Children have the innate ability to learn.
They bring their senses, curiosity, and receptive nature to the learning environment.
Parents are children's first and most important teachers.
Parents create the learning foundation by reading, speaking, singing, questioning,
explaining, and providing experiences that encourage their children to use all channels for learning.
The school must provide exciting learning environments. Meaningful activities, challenging and focused instruction, and engaging experiences empower students to learn. Professional staff and administrators continuously learn and improve their skills, understandings, and practice so that all children will have what they need to fully participate in society.
Assessments, observations, student portfolios, and parent feedback drive instruction. It is essential to demonstrate/document student growth and learning over time and to match teaching practice with learning styles.
Lives are changed as the tools of learning are mastered. Each child is expected to learn to the best of their ability in literacy and thinking skills, problem solving strategies, number sense, and clear writing, and to use these tools to communicate with others.
Black Rock School...a nurturing community where children are primary.
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Black Rock School
My goal is to protect the educational environment and insure that opportunities for learning are available to every student everyday. My commitment to excellence will continue to be demonstrated through attention and support for the outstanding instruction provided by teachers. We have made excellent progress toward our early literacy goals over the past school year and will continue to improve our school.
We are targeting improvements in mathematics over the next few years. We have spent time analyzing our third grade math test scores and have identified several areas that need improvement. Estimating solutions to problems and mathematical applications, continue to need more work. Student scores in nine of the sixteen mathematic content strands are excellent. We are using quarterly math assessments that will help us keep better track of their progress.
We provide full day kindergarten , have two reading recovery teachers, and early literacy groups. We want to insure that no child leaves Black Rock School as a non-reader. We use a reading assessment called the Reading Progress Indicator. This tool is designed as a diagnostic/placement inquiry designed to help teachers evaluate the reading level and specific skill mastery of each student. The results are used to plan and carry out appropriate instruction. The exciting part of this is the fact that students will be assessed at each grade through third grade using this same assessment tool. .
We will continue to establish our assessment protocol for each grade level in early literacy, writing, and mathematics.
Our teaching resources will be focused on student needs and teaching strategies are modified to ensure student success.
Goals:
To continue to establish and refine Black Rock School's standards for reading, reading comprehension, mathematics, and writing for each student at Black Rock School.
To explore "alternative teaching strategies" to meet the needs of all students.
To continue to strengthen our relationship with Thomaston Public Library and to continue to build our School/Community relationships.
To visit day care providers who share our students.
To continue our use of "Guided Reading" and “running records” activities for students.
To increase student exposure to "Writing Prompts" and provide opportunity for students to “write across the curriculum."
To increase student exposure to good literature.
To continue our "teacher driven" staff development efforts.
We have an ambitious agenda for this school year. Let's continue our learning adventure together.
Sincerely,
Paul B. Johnson, Sr.
Principal
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