Calhoun Academy of the Arts is helping all students prepare for their future. We are developing students who will positively contribute to the community by utilizing effective and meaningful teaching strategies and arts integration.
Students and staff were excited to begin the school year with the theme, “Brighter and Better Together.” Building relationships and supporting each other is the focus of this theme. The theme also supported our school motto, “Create, Achieve, Inspire.” Additionally, Calhoun’s daily morning announcements, led by the principal, focused on words of encouragement to promote honesty, respect, integrity, and other valuable positive character traits.
This school year, Calhoun recertified as an Arts in the Basic Curriculum school. Calhoun was awarded the Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) grant for $12,500. Additionally, Calhoun applied and was awarded a $5,000 Learning Loss Grant from ABC. Grant funds were used to support our arts integration curriculum and professional development in arts integration for the Calhoun staff.
This school year, Calhoun students gave four public performances of “Frozen Kids” for our community. Every Calhoun student had the opportunity to perform on stage during the performance. Over 3,000 people attended the “Frozen Kids” performance.
Students and staff participated in the school’s One School, One Book reading initiative reading the book, Wishtree. The student body collected canned foods and non-perishable items to donate to AIM. Students also participated in a school-wide sock drive called, “Warming Up Anderson!” Each second-grade classroom created a video which petitioned other classes to help them collect socks for the homeless. This Calhoun Sock Drive was a great success.
Creating opportunities for families to engage is very important at Calhoun. Calhoun hosted a Literacy Night to launch our One Book, One School event for Wishtree, hosted a family STEM night to challenge students creative thinking and offer an opportunity for parents to work and create with their children, and hosted a “Get Moving” event at which families participated in simple activities to get everyone up and moving and brains engaged. Our school PTO also hosted various family events, including a Fall Festival and Spring Fling.
Calhoun teachers work hard to improve student academic achievement. Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) are used to assess students three times a year and help teachers provide the support students need to grow academically. In addition, Calhoun progress monitors three times a year with mClass (DIBELS) and uses Amplify to support reading instruction based on these results. Dreambox and Reflect are additional programs used to support growth in mathematics. Students are working hard to achieve at Calhoun. Throughout the school year each student was given new books to take home, along with activities to try out during the reading of the books. At the end of the school year every student was given a backpack with new books to read over the summer, along with suggestions for writing activities.
Calhoun provides students with meaningful and connected learning experiences to make students’ learning relevant. At Calhoun, we believe connecting content knowledge and skills with the arts helps students grow academically.
