Elementary Education Department
We Expect the Best!
Mission: To provide every student with the opportunity to achieve academic excellence by ensuring that students at every level are encouraged to participate in a rigorous, relevant, and engaging curriculum. Full day universal Pre-K is offered to all four year olds in the district. Our early childhood program is aimed at providing a developmentally appropriate curriculum for four old students with the appropriate balance of rigor and relevance in a nurturing environment. The program provides developmentally appropriate learning activities for children in an environment designed to address their social, emotional, physical, intellectual, and creative growth. All classrooms are organized and evaluated using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS).
The Elementary Department of West Feliciana Parish Schools offers a wide range of services and opportunities for our youngest learners in grades Pre-K to 5. We support the instruction, curriculum and assessment program at the schools to increase the achievement of all students. Elementary Education focuses strong attention onbuilding a solid educational foundationin reading, writing, and mathematics. Our mission is to directly support principals and teachers in the implementation of, the Louisiana Student Standards (LSS).In building a base of knowledge, the LSS are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world reflecting the knowledge and skills our young people need for success in college and careers.
Stakeholders have a vested interest in the teaching and learning process that enables every student to reach targets that are linked to achieving the goal of college and career readiness. Instruction at the elementary level targets specific competencies, requirements, standards and skills at each grade level. We view families and the community members as essential partners in elementary education. In West Feliciana’s elementary schools, we reach and teach the whole child!
Family Support Toolbox
Early Childhood Resources (West Feliciana, LDOE)
Early Childhood Blueprint (West Feliciana)
The goals of West Feliciana’s Elementary Department are closely aligned with goals 1 and 2 of the State’s Louisiana Believes Goals:
Examples of some of the Focused Program Initiativescurrently being usedto assist students in achieving Goal 1:
After School Intervention and Remediation
ELFA: Ensuring Literacy for All strategies
Positive Behavior Support
Response to Intervention
Goal 2:Students arrive in 4thGrade on time and on level
Examples of some of the Focused Program Initiatives to achieve Goal 2
Early Childhood Education including universal Pre-K for four year old students
After School Intervention and Remediation
ELFA: Ensuring Literacy for All strategies
Positive Behavior Support
Response to Intervention
Programs & Services
TITLE I
Title I is a federal aid program for elementary and secondary schools and is designed to support services to improve the educational performance of low-achieving children in high-poverty schools. Under the Title I program, eligible schools in West Feliciana Parish receive grants to implement programs that provide a variety of services to children. Funds are used to provide teachers, paraprofessionals, tutors, parental involvement activities, after school, tutoring and other activities for the students who are achieving below level. Schools are selected and funds are allocated based on the percentage of students who are on the free or reduced meal program at the school. In West Feliciana, both elementary schools receive Title I funds.
Title I Brochure
DARE (DRUG ABUSE RESISTANCE EDUCATION)
D.A.R.E. is designed to equip elementary children with skills for resisting pressure to experiment with drugs and alcohol. D.A.R.E. instructors are police officers who visit classrooms once a week to present the curriculum to students in fifth grade. The officers have been trained in an intense educational program.
Leader In Me
LEADER IN ME (LIM) is an evidence-based, comprehensive school improvement model--developed in partnership with educators--that empowers the students with the leadership and life-skills they need to thrive in the 21st century.
*BLE- LIMLighthouse School
*Bains- LIM Lighthouse School
Louisiana A+
Louisiana A+ Schools is a whole school transformation model that nurtures creativity in every learner - student and teacher - by providing professional development in arts integration. Louisiana A+ Schools began in 2013 as an initiative of theGeorge Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA).
*BLE- LAA+ School
Instructional Programs
ELEMENTARY LANGUAGE ARTSElementary Language Arts provides an opportunity for every student to become a successful reader, speaker, and writer. This is accomplished through a balanced literacy approach that includes daily Writers and Readers Workshops, using exemplar literature, Louisiana student standards as the curriculum, and ongoing assessment of individual students to guide instruction. The goal is to provide a supportive and challenging environment rich in written and spoken language that will accelerate literacy learning for all students.
DYNAMIC INDICATORS OF BASIC EARLY LITERACY SKILLS (DIBELS Next)The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are simple assessments given to students in kindergarten through third grade which measure the critical skills that predict early reading success. A trained team of assessors at each school administers DIBELS Next Benchmark Assessments to all K-3 students three times a year. Students experiencing reading difficulties are provided interventions to address the specific skills identified. Monitoring is conducted every three weeks to assess progress made on the specific skill.
ELEMENTARY FOREIGN LANGUAGEThis program provides foreign language instruction for students in fourth andfifth grade. Foreign language teachers teach Spanish and provide students cultural enrichment opportunities, as well as second language skills.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (ELL)Children whose native language is a language other than English receive help through the ELL program if they are unable to function on grade level. An ELL tutor is provided to assiststudents during the school day. The program aims to help these children become proficient and function on level as quickly as possible.
Elementary Mathematics in West Feliciana focuses on the Louisiana Student Standards.The K-5 standards provide students with a solid foundation in whole numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals—which help young students build the foundation to successfully apply more demanding math concepts and procedures, and move into applications.In kindergarten, the standards follow successful international models and recommendations from the National Research Council’s Early Math Panel report, by focusing kindergarten work on the number core: learning how numbers correspond to quantities, and learning how to put numbers together and take them apart (the beginnings of addition and subtraction).
The K-5 standards build on the best state standards to provide detailed guidance to teachers on how to navigate their way through topics such as fractions, negative numbers, and geometry, and do so by maintaining a continuous progression from grade to grade.
The standards stress not only procedural skill but also conceptual understanding, to make sure students are learning and absorbing the critical information they need to succeed at higher levels - rather than the current practices by which many students learn enough to get by on the next test, but forget it shortly thereafter, only to review again the following year.
Having built a strong foundation K-5, students can do hands-on learning in geometry, algebra and probability and statistics. Students who have completed 7th grade and mastered the content and skills through the 7th grade will be well-prepared for algebra in grade 8.
Parent and Family Engagement
Every school in the district participates on-going family engagementactivities. The goal is to involve parents in their children’s education through active participation in school operation and various activities (Open House, Family Nights, library helpers, classroom tutors, parenting workshops, chaperones, etc.) Thousands of hours are donated each year by our parent volunteers.
