Rosemary Heights Elementary Vision Statement: Rosemary Rockets: A compassionate, interconnected, inclusive learning community. Always Shooting For The Stars!
Our students are kind, caring and dedicated learners who come to school loved and cared for; ready to engage in learning. We are excited to observe the ways in which our community is growing in diversity. Students are active in many leadership opportunities throughout the school context. They work with a variety of evidence-based programming, including Second Step and Mind Up, and other universal SEL programs and supports, including the Zones of Regulation. Our students are applying their foundational SEL learning in both academic and social settings.
I like being at Rosemary because it is inclusive. - Grade 6 Student
The families within our Rosemary Heights community want the best for their children. Our families are strong advocates for the learning journeys of all students. As a supportive network, families work to uplift one another. They promote and aid staff in providing rich and diverse learning opportunities for our students. The PAC is highly skilled, creative, dedicated and engaged. This year, the PAC has funded a capital project of an Outdoor Classroom, which will be ready for use next school year. Our PAC helps to provide many opportunities for the school community, such as yoga, dance, pickleball, dance, fine-arts presentations, carnival, winter festival, weekly hot lunches, and treats. Upgrading technology is also a priority with our PAC, and each student benefits from these learning tools. Families have the ability to contribute to the Rosemary community in various forms. For example, our Ramadan festivities and Lunar New Year committee provide learning experiences for our children through assemblies, cultural stations, lion dances and parades. Together with staff, families create a safe and caring space for all.
People are kind and friendly here, it makes coming to school easier. - Grade 7 Student
Staff: As a staff, we go beyond the responsibilities of the classroom and support students through extracurricular activities, including leadership and coaching. By caring and supporting each other, we are able to better support and care for our school community. Two years of participation in the Elementary Mentoring Pilot Program (EMPP) has contributed greatly to our positive and safe learning culture at Rosemary. Through EMPP, our shared learning and mentoring of each other provides a model for students to see collaboration and care in action. As a host school for both student teachers and educational assistant practicum students, Rosemary staff utilize their leadership skill set to foster early career educators and continue our own professional learning. Our diverse educational backgrounds allow us to bring a variety of experiences to our community through a welcoming and inclusive environment where relationships are valued.
At Rosemary Heights, our students are a compassionate, interconnected, inclusive learning community developing their Social-Emotional and academic learning. Through professional dialogue, collaboration, observation and assessment of student learning over time, staff have identified a need to focus on strengthening students’ skills in the area of writing.
According to the BC Ministry of Education, Core Competencies are domains of intellectual, personal, social and emotional proficiencies that all students need in order to engage in deep, lifelong learning. The communication competency encompasses the knowledge, skills, processes and dispositions we associate with interactions with others. Through their communication, students acquire, develop and transform ideas and information and make connections with others to share their ideas, express their individuality, further their learning, and get things done. The Communication competency is fundamental to finding satisfaction, purpose and joy (2023). Incorporating all the competencies, in particular communication, Rosemary students are working towards strengthening their skills in the area of writing.
Our learners have a vast store of background knowledge, can identify the purpose of their writing, have the willingness to share orally and exhibit the beginning stages of the writing process.
I can write about what I do with my family - Grade 2 Student
Throughout our work, learners understand that meaning, style, form, and conventions allow for their writing to communicate, influence, entertain, teach, inspire, and help us make sense of the world and our experiences.
I learned how to use literary devices like metaphors. - Grade 5 Student
With direct modelling and teaching of the writing process, both with personal narratives and informative writing, our learners are excited to reflect and receive feedback on their writing, allowing for growth to be identified and celebrated. There is now a sense of trust established within the classrooms, demonstrating student pride and ownership of their work.
At Rosemary Heights, our students are working towards strengthening their skills in writing. This is important since writing is a medium in which students can express themselves to others, meeting the needs of the core competency of communication.
Through explicit writing instruction, our learners are growing in their abilities to express their thoughts and ideas effectively. As a whole school, staff are working towards identifying common writing stretches at each grade level through the implementation of comprehensive whole-school writing at various times throughout the year. From here, staff can create meaningful learning experiences for students to foster their abilities as writers. Later in the year, students complete another school-wide–write to determine the progress, and identify what the students know, can do, and now understand after explicit instructions. Students, together with families and teachers, celebrate the growth.
