The students in Sheila Fisher's kindergarten class at Fort Caspar Academy sat quietly at their desks, working on a set of math problems. Fisher walked around the room, reading questions aloud.

"Use a red crayon to circle the second penny," Fisher directed.

In the front row, Destiny Soto-Olivar held up a red crayon, showing Fisher her choice, before writing her answer on the worksheet.

Destiny is one of Fort Caspar's newest students. The school recently started an English as a Second Language class, making it the second school in Natrona County to have such a program. North Casper Elementary is the only other school with a designated ESL program.

"We decided to do this on a Tuesday, and we had our first student on Thursday," said Janelle Ehrich.

The number of students and families requesting language services is on the rise in Casper. Local organizations, like the Natrona County Public Library, are holding Spanish-language story hours and other events to help make the families feel welcome in the community.

Fort Caspar has always welcomed ESL students, but has never been a school designated for those children, Ehrich said. The school also has a high success rate of helping students who need language services.

"We had a good record of working with ESL students, without having an ESL program," Ehrich said. She added that the school is excited about having extra resources to help language-learning students be successful.

Back in Fisher's classroom, Destiny and her desk partner periodically compared their work on the math problems. Fisher sat down with Destiny just before the lunch bell rang and reviewed the worksheet with her.

"When you count what number is between one and three?" Fisher asked. "One…"

"Two!" Destiny said, a proud smile on her face.

Reach education reporter Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at jasa.santos@trib.com. Read her education blog at trib.com/blog.