Dear Leschi families and community,
We honor you. Everyone is stressed in this odd and difficult time. And we recognize the tremendous burden and responsibility of making each home a school for each precious Leschi Elementary child. Please continue to give yourself and your neighbors grace. And continue to spread kindness whenever possible.
The purpose of this letter is to note two program changes at Leschi Elementary in the 2020-21 school year. But before we get to that, an important note. Leschi Elementary will be employing a Head Teacher to help push-in our social skills standards, strengthen equity in achievement, and plug holes where extra help is advantageous.
This year, Leschi Elementary submitted our yearly “math waiver”. The “math waiver” has allowed Leschi Elementary to use the Montessori Math model instead of the District curriculum. This year, the waiver was denied. As a result of the denial, Leschi will discontinue the Montessori Math curriculum and begin teaching the Math in Focus curriculum. Math in Focus is the approved District math program. That is the first program change.
We are so appreciative of the efforts of our staff in teaching the Montessori methods for many years and the efforts it took to create the blended model. The Montessori philosophy and pedagogy that fosters rigorous, self-motivated growth for children in all areas of their development, with a goal of nurturing each child's natural desire for knowledge, understanding, and respect will continue to be a part of the Leschi vison. The continuation of best practice teaching methods and continued care and concern for our students will go unchanged.
Having multi-aged classes were perfect for our Montessori blended model. However, in the fall of 2020, our classrooms will be restructured into single grade levels, with a single teacher working within a grade level team. Teachers will have standalone classrooms. All our classroom instructors will be using the Center for the Collaborative Classroom curriculum (CCC) for literacy and Math in Focus (MIF), the district’s math curriculum. This is the second program change.
Many things will stay the same: a caring staff that always wants to give meaningful instruction and emotional support for our scholars and families. And, we will maintain unique programming to boost social-emotional skills. Please reach out to me if you have questions.
Below are the current instructional staff by grade level.
K - RT, Valdez, Brandon
1st - Blackwell, Bolster, TBA
2nd - Garcia, Deuel, Satterfield
3rd - Koyama, Partridge, Snyder
4th - Bomani, Lologo
5th - Woods, Chin
CLASS PLACEMENT: Information sent at the beginning of August
We consider a variety of factors when we decide about classroom assignments for students. Our goal in placements is that each classroom reflects the diversity of the entire school. If you would like to give us additional information, we are open to hearing from you. The following ideas are the type of information that would be helpful feedback in this decision: your child’s overall needs: basic temperament and personality, how your child is motivated, your child’s perception of themselves as a learner or any special needs or circumstances that you feel we should be aware of. If you would like to provide this information email our Admin Secretary-Teresa Stout at tstout@seattleschools.org or Principal Moland at llmoland@seattleschools.org Please know that once classroom assignments are made, there will not be any changes made unless the team is in agreement. Again,
We appreciate you in allowing time and space for both teachers and students to build relationships together over time.
Sincerely,
Principal Moland and the Leschi Staff