Ready Mathematics: Columbia Elementary staff spent a day with Megan Free, our mathematics curriculum implementation support representative. Megan, along with administrators and the instructional coach, were in each classroom observing instruction. After school certificated staff met with Megan to get specific feedback, ask questions, and consider recommendations for next steps.
Areas of particular focus are pacing and content emphasis. Megan will be back early in the new year to support individual grade levels through team teaching, coaching during lessons, and meeting with teams by grade level. CES will provide substitutes that day so all teachers from a grade level, the principal, and instructional coach can be together as they observe lessons and debrief immediately afterward. Megan is a wonderful resource and the support for a strong implementation of our new mathematics curriculum is greatly appreciated.
Food Drive: The student council is going strong and made an extraordinary effort to collect items for the food drive just prior to Thanksgiving break. Our school collected 1160 food items! This is the most significant contribution in many years and children are very proud that they could be leaders in the community. It is exciting to witness the way our young learners are growing in putting compassion and kindness into action. They are becoming active citizens in many positive ways and the food drive was a powerful learning tool as they recognize how they can impact the world.
Lunch Buddies: This week marked the inaugural Lunch Buddies event at Columbia Elementary School. Children and their adult buddies enjoyed sharing a meal and engaging in fun activities together. The program at CES begins with students in third and fourth grade. More children are on a waiting list and will be included as adults join the program. Many thanks to Eric Jacobsen for producing a story encouraging more lunch buddies, as well as to Tammy Graham for reaching out to him about this need. The hope is that very soon all children needing a lunch buddy have one. It was a wonderful start to our CES program!