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 throughout 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 Talking Points (communication app). Springfield Elementary School maintains a school website and Facebook page where school information can be found along with showcasing our student work and successes. Weekly, school administration emails to parents provide constant communication regarding school updates, important information and upcoming events. 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.
Springfield Elementary is working to improve literacy in order to meet the district goal of all children reading on grade level by 2027. Springfield implemented the EL curriculum schoolwide. Embedded with the science of reading, EL focuses on the conceptual understanding of reading and immersing students into content and vocabulary in which they can explore the various aspects of reading through cross curricular instruction. Additionally, Title I and ESSER III funds were used to reduce classroom sizes and hire an additional part time reading teacher and assistant to work on early literacy skills with students in grades one and two. Child Development, Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade teachers continued to implement Heggerty’s Phonemic Awareness activities into the ELA block to specifically target essential skills in the foundation of reading. Leadership and grade level teams monitor student data and progress through monthly data dives.
At Springfield, students come first!
Megan Williams, Principal
Aaron Holmes, SIC Chair
