A new school year for Bruin Point Elementary was the focus for this week’s Carbon School District weekly update. This often brings several changes or additions like students, policies and curriculum. Principal Denna Wise shared what is new for her students and what parents will see differently with their child’s education.

One of the biggest changes that affects the entire district is administering a brand-new reading program. “We determined as a district that it was time for a new reading program. So last year all the coaches and the teachers worked together to adopt a new reading program and that has been a huge change because we haven’t had a new reading program for eleven years. Teachers been kind of just pulling to meet the new core standards,” stated Wise. The new program carries a lot of components, which brings loads of learning for students and teachers will be able to use technology which will benefit instruction to their students. To fully implement a reading or math program it generally takes three to five years, so all parties involved need to remember that there may be a lot of kinks and adjustments that will be made in the first couple of years.

The district was given the Beverly Taylor Sorenson grant last year, which allowed an instructor to travel between the schools to teach students language arts, math, social studies and science in an artistic form. This exceptional method of teaching helps students to learn by visual arts, dance, music and theatre, alongside classroom teachers that assist with the development of lesson plans. School officials are enthusiastic to continue this program again this year for their students.

Last year the school worked on character traits focusing on social and emotional behaviors towards one another. Various tools were taught to students through activities during the school year to help them learn life skills such as negotiation with others, leadership skills and discovering their strengths that they can each offer their peers. This year more focus will be given in the growth mindset in the classroom. “We are also working on the growth mindset in the classroom, so to get smarter we work harder and if things are easy we’re not learning. So, we want to challenge our students and we want to teach our students that learning should be hard and it should be challenging and we’re trying to teach our students to except those challenges. So, when they can’t do something, we taught them to say, I can’t do that yet,” stated Wise. This type of learning will be instilled in each student so they can gain the belief that they each can become smarter and more talented, which in turn opens doors to success.

Another great addition this year is a partnership with Sunnyside Cogeneration who has offered to assist the school at the beginning of the year, as well as mid-year with whatever the school may need. School officials decided they did not want material items but rather opportunities to share learning experiences with the students. This could be in the form of field trips, an introduction to learning math and science through technology and inviting specialists to visit the school. This partnership will be very beneficial for students who may not have the opportunity on their own.

To learn more about Bruin Point Elementary visit their website at http://www.carbonschools.org/