Academics
Developing Sound Foundations
Stevens Primary School helps children develop a solid foundation in the following academic areas: math, language arts, science, social studies, art and music.
Title I
Title I is a 100% federally-funded supplemental education program that provides financial assistance to local educational agencies to improve educational opportunities for educationally deprived children. Title I programs are designed to help children meet the state content and performance standards in reading, language arts, and mathematics.
Importance of Parental Engagement
A synthesis of the research concluded that “the evidence is consistent, positive, and convincing: families have a major influence on their child’s achievement in school and through life. When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more.” Studies have found that students with engaged parents, no matter what their income or background, are more likely to:
- earn high grades and test scores, and enroll in higher–level programs
- pass their classes, earn credits, and be promoted
- attend school regularly
- graduate and go on to postsecondary education
Resources and links to parent involvement ideas and activities
Parent Involvement and Home to School Compacts
Title I stresses the priority of home and school working together in collaboration. Each year, every school that receives Title I services reviews the home to school compact with their working parent organization such as PTO, PTA , CSO, etc. Each school must develop, jointly with parents of children participating in Title I, Part A services, a written school parental involvement policy that describes how the school will carry out the parental involvement requirements including the development of a School–Parent Compact. If the school already has a parental involvement policy that applies to all parents, the school may amend that existing policy, if necessary, to meet the requirements. Schools must update these policies periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school.
Stevens Parent Engagement Policy
Download Thaddeus Stevens Primary School Title I School Parent Engagement Policy
Download Stevens Parent Engagement PolicyStevens Primary Home School Compact
A written agreement that outlines how families, the entire school staff and students will share responsibility for improved academic achievement.
Download Stevens Primary Home School CompactAccelerated Reader
This component of the independent reading program encourages students in grades one through eight in the Williamsport Area School District to read books. Students take a computer-based test and earn points. School-based libraries will have appropriate books marked AR. You can search by book level, author, or title by viewing our Accelerated Reader online database to see if a book is an AR title.
Full Option Science Systems (FOSS)
Science is an active enterprise, made active by our human capacity to think. Scientific knowledge advances when scientists observe objects and events, think about how they relate to what is known, test their ideas in logical ways, and generate explanations that integrate the new information into the established order. The scientific enterprise is both what we know (content) and how we come to know it (process). The best way for students to appreciate the scientific enterprise, learn important scientific concepts, and develop the ability to think critically is to actively construct ideas through their own inquiries, investigations, and analyses. The FOSS program was created to engage students in these processes as they explore the natural world.
GO Math!
GO Math! combines 21st century technology with modern content, dynamic interactivities, a variety of instructional videos to engage today’s digital natives, and multiple ways to support learning aligned to academic standards. According to its website, “Every student is supported through the universal access features of the program as they learn to think critically and apply their math knowledge.”
Health & Physical Education
Action Based Learning (ABL)
Stimulating Maturity Through Accelerated Readiness Training – SMART Kids
Every morning each kindergarten student has the opportunity to participate in activities based on current brain research that movement enhances learning.
They spin, jump, roll, dance, walk, throw, catch, match, hop, crawl, slide, climb, kick, balance, track, trace, count, pattern, and much more.
Each activity is designed with three areas in mind:
- Vestibular system – inner ear responsible for balance
- Visual Pursuits – use of the three sets of eye muscles
- Bilateral movements – movements that cross the midline of the body and enhance brain function
Benefits of this program include:
- Brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) release triggered by exercise enables neurons to communicate with one another
- Organized brain functions due to cross lateral movements
- Reading skills enhancement from eye tracking exercises and peripheral vision development
- Improved reading capacity from balance exercises
- Improved behavior due to physical activity and proper diet
- Increased attention due to play
Other points of interest about ABL may be the cross-curricular lessons that include literacy and math skills and can be adapted to social studies and science. Fun is our best by product of the program, because it produces the desire for the children to come on a daily basis.