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Elementary School

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About Our School

University Elementary School has 660 students K-5 with a diverse student population. Currently,  The percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced meal benefits (FaRM) is 42%. The total minority population of the school is 50.3% with the Hispanic population at 47% of the student body. 10.5% of the student body receives special education services and 5% are English Language Learners (ELL).

What makes our school unique?

*Every student attends PE for 30 minutes daily.
*Students attend an additional special (art, music, library, Spanish, or American Sign Language) for 55 minutes daily.
*We have two full-time elementary counselors who teach lessons to every student, meet with small groups, and provide one-on-one support.

* We cap all kindergarten-5th grade classes at 22 students.

* We have five full para professionals who work with K-1 students and teachers.
*We are a K-12 campus with a K-12 House/Family System.

Personal Learning Plans (PLPs)

The philosophy behind the PLP is to give the student an opportunity to take his/her education into his/her own hands by working on a goal that is meaningful. Students develop the PLP by considering anything that will give a new skill set, learn more about a subject of interest, or increase academic skills. The purpose of the PLP is to teach the goals-setting process, provide an opportunity to take education to the next level, and provide an excellent background for students as they become lifelong learners.

Benchmark Literacy Curriculum

The Benchmark Workshop is a comprehensive program made up of three individual workshops: a phonics workshop, a reader’s workshop, and a writer’s workshop. The curriculum provides teachers with all the tools they need to create a community of readers and writers. Each student accesses complex text sets on a topic (50% fiction and 50% nonfiction), allowing students to build content knowledge within the grade and across all grades, enhancing equity. All fiction text is authentically written and all social studies and science standards are built into the program. Each day students experience a mini-lesson, workshop time (a guided time for students to apply what they learned in authentic text/writing), and share and reflect time in reading, writing, and phonics.

What I Need (WIN) Block

Research shows that when students receive instruction in grade-level curriculum paired with targeted intervention at their current level of performance, they grow faster and are more successful. The WIN Block provides students with a 30-minute targeted intervention time during literacy. Students who need gifted and talented, reading intervention, English language support, or special education support are grouped into like groups. Grade-level teachers then group students who remain in the classrooms into like groups to provide additional support.

ORIGO Stepping Stones Math Curriculum

Stepping Stones is a hands-on approach that builds an understanding of mathematics concepts. Skills are introduced, reinforced, practiced, and extended. Skills are introduced through modeling with real objects, classroom materials, and symbolic pictures. Students communicate skills through mathematical language, materials language, and student language.

Character Strong Curriculum

Character Strong fosters the whole child approach and develops self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.