Partnerships

Jefferson has solidified several unique partnerships that have brought tremendous growth to our school. Our partnerships with Lakes and Streams and the Watershed Foundation have led to incredible action research projects that students have championed. Our work with Da-Lite/Legrand has opened up new opportunities to work hand-in-hand with local business experts and leaders. Da-Lite/Legrand has offered their support as both a thought partner and financial donor with donations valued at over $5,000 this fall alone. The Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams has become another wonderful thought partner. Sarah Baier from the Lilly Center on Grace's campus has helped us structure our lakes and streams curriculum. She has offered in-person meetings, virtual meetings, email correspondence, and field trips to the center.
Community engagement is important for Jefferson to showcase to students how their learning impacts others and inspire them to move towards STEM careers. Every guest expert from the community has promoted their background and demonstrated to students that they can pursue careers in their respective fields. Students can see themselves in those STEM careers and witness women and minorities in these STEM roles. Community members will have opportunities to contribute to this learning and exposure by engaging in activities and STEM instruction to make learning authentic and provide opportunities to engage real-world problems. Extended learning continues to promote further opportunities to investigate more and pursue an interest in everything from chess to robotics. These clubs are open to all students and our transportation department for the district makes sure that this is not a hurdle for any student.

4.1 Culture

Da-Lite/Legrand

We have robust partners with many community organizations in Winona Lake. We are fortunate to receive support from volunteers and local businesses in our community. Bringing a community together around the school helps move our mission forward. Da-Lite Legrand has become one of our key thought partners who has influenced our curriculum and mission at Jefferson. We have met in person several times, but most of our correspondence takes place over e-mail. The following email correspondence is just one example of some of the correspondence we have had with local business leaders at Da-Lite to help develop a recycling initiative and green energy/sustainability.

Lakes and Streams Curriculum Map.docx

Lakes and Streams Partnership

Darci Zolman and Sarah Baier have worked with us over the past five years as a district to help implement a Lakes and Streams curriculum that provides equity in STEM for all schools in our district.

Darci Zolman

One of our community partners, Darci Zolman (from the Lakes and Streams foundation) partnered with numerous organizations to bring groups together for a week of lakes and streams study. The lakes association even gathered together and took the students on pontoon rides.

Watershed Foundation

We have had the opportunity to work one-on-one with the executive director of the Watershed Foundation during our PBL on e. Coli in our lakes and streams with 4th and 5th grade students. Lyn Crighton has spent many hours planning with us, coordinating, and sharing knowledge with students about local sources of e. Coli. Lyn has been a valuable contributor to our curriculum planning in STEM.

Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams

The Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams is a part of the Grace College Campus located only 1/2 mile from the Jefferson Elementary school. Students have the opportunity to walk over the the center to enhance their learning about Lakes and Streams in our community and take action on civic engagement projects. 2nd grade students learned about water pollution and came back excited to try to come up with solutions. 5th grade students in First LEGO League returned from their trip to the center and designed a colander-style drain aimed at reducing water pollution in drainage.

4.2 STEM Career Exploration

Calendar of Career Exploration

Additional Documentation

This calendar outlines times and opportunities that students have interacted with experts in diverse fields or participated in an activity centered around career exploration. 100% of teachers and students engage in STEM career exploration quarterly at a minimum as evidenced by this chart. All teachers at Jefferson are included in this chart.

Calendar of career exploration

Real-World Projects

In this picture, students are working alongside Lyn Crighton (a local watershed foundation expert) on identifying a community problem. She is trying to identify the source of e. Coli pollution and invited the students to become researchers with her and help discover the source.

Community Impact

Students in 1st and 2nd grade explore the importance of recycling and visit the local recycling depot. They work closely with Suzanne Collins from the Depot to create a systematic way to recycle in our school. This project has empowered students to take a civic action and learn to work together to achieve a solution.

Grace College Visits

Our campus is conveniently located right next to the Grace College campus. Students are able to take consistent walking field trips several times per year to explore the chemistry labs, the hanging gardens, the fish tank labs, and classrooms around the facilities. Students interact with college students of various backgrounds and explore what it means to be a scientist.

4.3 Community Engagement

Watershed Foundation

Lyn Crighton, from the Watershed foundation, has been an excellent partner with action research and civic engagement problems in our community. She has partnered with us on three major Watershed projects, including two e. Coli studies and one local pollution study.

