To the Parents of Country Home Learning Center,
We are pleased and excited to deliver to you our annual report! Our program has improved so much over this past year! We wish to take the time to update and review for you changes that have taken place around your school.
If you haven’t already heard, Country Home is gearing up for our 5 year External Review to receive Corporate Accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) and the AdvanceEd program. We’ve held District Accreditation through this organization since June 2010. Accreditation helps assure parents of a school’s commitment to quality education by “engaging the school community in meeting high quality standards, implementing a continuous improvement process and engaging in quality assurance through internal and external review.” For more information on SACS CASI and the AdvanceEd program please visit www.advance-ed.org, or pick up our Parent Guide for Accreditation at the front desk.
This year we concentrated on expanding the technology resources available to our students. We rolled out ABCMouse (ABCMouse.com) into our 3’s, 4’s and Excel classrooms to enhance our QUEST Curriculum. ABCMouse gives children an on-line, interactive learning experience, through a wide range of developmentally appropriate activities such as games, puzzles, books and other interactive and exciting challenges. Each student has their own ABCMouse account, which they utilize at Country Home through our new iPads! They are also able to continue their education outside of school by accessing their ABCMouse profile through any device with Internet access. In addition, we have added an Interactive Whiteboard to every school’s Resource Room. The Interactive Whiteboard is a gigantic touchscreen which connects through a computer to the Internet. On it, the students will also be able to access ABCMouse, as well as an abundancy of games, educational movies and other resources available both on-line and on computer programs.
We greatly improved our Summer Camp program which has received rave reviews from our students! We created a new, theme-based curriculum with weekly games, cooking projects, arts and crafts, and fun ‘minute to win it’-style games, as well as our Be U-Knighted value theme program and a Country Home Student Council. We also formed “Kid’s Choice” special interests clubs such as cooking, arts and crafts, and sports, and added new learning centers such as the Strategy Station, Creation Station, Construction Workshop, Science and Discovery, and a Rock Star Stage!! In order to help us with all these wonderful new additions to our Summer Camp program, we utilized Event Coordinators that traveled the schools bringing special interest activities to the children. We also updated to family-style dining where our students learn to serve themselves, instituted child portfolios with classroom anecdotal notes and formal observations, and added three staff development days to increase our training opportunities and requirements! We also renovated the front desk reception areas at most of our locations in order to allow more room for you and your children as you’re entering and leaving the school.
Finally, be sure to follow us on Facebook.com/CountryHomeLC, Tweet us @CountryHomeLC and connect with us on LinkedIn where we keep our parents up to date and informed about special events happening at our school. We also pass along tips, tricks, and fun articles and activities for you and your child to enjoy at home!
If you have any questions about this report, or would like additional information, please contact the front desk.
Thank you,
Country Home Learning Center