September always signals the start of a new school year and the beginning of the fall season. The school year and fall are always alive with color and a sense of crispness in the air.
We begin the new academic year with enthusiasm and hope that all students will succeed towards excellence. As a school community we work as a team to meet the needs of the whole child. School has certainly changed from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s with the advent of increased technology and extensive changes in curriculum offerings. Instead of just
“reading, writing, and arithmetic” we have many other responsibilities for educating students.
In addition to the curriculum of rigor implemented with the onset of the common core learning standards in English language arts and math our students are heavily engaged in
writing skills, social interaction skills through our anti-bullying, curriculum, and social studies and science content. We also believe that the arts play a major role in our students’ education and multiple sources have found that integrating the art with other subjects helps to raise academic achievement, lower disciplinary problems and rewire the brain in a positive manner.
Our musical arts program highlighted by chorus and instrumental offerings helps all students to feel secure and offer a beautiful opportunity to share their talents with others. Our visual arts program emphasizes the aesthetic beauty that students create on a daily basis in drawing, painting and sculptures.
In school today, our students learn to work independently at an early age so they can explore multiple pathways to their instructional objectives by working at individual and/or group learning centers. Students as young as kindergarten in our district realize they are accountable for their end products and learn to evaluate their own work against collaboratively created assessment rubrics.
In addition to being accountable for the class work and homework, we continue to teach all of our elementary students that they are accountable for their words and actions. We also instill a sense of responsibility to be of service to the greater community in which they live. We must continue to have our students make lasting friendships with opportunities for face to face socialization.
Lastly, the entire field of technology has certainly altered the way we deliver and assess student learning. At the earliest ages our students become adept at maneuvering curriculum-assisted software programs, work daily with SMARTBoard classroom activities, and have mastered the use of digital textbooks, resources and assessments as part of their daily school work.
School has changed and will continue to change over the next few years but one thing will remain the same: Hard work and effort on a consistent basis produce academic success. We wish our entire school community a successful journey this year.
