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Leaders ensure that all stakeholders have ongoing opportunities to access information and learn about STEM implementation.
Leaders ensure that all stakeholders have ongoing opportunities to access information and learn about STEM implementation.
One Way Information, Two Way Communication, & Stakeholder Education
Cahaba Elementary School engages a process to share and communicate our STEM vision, mission, goals, outcomes, responsibilities, roles, events, and activities to internal and external stakeholders and consistently plans for and facilitates STEM events and activities for the school community during and beyond the regular school day. We do this with one way information, two way communication, and stakeholder education.
ONE WAY INFORMATION
ONE WAY INFORMATION
First of all, we provide one-way information about our STEM curriculum, programs, and events at Cahaba Elementary School. We have different informational outlets targeted at different groups of stakeholders. These include our school website, school newsletters, classroom newsletters, and our State of the School Report.
SCHOOL WEBSITE AND NEWSLETTERS
The Cahaba Elementary School website is the major information outlet for all stakeholders. It provides them with a myriad of information about our school and highlights ways in which we are working towards our STEM vision and accomplishing our STEM goals. Some of the headlines include STEM grants won by teachers, Math Team and Science Olympiad accomplishments, Cahaba Cares contributions, a link to our Technology Support and Resources Website, and a calendar of events like Choose Your Own Adventure Day. The website also has links to our Social Media and our quarterly school Newsletter.
Our school newsletter is an information outlet for families and subscribers in the Trussville area. We produce it using the SMORE program. Our quarterly newsletter tells the stories behind our announcements on the school website.
CLASSROOM NEWSLETTERS
Teachers communicate important school information, upcoming learning units, and class information to parents using weekly newsletters. Each week our teachers email newsletters to our parents. The majority of our teachers use a classroom Facebook account as their Newsletter. This allows them to give parents information daily. It also allows parents to see pictures of their students engaged in activities and to comment. Some teachers go live with lessons so that parents can view a lesson in real time. Those who do not use Facebook pages use a program like MicroSoft Office, Google Docs, or the SMORE Newsletter Program to create their newsletters. The SMORE Newsletter program gives teachers the ability to produce beautifully designed newsletters with pictures of students engaged in various units of study.
STATE OF THE SCHOOL REPORT
Twice a year our principal gives a State of the School presentation to our board. Up until Covid, we created a magazine for the board that accompanies this report. The presentation informed our board about our school, including our STEM endeavors. When Covid struck, the magazine was discontinued. There are currently no plans to resume publication, but for years it told the story of all of our school’s journeys, initiatives, and accomplishments at the State of the School meetings.
STEM Vision, Mission, and Goals
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CES School Newsletter
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TWO WAY COMMUNICATION
TWO WAY COMMUNICATION
Another way we ensure that all stakeholders have ongoing opportunities to access information and learn about STEM implementation is through two-way communication methods like email, teacher Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, and our STEM Learning Platform. Two way communication methods, not only give our stakeholders access to information, but allow our stakeholders to communicate back.
Our email addresses are publicly posted on our website. So all stakeholders can email any of our administration, faculty, or staff. Email provides stakeholders with all of kinds instant communication with our administration, faculty, and staff and vice versa. Teachers email all information from our school in addition to posting it on their social media and sending it our in newsletters. Resources are also acquired using email. Sometimes we email businesses or organizations to inform them of resources we need and sometimes they email us to us to give us resources. For example Fenwick Labs emailed us because they wanted to donate growing kits to our STEM Lab and the Civil Air Patrol emailed us to inform us of their program for STEM educators. Email provides us with a way to instantly send out information, like after a special day or event, teachers send parents a link to the picture album with all the photographs and videos taken during the day. This allows parents to see pictures of their students that might not have been posted on social media. For example, our 100 Days of School Day where students dressed up like they are a hundred years old and do math problems using the number 100. Email also provides parents a way of communicating back. Many parent suggestions and requests are communicated through email.
Benefits of Two Way Communication
Fenwick Labs Contacted Us By Email to Donate Growing Kits
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The Civil Air Patrol Contacted Us By Email About Aerospace Engineering STEM Education Program and Free STEM Kits
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SOCIAL MEDIA
We communicate the day to day activities and accomplishments using social media forums. We have found that most parents do not access our website daily, but they do access social media. Social media has become the most efficient and effective way to communicate daily with parents because they usually streamline all their social media accounts and have activated their notifications on their cell phones. We use our school facebook account, @CahabaElementary, to communicate everyday with our parents and other subscribers about all happenings at our school. For example, on the October 25, 2022 entry, parents can read about how the Trussville Cub Scouts gave our Kindergarten Community Garden a truckload of donations and gathered on a Sunday to help students work on their gardening project. The October 26, 2022 describes how the Sorors of the Progressive Pearls of Trussville, a graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., adopted our Kindergarten’s community garden as one of their community service projects.
