Starr Elementary is dedicated to helping all students develop characteristics and World Class Skills that are directly related to the profile of the South Carolina Graduate. We provide students in grades K4- 5th grades a safe, positive, challenging, and rigorous classroom-learning environment. Each day our students are challenged to reach their fullest potential and are supported by caring and hardworking teachers in the classroom. The teachers in our school spend many hours researching, training, and implementing best practices that will help them to better meet the needs of their students. Teachers in our school are eager to learn and want what is best for their students. From writing grants, to completing book studies, and attending trainings teachers go above and beyond to improve their instruction in the classroom.
During the 2017-2018 school year, Starr Elementary teachers and administration worked together to find ways to better use data to guide daily instruction. The teachers then used this information to plan for differentiated instruction throughout their day. The ultimate goal was that students in all grade levels were being met with in small groups in both reading and in math. One of the main tools used to guide instruction was NWEA MAP RIT bands. Teachers were able to move students into different groups and learned the importance of being flexible in the classroom in order to best meet all students’ needs. Through this grouping and instructional pedagogy, students learned how to take responsibility for their own learning and developed skills that will help them to meet the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
Collaboration has become a major focus at Starr Elementary. We are trying to develop classrooms that are more student centered where less teacher talk is going on and more student talk is taking place. One of the ways in which our school promotes collaboration is through our every day classroom instruction. Students are given ample opportunities to collaborate with not only their classroom peers but also with the other peers in their grades. One way in which this takes place at our school is during the first grade unit on goods and services. This past December, they used what they learned during their Social Studies unit to plan, create, and host a Holiday Market. Students collaborated with their peers, teachers, and special area teachers to work as they created items to sell at the market. Collaboration allows the students to build ideas off of one another, teaches students life long social skills, and helps them learn how to work together. This is just one of the many ways students at Starr Elementary collaborate together during the school year.
At the start of the 2017-2018 school year, Starr Elementary was thrilled to have a STEM program begin that would serve as an additional related arts class. The STEM teacher was able to work with students in grades 1-5 on a daily basis and even push into kindergarten classrooms on some occasions. STEM is a class where students are forced to think critically, collaborate, and create. The STEM teacher worked with classroom teachers to create units that would allow standards from the traditional classroom to be integrated into the STEM classroom. The STEM teacher completed Project Lead the Way training and was able to purchase kits/modules that would aid her starting our program and integrating South Carolina Standards from all grade levels into the STEM classroom. The fourth graders spent many weeks researching problems associated with natural disasters, develop a solution, and create a model. The students shared their research and models with the school and presented in front of judges. The second graders researched all about prosthetics and had to collaborate to create prosthetic legs for an elephant and a prosthetic beak for a bird. This unit promoted critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration. The STEM classroom has been a major asset to our school and our goal is to eventually have STEM integrated into every classroom.
Another way we have promoted critical thinking in the classroom on a daily basis is through the use of text dependent questioning. All teachers at Starr Elementary completed a book study on the TDQ book written by Fisher and Frey. The teachers took back what they were learning in the book study to their classrooms to aid them in moving towards higher order questioning in both whole group and small group instruction. In order for students to meet the requirements of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate, students must learn to think critically and through this book study teachers learned how to promote this thinking at a deeper level in their classrooms.
Fifth grade students at Starr Elementary learned a lot about critical thinking and collaboration through their Rocket Launch Project and Jet Toy competition. Students worked for many weeks developing cars for the Jet Toy competition and rockets for the Rocket Launch project. Students had to spend time researching, creating, and testing out their projects. Many of these students also participate in our after school Robotics club. Our Robotics teams were excited to place 2nd and 3rd in the district robotics competition.
Starr Elementary is proud of its many accomplishments from the 2017-2018 school year. Our students participated in the Greenville Drive Reading All Star program and we were named a 3rd time Top Performer and for the first time ever we earned Hall of Fame Status. We had 100% participation and we were very proud of these students for helping us reach our goal. We also had 100% participation in the Clemson-Carolina Read your Way to the Big Game Competition. Lastly, our students participated in the Greenville Swamp Rabbits Hockey Scholar’s Book Club and most classrooms once again had 100% participation. Students who completed the challenge earned tickets to the hockey game. We are proud of not only our students but also our teachers. Through our focus on changing up our classroom pedagogy and using RIT bands to aid with instruction, we saw a positive increase in MAP scores. Classroom rigor has also increased and students have developed critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will last a lifetime and help them meet the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. We are also so proud of our very own Mr. Jeff Maxey for being named South Carolina Teacher of the year. He will be representing our school and our state so well during the 2018-19 school year.
Sharon Mosteller, SIC Chair
Melissa M. Davis, Principal
