. They'll be with this group until May 2014.

Young said he feels better prepared to teach fifth grade after having had a year behind the wheel with the sixth-graders.

“I now know where they should be as they head to middle school, so there are some things I plan to do a bit differently this time around,” he said.