Elevate Community School

We have had an amazing few weeks of giving, celebrating, learning, and laughing together as we roll into winter break. Happy holidays to everyone and we will see you next year! 💚

Are you looking for some last minute holiday presents? 🎁 Did you know that we now have an Elevate Community School online store for all of our swag?! We have recently added a few items so pop over to our website (link below), click on “shop”, and check it out!
•
www.elevatelearningproject.org

Each month our students learn about and practice a new virtue with December’s virtue being generosity. This week we had the pleasure of welcoming Marie Elana Roland, CEO of The Navigation Center - SC. Ms. Roland spoke to our students about the work that they do at the center as well as how we can help. It was so inspiring and we look forward to growing this special partnership.

After reading about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the book "Balloons Over Broadway" by Melissa Sweet, our students put on their own version of the parade! They planned together, created their floats, built a city, then carried their floats through as we all cheered and enjoyed their creations!

Looking to give back for the holidays? Our students have begun a Health and Hygiene Drive for East Cooper Community Outreach! Hygiene and cleaning supplies are some of the most needed items that are often overlooked. If you would like to contribute, our donation box is in the lobby at the Synovus Center by the Elevate Learning Project entrance at 230 Seven Farms Drive.

Items needed include soap, body wash, deodorant, all purpose cleaner, laundry detergent, toilet paper, dish soap, and shampoo/conditioner. 🧴 🧽 🧼

The students have been hard at work learning how to knit hats to donate to The Navigation Center - SC We are so excited to be working with such an amazing local program to support our community! 🧶

Today our students enjoyed learning about the significance of Veterans Day 🇺🇸 Our Upper Elementary class read “America’s White Table” and learned about the meaning behind each symbol, followed by a writing prompt, and a directed drawing of a soldier. Our Lower Elementary class discussed characteristics of a soldier, created Veterans Day books, and painted poppies. Thank you to our veterans today and every day. We are so grateful for you!

A beautiful Monday 💚🌱💦

We had the best day filled with tons of Halloween STEAM activities and even our own neighborhood costume parade! Huge thanks to our parent volunteers for helping to make it all happen ⭐️ Happy Halloween from all of us at Elevate 🎃🧡

Yesterday was the first day of our Elevate Mentor Program! We kicked it off with the entire school buddy reading at the park 📚 Mixed age groupings, both within our classes and the school as a whole, produce many benefits for all involved. Providing opportunities to experience collaborating with others who are different than oneself allows children to practice the ability to be nurturing, patient, and helpful, as well as learn to appreciate diversity while eliminating unhealthy competition that comes from working solely with those of the same age and ability. We are excited to launch this program and see it grow throughout the year!

This month our students are learning about Native Americans. They have practiced symbol writing, built mesas and Pueblo homes out of clay on the beach, researched Native American history and geography, and today our lower elementary students broke into groups and made totem poles based on an animal their group chose together. We are all enjoying learning about this beautiful culture!

"Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead." - Nora Ephron

We had the BEST time visiting our local City of Charleston fire house today! Our students have been learning about our surrounding community and this was the perfect opportunity to not only get to know some of our neighbors but to learn more about what they do. Huge thanks to our Daniel Island firefighters for being such great hosts! 🚒

Pumpkin season is here 🎃🧡

Today’s outdoor adventures included exploring the trails, building fairy houses, and one friendly praying mantis!

Today was a good day ☮️ We honored by making pinwheels for peace to add into our newly planted garden, by learning and growing together, and by enjoying some time together at the beach 🌞 We ended the day with our first parent education night 📖
•
“Peace begins with a smile.” -Mother Teresa

Teamwork makes the dream work! Here two students from our Upper Elementary class are working together on racks and tubes. The purpose of this Montessori work is to help the child understand the techniques of distributive division and to lead to abstraction. ➗👏

Yesterday we were excited to welcome Mr. Tony, local composer, musician and music instructor to Elevate! Mr. Tony taught us all about making sound! We were able to learn about various percussion and string instruments, their origins, and how to use them to make music. ❤️🎶🥁🎻

Our class pet Leonardo arrived today - hip, hip, hooray! Leonardo is a Leopard Gecko and lives in our library where he can enjoy the quiet 🤫 Students are already learning all about his species and how to take care of him! Some fun facts about Leopard Geckos:

• They have eyelids
• They make many sounds including a bark
• They can live for two decades
• They change color as they get older
• They can see color in the dark

Welcome Leonardo! 🦎

That’s a wrap on our first full week of school and we are off to an amazing start! We learned together, laughed together, and played together. The best is yet to come! 💥👏

Happy birthday Maria Montessori! 🎉

To celebrate here are some fun facts you may not know:

* Maria Montessori was the first woman to receive a medical degree in Italy.
* Helen Keller was a good friend of Maria Montessori and helped Maria develop many of her sensory materials.
* Maria Montessori made her first trip to the United States in 1912.
* In 1915, a Montessori class was set up at the San Francisco's World's Fair. Maria Montessori won two gold medals for education.
* Maria Montessori left Italy during World War II. She moved to India where she and Gandhi often discussed the role of children and their education in promoting world peace.
* Anne Frank was a student in a Montessori school before she and her family went into hiding.
*. Alexander Graham Bell started a Montessori school for his grandchildren.
* Eleanor Roosevelt started a Montessori school.

