This story appeared in the July 14 issue of the Community Voice. For your own subscription, call 270-384-9454.
With less than a month to go until school opens in Adair County, principal Debbie Bradshaw is checking things off her to-do list around the primary center. She’s working with teachers that come in to get their rooms ready, she is coordinating solutions for any physical maintenance issues with the school building, and she is definitely preparing curriculum for the 2022-23 school year.
“Our focus for the last few years has been to improve our reading program, and we’ve have been doing a good job with that,” Bradshaw said. “Now what we’re doing is adjusting and we’re teaching our new teachers the importance of those early literacy skills.
“The next big step we’re taking is very important to me because we’re integrating all of those other skills from science and social studies, and we’re weaving those into our lessons every day,” Bradshaw said. “It is time to do that. It is proven children remember better when they have something to tie the lesson to.”
Teacher’s first day is August 10, with students arriving on August 11.
“At our age level, ‘read-alouds’, when the teacher reads to the students, those are perfect ways to bring in the science and social studies,” Bradshaw said. “Usually, math and science go well together and reading goes well together with social studies. They’re all interchangeable. That’s what’s so great about teaching with integrated topics, you can teach so many different ideas.”
Bradshaw said the shift in philosophy will expose the students to a lot more and help all students at the school. It will help those that need a little push and those that are already bench- marked. She said she wants to make sure those students stay engaged, too.
“Older teachers like me, this is the way we used to teach,” Bradshaw said. “It is a growing process, and it leads to project-based learning. There is a lot of power in. allowing children to come up with their own questions, instead of telling them what they’re supposed to be learning.”
Bradshaw said some of the other changes expected at ACPC will be a little more visual. The principal has been working on the entrance way, once students enter the school, she wants them to be excited.
“When our preschoolers and kindergartners come in our front door and look at the changes we are making and have already made, we want them to be in awe and believe this is a fun place, and a place they want to be,” Bradshaw said, pointing out a huge mural on the wall. “We also want them to feel comfortable and safe. We want them to know it is okay to take risks and it is okay to fail, because that is part of learning. There is a little thin thread that runs through everything we do here. No reason our children can’t succeed.”
Online registration is available now at www. adair.kyschools.us. Click on parents, and then online registration, and follow the directions. Parents of students attending the primary center, are also encouraged to call counselor Andrea Irvin at 270-384- 3367.
Bradshaw also had a last word of advice for her teachers as they count down the days until their return to school.
“I would tell them this is just another year, but also another opportunity to help these kids move as far ahead as they can,” Bradshaw said. “We have some teachers that have been here almost 30 years, and we have brand new teachers, but our sole purpose at ACPC is to love students, give them our best, and to help them achieve their best.”
