At Lake Murray Elementary School, we provide all students with opportunities to develop world-class skills and life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by creating an innovative learning environment that focuses on leadership and self-directed learners. The campus exemplifies student learning and growth by emphasizing collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking. Our vision is to help develop self-directed, global citizens who lead and learn with excellence. Through this culture, LMES faculty aspires to provide the highest level of teaching by making decisions based on what is best for each individual child. We invest in relationships and support while celebrating the success of all students.
This year we continued our concentration in the areas of reading and writing proficiency with increased emphasis on the primary grades. Early intervention is a key component of our Read to Succeed Literacy Plan, and our students who received Reading Recovery in first grade and Response to Intervention K–5th illustrated positive growth from these programs. Equally supporting all students in English language arts, we carried on with Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study for Reading and Writing as the curriculum design to achieve the rigor and expectations of the South Carolina academic standards. Furthermore, we have provided school-based staff development focusing on small-group and individualized instruction to develop targeted goals for each child. Through our literacy planning meetings and vertical teams, we ensured we not only had a common language, but also common expectations among grade levels. As a result of this professional development, teachers had students self-assess their learning using grade-level student checklists and learning progressions for both reading and writing. This practice has proven to be powerful. Lastly, with collaborative support from our PTA, LMES was able to purchase new high-interest books to update our library’s reading collection as well as classroom libraries for students to have “just right” texts for independent reading. We are doing all of this to ensure students are prepared to read, write and communicate effectively as they progress year to year.
As a FranklinCovey Leader in Me school, we showcase all students’ leadership potential. Students apply for leadership teams such as the LMES News Show, Mariner Book Buddies, Media Leaders and the Morning Announcement Team. In addition to these school-based opportunities, students have leadership roles within their classroom. Furthermore, we challenged all students to be leaders through our schoolwide goal of completing 5,000 Acts of Love in which they had multiple opportunities to serve the school and the community. Students achieved this by participating in community outreach programs such as collecting personal care items for LICS, donating non-perishable items for hurricane victims, sending care package items for our overseas troops, giving gently used coats to other kids and contributing to Relay For Life events. Additionally, we encouraged the students to be leaders by “Sharpening the Saw” and participating in activities such as the LMES Fund Run, Special Olympics, fall and spring Run Hard teams, Jump Rope For Heart, and AM Fitness every Tuesday and Thursday morning prior to the start of school.
At LMES, we are surrounded by a very strong community that supports the school in a variety of ways such as the SIC, PTA, mentoring, fundraising, volunteering in the classrooms and participating in special school-related functions. Through this collaborative culture, we are poised to provide the best learning experiences for all of our children.
Jennifer Stanley, Principal
Tina Price, SIC Chair