Da-Lite/Legrand

Da-Lite Legrand has offered over 15 volunteers to consistently come and support our lakes and streams sustainability initiative. We have partnered with Da-LIte with a focus on sustainability.

Steve Koontz

Steve Koontz, a local master gardener, has partnered with Jefferson to help support our tower gardening curriculum.. At Jefferson, we have 5 tower gardens that classroom teachers use to teach various plant and life science skills. Two new tower garden were just donated by our community partner Da-Lite Legrand.

jeffersonstem.docx

KC Recycling

KC Recycling is one of our key thought partners at Jefferson. Suzanne Collins leads the educational outreaach for KC Recycling and she has partnered with our school to present engaging lessons to 1st and 2nd grade students. Our 1st and 2nd grade teams champion the work of recycling in our school. With contributions from KC Recycling, we have been able to launch a very effective K-6 paper recycling program that has cut down significantly on paper waste.

STEM letter Jefferson.docx

Soil and Water Conservation District

For many years, Darci Zolman has partnered with Warsaw Community Schools to bring Lakes and Streams education to our schools. Our Lakes and Streams pillar has been a community impact project that will have impacts long after students have graduated from school. From a young age, children are learning the impact of our habits and practices on our local sources of freshwater. They are provided resources and education to take an action and make a change if they choose.

SKM_C65919102817470.pdf

Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams

One of the unique features of Jefferson Elementary School is that we are within walking distance of the Grace College campus. This provides students with opportunities to work with leaders of our community. Sarah Baier and Nate Bosch (both leaders in education) have partnered with Jefferson Elementary to bring students curriculum and field trips unique to Jefferson students. Students are able to take a 5-minute walk to the Science building on Grace campus and observe college students using microscopes, analyzing data, and performing experiments. Sarah has also custom tailored curriculum experiences for students in K-5 for students to continue their understanding of Lakes and Streams.

4.4 Extended Learning

STransporta19111410180.pdf

Transportation Department Memo

Additional Documentation

This memo from the Warsaw Community Schools Transportation Department provides communication to parents and families that all students will have transportation to any after school activity.

Spring Robotics Showcase

This is an image of our district LEGO robotics showcase in the spring. Students build a robot and compete in various challenges.

Monthly Community Engagement Nights

Our monthly science exploration nights were a big hit with our community. We wanted to provide an opportunity for parents to have a fun, free, safe environment to connect with their children and STEM.

KC Recycling

Students are able to participate in many STEM related activities. We offer students an opportunity to participate in the prestigious and rigorous First LEGO Robotics competition in the fall. In the spring, students compete in a district-wide LEGO robotics competition that focuses on LEGO engineering robotic design. Students in the primary grades have an opportunity to participate in early LEGO robotics. They learn to use basic functions of robotics including and basic coding. We also have monthly science exploration nights where the entire community is invited into the school to participate in hands-on, inquiry-based science activities.

First LEGO League

Students working hard in a collaborative group at First LEGO league practice. They will compete in a regional competition on November 23rd. Their robot will need to complete various missions and they create a unique solution a problem caused by cities.

4.5 Equity

Diverse Local Experts

Our business experts and local key experts include a diverse group of individuals including females in STEM, business leaders with diverse and various backgrounds, and community members who value STEM. One of our latest local experts grew up in France and speaks several languages. Another local expert volunteered for our creek visits and students learned from her about Hungary and her emigration story.

SMain Bldg 19110312390.pdf

Sample Month Calendar

This one-month calendar of November gives a very brief example of some of the diverse range of experiences that students are exposed to at Jefferson. To highlight a few of the events, you will notice that on November 13, 1st grade will take a trip to the Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams. This opportunity is hosted by a majority female-staff giving students a great perspective on women in science fields. On Saturday, November 23rd, students will travel to the Indiana Tech Campus to compete with diverse groups of students and referees from all over the state and country. On Monday, November 4th, students will travel to the KC Recycling Depot (one of our community partners) and learn from a diverse workforce in the community.

Dr. Dane A. Miller Science Complex

Students at Jefferson are within walking distance to the state-of-the-art Dane A Miller Science Complex on Grace College Campus. This new, multi-million dollar campus provides our students to observe and interact with college students from all backgrounds as they work and learn. Many of these college students provide volunteer hours to teach students what it means to be a student at college or what it is like to study to become a chemist or limnologist.

Report abuse