Singing River Elementary to become 5th & 6th grade academy next school year
GAUTIER -- Fifth- and sixth-graders here will attend school
on their own campus in 2013-14 with the opening of Singing River
Academy.
The transition started being discussed two years ago, and construction began in the summer. A large gymnasium, a band hall, a choir hall and 15 classrooms including three science labs and a computer lab are being built on the site of Singing River Elementary on Gautier Vancleave Road.
The purpose behind the separation of the fifth and sixth grades from the other elementary grade levels is to offer more support to students ages 10 to 13, "a time of life when so many changes happen," said Belinda Dammen, assistant superintendent for elementary education for the Pascagoula School District.
Currently grades K-6 are under a "self-contained" classroom atmosphere where they have one teacher all day who teaches all subjects. The academy will have a "departmentalized setting," which will have three teachers for the fifth grade, one for each of the subjects of language arts, math and science and social studies. Sixth grade will have four teachers, splitting up science and social studies.
Like Trent Lott Academy in Pascagoula, Singing River Academy will serve as a transition into the seven-day period that starts in the seventh grade.
The school also will have formal art and physical education classes.
"It helps academically," Dammen said. It creates a "professional learning community" where the teachers can get together and talk about what's working and what's not, she said.
The academy will offer more extracurricular opportunities such as honor societies, student council and academic clubs, but it will not have sports teams as they are offered at the middle school level.
The project will help the fine arts and music programs in the district to flourish as well, said Debbie Anglin, the district's director of communications.
With those classes starting before middle school, it allows for an earlier start and more potential for those programs, Dammen said.
Construction is expected to be complete by June, and Anglin said the summer will be busy with teachers moving around. All of Singing River Elementary's kindergarten through fourth-grade teachers will be dispersed between Gautier and Martin Bluff elementary schools. All sixth-grade teachers at Gautier Middle School and all fifth-grade teachers from Gautier, Martin Bluff and College Park elementary schools will move over to Singing River Academy.
Classrooms are being added to Gautier and Martin Bluff to support the growth that will occur from the transition.
The transition started being discussed two years ago, and construction began in the summer. A large gymnasium, a band hall, a choir hall and 15 classrooms including three science labs and a computer lab are being built on the site of Singing River Elementary on Gautier Vancleave Road.
The purpose behind the separation of the fifth and sixth grades from the other elementary grade levels is to offer more support to students ages 10 to 13, "a time of life when so many changes happen," said Belinda Dammen, assistant superintendent for elementary education for the Pascagoula School District.
Currently grades K-6 are under a "self-contained" classroom atmosphere where they have one teacher all day who teaches all subjects. The academy will have a "departmentalized setting," which will have three teachers for the fifth grade, one for each of the subjects of language arts, math and science and social studies. Sixth grade will have four teachers, splitting up science and social studies.
Like Trent Lott Academy in Pascagoula, Singing River Academy will serve as a transition into the seven-day period that starts in the seventh grade.
The school also will have formal art and physical education classes.
"It helps academically," Dammen said. It creates a "professional learning community" where the teachers can get together and talk about what's working and what's not, she said.
The academy will offer more extracurricular opportunities such as honor societies, student council and academic clubs, but it will not have sports teams as they are offered at the middle school level.
The project will help the fine arts and music programs in the district to flourish as well, said Debbie Anglin, the district's director of communications.
With those classes starting before middle school, it allows for an earlier start and more potential for those programs, Dammen said.
Construction is expected to be complete by June, and Anglin said the summer will be busy with teachers moving around. All of Singing River Elementary's kindergarten through fourth-grade teachers will be dispersed between Gautier and Martin Bluff elementary schools. All sixth-grade teachers at Gautier Middle School and all fifth-grade teachers from Gautier, Martin Bluff and College Park elementary schools will move over to Singing River Academy.
Classrooms are being added to Gautier and Martin Bluff to support the growth that will occur from the transition.
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