Opinion by Taylor Demuth | Baxter Elementary School principal

When you enter the main doors of Baxter Elementary you will immediately find a team of incredibly dedicated and talented educators and support staff who consistently go above and beyond to support the needs of all students each day. We are fortunate to have amazingly supportive families who partner with us on a daily basis to make our students' educational experience the best it can possibly be.

Our mission statement remains the same at Baxter Elementary School: We Build Foundations. During each child’s time at Baxter Elementary, we work hard to build a strong foundation to support them throughout their educational journey. This work includes solidifying their understandings within all core subject areas and supporting their development as respectful and responsible members of our school community. We focus on strengthening character qualities with an emphasis on developing each child’s ability to engage in respectful interactions with others and responsible decision-making. These foundational skills are critically important in developing and nurturing the wellbeing of each child.

When I think about the many important skills that we need to support our students in taking on, building a strong foundation in literacy is one of the most essential components. The ability to read opens the door to many opportunities both in school and beyond our school walls as well. As a staff we spend a significant amount of time dedicated to increasing academic achievement within literacy. Effective literacy instruction includes the following five key components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Literacy education is an intricate balance of developing the foundational skills that readers and writers need to be successful and helping each child to develop a love of reading. This type of learning occurs through intentional instruction that is driven by data and high quality reading experiences. This work takes a concerted effort by all staff to understand the literacy process and the specific strengths and needs of each reader. This work includes ongoing data analysis, discussion, planning and professional development to meet the needs of our learners. We also facilitate a variety of high quality reading experiences for our students which include the Costco Reading Program, a summer reading challenge, author visits, monthly book buddy activities and many other events to strengthen the love of reading throughout our school community.

The role of families is critically important to this work, as they are the first teachers of literacy for each child. From conversations at the dinner table to storytelling and reading books together, these experiences are what help our children to develop identities as readers and writers. It is through these shared literacy experiences that our children reflect, learn and solidify their understandings within the area of literacy. We are truly grateful for all of our Baxter families, as they continue to be our valued partners in each child’s educational journey.

At Baxter Elementary, we are committed to helping all of our students build upon the many strengths that they already have to become successful, well-rounded, and compassionate people — now and into the future.