Southside SOARs toward success

SANDPOINT — Southside Elementary is the home of the Eagles, where students and staff SOAR toward success.

SOAR is an acronym for safety, ownership, attitude and respect.

“It is with those narratives that we reinforce positive behavior and celebrate our students,” said Southside principal Jacque Johnson.

Throughout the school year, principals from each school in the district have presented to the board, answering two main questions: What is unique or special about your school? And what strategies are taking place this year that are different that the school is instituting to get more students learning more?” To answer the questions, Johnson focused on three areas — community, academics and STEAM.

Each week at the school starts with a “community circle,” Johnson said, where the sixth-grade class leads the flag salute, birthday celebrations are held, and S.O.A.R. is highlighted. Teachers present two awards each week in one of the S.O.A.R. categories. The “community circle” also provides a ready-made audience, she said. For example, everyone is gathered to hear fifth-graders perform with their clarinets — every fifth-grade student has a clarinet through a Festival at Sandpoint donation.

In the area of academics, Southside is a National Blue Ribbon school, recognized by the program in 2014, as well as a National Title I Distinguished School as of 2016.

This year, in looking at MAP — measures of academic performance — the school surpassed the national average in student growth, which Johnson said was “outstanding.” For the ISATS, Johnson said the students did “awesome” in English language arts, though they only did “OK” in math.

“And when we looked at our (Idaho Reading Indicator) results, they are so new we are struggling to understand what they are all about,” she said. “The old IRI was just a quick readiness, one skill; where the new IRI is a robust assessment of foundational skills, so we are learning.”

With that information, Johnson said school administrators developed a continuous improvement plan to focus on math and ELA.

Johnson also talked about CYGLR — Cultivating Leaders to Grow Young Readers. Southside is one of a few schools in North Idaho participating in a partnership with the State Department of Education, special education, literacy and response to intervention to look at the school’s literacy program and move it forward. Rubrics are used to score Southside’s literacy program and instruction, which the school has moved forward in both areas, she said.

Johnson then segued into the school’s STEAM efforts, noting that the program is “heavily” dependent on grants. Southside librarian Lynette Leonard is the school’s “pioneer” in grant writing, she said, and has secured several grants from organizations such as Panhandle Alliance for Education, Idaho STEM Action Center, Idaho STEM Commission Foundation and the Idaho Commission for Libraries among others.

Southside began working on its STEAM program five years ago, Johnson said, and since then, the staff and students have grown in their understanding of STEAM, and the depth of the program.

Students select from a “menu” of STEAM classes, which they then attend for one hour a week for nine weeks. After the nine-week study, the school hosts a STEAM exhibition, where the students show off everything they learned.

Some of the STEAM options include robotics, music, dance, archaeology and gardening. Last year, the library was transformed into a makerspace, with a 3D printer among the items available for the STEAM program. Southside has also added an Afterschool STEAM program and summer camps. This year, students participated in a full week of coding events in celebration of Computer Science Week, and a family STEAM career night was held as well.

“But our STEAM doesn’t stop here,” Johnson said. “We have a dream.”

Johnson said she and Leonard took a trip to Washington and saw the first STEAM Smart Lab in the state, and their dream is to have the first in Idaho. The Smart Lab will be complete with curriculum, supplemental materials, and a broad range of sciences. The goal, she said, is to raise $140,000.

To top off the presentation, Southside’s fifth- and sixth-grade FabSLAM teams, who took home three of four awards from the regional competition in March, detailed their projects.

Fifth-graders Sara McConnell, Rachel Aylward and Josey Wallace won first place for their 3D-printed Land Water Cleaner Rover design. The rover is designed to go on land and water picking up trash, cleaning up oil in water and other debris in the waterways.

The sixth-grade team, the “Solar Stars,” designed a Fire Retardant Safety Drone, which won third place in the competition. The group also won the Student Choice award, which is voted on by the students from around the region who participate in the competition. Making up the sixth-grade team was Baylee Nuttman, Kaydince Wells, Georgia Shirley and Mercedes Etzwiler.

FabSLAM is a national competition that started in 2013, teaching kids about 3D fabrication and design. Idaho is one of only three states that currently participate in the program, and this is the second year Southside has participated in the regional competition.

Before departing, each student received a certificate of recognition from district officials for their hard work and achievements in FabSLAM competition.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.