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Fourth grader is an active learner

Performs above grade level

T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ Ella Spitzli, 8, a fourth grader at Franklin Elementary School, excels at everything she sets her mind to, and harbors a love of learning. Teacher Shelly Kluver, left, said the student is always prepared to meet a challenge.

Ella Spitzli, 8, is a personable young lady who attends Franklin Elementary School. From an early age, her family instilled in her a love of learning; benefits she continues to sow. At the end of kindergarten, Ella skipped right to second grade and has been advancing ever since.

“My grandma used to be a teacher, so at home she works with me on math,” Ella said. “I could probably read at a kindergarten level in preschool because my dad got a big reading lesson book for me. I did a lot of early learning.”

Ella is in the school’s Extended Learning Program (XLP), and is in an accelerated reading group. She is participating in the annual Battle of the Books competition.

“She comes to school ready to learn,” said teacher Shelly Kluver. “She’s a deep thinker, and able to process new skills at a very high level. She takes a challenge and meets it. She never gives up.”

When asked what her favorite aspect of school is, Ella said “pretty much all of it.”

In her spare time, she takes piano, dance and tumbling lessons. She also enjoys reading, particularly realistic fiction.

When she grows up, she would like to be a doctor of some kind.

“When I was really little,” Ella explained. “I thought I’d be a foot doctor, a farmer and have five kids, but I was just three years old when I had that idea.”

———-

Name: Ella Spitzli

Grade: Fourth

School: Franklin

Elementary School

Parents: Lisa and Matt

Spitzli

Special Interests: reading

and learning

Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz at 641-753-6611 or sjordan@timesrepublican.com

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