Like most schools in the Carbon School District, Creekview Elementary students, faculty and staff are preparing for another school year to end with testing, field trips and other activities.
Currently in the last stretch of SAGE testing, Principal John Thomas said, “When it comes to those high stakes testing, we just want the kids to relax and do their best and not really worry about it because a lot of them hate that test anxiety, so we want to relieve that. But it doesn’t affect their grades at the end of the year, but the teachers do use that information.” The test data allows teachers the advantage of knowing where a student sits academically.
The last day for the entire school district will be on Friday, May 26. Students can expect field day activities organized by the school’s PTA, plus each grade will have various destinations scheduled for field trips as well.
Creekview has always been a huge supporter of the STEM curriculum, which is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Thomas explains, “It use to be that any school could say they were a STEM school but the state came with a criteria, we’ve been working about five years on that and finally got our STEM designation in and accepted; so it’s pretty exciting for the kids.” Every student no matter what grade they are in are involved with some sort of STEM project every quarter.
One example of a STEM project that is done during the Fall is students build a contraption made out of canned foods gathered for their annual food drive; then the school turns around and donates all the items to the local food bank to assist needy families. Thomas added, “The teachers take what they have to teach and try to make it applicable to real world situations and so kids get to collaborate and use their critical thinking skills so that when they’re placed in real life situations instead of getting frustrated with it learn engineering design process to kind of help them work through that.” This opens the door for students to be creative while using science, technology, engineering and math concepts.
When asked what the last seven years at Creekview has meant to Principal Thomas, his response, “Oh yea, its been great because I love the parents, the teachers, the students, its all been great to work with them.”
To learn more about Creekview Elementary visit their Facebook page.