Overview of 2008-09 School Year
Despite our continuing budget problems, South School continues to focus on key elements of educating youngsters in meaningful ways. Each element is an example of how Stoneham as a district and South in particular, works with our parents and community to meet the needs of our children and their families.
Our tuition based Full Day Kindergarten Program continues to be a success. Our After-School Childcare Program at South continues to grow, reaching higher enrollments this year than ever before. Our Stop & Shop Homework Help Program entered its fifth year. Our business partner, The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, was able to fully fund our Homework Help Program once again this year with a very generous donation of $4320. This program, a major goal of our School Improvement Plan, serves to lengthen the school day for a number of our students, and give them help on their homework.
This year marked the school’s fourth year of the Open Circle Social Competency Curriculum in Grades K through Five. This program, in conjunction with the Stone Center from Wellesley College, provides teachers and staff with training in how to implement the Open Circle curriculum in each classroom twice weekly throughout the school year. We also conducted our fourth year of parent training in Open Circle.
Our K-2 staff continued to implement the three-tier model for reading instruction. This year, we were happy to add Third Grade. This model, based on the Reading First Federal Grant program, involves using the DIBELS assessment to gauge how students are progressing with their reading skills. The schedule was adjusted to allow for smaller, intensive group work for each child based on their needs. Staff and parents report a high degree of success and satisfaction from this approach, which individualizes and differentiates our reading instruction.
Our Preschool Staff provided parent workshops focusing on Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Classroom and Child Management Techniques. This was a teacher-driven process where staff is training parents around issues common to all. The workshops were very well received and plans are in place to continue to provide workshops next year as well.
This year marked the piloting and eventual adoption of a new math curriculum, Everyday Math. We are looking forward to implementing this exciting new math curriculum next year. We are planning to offer professional development for teachers to help them implement the program. We also plan to offer parent training as well, since this program does make a departure from the more traditional math program that has been in place over the past 10 years in Stoneham.
Our PTO Mini Grants Program continues to thrive. This program seeks to encourage teachers and staff to plan for events and activities that go “above and beyond” the normal school curriculum and school day. We also had our Author’s Night in May. This year we continued to have our Third and Fourth/Fifth Grade Math Nights that have been so popular. This year our school was awarded a $1000 grant from Best Buy.
Our PTO and School Site Council continue to be tremendously positive forces that contribute to the overall climate of South. We offered a full range of school wide activities, such as Holiday Breakfast, Halloween Party, Back-to-School Picnic, and Bingo and Pasta Nights. Our Community Outreach effort expanded this year to include a tremendously successful Thanksgiving food drive and “Giving Tree”, which provided local families with toys and clothing for their children. Our PTO consistently provides students with enrichment opportunities through in school visits and performances, as well as educationally sound field trips. The school also continued to offer a full Junior Achievement curriculum, in
conjunction with our PTO.
South School continues in its mission to educate its children in the most complete ways possible. Staff and parents consistently work together to reach our goals. We are fortunate to have so many of these special opportunities to enrich and support the academic and social lives of our children. We will look for ways to continue to do so.
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