William M. Reeves Elementary’s beautiful, nautical-themed facility opened its doors in 2007 with 842 students, and we currently serve over 900 Child Development through 5th grade students. We are located in a rapidly developing area of Dorchester County. Our mission at William M. Reeves Elementary is to be committed to motivating and challenging each student to chart a course for successful learning. Our mission is the driving force behind our vision, which is to “Inspire, Engage, and Achieve.” This vision embodies the day-to-day activity in our school as well as how we interact with the outside community. With a common vision, parents, students, teachers, staff, and community members are all helping students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
We INSPIRE our students to reach for their goals on a daily basis. We provide a positive atmosphere where students are not afraid to take risks. Students feel supported and are motivated daily to give their personal best. Teachers take the time to plan lessons using the South Carolina College and Career Ready Standards, keeping in mind the interests of their students. We also inspire students during our character-building sessions through Marlin and Minnow Club and Career Days. Older students are paired with younger students and participate in various STEM activities and build connections with one another. We also have guest speakers that come in and teach students about their careers and inspire students to have goals for their future.
ENGAGEMENT is the key to success! We provide engaging and rigorous lessons using multimedia devices and higher order thinking tasks and assignments. We also engage students by having parents, community members, and business partners come to school and interact with students through presentations and in class field trips. Teachers provide students with lab experiments to dig deeper into the content and provide enrichment. Teachers use workstation models where students are put in groups to meet their various instructional needs. Lessons are differentiated and geared to meet individual needs of students.
By providing an environment that constantly focuses on inspiring and engaging students, our students will ACHIEVE! Achievement comes through teaching students to strive for their best and providing lessons that build upon one another. Teachers make sure to focus on foundational skills first, and then move to lessons that are more abstract. At WRES, teachers and students have access to a variety of technology to use for instruction and learning. Each student has their own district-issued device to use every day. Digital Citizenship lessons are taught to 2nd and 5th grade students to ensure online safety when using various devices. By infusing technology for our 21st century learners, learning takes place daily for each and every student so they can achieve at his or her optimum level.
Lastly, we love to provide opportunities for student leadership at William Reeves. Students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade have opportunities to be a student council member. There are also opportunities for 4th and 5th grade students to be on the school Safety Patrol, be a Marlin Ambassador, or be on the WRES Morning Show crew. Students in all grades have the opportunity to be the classroom greeter or the classroom technician. By providing opportunities for students to be leaders, we create an atmosphere where students feel valued and feel as though they are true contributors to their school. By creating a culture of learning with a broad range of opportunities, students inspire one another, work in engaging cooperative groups learning from one another and their community, and they ultimately achieve! Through providing this environment, we are helping students to develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
