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St. Croix Falls & Dresser Elementary Schools
We’ve had a busy and successful first trimester of school. It’s great to see the students settling into their new classrooms and routines, and to see all the learning that is taking place every day. I could not be more impressed with all that the students and teachers have already accomplished.
We remain excited about the “CARES” program that has become part of our building environment. It is a simple but effective plan that encourages our students to be respectful to all and use appropriate behavior while at school. It continues to work great.
We still need your continued support at home in order for all of our student’s to perform at the level they are capable of. You can help by seeing that your child reads for enjoyment with a “just right” reading book. Teachers can give you more information about the “just right” level of book that your child should be reading.
Again, this year, our building goal will focus on math fluency. We feel that math facts are the building blocks to all further math objectives. Each grade level has developed objectives that will address this important skill. Like always if you have any questions about our elementary schools do not hesitate to call. I am excited for another great year at SCF and Dresser Elementary Schools.
RtI
Again this year the elementary staff is extremely busy with the Response to Intervention process. RtI is a process for making data-based instructional decisions to improve student outcomes. Last year, as well as this fall, grade level assessments were utilized and this year we will be working with that data, as interventions will be used with our students. This is an ongoing process as we constantly research what is best for the students at St. Croix Falls and Dresser Elementary Schools. This year April Sundlin is a full time reading/math teacher and Ashley Hutton works with the RTI students in the PM.
Professional Learning Communities
The staff at the St. Croix Falls and Dresser Elementary Schools continues on their journey to become “professional learning communities (PLC).” We have the sincere commitment, courage, and desire to change the status quo, to grasp the opportunity for our school program’s improvement, to move our school from “good” to “great.” To get to the tough work of school improvement, teachers in each grade level must work as a collaborative team to analyze achievement data, set educational goals, identify and ensure essential standards are being taught and share assessment results to improve the quality of their lessons. They must identify best practices and teaching strengths of each grade level member and then capitalize on those strengths to best serve the needs of each student who attends our school - the average learner, high achiever, gifted student, struggling student, special education student, English learner, etc. The ultimate purpose of forming an effective PLC is for just that single-minded purpose: to improve ALL students’ success in school. We desire to work within each grade level and with the entire staff to close any gaps in teaching that might exist, to ensure best practices are utilized in every classroom. One of the critical tasks to be done is to assure essential standards are identified and thoroughly taught in each of our classrooms. Unfortunately, the curriculum covered in the United States is large and cumbersome – it must be narrowed down to the important standards that are needed at each grade level to master content standards for each grade.
Educational researchers agree that the single most effective way to achieve sustained school improvement is for the staff to work collaboratively and to have time to do so. We have recently modified our schedule to allow for grade level collaboration on a weekly basis. We look forward to the school year and the positive changes PLC’s will create.
21st Century Technology
We have added two Ipad cases to our media center. Each case has 10 Ipads for our students.
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