Florence Elementary 

Florence Elementary ACE Fall 2022 Recap! 

Our ACE program had about 70 students in the Fall. We average around 58 students each day. This Fall we focused mostly on writing and math fluency during tutoring time. During enrichment we had a lot of STEM activities. I think the favorite was making slime. The older students love playing Knock Out basketball their last 10 minutes in the gym. On Wednesdays we had a vendor, Freestyle Sports, come in and do lessons with all of the students. They started out with basketball drills and migrated toward other fitness challenges and group activity games. For Family Engagement we had some very successful activities. We provided pumpkins for carving, a Paint with Me Kimberly Keller class where we painted snowmen, and a Christmas Party. At the Christmas Party we made hot chocolate jars and cone trees with icing and sprinkles.

Program Description 

Specific needs for an after school program at this site include the fact that the campus is a Title 1 school with many low socioeconomic status families. In addition to having a large population of students coming from a low socioeconomic background, there is also a high percentage of students functioning below grade level. The goals of the ACE program at this center are to provide students with extended learning opportunities outside the regular school day and to assist students in meeting academic standards in each of the core academics subjects (math, reading, science, social studies). The selection of students for the ACE program starts with campus principal and teacher recommendations. ACE participants are generally identified via the RTI Team identifying potential students from Tiers 2 & 3. Teachers use their judgment in determining which of their students are struggling academically and could benefit from the help that is provided in the ACE program. Besides in class performance, the teachers also review the student’s performance on the STAAR state assessments. In addition to teacher recommendations the coordinator receives requests from students themselves to be allowed into the program. Parents also make recommendations for their children to attend ACE. ACE offers tutoring in Math and ELA. The academic portion of ACE is founded on a review of the regular school day content taught during each nine-week period and the subsequent alignment of TEKS with the ACE program lesson plans. Because of the coordinator’s access to regular classroom teacher lesson plans, the coordinator is able to ensure the alignment of the TEKS with the ACE lesson plans. There are also instances where teachers communicate directly with the coordinator and indicate when a student is in need of particular help. The support provided by key district and campus individuals has encouraged the ACE program staff in their efforts. These individuals include the campus principal, the superintendent, the curriculum director, business manager, the nutrition director and transportation director. The local campus provides a number of facilities for use in ACE that include the small gym, ACE office and classrooms, the computer lab, and the outside playground area. The campus library can also be used if needed. In determining which activities to offer, the site coordinator conducted a student interest survey. Teachers also conducted discussions with the students about what they would like to do. The Logic Model provided the evidence to support the encouragement of teachers to do writing prompts and STEAM activities with the students.

A variety of enrichment activities were offered during the school year. These included:

✓ Discovery Trunks from Texas Wildlife Association (learning about Animal Adaptations and the Life

of a Bird)

✓ Kahoot (a quiz game played on the iPad in many subjects

✓ Computer time (Prodigy, PBS Kids, Starfall, Discovery Education)

✓ STEAM (building materials such as Circuits, Legos, marshmallows and

spaghetti, slime, kinetic dough, etc.)

✓ Board games (Candy Land, Boggle, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Sorry, Yahtzee, Domino games,

Pictionary, Pencil Nose) and

✓ Playground for exercise.

The year has provided a challenge in obtaining adequate staff for ACE. Staff meetings and trainings have interfered with ACE time and teachers working late in their classrooms. It was recruiting teachers from previous years since they enjoyed working in ACE and wanted to do it again. Several teachers even made purchases for supplies from their own funds. ACE teachers are valuable to the ACE program at this center because they are developing the tutoring and enrichment lessons based upon their knowledge of what is transpiring in the regular school day.