Our evidence of learning can be found through the following English Language Arts Curricular Competencies as found in the BC Curriculum: the ability to create and communicate (writing, speaking, representing). Using strong examples of writing and applying them to their own writing, students can understand and connect to the text, create their own meaning, and communicate their views through their own writing samples.
As a staff, we recognized student stretches in the following areas:
Applying organization to their sentences
Developing punctuation and grammar
Revising and reworking ideas
Receiving constructive feedback
Self-advocating and problem-solving
Our goal is for students to enrich their writing in the key areas of meaning, style, form, and conventions. Modelling and scaffolding in these core areas allow students to express themselves more meaningfully. Students from Grade 1, Grade 5, and Grade 6 make up the group of students who will provide the evidence of learning that supports this goal. Students are working within a variety of contexts, including Daily 5 routines, using exemplars, writing from an outline, and small group explicit modelling through the gradual release of responsibility model.
Student Writing Samples and Progress
Looking at the data, one can clearly see the improvements in our students' learning over time. In September, our students were in the Emerging and Developing areas of the rubric based on the British Columbia Performance Standards. After months of practice and targeted instruction, the Spring assessment provides compelling evidence of growth in each of our students, showcasing their progress and the effectiveness of our teaching strategies. By examining the rubrics and writing below, we can observe student growth in all areas of writing, highlighting their advancements in skills such as sentence structure, coherence, and overall composition.
For this cohort, the teacher tracked progress in the first and third terms, observing significant growth over time. Student A aimed to write more sentences and showed growth from the first to the second write. Similarly, Student B, an ELL/LST student, demonstrated improvement across all writing domains, progressing from list creation to crafting basic patterned sentences.
The growth of the students was observed and documented throughout the year. For Student C, the teacher noticed a marked improvement in the organization and coherence of their writing, as well as a more sophisticated use of language and sentence structure by the third term. Similarly, the teacher noted that Student D had made substantial progress in their ability to present facts in a logical order and to elaborate on their ideas with greater detail and clarity. This growth was evident in the quality and complexity of their third-term writing samples compared to their initial submissions.
Staff are continually finding ways for students to practice and refine their writing skills, employing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and differentiated instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners. By integrating UDL principles, educators create flexible learning environments that accommodate individual learning differences, ensuring all students have equal opportunities to succeed. Differentiated instruction further supports this by tailoring teaching methods and materials to the varying abilities, interests, and learning styles of students.
Staff have supported students through professional development opportunities, including ongoing consultations with the district literacy helping teacher, both in person and in targeted in-service settings. These efforts ensure that instructional strategies are inclusive and effective, addressing the unique needs of each student. By leveraging UDL and differentiated instruction, educators can provide multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression, fostering a more inclusive and supportive learning environment that enhances all students' writing abilities.
Throughout this year, staff identified areas of stretches to respond to class needs, meet the students at their level, and address individual needs, as well. Through differentiation and offering all students universal learning supports, student needs were examined and responded to. Diverse student needs will continue to be met using the UDL model and teachers employing various strategies to further student learning.
I learned how to use commas and semicolons - Grade 5 Student
I learned to add descriptive words. - Grade 3 Student
As we think of our learners, we are focusing on the next steps in their learning journeys. Using evidence of skill progression and learning, students have more intention in their writing, are taking more risks, and are learning valuable skills to develop them as writers.
I learned ways to help my classmates by peer-editing their writing, they helped my writing too. - Grade 7 Student
Rosemary staff will continue to engage students in the writing process moving forward into the next school year and beyond. Our evidence of learning this year has given our teaching team much optimism and joy in seeing students improve their writing skills and confidence.
We plan to continue with our writing goals next school year, aiming to align them more intentionally with curricular learning outcomes to better support students. By integrating these goals with the curriculum, we can ensure that writing instruction is purposeful and directly contributes to students' overall academic growth. This approach will help reinforce the connection between writing skills and other subject areas, providing a more cohesive and comprehensive educational experience that supports and enhances student learning across the board.
My teacher gave me ideas on how to make my writing better , - Grade 6 Student
I know I can write better now. When school started writing was harder. - Grade 4 Student
Rosemary Heights will continue to engage students in writing through school-wide writing in the Fall and Spring. These school-wide writing events will collect evidence of student learning to help inform classroom teaching, grade group goals, and school foci. As a staff, we aim to continue this process where different levels of instruction are offered to meet students at their various entry points. This enables access for all students to grow and succeed on their writing journey.