Once students have graduated from our 5th grade at DFES we expect that they will have developed habits of the mind and habits of the heart. Because of our inquiry approach to teaching and learning we are committed to ensuring that students not only focus on what to learn but more importantly how to learn. Life worthy learning is what every single child that enters and leaves our school is provided.
Developing habits of the heart is paramount given the day and age in which we live. Unfortunately people who express different religious beliefs or who espouse different political beliefs or who look different are subjected to hurtful words and actions. As a result we have an wavering commitment to reflect upon actions and words that we use to make everyone in our school community feel safe, valued, and loved. We position students to learn from multiples perspectives.
One of our distant teacher’s Kylene Beers wrote, “We want better for our schools, far better for our students. We want students considering situations from another point of view, experiencing things they have never before experienced, we want them developing empathy. We want them reading literature.”
Finally we seek to ensure that students are environmentally literate by the time they finish at DFES. As a result we seek to ensure the following:
- Students are able to ask questions about the environment and design investigations to seek those answers.
- Students are able to use appropriate tools to collect naturally occurring data. Analyze data for trends and patterns and pose questions based on the analysis of data collected.
- Students are able to draw conclusions on environmental issues and topics with text dependent analysis
- Students are able to describe ways to create positive environmental changes that foster sustainability
- Students are able to research and recognize different perspectives.