Meadow Glen Elementary School is helping all students develop world-class skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by creating a learning culture where classrooms are alive with discovery, problem solving, challenge, and collaboration. MGES continues to partner with EL Education to implement core practices and design principles that promote mastery of knowledge and skills, high levels of character and leadership, and productions of high quality work in every classroom.
We continued our work building and implementing the school-wide Habits of Scholarship of perseverance, respect, responsibility and craftsmanship through Crew lessons. The structure of daily crew meetings allowed for relationship building and character development with all students and adults. Every student from kindergarten to fifth grade participated in school-wide prepared lessons around our habits. Students used Habit Trackers to rate themselves on their personal application of the habits in and out of the classroom. These trackers were shared with parents and guardians throughout the year. Our future plans for crew include creating time and space for school-wide student led conferences and supporting community meetings where Habits of Scholarship and learning are celebrated.
Through the second year partnership with EL Education, our faculty and staff engaged in high level professional learning around management in the active classroom, shared leadership, standards based grading, supporting and managing student behaviors, restorative practices, establishing exemplars of student projects and products as models, and giving productive critique and feedback. MGES implemented the EL Education K-5 Language Arts Curriculum, which included four module content units of study. This curriculum embeds science, social studies, and literature content with a strong emphasis on equity for all students. Our students acquired a deeper understanding of that content while simultaneously acquiring the key literacy skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. The EL Education model reinforces the connections among science, mathematics, engineering and technology to help teachers and students build a way to develop student capacity in thinking critically about the real world.
Building family capacity of understanding EL practices and curriculum, the mission and vision of MGES, and the new mission and vision of Lexington County School District One was a focus this school year. Three Family Academic Nights were scheduled so parents/guardians could be a part of the learning process. The first academic night started with the adults learning about fire and car seat safety and then visiting the classroom for their child to share the learning from the first ELA Module through student created learning panels. The second academic night started with the adults learning about Internet safety and then visiting the classroom for a student led conference around a piece of student selected high quality work. The parents/guardians had to give critique and feedback to their child. The final academic night was a time for parents/guardians to learn how EL Education Core Practices connected with the mission and vision of Lexington County School District One and MGES. Parents/guardians also had an opportunity to meet with teachers of the next grade for their child to learn about transitions to a new grade. A session on financially saving for higher education in the future was available for families to attend as well.
It is important to us that MGES students become more ethical people to help make the world a better place. Many community service projects were completed to help accomplish the goal of students being kind, courteous and respectful to others. Each year a Green Steps Crew of students, staff, and community members become environmental stewards to enrich and sustain opportunities for environmental engagement and service learning. Projects included using recycled materials for creating art projects, student created garden spaces by restoring soil and planting and maintaining class gardens, litter prevention through school clean up days, recycling used shoes, markers, plastic grocery bags, indoor and outdoor composting, creating a pollinator garden, and harvesting rain water to use in class gardens. As part of the one of the ELA module units, grade levels completed service tasks to bring real world service projects to life. Some of the projects included preparing and giving emergency preparedness kits for the homeless, providing supplies for the Walk on the Wild Side Rehabilitation Center, preparing book bags filled with blankets, books and pillows for the Nancy K. Perry Shelter, creating public service announcements to bring awareness to water conservation, and donating items to the Carolina Wildlife Center for endangered and injured animals.
It is our continued belief, desire and passion to prepare MGES Graduates for success in college, career, citizenship and life. Making a strategic effort to combine curriculum, instruction, assessment, culture, ethics, character and leadership in every day life for our students, helps to grow them into respectful and productive risk takers in a global society.
Cheryl Fralick, Principal Andy Beeson, SIC Chair