White Knoll Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by creating an environment that promotes rigorous instruction along with engaging activities to produce students who think critically and are able to solve problems collaboratively. The WKE family continues to foster genuine relationships with our students and families as we faced unprecedented circumstances in the spring of 2020.
At White Knoll Elementary, we believe our mission statement speaks to our values: At WKE we are committed to educating ALL children by building lasting relationships and nurturing each child for success. White Knoll Elementary’s stakeholders have chosen to embrace the Lexington School District One’s Vision: Empower Each Child to Design the Future. This process has communicated the importance to all stakeholders the importance of collaborating ideas and honoring feedback to support the best interest of our school.
The faculty and staff at WKE believes in our school motto: “We Lead, We Learn, We Love”. Building genuine relationships sets the foundation for stronger classroom structures, intentional planning for rigorous instruction, and differentiation among all. The teachers of White Knoll Elementary are committed to ongoing analysis of assessments and classroom data to enable them to reach individual needs with a clear purpose.
The faculty/staff of White Knoll Elementary completed a book study on Disrupting Poverty to expand our understanding of powerful classroom practices and strategies to assist our efforts of caring relationships, advocacy, a commitment to equity, high expectations and support, and promoting cultural responsiveness in our classrooms. Knowing a students’ background enables teachers to better connect with families and maintains a positive home/ school relationship. We recently became a Unified Champion School, promoting inclusion for all students with special needs and look forward to continuing to attend annual Special Olympic Ceremonies each year.
Giving to the community is one way students can develop their self concept. WKE provided many opportunities for students to support our school and community. Students honored many Veterans with a Veteran’s Day celebration breakfast, are safety patrol helpers, students became White Knoll Welcomers; greeting other students and guests in the morning and showing new students in their class around our building while talking about our Powerskills. Students assist with implementing a host of activities for red ribbon week (healthy choices) and career week.. Our upper level students peer mentor our younger students in Kindergarten. Students participate in Pets Inc. towel drive to collect towels for the local animal shelter. WKE also began a mentor program partnering each adult in our building with a student as an extra support system and advocate. These mentors supported student success and seeking the best interest of the student at all times.
White Knoll Elementary has completed year three with our partnership with Code to the Future, a computer science immersion program across grades K-5. During the 2019-2020 school year, our students completed two coding cycles; Scratch and Lego Analog and Robotics, with an emphasis on integrating projects into the core curriculum. Students participated in building demonstrations of learning with culminating projects which were presented as Epic Build Showcases and keynotes for parents, district leaders, and community members. Through these Epic builds and coding projects, we see students enjoying and applying critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.
Teachers were provided an opportunity to continue to expand their knowledge of ELA and Math. To support our teacher’s professional growth, we provided each teacher with Reading and Writing resources from Jennifer Seravallo. Our instructional coaches worked with teachers to share their learning. Our Literacy coach provided professional development to assist teachers in providing effective lessons and support for our curriculum. Our school became a Project School for the Teachers’s College. Kate Bishop served as our on-site Trainer as we used our classrooms as labsites for professional learning. Through this professional learning, additional resources were needed for the successful implementation of our curriculum. Classroom libraries were outfitted with high interest, diverse and various levels of books for students to assist teachers in supporting the Units of Study curriculum. Our math coach provided professional development in math workshop training and implementation and many of our teachers attended math model classrooms to see how the workshop model looks. We also partnered with a math solutions consultant on various components of the math workshop model. During the month of March, the commitment of our teachers was demonstrated by how they were able to shift from the traditional classroom teacher to an instructor through distance learning and virtual means. While this was new for most of our teachers, their passions for our students and their success took command and they went above and beyond to ensure instruction remained in place for our students. Our teachers focused on the instruction while continuing to build the family culture and providing the “blanket of love” our students and families needed to get through the difficult time. We remain thankful for them for their unwavering commitment to our students and their families.
Our PTO provides a great extension into our community. They are truly amazing for the work they do to meet the needs of our students and teachers. They continue to involve our parents and community members by hosting events such as Muffins for Moms, Donuts for Dads, Reading Prize Patrol, and Skate Night. Parents and community are vital components of our school’s success. Our Read A-Thon fundraiser was used to promote reading at home as well as at school. This was an excited way to engage all students while they were home during their time away from school.
The above accomplishments, along with intentional professional development, led us to be named a Palmetto’s Finest Finalist for the state of South Carolina! To that end, White Knoll Elementary would like to commend its families and community partnerships for their strength and courage to trust us during these uncertain times. The safety and well being of each family remains to be an integral part of our ongoing success. . At White Knoll Elementary - We Lead, We Learn, We Love.
SIC Chair - Jennifer McPherson
Principal, Nicole Mitchell