Amid steep competition, Ivy Brimm’s fifth grade class at Guthridge has captured a first place finish in the IXL Sunflower State Sprint for the third year in a row, and Cody Holmes fourth grade class joined in the top rankings this year placing third in their grade bracket.
The Sunflower State Sprint is a statewide, month-long IXL challenge that encourages students to practice and strengthen their academic skills in math and language arts using the IXL learning platform. Throughout the competition, student progress is tracked by calculating how many questions each student answers correctly while completing IXL assignments, and if they reach a level of mastering topics.
“We had 20 students participate,” Brimm said. “They answered 69,600 questions from Jan. 29 to Feb. 27. There were 404 other classes in our division. My students mastered 811 skills, and reached proficiency in 3,456 skills.”
Brimm said IXL is an important part of her classroom.
“We have weekly leaderboard competitions and the top three spots are rewarded. Students also earn a “ticket” for each topic that is passed and they can cash those tickets in for prizes. A little incentive that goes a long way in their education,” she said. “I have such a special bunch of students this year. When I told them about the competition and asked if they wanted to participate, they were aware of the fact that my class had won the previous two years. They wanted the challenge. I believe one of my students even said that this class could beat my last two years, and boy did they. Not only did they rise to the challenge, but they surpassed it! I couldn’t be more proud of my amazing students. They worked hard and they definitely earned this title.”
“As far as winning for the third year in a row, that is all due to the hard work of my students each year. I have been fortunate enough to get groups of students that are just as competitive as I am. Students who look for those high expectations and goals and say, ‘Watch me.’”
It is Brimm’s students’ achievements the last couple of years that inspired Holmes to try the IXL competition this year with his class.
“ I thought, ‘If they can do it, we can do it’ —and we did!”
Holmes said he was thrilled and pleasantly surprised to hear his class won third place in this IXL state competition.
“I have kids who work hard every day and go above and beyond to challenge themselves to do above-grade-level skills and to work on skills that I haven’t assigned for them to complete, all in the name of learning (and for earning a prize or two),” Holmes said.
“I want to thank Mrs. Piva for setting up our school IXL leaderboards to encourage and reward students for working hard,” he said. “I have students each month that look forward to securing their spot on the leaderboard. I think having this motivating leaderboard reward is highly attributed to our success.”