Wallace Gregg Elementary School is an elementary school located in Florence, South Carolina directly across from Francis Marion University. Our school serves approximately 315 students in grades kindergarten through sixth. As a faculty and staff, we take a strategic approach to providing the tools our students need to meet their full potential. We are making strides to ensure our students possess the characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by including communication, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity in all of our practices.
During 2021-2022 school year, we expanded our STEM focused curriculum to grades 2nd - 3rd. The goal was to continue expose the students to opportunities to grow and develop the skills of the 2st century student. Therefore, as students continue to advance grade levels, they will continue to expand the skills developed in various other areas of the school curriculum. Fourth grade students engaged in STEM based lessons in the STEM lab that required them to think critically, be creative, and communicate and collaborate with others. Wallace Gregg Elementary is planning to expand the STEM curriculum to grades 4th-5th grade in the 2022-2023 school year.
Our school motto, “Where Greatness Exceeds Status quo” provides insight on our commitment for continued growth for teachers and students. In our collaborative efforts, we make decisions with the development of the whole child in mind. Our school employs strategies that develop our children linguistically, socially, ethically, cognitively, psychologically, and physically. As a Title I One school, this is necessary to ensure our students' success in the future.
Our students are the driving force of our school. We make every effort to develop our students into life long learners and leaders. During the 2021-2022 school year, our focus on providing direct instruction to students during the workshop model continued. In addition to direct instruction, teachers started to plan for differentiated instruction to meet the needs of students during intervention block. Teachers participated in weekly professional development and collaborative planning sessions to acquire and implement strategies for delivering the South Carolina Academic Standards effectively during direct instruction. Collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity were promoted in our students through integration of technology in core classes and related arts.
Our new initiative for the 2021-2022 school year was implementing a dedicated block of time for independent reading schoolwide. Based on various types of data, there was a definite need to help students develop a love for reading by providing the opportunity for students to read for an extended period of time. Our independent reading block is called READ (Read, Enjoy and Discover). During this time, students have access to a wide variety of books to read. To support our developing readers, teachers conduct compliment conferences with students.
We continue to celebrate the achievements of our faculty, staff, parents and students as we move towards making our vision a reality. During this school year, Wallace Gregg Elementary School was recognized by Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence as a Beacon School. Therefore, our daily mission is “to provide our students with resources, strategies, and technology to create a stronger foundation for life-long learning.” Our focus is on continued improvement for all stakeholders as we “Soar into Excellence.”
Tara J. King, Principal
