Voyager Families,
I am excited to welcome you to Katherine G. Johnson Elementary and outline the instructional model for K-5 students as we prepare for the 2021-22 school year.
(K-1 Looping)
Our building will embrace looping as a portion of our classroom design in grades K-1. Looping is an educational practice in which a single class of children stays with their teacher for a two-year program. At the end of the second year in the rotation, the children move on to a new group of teachers while the looping teacher returns to the lower grade level to welcome a new group of kinders to Katherine Johnson Elementary.
The benefits of looping include reduced apprehension at starting a new school year, increased continuity, and more in-depth relationships with teacher and peers. For teachers, the benefits of looping include a deeper familiarity with developmental stages of their students, and an opportunity to work with students and parents for longer periods of time.
(2-5 Subject Specialization)
For grades (2-5) our building will embrace the subject specialization model. “Specializing” is an educational practice in which teachers are responsible for teaching 1-2 subject areas rather than the traditional teacher “generalist” who is responsible for teaching all of the subject areas. In this model, students rotate daily between all of their grade level teachers who provide instruction on specific content. All Students will still have a homeroom teacher, where they have added time built into the day for classroom meetings, etc.
In grade 2-5, each student will rotate between two teachers during specified instructional blocks. Students will continue to have specialist time as they have had in the past (PE, Technology,
Music, Art).
• Although our goal is to create two teacher teams school wide, our staffing numbers may require some grade level teams to have three teachers.
The benefits of teacher specialization include personalized attention from multiple teachers, rather than just one. Specialization allows our teachers to focus their attention on a narrower range of content, which lends itself to a deeper level of instruction. I have experience implementing this model as a principal and have seen an increase in student achievement school wide.
(STEAM)
Students at Katherine G. Johnson Elementary will enjoy the STEAM focus which intentionally integrates the subjects of Science, Technology, English, Arts, and Math. At KGJ, science exploration / project-based learning will be incorporated within the classroom as well as targeted specialist rotations.
I want to be clear that educating our students is a partnership with the school and home, while encouraging parents to take the opportunities to get involved and share in the journey with us. As always, we value input and invite your questions, thoughts and concerns.
Welcome to Katherine G. Johnson Elementary, a school that will promote academic curiosity and foster a love for learning. Thank you for sharing your students with us!
Chris Brauer & the Katherine G. Johnson Staff -
