Garden City Public Schools

Farmington 5-6 Campus

33411 Marquette Road
Garden City, MI 48135
734 762 8460 Phone 734 762 8536 Fax
Derek Fisher, Superintendent

Lesley Van Sickle, Principal

To Whom It May Concern:

Melanie Heikkila would be an excellent choice to fill one of your teaching positions. Melanie worked in
my fifth grade classroom from September through December of 2015. She worked all assigned times
as well as volunteering many hours of her personal time. She is extremely capable and hardworking,
organized and enthusiastic, and very committed to being the best she can be.
Melanie had an excellent rapport with parents and communicated professionally with the families.
During her unit implementation, Melanie communicated clearly to parents the expectations for both at
home and in school lesson participation. She did well keeping parents informed of the activities and
giving immediate feedback to students of their progress throughout the activities. Melanie assumed
responsibility of all curriculum subjects for a period of time with great ease. It is obvious that
Melanies training in the curriculum and her natural ability in communicating well with the students
and parents make her well suited for teaching.
Melanie demonstrated that she had knowledge and successful ideas for reaching a variety of learners
in implementing all subjects of the curriculum. She pulls in problem solving, designs creative activities,
and uses motivational techniques to engage student interest. In our classroom, the students come
from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Melanie easily engages the students through diverse activities
and recognizes when there is a need to reteach to reach ESL learners and those with special needs with
a variety of learning disabilities.
Melanie is also adept at integrating the subject areas to weave math, science, language arts and social
studies into other units and ideas. In addition, Melanie successfully uses technology components in
the classroom. She is confident in her use of a computer and even created activities on her own web
page that were interactive for a lesson with the students. I found that I could learn much from her and
her use of technology and its applications.
I feel Melanie Heikkila is an outstanding candidate for any teaching position. She will be a welcome
addition with much knowledge to share with any staff. Melanie is a warm, dedicated teacher that has
a natural ability and caring nature. Melanie Heikkila will be loved by students and staff.
Please consider her for a teaching position.
Educationally Yours,
Ms. Lynn Braun
braunl@gardencityschools.com
www.gardencityschools.com