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THE STEPHEN’S PRIMARY INSTITUTE A LOWER PRIMARY GRADE SCHOOL FOR GRADES K TO 2 PICTURE SOURCE: HTTP://WWW.THEFORECASTER.NET/CONTENT/N-FALART-052710 Where Early Learning is Our Lifelong GoalElizabeth Stephens February 17, 2012
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Page 1: Dream school

THE STEPHEN’S PRIMARY INSTITUTEA LOWER PRIMARY GRADE SCHOOL

FOR GRADES K TO 2

PICTURE SOURCE: HTTP://WWW.THEFORECASTER.NET/CONTENT/N-FALART-052710

“Where Early Learning is Our Lifelong Goal”

Elizabeth StephensFebruary 17, 2012

Page 2: Dream school

THE STEPHENS’ PRIMARY INSTITUTE

Vision Statement

The Stephens’ Learning Institute is a community of diverse students, parents and staff. We are dedicated to the early childhood development of responsible, self starting, life-long learners. Collectively, we strive to provide an age appropriate environment which respects each individual’s unique personality, set of experiences, and learning style. Our goal is to create individuals committed to learning in the 21st century.

Mission Statement

In order to achieve our goal; the students, parents, and staff will facilitate and encourage the following:

Thematic unit studies of interest to the children.

Group instruction focused on learning objectives.

Hands-on learning through play and real life experiences.

Individualized instruction. Integrated instruction in

literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts and technology.

Page 3: Dream school

THE LOWER PRIMARY GRADE SCHOOL The Dream School created by Elizabeth Stephens is a Lower

Primary Grade School. This is a concept based on the fact that typical elementary schools

are loosely divided between the lower grades (K-2), and the upper grades (3-5). The needs of a Kindergarten student are much different than those of a 5th grade student.

The Lower Primary School would be very developmental, allowing for lots of play and activity in Kindergarten, progressing to play and structure in 1st grade, and moving on to more independent work time in 2nd grade.

The Stephens’ Primary Institute would “hum with activity as students busily engage in learning.” (http://nextgenerationshcool.com/#/our-schools/lower-primary). Each classroom would be staffed by a teacher and an assistant. Their job would be to help each child to develop to their fullest potential.

The next few slides will explain the typical students in grades K though 2nd, and how the staff would prepare these children for the Upper Primary Grade School.

Page 4: Dream school

THE KIND KINDERGARTEN STUDENTKindergarten Students are typically 5 years old and may have attended preschool. They love to help and please others. They usually like school and want to please others; such as teachers, parents and friends. At the Stephens’ Primary Institute, we believe that Kindergarteners are ready to move away from the preschool years and start to establish their social groups, yet they still need the support and guidance to accomplish this. It is the Kindergarten Teacher’s job to prepare each child for 1st grade work. Source: www.pbs.org

Pictured: Jane Elizabeth Stephens, age 5; taken by Elizabeth Stephens, 8/2007

Page 5: Dream school

THE FUN 1ST GRADER

First Grade Students suddenly start to feel “big”. They are ready to learn. They can work independently, but still need some playtime and supervision from a teacher who can facilitate learning. The true magic of 1st Grade happens as children develop the ability to understand what letters and numbers mean. They start to understand and “crack the code” to be able to read words and solve math problems. It is the First Grade Teacher’s job to introduce the skills needed to begin to read and calculate. Source: www.pbs.org

Pictured: Charlotte Ann Stephens, age 6; taken by Elizabeth Stephens, 8/2002

Page 6: Dream school

THE SUCCESSFUL 2ND GRADE STUDENTThe 2nd grade student is very confident. In 2nd grade, they practice the skills learned in the earlier grades and begin to use them with ease. Some children may not have been ready to master the skills in 1st grade, but now they can. Other children mastered the 1st grade skills and they are now ready for more challenging work. It is the job of the second grade teacher to emphasize fluent reading and more complex math problems. Source: www.pbs.org

Pictured: Katheryn Harvard Stephens, age 7, taken by Elizabeth Stephens, 3/2002

Page 7: Dream school

MORNING CURRICULUMLanguage Arts

90 minutes per day

Students will: use their experiences to

listen, speak, read and write.

be exposed to “print rich environments” to expand on their knowledge.

become communicators, readers and writers.

practice and master these skills in all subjects.

