KDS Elementary School
KDS DAR Elementary School serves grades K-4. The average enrollment at the school is 450 students, with a school staff of 44, including administration, certified personnel, and support personnel. The staff has great pride in knowing the extent of the many different programs that are in place to draw upon the various needs and learning abilities of the students with the total school program. These programs are designed to draw upon the various levels of learning abilities and learning styles of the many different age groups within the student body.
Every day is a busy day at the KDS Library Media Center. Almost 60,000 books were checked out by the students. The students worked very hard within the schools Accelerated Reader program; a program where students utilize the computer to take tests on books that they have read. The program allows students to advance through the different levels of the program at their own pace. The program provides for various incentives to allow the students to strive to increase their reading ability. The most noticeable and sought after incentive is for the students to individually earn 100 points for the school year. Any student earning at least 100 points has the opportunity to paint a ceiling tile that hangs in the student’s respective classroom. At the close of the school year, 130 students had obtained the 100 point goal. Presently, the ceilings throughout the school expose the work of students from past school years. It is an impressive sight to see the many different colors and animation that reveal the achievement gained and the focus of strengthening reading at the school.
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Currently, there is a focus on gaining nonfiction material to incorporate reading with the science and history lessons being taught in the classrooms. Many students this year have visited the library with a list of science or history materials needed for required reading in the classroom. This has somewhat changed the focus of ordering books for the library, because of such a demand for these nonfiction books. It has been a challenge, but it has also been a wonderful way to get the students learning about specific topics through the use of books. |
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KDS DAR Elementary School operates an Extended Day Program to meet the special needs of working parents and their children. The program provides quality care and enrichment activities to enhance the regular school curriculum. The program is operated each day 3:00p.m. – 6:00p.m. each day that the school is in session throughout the school year. The program addresses the social, physical, and intellectual needs of the children through a variety of services. Also a variety of physical education activities are available for the students including elements from the regular physical education classes during the main school day with the addition of karate instruction two days each week. Academically, the students are assisted by a certified teacher in working on homework with access to other programs such as: Accelerated Reader, Math Facts in a Flash, ThinkLink, and a wide variety of tactile learning games. As well, the students are exposed to art, puppetry, and educational computer games.
It is easy to see the many good things that are ongoing at the elementary school. The school staff is to be commended for the efforts to establish such fine programs. As well, a special thank you goes out to the DAR and many volunteers within the community that have contributed in so many ways in the past; we look forward to their continued participation in the future.
To view KDS DAR Elementary's Marshall County site:
http://www.marshallk12.org/DARElementary/