During the 2019-2020 school year, students, faculty, and parents of Sugar Creek Elementary focused on our school’s vision of putting children first, striving for excellence, and building positive relationships. This is directly connected to our district’s vision of Children First….Every Day. This year, our faculty and staff participated in a variety of professional development opportunities focused on instructional growth, leadership growth, special services, science and technology. Some of these included attending the Professional Learning Communities Conference, Response to Intervention Conference, year-long STEAM training, Reading and Writing in the Content Areas as part of the Read to Succeed Act, weekly reading and writing workshops, SCTS, mentor and evaluator training, and Non-Violent Crisis Intervention.
Sugar Creek is recognized as a Professional Development Partnership School with Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. This partnership allows our teachers to further develop their teaching instruction and leadership skills by attending multiple trainings offered by the university. Through this partnership, our teachers host pre-service teachers for internships and observation sessions in their classrooms. Sugar Creek was written into a professional development grant from the US Department of Education that focuses on English Language Acquisition. It is a $3 million grant that will fund professional development over the next 5 years (NEXT level: Network for Leading Education that Values English Learners). Through this grant, we are able to provide courses to our families. Our school hosted a Family Outreach for Cultivating Understanding of Schools (FOCUS) class for our Spanish speaking parents. This course provides parents with knowledge and understanding of the educational system in the United States. We celebrated eleven parents who completed the nine week course.
In order to continue meeting the rigorous standards and needs of our students, this year, our Math and Reading Specialists invested their instruction time working in small groups with our Tier 3 students. The Multi-Tier Support System helps us identify students who are in need of more intense instructional support in addition to the instruction he/she is receiving in the classroom. Furthermore, our Reading Coach supported our teachers through modeling lessons and providing opportunities for teachers to observe one another and reflect on their lessons. Through this type of reinforcement, teachers were able to analyze student work and data to drive their reading instruction and track the progress of their students with more confidence. On a weekly basis, our Reading Coach guided our teachers in building Professional Learning Communities (PLC). Through the PLC process, teachers are setting academic goals for themselves and their students which align with our school improvement plan. Students identified for Gifted and Talented (GT) services were served in a pullout math and language arts model that ensured a differentiated approach toward mastery of the standards. Our teachers and staff served the needs of our students by providing rich lessons which incorporated reading through a balanced literacy approach; writing based on the Lucy Calkins Units of Study; math through small group guided math lessons; science through a hands-on approach using Foss and DSC science kits as well as the Discovery Education Tech-Book; and social studies through the use of primary sources. Additionally, our STEAM team hosted science professional development sessions which focused on engagement through technology, coupled with hands-on science labs. Based on best practices utilized in our classrooms, students are encouraged to think creatively and be innovative while developing a better understanding of how they learn best. Sugar Creek has two Reading Recovery/Early Intervention teachers, who served our Tier 3 first grade Reading Recovery students throughout the year, and supported students in differentiated groups within kindergarten, first, and second grade classrooms. Reading Recovery is a vital component to our Multi-Tier Support System (MTSS). This MTSS system supports students who are not performing on grade level and need interventions in a particular subject area. Our MTSS team works to examine data and provide small group or one-on-one instruction to students who need it the most in an effort to close the achievement gap. Our monthly MTSS meetings and use of our data wall allows teachers and the MTSS team to progress monitor and continue to meet students at their academic level. The STAR program was utilized this year as an additional progress monitoring tool for all students who were served through our MTSS model. These methods and practices allows the opportunity to positively impact all students and maximize their potential growth no matter where they are in their learning continuum. It is our continued goal to meet the needs of all learners.
Our morning program, Love, Learn, Play (LLP), begins before school each day and offers students an opportunity to play and collaborate with other students. LLP is a station based program that includes activities such as board games, puzzles, card games, Legos, gym games and other activities. The goal of this program is to motivate students to arrive to school on time and to be active before starting their school day. Additionally, our faculty put children first by serving students in a variety of extra-curricular programs such as Volleyball, Choir and Chimes, Art Club, Chess Club, Nutrition Team, Safety Patrol, Striders Running Club, Girls on the Run, Shark News Network (SNN) in which students were able to gain a variety of life and career characteristics including collaboration and teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving, as well as working with communication, information and technology. Our Robotics Club fosters communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. Sugar Creek has been recognized for the ninth year by the Anti-Defamation League as a No Place for Hate School. No Place for Hate is the vehicle which drives our character program and honors diversity amongst students, families, and faculty members. Our newly added No Place for Hate Advisory Council to further improve and enhance our character program. Our school-wide character program focuses on “Shark Strong” traits such as showing respect, having integrity, and being kind. These are the pillars of our character program that support our students, staff and families to being a No Place for Hate school.
One of our continued focal points this year was on STEAM and incorporating science, technology, engineering, art, and math practices throughout our curriculum. Five of our teachers are members of the district STEAM team which has partnered with Discovery Education. This partnership provides teachers with professional hands-on development with a Discovery Education coach, as well as, collaboration with other STEAM members throughout the district. Our STEAM team members met with our staff to share ideas of how to incorportate STEAM in their lessons. These lessons focused on critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Our school hosted a school-wide STEAM night which integrated with our “One School One Book” program. Our book selection of A Whole New Ballgame, prompted a basketball theme for the night. On this special night, students and their families were given a map to guide their travel to various stations throughout the school where tasks and activities could be completed with collaboration and problem solving. Our STEAM night was a wonderful way to bring families together through literacy and STEAM activities.
Michelle Gritz, Principal
