Boiling Springs Elementary is helping all students develop world class skills, life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by offering a safe and nurturing learning environment where all students can grow and develop. We work to actively engage our students in an inclusive, integrated curriculum that promotes academic excellence and purposeful use of technology. Our faculty and staff take pride in offering students a variety of real-world learning opportunities with a blend of both community outreach projects and opportunities to enhance the arts, all while maintaining high standards.
The faculty and staff, at Boiling Springs Elementary School, remain active in their professional development. Along with students, our teachers are life-long learners. To further the development of our services and our ability to meet the needs of students, we differentiated the professional development for our teachers. Our 5K teachers participated in High Impact Teams to unpack their grade level standards and garner a better understanding of the rigor of those standards. As a results, the 5K teachers developed a grade level writing continuum for students. This calibrated the expectation among the team for their students. Our 5K teachers also worked to create developmental appropriate assessments for their students to assist in their understanding of student need and next steps. Teachers, in grades 1-5, continued to work on creating formative assessments with individualized feedback, differentiating independent practice, and data tracking. Teachers were able to identify target issues, within their own classrooms, and receive strategies to address their areas of concern.
As a reflective organization, BSE faculty and staff took time to reflect on our practices and processes to ensure we are effective and efficient. We analyzed different teams, within our school, their members, practices, and processes to ensure that we are maximizing and building capacity within our school. We developed blueprint models as a guide for all teams to follow. As a result, our organization garnered a better understanding of the purpose and process for each team. Rather than teams operating in silos, our school teams work collaboratively together using the strength and expertise of the individual teams to experience success.
BSES has a continued their partnership with the Spartanburg Academic Movement to implement Continuous Improvement. SAM is a non-profit community organization that partners with stakeholders from business, education, community and government organizations to better the local community. The Spartanburg Academic Movement offers Continuous Improvement courses for educators to introduce them to the PDSA cycle as a means to track student progress and plan next steps. The Plan, Do, Study, Act process requires teachers to set goals and progress monitor those goals until the end of the unit cycle. Our Teaching and Learning Teams set the stage for teachers to reflect on their current practice and enhance our efforts in assisting each student to reach his/her full potential. We worked to breakdown the language of the standards and ensure that we are assessing at the same level of rigor. Teachers also spent time identifying success criteria for students, so that our students knew what success would look like in what they were learning. The weekly Teaching and Learning Teams, as well as monthly Grade Level, Instructional Facilitators, and MTSS meetings allows for school wide collaboration. These are the teams, whose purpose and process has been well defined during the school year to maximize their potential.
To ensure that we are meeting the needs of every student, teachers worked to develop more individualized lessons for small group instruction. The data from the SC Ready tests, iReady tests, and formative assessments, is the driving force behind our academic decisions. We continue to make adjustments to our curriculum to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all of our students. PDSA cycles have helped teachers to identify those students that need more support and to note those impactful teaching strategies that best support our students. We are thrilled to offer additional assistance to some of our students through our Response to Intervention Program. With the addition of two Academic Support Technicians, we are able to offer even more support to those students needing it in the area of math and reading. This year, we are proud of the efforts made to specifically track the data trends of those getting interventions. We have implemented quarterly data meetings to determine the next steps for students.
Boiling Springs Elementary School is a proud PBIS School. The Puppy Code is a set of character traits used to set the standard for making BSE the Best School Ever. At the beginning of this school, we kicked off our PBIS program with a Red Carpet Premiere. We highlighted the quarterly incentives that students would have for simply coming to school and doing the right thing. During morning meetings, teachers meet with students to discuss those character expectations and emphasize our PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Supports) initiatives. Staff members recognize students, throughout the school day, for making good character choices. We publicly recognize these students for their excellent character each week with a weekly drawing to celebrate their good choices. During our quarterly incentives, students that are committed to showing our Puppy Code, celebrate with a foam party, movie/popcorn, and more.
We take pride in highlighting our Reader Leaders and Published Pups at Boiling Springs Elementary School. At the end of each month, students from every classroom were celebrated for their effort in becoming a better reader or writer. Our Reader Leaders were recognized for their work and dedication to improving their reading skills. These students were invited to get a book from our book vending machine. Our Published Pups were highlighted by having their work displayed in the hallways. We have also added Mathematician of the Year to highlight those students excelling in math.
This year, our teachers continued to ensure that safety was top priority for our students. Each month, our entire school participates in monthly drill practice to ensure students and staff know what to do in a time of crisis. Our teachers have successfully implemented an online accountability program to assist in accounting for all of our students during monthly drill practice. The Leadership Team, along with our SRO, have implemented weekly safety discussions and safety checks.
Boiling Springs Elementary is continuing to learn and grow each year. With continued growth, our faculty and staff will also continue to grow to offer our students and their families the very best educational experience. We are thankful for the support of our families and community as we strive to prepare students for a successful future.
Michelle Kimbrell, Principal
Christopher Howie, SIC Chair
