NEDERLAND - Last week I wrote about how Nederland Elementary School has become one of the highest performing schools in Boulder Valley School District (and indeed across the state). This week I thought I would take a moment to step through a typical day in the life of a student at Nederland Elementary.

Starting at 8:20 a.m. students are welcome to come into school. They are greeted by Mr. Troy, our outstanding custodian, and can either head to their classrooms or to the Panther Cafe for a free breakfast. The school day officially begins at 8:30 when students meet with their classmates for a community building morning meeting. Morning announcements happen during the morning meeting and always include birthday wishes, the Pledge of Allegiance (optional for students), and a three minute guided meditation by Nederland’s own Patty Schrader.

After the morning meeting students move into their academics. Our learning day includes whole class reading, whole class writing, small group literacy, mathematics, and social studies or science. Unlike many schools across the country, we continue to prioritize time everyday for social studies and/or science. We also prioritize recess as there is ample research supporting the value of unstructured play time outdoors.

During a whole group reading lesson students engage with complex grade level texts that seek to answer essential questions. For example, in 4th grade students are studying the essential question, “What makes a hero?” To engage with this question they read a nonfiction story about smokejumpers and then read the Greek myth, Perseus and the Fall of Medusa. Throughout this work students are discussing and answering questions, in writing, about the texts. Complex, engaging, and relevant texts are part of everyday life at Nederland Elementary.

A whole group writing lesson might have the teacher explaining and demonstrating how to write an opinion essay followed by students writing independently. In 5th grade students write an essay that compares and contrasts the hardships faced by the Pioneers, the Chinese Workers, and the Indigenous people during Westward Expansion in the 1800s and answers the question: What character traits were needed to survive the challenges and difficulties they faced? This type of critical writing is commonplace at Nederland Elementary.

One of our many strengths is our small group reading instruction block. During this time students have individualized instruction from their classroom teacher, a literacy specialist, a paraeducator, or a special education teacher. Our kindergarten small group instruction is especially entertaining. Walking through the kindergarten classrooms during this time you might see small groups of students meeting with teachers and small groups of students working together to complete a rhyming matching game or an alphabet puzzle. The goal in kindergarten is to create an environment where students are immersed in letters, words, and text. Our classrooms exemplify this while prioritizing the importance of play.

Moving onto mathematics, I recently observed a 2nd grade mathematics lesson where the students measured each other in centimeters and then collaborated to create a line plot. Students analyzed the data and summarized their findings about the data. In our data rich world, learning how to interpret, analyze, and understand data is a critical lifelong skill. 

Science and social studies are another strength of our school. In 3rd grade students completed a multidisciplinary unit on weather. Students researched extreme weather events such as tornadoes and hurricanes and wrote a paper which included important information on how to stay safe in the event of an extreme weather event. As part of this work they visited NOAA and learned firsthand the importance of understanding weather events.

Throughout the day we reinforce the importance of being responsible, respectful, and safe by giving students beads and Panther Paws when they exemplify these behaviors. Students earn beads for their classroom bead jars. When the jar gets filled the class can earn a special prize such as extra recess or pajama day. Classroom bead jars are emptied into the whole school bead jar and when that is filled the whole school earns a special day. Recently all teachers and staff wore tutus for the day! This is an example of how we use positive reinforcement to support students all while having fun.

Nederland Elementary exemplifies the perfect combination of rigorous academics, social emotional learning, real world experiences, and, most importantly, fun. Nederland Elementary is the place to be.

Please, come by the Mountain Holiday Market this weekend at the Nederland Community Center to support local merchants and learn more about the incredible opportunities at Nederland Elementary. I hope to see you there.