To: Asha Riley, Superintendent
From: Jen Havig, Principal
Date: September 16, 2026
RE: Columbia Elementary School Board Report
School Improvement Plan
We are at the end of our collection of beginning of the school year data for our students in both math and reading. Columbia’s Building Leadership team will write our draft SIP goals at our next BLT meeting. During our August professional development days, our staff spent time reflecting on the instructional practices we focused on last year and how those improvements positively impacted our classrooms. Last year, our main focus was student engagement with our slogan of “All in, all the time.” We will continue to work on student engagement strategies while adding our next piece of the puzzle to our building-wide improvement plan. This year, our focus is “Reclaiming time.” Reclaiming time is two fold. One aspect is tightening transitions and routines to maximize instructional time. The other aspect is adding academic components to gaps in time. For example, if a class is waiting in the lunch line, the teacher might have students practice partners of 10 by giving them one number and having the students show the partner of 10 on their hands. Another example of adding academic components to a gap in time is having students sing content-related songs while they gather materials and transition to the upcoming lesson.
In addition, we are focusing on math instructional strategies this year. Last spring, the 1st grade team visited a classroom in Longview to observe a student-centered math strategy. CES received a grant from McDonald’s that we are using to implement this strategy in our 1st grade classrooms. It utilizes manipulatives to help build number sense, place value understanding, and mathematical fluency for students. We also spent time during August professional development learning math games that students can play in order to build math skills in an engaging way.
Recognition
I’d like to recognize student advocate, Kel Detrich, and the PBIS team for their hard work in updating our PBIS matrices. We purchased new posters and banners emphasizing how beaver kits follow expectations. We Keep safe, Initiate respect, Take responsibility, and Solve problems. This spells out KITS, and on your next visit to Columbia, be sure to check out the posters throughout the school. Students continue to earn Kit Tix for exemplifying our expectations. We have added a school-wide reward system as a layer of our PBIS systems as part of our PBIS upgrade. Kel and the PBIS team have worked tremendously hard in getting everything ready for this school year.
Upcoming Events
Picture day is Friday, September 25.
Music teacher, Miles Gale-Quick, has started an after school Beaver Kit Choir. It started on 9/16, and we have over forty 3rd and 4th grade students participating in the choir.
Our first character recognition assembly is on Monday, September 28 at 9:30. Please join us as students receive certificates for showing this month’s character trait: Respect.
Our Kindergarten students are going on their first field trip to the pumpkin patch. Thank you to our own local pumpkin patch, The Patch for hosting our students each year.