Meadow Glen Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by creating a culture of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. The 2019-2020 school year began with a primary vision to Empower each child to Design the Future. Continuing with our school theme, ‘Together is Better than One,’ a strong professional focus was placed on strategies to support the individual student in the classroom using academic data, student and teacher reflection, as well as a focus on ensuring a sense of belonging in each student.
“Teachers will help us and give us clues to help us learn, but they don’t give the answer.” - Grade 3
“The more attention we give to the needs and progress of the individual child, the better chance we have to meet that student's needs.” - Teacher
Through our partnership with EL Education, MGES focuses on core practices and design principles that promote mastery of knowledge and skills, high levels of character and leadership, and the production of high-quality work in every classroom. Through the development of our school work plan, MGES impact goals are identified as:
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MGES students have strong conceptual understanding of content. They can collaborate, communicate, create, and apply critical thinking skills. MGES will reduce by half the number of students not proficient on the state assessment (reading, writing, and math) in four years, thus closing the gap between current levels of performance and standards.
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The MGES family desires to build a better community and world because relationships matter. MGES students have a strong sense of belonging and they care about making thoughtful and meaningful decisions. MGES students are kind, courteous, and respectful.
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MGES will graduate students with the habits of character needed for success in college and beyond including perseverance, responsibility, craftsmanship, respect, and ethos of service.
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MGES students care about their work because it is meaningful to them. MGES students will create complex work that is rigorous: it aligns with or exceeds the expectations defined by grade-level standards and includes higher-order thinking by challenging students to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create during daily instruction and throughout longer projects. Student work is done with care, precision, and craftsmanship with attention to accuracy, detail, and beauty.
Committed to our approach and dedicated to the progress of students, we saw the successful implementation of student-led conferencing in grades kindergarten through fifth. CREW, our focus on integrating habits of success, and implementation of a Mental Wellness team all led toward an environment of success, safety, and belonging. And, a school-wide focus on culture with a celebration of Chinese New Year, led by our immersion students and teachers demonstrated a curiosity and love of world cultures.
Then, we entered into the months of February and March and the world changed in the blink of an eye. With COVID-19 roaring to life, our school family went home for an extended weekend and never returned to campus. And in that blink of an eye, we had the opportunity to show that Meadow Glen Elementary is a family-focused on the individual needs of all. Within a week's time, teachers established lines of communication with students and families through the use of Zoom, Google Meets, emails, phone calls, texts, and home visits. Families created schedules and spaces where they could work alongside each other on academic content, enrichment activities, and wellness check-ins. Meanwhile, our support staff jumped into action organizing and materials, cleaning school spaces, and participating in food pick-up preparation and distribution. Teachers and social workers banded together to identify needs and make deliveries to families while being mindful of safety and health precautions.
And through it all, we missed each other. We missed the daily contact, the high fives and hugs, the smiles, and even the tears that make up all those parts of a family. But, we persevered through three distance learning experiences. We took responsibility for our learning through at-home communication and a constant focus on what is most important. And we began to truly understand the meaning of service, evidenced by home visits to provide food and supplies, drive-thru parades to provide emotional support of families and staff, and pictures of acts of kindness toward each other, community helpers, and others as we celebrated Better World Day on May 1.
As we close the 2019-2020 school year, our nation has also seen evidence of hurt and inequity. As stated by one of our kindergarteners,
‘One way to make the world a better place is…. “It doesn’t matter what color your skin is.” ‘
Our work continues each day, not only with a focus on academics but importantly, with a focus on belonging. We will enter the 2020-2021 school year with a motto to Believe. Work. Grow...We are CREW. We know that school may be different and we know that we do not have all the answers, however, by living the Lexington One vision to Empower each child to Design the Future, we can and will develop individuals who will be the change we wish to see in the world(Gandhi).