Math

60 minutes per day

Students will: be exposed to an environment

to foster critical thinking skills. be immersed in an

environment with various manipulatives.

solve problems. become confident in the

language and world of mathematics.

practice basic skills.

Source: Microsoft Word2007 Clipart

Page 8: Dream school

AFTERNOON CURRICULUM

Social Studies

30 minutes per day

Students will: explore their immediate

surrounding. discover the world around

them. expand on their knowledge

as they begin to venture further into knowledge of their community, city and county.

Science

30 minutes per day

Students will: predict experiment test Solve problems

Source: Microsoft Word2007 Clipart

Page 9: Dream school

ENRICHMENT CURRICULUMArt

Music

Physical Education

Art, Music, and Physical Education will be integrated within the classroom activities.

There will also be weekly pull out programs with a special area teacher.

Pictured: Jane Elizabeth Stephens, taken by Bob Stephens, 2/2012

Page 10: Dream school

INTER

VEN

TIO

N

STR

ATEG

IES

The Vision of the Stephens’ Institute is to remember that:

•Each child has a unique personality.

•Each child has a set of experiences that they come to school with.

•Each child has his or her own learning style.

To prepare all students to be committed learners for the 21st century, we will honor these differences.

Since students come to school with their different personalities, experiences, and learning style; as teachers, we know that they will all have different needs.

To address these needs, we will plan to implement Intervention Strategies.

When lessons are taught, children who need more help , or are ready for more will be identified.

At some point each morning, children will be sent to different classrooms where they can receive the needed intervention.

The goal of this is to always know what each child needs, to understand that it changes by skill level, and to be able to address these changing needs.

Page 11: Dream school

TECHNOLOGYTechnology will be used school wide. An IT director will be hired for the purpose of keeping all technology up to date, and for maintaining the equipment. All teachers and staff, and students, will be trained to use the technology.

Computers Classroom sets

In OfficesComputer Lab

Visual DisplaysPromethean Smart boards

White Boards Easels of Paper

TrainingTeachersParents

Students

E books and TabletsAvailable for checkout by

the children

Computer Lab30 computers

For whole class time research

Page 12: Dream school

SC

HO

OL

MA

P

I chose this floor plan because of the layout of the classrooms. I like the way each group of classrooms is grouped together with a common area, office space for the teachers. These common areas could be used for gatherings, or for teacher meetings. In the front of the school there is a welcome area with offices, and the cafeteria area nearby. In the back right corner, there is a nice area which could be the media center. This map has many multi purpose areas.

Source: http://www.ohcg.net/sanMarco/images/6floorplan.gif

Page 13: Dream school

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCING OF THE SCHOOL

Leadership The school will have a principal

and an assistant principal. They will divide the duties as they see fit.

There will be a curriculum resource teacher, in charge of curriculum and testing.

Each grade level will have a grade level chairperson who will receive instruction from the principal, assistant principal and curriculum resource teacher.

The school will have a PTA, and the executive board of this PTA will be leaders also, alongside, and in respect of, the school leaders.

Financing The plan would be for this to be

a public school, so there will be funding from taxes.

There will be a PTA. The PTA will choose a project each year, with advice from the school leaders. They will then raise funds for this project. They will include all of the school community to instill a sense of working together for a common goal.

There will be partnerships with businesses, who can assist throughout the year with donations of goods, or with money.

Page 14: Dream school

THE FUTURE

The goal of the Stephens’ Primary Institute is to create individuals committed to learning in the 21st century. We feel it is a MUST for our students to leave us with the skills to learn individually and in groups.

Since we are a school for just ages 5 to 8, our immediate goal is for our students to be ready for the upper primary grades, then middle school, high school, and finally college.

The ultimate goal for our students would be for them to be life-long learners and productive citizens able to contribute to the global world.