Thomasville Heights Elementary is Ready for Day One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T-tZanHrdc&feature=youtu.be

I met the ‘street team’ behind the back to school campaign at Thomasville Elementary

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!  Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes! Eyes and ears and mouth and nose… Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes! Yes, we played that song/exercise game while waiting for the restroom. We all practiced our hand and eye coordination – in other words, learning was taking place in nooks and corners of the school even when students would have otherwise been standing idle.

Thomasville principal Cynthia Jewell and her teaching staff are recognizable in the Thomasville community.  They spent the week prior to the start of school canvassing the neighborhoods surrounding the school. They go door-to-door encouraging students to register and attend school on Day One. The principal was out in the neighborhood today as well, tracking down students who did not show up to find out where they were and if they were in school somewhere else.

I’m not surprised by their extra efforts on the attendance campaign. This school, Thomasville Heights Elementary, hosted “A Night Under The Stars,” a father-daughter dance to promote family support for the students.

I did help in a classroom where our youngest students worked on handwriting and how to spell their names. This too helps with hand-eye coordination – something we unfortunately have moved away from in public schools (…don’t get me started on spelling – that’s for another blog).

While touring the school I did notice that the original building design is not the best structure for what today’s schools need and the building does need facility improvement. I will be working with the principal and operations staff to discuss our options to make those improvements.

Thomasville Heights Elementary serves grades Pre-K thru 5 in south Atlanta.  It is a feeder school in the Carver High School cluster. Thomasville has 350 students with almost 100% qualifying for free or reduced lunch.  Recent CRCT scores show growth in the areas of reading and English language arts.

Fun Fact: Fifth grade students recently learned about the Dewey Decimal Classification System and made a great video to explain their findings. 

Well wishes for the school year!