Students at Wellington Elementary are back from their long Christmas break and ready to get back into the swing of things. They are busily continuing to work on their reading skills, celebrating the fact that they now have a full-time counselor at the school and looking forward to an upcoming PTA Movie night at the end of the month.
“It’s well known out there that our district has a high focus on getting kids on their reading level and that’s been very exciting. We are seeing a lot of great growth and teachers working hard, students working hard, appreciate that parents that are really trying to help us out at home by supporting their kids with reading on the right level and so we’ve kind of try to motivate and re-motivate by tracking our progress in a fun way,” said Principal Stacy Basinger. School officials have gumball decorated bulletin boards set up near the office for each grade to track their reading progress. Each student that level’s up on their reading are given the opportunity to visit the Principal’s office for a free gumball as their reward.
The school administration is excited to now have a full-time counselor available on the premises. “Our counselor is able to go into the classrooms and actually educate kids and work with them in a fun way, its’ music, it’s chants, it’s hands-on lessons, role-playing, it’s just really engaging for the kids to help them learn. We’re hoping over time that we build those skills that they need to not just be academic learners but social and emotional and mental health success,” explained Principal Basinger. The CARE Coalition has designed a curriculum for counselors to be able to work alongside with parents on social and emotional issues with their children and parents have welcomed it with open arms.
The school’s PTA Board has scheduled another movie night at the end of the month for students and their families. “We have a board that just dedicates so much time, as do a lot of schools, and it’s such a blessing to have their help to come in and they love our kids and they want to bring in fun things. They did a movie night earlier this year, they’ve done a chocolate fundraiser, they gave every kid in the school a book for Christmas, it’s been a lot of fun, they’ve been busy. They have scheduled another PTA Movie Night for Friday, January 31 our students will be voting for that movie, so that won’t be announced quite yet,” said Principal Basinger. Parents will be notified of the movie night details by a note that will accompany their students as the event nears.
To keep posted on the happenings at Wellington Elementary visit their Facebook page.