Morningside STEM Elementary School

Dawn Stansbury, Principal

Kimberly Krotz, Assistant Principal
3601 Bushnell Street • Sioux City, Iowa 51106
Phone: (712) 274-4048 • Fax: (712) 224-7479
www.siouxcityschools.org

Kim Brown
404 Homestead Lane
Sergeant Bluff, IA 51054

March 9, 2018
Sioux City Schools
627 4th Street
Sioux City, IA 51101

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing on behalf of Mackenzie Gough, regarding a position within the Sioux City School
District. Mackenzie is currently student teaching at Morningside Elementary in a first grade
classroom. During this time, I can vouch for her character and abilities. I have collaborated
with Mackenzie to discuss FAST and other student data and plan for instruction based off this
data. I have led data meetings with her grade level, in which Mackenzie was an active
participant. One of Mackenzie’s greatest assets is her work ethic and devotion to making sure all
students are receiving the proper instruction. She works diligently to make sure students are
grouped according to skill and that all are receiving proper instruction.

Mackenzie, the first grade teacher, and myself have worked together to implement whole group
sight word intervention. We have also co-taught VR expeditions among the first grade
classrooms. During this time, I was able to observe Mackenzie delivering instruction through
the expedition experience. She was constantly making connections to the EIE lesson taught
prior to this expedition, she was asking higher-level questions, and helping students to access
prior knowledge. Mackenzie did an excellent job with first graders tying the engineering unit of
cell membranes to the VR expedition of the rainforest.

I have also witnessed Mackenzie using Flip Grid with students in small group instruction to
record fluency. She is also savy with other tech programs and websites. I have observed her
teaching mindfulness lessons in the classroom. Mackenzie also has utilized a variety of Kagan
strategies during instruction throughout her student teaching experience at Morningside
Elementary.

Mackenzie is always open to new ideas and has several ideas to share with us. Mackenzie has a
pleasant personality and the students and staff enjoy working with her. She is a team player and
would be an asset to any PLC. Mackenzie is simply a pleasure to work with. I write this letter
highly recommending Mackenzie Gough for any position within the Sioux City School District.

Sincerely,

Kim Brown
Morningside Elementary
Consulting Teacher