Many of our teachers use classroom Facebook pages to communicate with parents about our school programs and functions and what students are learning in class as well. For example, Mrs. Jones posted pictures of students doing a worm habitat experiment and Mrs. Pennington posted about students learning with BeeBots.
Some of our teachers participate in professional tweeting. Tweeting is not allowed during the school day but we are encouraged to take pictures to tweet our after school hours. These tweets are primarily aimed at sharing our STEM classroom experiences, programs, and events with our fellow colleagues at other TCS schools and our district.
Mrs. Latham Twitter about the Class VR Lab Experience
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Mrs. Pennington Posted on Her Facebook Page About Students Using BeeBots to Learn Map Skills
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Mrs. Jones Posted on Her Facebook Page About the Kindergarten's Worm Investigation Using Loupes
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STEM LEARNING PLATFORM
Our STEM Lab teacher has a website, aprilsmith.org, that has an announcements page with STEM Lab announcements, picture galleries, lessons, data bases, a parent resources portal, fun labs, and choice boards. Parents and students can use the site to see pictures and videos of students engaged in STEM activities, access lessons, get help and advice with technologies, and find online activities to do at home.
Mrs. Smith's STEM Learning Platform Announcements Page
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STAKEHOLDER EDUCATION
STAKEHOLDER EDUCATION
Finally, we educate our stakeholders about our STEM program at face to face events like our Meet the Teacher Nights, P.A.L.S. Academies, Chat Nights, and Open House Nights and online platforms like our TCS Technology Support and Resources and the Parent Resources Portal on the STEM Lab website.
P.A.L.S. ACADEMIES
At Cahaba Elementary School, we provide STEM educational experiences for parents and family members called P.A.L.S. Academies. P.A.L.S. stands for “Parents Actively Learning with Students.” P.A.L.S. Academies are education camps held one night each trimester. Each trimester camp offers six, thirty-five to forty minute courses with two sessions. Parents sign up for two courses. Academy nights are planned and facilitated by teachers and hosted and directed by students. P.A.L.S. Academy courses were created to help educate parents about the content we teach, methods and strategies we use, and technologies that help facilitate instruction at Cahaba. Some STEM courses we have offered have been Comlink Coaching, Dreambox Padawans, Navigating the Hyperdrive, Jedi MyOn Tricks, Managing Your Droids, CES Math Instruction, CES STEM Lab, CES Science Instruction, Digital Learning, and Tech Tools at Home.
Picture Carousel of PALS Academies
CHAT Nights Allow Teachers and Parents the Opportunity to Talk About Students' Learning Experiences
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CHAT NIGHTS
CHAT Nights are held at the beginning of the year. At CHAT Nights, parents learn all about our policies, procedures, expectations, and curriculums and get a crash course of the technologies their students will use. Teachers go over our communication plan, recruit parent partnerships, and inform parents of our school’s programs, initiatives, and events for the year.
OPEN HOUSE
Open House is a night when parents come to see student work displays, exhibits and learning demonstrations, shop at our Book Fair, and participate in student led conferences. This night is all about communicating and celebrating student learning. At Open House, students' work is displayed for parents and community members to view. Students get the chance to talk about their work and projects and have a chance to communicate their self-assessment and improvement plans.
Open Houses Give Students a Chance to Show Parents Their Work
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PARENT RESOURCE SITES
We educate our parents about the technologies and devices and provide tutorials and troubleshooting for parents using our CES Parent Resources Portal and our TCS Technology and Support Resources Website. Because we are a school that uses a wide variety of technology and programs, parents often need help setting up these programs at home and helping their students to use these programs. The CES Parent Portal also allows parents to communicate with someone who can help them or to ask for advice when purchasing technologies for their kids. The portal and website are both ever evolving resource. New things are added monthly at the request of teachers and parents.
P.A.L.S. Academies, CHAT Nights, Open Houses, and the Parent Resources Portal and TCS Website have empowered families at home. We receive less phone calls requesting technology assistance or advice about technologies, because parents are able to manage and learn about technologies at face to face events and at home.
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