Elementary School

 

Welcome to the Elementary School Webpage

Ms. Carrel, the faculty and I would like to welcome you to our Elementary school webpage! We are an energetic group of professionals who are focused on establishing an enriching, positive and engaging learning environment for the students of CAC. We are a professional learning community committed to a continual review of our program and teaching practice to provide the best learning environment for our students. We believe that learning is most meaningful when learners are involved in experiential, collaborative and constructivist approaches. By having students develop goals, reflect and then share these goals with parents, students take ownership of their learning and teachers focus on differentiating for individual needs.

The whole school is in the process of auditing our standards and benchmarks. Vertical teams are reviewing and researching standards, benchmarks and performance indicators that are fewer in number and focused on a strong vertical alignment of standards.
Our goal at CAC is to develop lifelong readers and writers who are also thinkers and risk takers. We establish the essential literacy foundations and this enables future literacy achievements. Balanced literacy is achieved through the workshop setting. The Reading Workshop has the following main components: a short focus lesson to the whole class, independent reading, individual or small groups instruction (guided reading or literature circles). Decoding skills, reading strategies, high levels of comprehension and ability to respond to text are developed. The Writing Workshop has a similar organization: short focus lesson to the whole class, independent writing while the teacher works with individuals or small group for further instruction. Students learn to write a variety of genres, develop stamina to write more, and use effective language appropriate to the text and audience. Process writing, the Six Traits and the Lucy Calkins’ Writing Units of Study are used in an integral way to develop writers. At the end of both workshops students’ learning is honored by an opportunity to share their thinking or writing with partners or whole class.

Multiple assessments are used throughout the year to measure student progress and determine the next steps of instruction. Ongoing observations, running records, the Reading Continuum and the DRA are the main reading assessment tools. Writing conferences based on ongoing writing in class help students set goals as writers. Writing prompts are given twice a year to measure students’ growth as writers over a year.
We are currently reviewing research on effective math delivery and will adopt a new concept-based series next year. Science programs are FOSS focused and delivered in our elementary science lab. Social Studies is concept-based with a peace initiatives threaded through the curriculum. Our Egypt Culture program helps students learn about local culture and our World Language is Arabic.

Our collaborative teams are currently working on developing new units to follow an Understanding By Design framework. Jay McTighe has provided valuable professional development this year in individual unit design as well as whole school curriculum planning. We also use DRA and MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) as cornerstone assessments and use the data to reflect upon student learning.

Technology is also integrated into all aspects of the school day. Each class has Smartboards, document cameras, ipods, and laptops that allow students the opportunity to interact with technology to enhance learning. 21st Century skills are promoted throughout the elementary school with the help of an IT integrator who works with staff to create blended classroom through class Moodle pages.

What happens when students are experiencing difficulty in learning? We at CAC support student learning with inclusive ELL (English Language Learning), LSS (Learning Support Services), and Speech Therapy. Our Student Study Team (SST), which includes members of those previously mentioned plus a psychologist and a counselor, review the progress of all students referred and provides support to help our students learn.

As you can see our newly constructed Elementary School is a child focused facility with highly qualified teachers and professionals who work with parents to establish a warm, inviting and engaging community. We encourage you to visit our links and see for yourself how we challenge all aspects of student learning! CAC is certainly the place to be!

 

Mr. T. Moniz
ES Principal
tmoniz@cacegypt.org

Ms. M. Carrel
ES Assistant Principal
mcarrel@cacegypt.org