Jennie Moore Elementary School for the Creative Arts is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of a Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by integrating our fine arts program across a rigorous academic curriculum to engage students to become life-long learners. Our administration, faculty, and staff continue to seek opportunities to challenge students daily in their academics. Our tradition of arts integration allows for students to demonstrate creativity, innovation, critical thinking, and problem solving.
We were excited to extend our Open Court program through second grade. We have seen some positive gains with our kindergarten and first grade students and hope to see the same as the program moves up grade levels. By continuing to monitor progress with FastBridge for our kindergarten and first grade students, and MAP testing for all other grades, teachers strive to better understand and use data to guide their daily instruction to meet the needs of individual learners.
Due to Covid restrictions, we were not able to participate in many of our previous community, parental, and mentoring programs, which would bring numerous volunteers into our building. We were able to continue with our ninth year of participation with Engaging Creative Minds. Through this collaborative effort of community artists, faculty and students have continued to expand arts integration, offering opportunities to enrich our students’ learning and develop their interpersonal skills and their sense of integrity with the artistic skills.
This year has taught us all how to monitor and adjust in order to follow Covid protocols. All students and staff did an excellent job as they were introduced to new rules and routines. Everyone at our school worked hard to find ways to connect with parents and to continue with our strong home/school relationships without having in person events. SIC stepped up to engage families. Three parent learning sessions were held virtually, a virtual math escape room was developed for family participation, and a very extensive list of online resources was shared with parents.
Our administrative team has recognized the impact on student learning and growth due to the pandemic. We have obtained funding for a certified reading interventionist who will concentrate on kindergarten and first grade students to provide our youngest learners with solid foundational skills as they move forward. Even during Covid 19, teachers, students, and parents remained engaged and were willing to work through the many obstacles. We will continue to set high goals for individual achievement and support teachers with the needed training and materials that will allow them to provide every student with a challenging educational environment that is nurturing, respectful, and engaging.
Karen Felder, Principal
Chrissy Hilfiger, SIC Chair
