It’s hard to believe it is June!  Every year it gets to this time in the school year and I marvel at how quickly the year has passed.  I am proud of what the students learn and our teachers accomplish during the school year. We have a lot to celebrate!

As a staff we continued to refine our instructional practices in math, specifically refining how we can provide a differentiated math class. As math teachers, we focused on improving our students’ skills and understanding of fractions and are proud of the growth our students have made in this specific math strand in Kindergarten through sixth grade.

In the area of Language Arts, we became comfortable with the new FCPS Language Arts pacing guide and are looking forward to implementing the Balanced Literacy approach during our literacy block for next school year.

Our Responsive Classroom approach continues to grow. Now in our second full year, our students have a clearer understanding of being responsible for their own behaviors and the importance of building a positive learning community and in the school. This year, we implemented a school-wide buddy program, continued to provide peer mentors and MentorWorks Program for individual students as needed. We also continued to provide Preschool and Autism buddies to our students in our specialized programs. It’s awesome to see the connections our students have made with the buddies and/or mentors. Next school year, we are excited to implement the Positivity Project (P2) character education approach and look forward to sharing how P2 and the Responsive Classroom approach will support our vision in creating a safe, caring and kind learning environment for all students and staff.

As we continue to focus on students’ critical and creative thinking, our STEAM Lab was a huge success thanks to our STEAM teacher, Mr. Koontz’s efforts in planning and instruction. We are grateful for our parents financial support of our STEAM Lab. We have also made great strides in implementing critical and creating thinking strategies, problem-based learning and advanced academics resources, strategies and curriculum through all grades. Next year, Ms. Tkacik, our Advanced Academics Resource Teacher, will be focusing her planning with classroom teachers to further refine our ability to keep all students challenged in quality work.

We are quite proud of the work we have accomplished this year and look forward to continuing to reflect and refine our practices as a school for next school year!