Columbia School District Supports Our Students!

A couple weeks ago there were a myriad of reports in the news regarding NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it approached Pluto.  This spacecraft, about the size of a piano, was launched from Kennedy Space Center on January 19, 2006.  As it flew by, one of the photos that were sent back to earth showed Pluto directly in front of the sun (CNN, 7/26/15).  The photo surprised the NASA

scientists by showing that there were more layers of haze than they expected.  It was reported that the New Horizons spacecraft was 1.25 million miles away from Pluto when the photo was taken.

Another photo that was widely publicized in the media showed an area on the surface that appeared to be in the shape of a heart.  These photos represent the hopes and dreams of many scientists, who worked for years to make New Horizons a reality, then waited for nine more years to see the results.

At Columbia School District we focus our skills as learning specialists, our educational efforts, hopes and dreams into making the success of our students a reality.  Just like NASA’s New Horizons taking time to produce pictures, sometimes children take a little extra time and focus to become successful.  Columbia Elementary has several programs that help support our students as they learn and grow into successful adults. 

Our Reading Recovery program gives elementary students the opportunity to work one-on-one with a trained reading teacher.  These teachers not only work with the children, they also communicate with the parents to provide the greatest opportunity for success.  Our Reading Recovery teachers also spend a portion of the day working with groups of students on literacy.  This strategy teaches children skills to help them be successful in reading, which is the basis for all of our core curricular areas.

Another one of our support programs for our students is Buddies Reading, which uses volunteer community members to help provide one-on-one reading support to our youngest students.  Volunteers in this program not only include many retired community members, but working people on breaks and some of our leadership students from Columbia Central High School.

In addition, at all of our schools, Columbia provides extra support for our students who have individual education plans.  The teachers, who are specially trained to give students optimal assistance, work with the students, their regular teachers and their parents to increase their achievement.

Columbia School District also provides positive support for students in the elementary school through our summer math program for students in grades four through six, the summer Leaders In Training program for students in grades five through eight, Academic Games program open to students from September through March in grades three through eight, new afterschool robotics programs for children in grades three through six, a special “eighth hour” study program at Columbia Central, online programs for area homeschoolers and our summer school program at Columbia Central High School.  If you are interested in learning more about these or other programs at Columbia School District email me at pamela.campbell@myeagles.org or call me at 5175926641.