Easterling Primary School is helping all students develop the world class skills and life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by….challenging its students to reach their full academic, social, and behavioral potential. We provide such an environment through implementation of our school motto: “Where Little People Do Big Things!” Through collaboration and professional development, our teachers continued to implement Balanced Literacy; teach effective math strategies; use hands-on experiments for science; and delve into inquiry based questioning to learn social studies content.
Easterling Primary School students continued to work on their reading and math skills in our two computer labs with Lexia Core 5 and Zearn. In addition, teachers utilized both programs in their classrooms with the addition of the Razz Kids reading program. An intervention block was added along with a Fluency piece to further support student growth. Teachers incorporated guided reading and guided math groups into their classrooms daily to assist students’ academic needs. Teachers analyzed their data regularly during common planning as grade levels three times a week to ensure small group instruction was effective for every student.
Easterling Primary strives to grow through a growth mindset. Two tools that we utilize are the STEP (Supporting Teacher Effectiveness Project) process and the ILT (Instructional Leadership Team) process. The ILT is comprised of the principal, assistant principal, lead teacher, guidance counselor, master teacher and reading coach and meets weekly for one hour. This team has a specific purpose to focus on the Problem of Instructional Practice (POIP) of our school and create rocks (goals) to overcome this identified area. These goals are set for 45 days at a time and new rocks are identified each quarter. The STEP teams (Common Planning Teams) also determine a problem of practice and set goals to find the positive deviance in the building to overcome those challenges. These teams meet weekly and the teams are determined by the planning period of each team. We have two kindergarten teams, two first grade teams, two second grade teams and one special area team. All other certified staff join an existing team. These meetings are always data driven with teachers bring actual student work to create their lessons.
Easterling Primary School continued to grow as a PBIS School. Incentives were provided on a consistent basis for school behaviors. Students could enjoy Hat Days, Jeans Days, Regular Clothes Days, Just Dance Parties, and special treats. All staff received on-going professional development on behavior interventions and classroom management. Our Guidance Counselor continues to expand the guidance’s Character Education Program.
Students at Easterling Primary School were able to participate in the following activities:
- Pink Out Day
- Red Ribbon Week Activities
- Delta Dental Show
- American Education Week
- Book Character Day
- Kilowatt Kitchen Show
- EPS Goes Red for Healthy Heart Day
- Litter Prevention Show
- Literacy Night
- Math Night
In addition, Easterling Primary continued to partner with local schools, community members, and businesses. Our students virtually attended productions like " Litter Trashes Everyone " and dental and health shows this year. Due to Covid our parents, grandparents, and community members participated virtually in our African American Read-In, REAL Men Read, Math Night, Literacy Night, and Black History Month Program. Also due to COVID-19 we had less "in the building time" for families , but continued our community involvement by having drive through trunk or treat, book pick ups, and a second grade promotion parade. We also executed staff and community read alouds posted on social media, packet pick ups that included school supplies for students, submission of students completing work on social media, and special "spirit days" to keep students and families engaged. We did begin to have visitors in the building the second half of the year for report card pick up, interims, and awards day.
Easterling Primary School is proud of our successes, but we’re also committed to an ongoing effort towards continuous improvement. Professional development and professional learning communities help our staff grow not only as teachers but also as learners. It is our belief that the school, family, and community all share the responsibility for promoting the education of our young students. This year, Easterling Primary School truly displayed our school theme of "Teaching them starts with loving them" throughout the regular school year and even more throughout the continued world health crisis. Although this has been our most challenging year yet, our students and staff continue to push through and dedicate themselves to learning.
Mykea Jordan, Principal
Victoria Phillips . SIC Chairperson
