Elementary students at SMSA spend a large part of their day with their individual teachers in their bright, sunny, newly-renovated classrooms. They thrive on the individual attention that our small classes make possible, and they benefit from the safe, secure family atmosphere. They also benefit from a steady diet of “specials” offered by a variety of teachers in a variety of classrooms. All students in K-5 take art, music, technology and physical education twice a week and library once a week. Weekly instruction in Spanish begins in pre-Kindergarten, several years earlier than in most other local schools, in order to take advantage of young children’s natural linguistic abilities. In our new Creative Arts Lab, elementary students have the opportunity to work on projects that build on their classroom work.
Dynamic and dedicated, our elementary teachers present information in creative and stimulating ways as they help children grow in knowledge and critical-thinking skills. Students thrive on opportunities to engage in lessons, whether creating their own headdresses for the Thanksgiving breakfast, dressing up as their favorite figures from history, building models of small cities or designing board games about their favorite sea creatures.
Field trips to museums, farms, government and cultural attractions both in the North Country and the Capital District are frequent. Students regularly visit Crandall Public Library for story time, expand their horizons at the World Awareness Children’s Museum, begin to familiarize themselves with the masterpieces at The Hyde Collection Art Museum and sample life in 19th-century Glens Falls at the Chapman Historical Museum. In fact, SMSA is the only school whose students enjoy an easy walk to all of these local attractions.
Throughout the SMSA curriculum, highest priority is given to reading, the basis of all other learning. SMSA uses a phonics-based reading program that builds from one year to the next, ensuring consistency. Grammar and spelling are taught each year. Teachers also incorporate some of the best practices of the “whole language” approach, however, including journaling and creative writing. This combined approach has been remarkably successful, as evidenced in the consistently high scores our students have achieved on the NYS English/Language Arts tests.