Overview of Unionville
Unionville Elementary School is located in Unionville, Indiana and is part of the Monroe County Community School Corporation. Unionville is a rural community located about 20 minutes from Bloomington, Indiana, the home of Indiana University. Unionville is a rural area near Lake Lemon, consisting of farms, small subdivisions, and single family homes. Unionville is grounded in a strong history and sense of community. The school was first established in 1921 as Unionville High School, later adding elementary and middle school classrooms. Unionville High School closed in 1972, when Bloomington High School North was established. Unionville Middle School closed in 1984, coinciding with the opening of Tri-North Middle School. Many generations of families in the area have attended Unionville at some point. In addition, many new families are attracted to Unionville for the excellent education, caring community and beautiful surroundings.
The "small and mighty" Unionville Elementary consists of students in pre-school through grade six with an enrollment of approximately 230 students. The student population is approximately 92% white, 4% multi-racial, 3% Hispanic and 1% Black/African American. Approximately 30% of the students are on free or reduced meals. Approximately 13% of the students are identified as high ability and 10% of the students receive services through special education.
Unionville has 10 full-time K-6 classroom teachers (several of which attended Unionville as a student at some point), an Instructional Coach and one special education teacher. There are five part-time music, art, PE, library/media and Spanish teachers, along with a part-time social worker, speech/language pathologist, and school psychologist. In addition, there are several support staff members working directly with students. Unionville teachers and staff are very experienced and extremely dedicated to Unionville and retention of teachers is high. Teachers meet weekly in Professional Learning Communities and participate in professional development throughout the year. Unionville is fortunate to have many parents, grandparents and community members who volunteer on a regular basis supporting students. The Unionville PTO is very active and are advocates of the EARTH/STEM curriculum.
Unionville students regularly perform well above state and district averages on Indiana state assessments. Unionville has received numerous awards and recognition. In 2019, Unionville was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School and a Model PLC School in 2020. Unionville teachers have been recognized as Educators of the Year by the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and selected for Fulbright's Teachers for Global Classroom International Exchange. Unionville received recognition as Outdoor Lab of the Year and as a partner with the Sycamore Land Trust. Unionville's garden was recognized as USDA's People's Garden and is a Certified Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation. In addition, Unionville was recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation with the distinction of "Tree Campus USA" in 2022, a distinction bestowed upon only 64 school across the country.
EARTH/STEM Curriculum
Unionville's EARTH/STEM curriculum is deep-rooted in the culture of the school. EARTH represents Environment, Art, Resources, Technology and Health and incorporates the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math components of STEM. Our practices are aligned with our vision of providing students with a deep connection, respect and appreciation for nature, developing problem solvers experienced in using technology and creativity to generate solutions and communicate with stakeholders, while integrating health and wellness into their lives. The learning environment expands beyond the school walls with nearly 18 acres of land, consisting of wooded trails, a pond with an outdoor learning area, vegetable and flower gardens, and a newly constructed Outdoor Learning Pavilion.
EARTH/STEM is integrated throughout the curriculum in grades K-6 and is accessible to all students. Throughout the day, you will see students engaged in teams, solving real-life problems using technology, math, science and engineering principles. Teachers plan units centered around the components of EARTH/STEM while also engaging community partners and exposing students to careers in EARTH/STEM. Students develop a sense of community and global awareness through real-world projects such as "Switch Toys" where students engineered toys to be accessible to students with special needs and the "Save Water, Secure the Future" water project in which students learned about water scarcity and made improvements to the school grounds to protect our water sources and raised money to build a well in Burkina Faso, African that brought water to thousands of people who were without water.
Students have the opportunity for additional EARTH/STEM enrichment through programs like Club Friday, the STEM to Them Bus, Maple Syrup Day, LOTUS World Music Festival and the Maker's Challenges that occur during the school day as well as Robotics, Math, Lego, Scrabble, Garden, and Running Clubs that meet before or after school. Students participate in field trips to Peden Farm, Wonderlab, Griffy Lake, Leonard Springs Nature Center and BIZTown. Students take part in GEMS (Girls Engineering, Math and Science) and STEAM Camp. The end of the year culminates with an outdoor Field Day centered around EARTH/STEM activities as well as a Saturday EARTH FEST involving several community partners. At Unionville, every student has an opportunity to participate in STEM because it is an integral part of what we stand for and what we do each and every day.