Armstrong Elementary School is helping all students develop world-class skills as well as life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing a safe, nurturing, and academically challenging learning environment. Our mission at Armstrong is to be “Committed to Excellence” by ensuring that our students are learning in an environment where they are safe and academically challenged. The faculty and staff at Armstrong Elementary believe that all of our students will achieve academic growth and individual success. In addition, we promise to teach students to believe in themselves and have empathy for others as we learn in our diverse community. This helps to build leadership skills and good character within our scholars.
Throughout this school year, our faculty and staff participated in various professional learning opportunities in the areas of English Language Arts,with an emphasis on teaching Writing about Reading schoolwide. Students learned to meta-cognition skills while also learning to respond to what they were reading. In an effort to create a positive culture we are also implementing a student-centered environment that teaches a growth mindset, inclusive practices, Social and Emotional Learning, and technology. Our professional learning activities provided the implementation of best practices, more depths of knowledge questioning to guide students’ learning, and practical hands-on opportunities for teachers to continually learn and evolve to meet the changing needs of students and the curriculum.
Armstrong Elementary provided many opportunities to support the academic success of students. We continued the Balanced Literacy and Response to Intervention (RtI) programs to support struggling readers in kindergarten through second grade. In addition, we added an afterschool Tutorial to assist students with more learning opportunities in the areas of reading and math. We also offered school enrichment clubs that allowed students an opportunity to study various career fields while learning 21st Century Skills. Throughout the year, students’ learning experiences were enhanced through the use of various technological tools and programs such as Compass Learning, Moby Max, English in a Flash, Reading Eggs, Reading Counts, ActivExpressions, Promethean Boards, internet accessible computers, Chrome Books, iPads, and project-based learning research projects in the Computer Learning Lab.
Our PTA continues to work diligently with the school staff to promote student achievement and parent engagement through activities such as volunteer opportunities, Lunch and Learn workshops and Regional Team Quarterly Celebrations for demonstrating good character skills. In an effort to increase our parent involvement, we collaborated with our PTA and local community to sponsor three events that included a Multi-Cultural Day. The PTA’s fundraising efforts supported our educational programs and helped us to maintain our Sustainability Garden. Our students also participated in many community-based goodwill activities such as canned food drives and caroling at local nursing homes during the holidays.
We are committed to meeting the needs of each student in order to prepare tomorrow's leaders and help them achieve their personal best. Each child is important and deserves the very best we have to offer.
Tracy Sullivan Atkins, Principal
Tevin Smith, SIC chair