NORTHFIELD — Northfield Elementary School has a vision for the next two years, which includes expanding its science curriculum, implementing a new bullying prevention lesson plan and enhancing communication.
Northfield Elementary School Principal Megan Desmarais recently unveiled the 2017 to 2019 School Improvement Plan following a year of work by the School Council.
Desmarais explained the School Council’s six members, herself included, met monthly, reviewing the school’s 2015-2017 plan and considering future goals.
“We looked at things that had already been accomplished, things that are sort of ongoing … and things that might be obsolete,” Desmarais said of the former plan.
The council decided on five goals it felt could be accomplished by 2019. The goals are: transitioning from the 2006 Massachusetts science, technology and engineering curriculum framework to the 2016 version through creation of units by grade level; implementing Lucy Calkins writing assessments across all grades; implementing the updated Second Step curriculum to address social emotional learning and bullying prevention; ensuring a positive adult and child learning community; and improving the home-school connection through classroom and whole school communication.
Over the course of three years, Desmarais said the plan involves adding one new science unit per grade level per year, including design projects, to meet new standards. Mystery Science, an online teaching resource, will aid in providing lessons with video clips and recommendations for design activities.
Hoping to find a consistent way to grade narrative writing — and later opinion and informational writing — Desmarais said the school will collectively use Lucy Calkins writing assignments, which are accompanied by detailed rubrics.
“We have a lot of assessments for reading and math, but we didn’t really have anything consistent for writing,” she said.
Though some teachers had already been using this style of assessment, Desmarais said all grade levels will use it this year. Having pre-, post- and end-of-year assessments, she said, will aid teachers in tracking their students’ progress.
“That beginning assessment also informs teaching,” she explained.
Districtwide, elementary schools will implement the new Second Step curriculum, incorporating units on empathy, emotion management, problem solving and bullying prevention. Desmarais said this will occur at Northfield Elementary in weekly or biweekly lessons, with teachers also incorporating complementing literature.
“(It’s) really important that it’s happening in all grade levels so kids recognize what bullying is, and also what bullying isn’t,” she said.
A goal that is “so critical” and will “probably be a goal forever,” she continued, is to ensure a positive adult and child learning community. To do so, the school will continue its all-school meetings that started in February, and revisit acceptable behaviors at lunch, recess and in hallways.
Furthermore, Desmarais said, she and three teachers attended a two-day Leading Together seminar, bringing back activities to use during professional development and faculty meetings.
“This is really about the adult community and the things we can do to ensure there’s a positive relationship and there’s trust,” she said. “Students can feel when they’re in a healthy building.”
Something Desmarais said can always be improved is communication. In addition to using automated calls and printed newsletters as it has been, she said Northfield Elementary will expand its ways of reaching parents, compiling an email database to send electronic newsletters and posting about events on social media.
“It’s really using multiple ways to get information out,” she said. “It’s not likely one way is going to meet everybody’s needs.”
Additionally, Desmarais said she plans to work with the Parent-Teacher Organization to offer parent nights focusing on school-related subjects like math or science, similar to the internet safety night held last school year.
With a concise list of improvements, Desmarais said she’s excited to get started.
“This is something that’s really going to drive our work for the next couple of years,” she said of the School Improvement Plan.