Springfield Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by focusing on both collaboration and communication across the school environment. High expectations are set for all students as teachers implement the South Carolina College and Career Readiness Standards with fidelity across all grade levels.
Collaboration among staff and students is a key component to our success. Teachers are supported by our reading and math coaches, working together each week to implement best instructional practices in the classroom, analyze data to ensure student success, and plan standards-based instruction. Weekly PLC (professional learning community) meetings provide collaboration opportunities for our teachers to plan rigorous and engaging learning opportunities for our students. By departmentalizing the upper elementary grades, teachers are able to focus more on specific content instruction, which allows students to participate in more individualized and differentiated classroom opportunities. Student collaboration occurs in the upper grades through document based questioning and critical thinking activities, project-based learning, and science labs. Students in lower elementary and primary grades spend much of the day in a workshop model, which provides opportunities for differentiated instruction and student collaboration in learning centers. This model allows teachers to incorporate various instructional strategies to address all learning styles of the students.
Springfield Elementary School will continue to strive for consistent, ongoing communication to ensure student success. Home/school communication occurs daily through agendas, homework binders and digital resources. Springfield Elementary School maintains a school website, Facebook page and Twitter account where school information can be found along with showcasing our student work and successes. All teachers hold data conferences with families at the end of the first quarter, where results from formal and informal assessments are reviewed in order to support student growth. Parent communication folders are sent home on Wednesdays which include graded papers, office communications and fliers, monthly newsletters, and class information. Springfield students are provided many opportunities to develop essential communication skills both inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers utilize “Talk Moves” strategies during class discussions to engage students in the learning. Upper elementary students are afforded many leadership opportunities that include WSTM - Springfield’s student produced morning news show, student council, safety patrol, and clubs. These opportunities all afford students the opportunity to communicate effectively across the school environment and develop lifelong skills.
In order to minimize the impact of COVID-19 disruptions and their impact on student learning, Springfield Elementary School implemented a variety of strategies. First, class sizes were reduced at grades CD - 3rd to allow proper spacing and social distancing in the classrooms. This reduction also made it more manageable for teachers in these grade levels to work with small groups of students and target instruction towards skill deficits due to COVID-19. Additionally, a math intervention program was implemented for identified students in grade 1-3. Kindergarten classrooms implemented Heggerty’s Phonemic Awareness activities into the ELA block to specifically target these essential skills in the foundation of reading. In an effort to streamline communication with both “In Person” and “Remote/Virtual” families and students, a weekly email “Springfield Updates” was sent and electronic copies of all school communication and fliers were included. This kept all families informed of school activities and policies.
At Springfield, students come first!
Megan Williams, Principal
Cullen Baney, SIC Chair