Thank you Maria for being such an inspiration and for all that you have done for education!

🎶“Whether the weather is cold, whether the weather is hot. Whether the weather is good, or whether the weather is not. We’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not!” 🎶

We had such a wonderful first day of school filled with meeting new friends, going over routines and expectations, had our first work cycle, and we even had a “First day field day!” ☀️📚✏️

This morning our teachers hit the trail to discuss outdoor learning safety and curriculum ☀️🌿 As always after a good hike we rested our minds and bodies with some breathing time 🧘‍♀️

The school is ready for teachers to return on Monday! We are so excited to have the whole team together and to get ready for the new school year 🎉🍎📓

Huge thanks to The Daniel Island News for featuring us in this week’s issue! You can read the full piece in the link below 🍎📰
•
http://www.thedanielislandnews.com/news/elevate-learning-project-expands-operation-ahead-new-school-year

The start of our new school garden and outdoor learning space is under way! When we are done we will have 8 raised bed planters for gardening as well as outdoor seating. This will be a great spot not only for our students to tend to their plants but also for families to hang out before and after school!🪴☀️
•

Established in June of 2020, it is the mission of Elevate Learning Project to contribute positively to our community through educational programs including a primary focus on kindness, peace, and acceptance in addition to a rigorous academic curriculum. As we enter our third year, we are so grateful to our growing Elevate community for all of your support ❤️🍎

We hope that all our friends are enjoying summer and are getting some time to explore! 🗺🔎
•
“Exploration is curiosity put into action.” - Dan Walsh

☀️🌿🪨
•
Source: .mychild

It’s a wet one this week but rain can be fun - and interesting! 🌧 Did you know…

💧Not all raindrops are made of water - On Venus, and other moons and planets, rain is made of sulfuric acid or methane. Even stranger: On a planet 5,000 light years away, scientists found raindrops made of iron rather than water.
💧The shape and color of clouds can help you predict rain - Generally speaking, if you see a cumulonimbus cloud (a tall, puffy cloud that looks flat at the top), or a nimbostratus cloud (a flat low-level gray cloud), you can be fairly certain that rain is in the 24-hour forecast.
💧There’s a reason you love the smell of rain - Water doesn’t smell like anything, so why does rain produce a pleasant aroma after it falls? Well, it’s because of a molecule, called geosmin, created by soil-dwelling bacteria. When rain falls, it creates air pockets, which contain small amounts of geosmin. The rain traps and then releases these air pockets, dispersing geosmin into the air, where it’s free to travel to human sniffers. The smell of rain even has a name: “Petrichor.”
💧It’s not actually “drop”-shaped - The “raindrop” designation is actually a misnomer, since scientists have concluded that rain is not actually shaped like a teardrop. When water molecules condense and bind together in the atmosphere before falling, they form a more-or-less spherical shape. As they fall, they encounter air pressure, flattening the bottom of the drops, so that they end up taking on a shape more like a hamburger bun.
💧Rain is money - In the African nation of Botswana, the currency is the Botswanan p**a. The word “p**a,” though, also means “rain,” and its use as the name of the primary currency demonstrates just how rare and precious rain is in this sub-Saharan country.

Source: Reader’s Digest 📚

It was delivery day today and we are so excited to teach our friends all about our new materials! 🤗📦🧮

We hope that all of our friends are having a wonderful summer! ☀️📚“I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.” - Roald Dahl

We had such an amazing time at our “Fill the Space” event! We truly enjoyed hosting and appreciate everyone who helped to make it a success. The opportunity to give is still available! We are working hard to provide the best possible programs for the Elevate community and your support matters 💚 We hope that everyone has an great summer! ☀️
•
How to Contribute:
• Text ‘GIVE’ to our Txt2Give number 843-212-0497
• Use Venmo
• Write a check to Elevate Learning Project and mail it to the school
•
📸 : FOtography by Stacy

Elevate Community School updated their address.

Elevate Community School updated their address.

Today we read together, made art and music together, played together, and learned together 💚

Our students did an amazing job today with their performance of Three Piggy Opera! Bravo! 👏🐷🐷🐷

Happiest of birthdays to our co-founder and head of school, Ms. Day! Our friends had the best time celebrating as her Mom surprised everyone with cupcakes at the park 🧁 We love you Ms Day and hope you have the best birthday ever! 🥳🎉