School Spotlight: Zanewood Elementary becomes STEAM school
Zanewood Elementary will become a full fledged STEAM Magnet school in fall 2019 thanks to a grant they applied for a few years ago.
“We have the opportunity to change the instructional practices here at school,” says Adrain Pendelton, the principal of Zanewood. “We are moving from doing STEAM to becoming a science technology engineering arts and math school.”
There are lots of changes that will be made to the curriculum. The building itself will see changes too.
“The space is going to be transformed,” added Pendelton. “Also, you will see STEAM integrated in everything that we do.”
Scholar’s Choice Day
The new space will allow for more more hands-on activities too. During Scholars Choice day, students can become advocates for their own education. The interactive day has been taking place at the school for three years. The day allows teachers to choose a topic they would like to teach and students can choose what they want to learn. The subjects range from coding to gymnastics. Teachers say the day helps students engage more actively. But several students say the day is just plain exciting.
“Some of the people in classes don’t always have good behavior,” says Yari Scott-Pointer a 4th grader at Zanewood. “This is an opportunity to have fun and do whatever you want.”
Teachers say Scholar’s Choice day is just the first example how they can provide more future-focused classes for their students in 2019.
“STEAM is all about of the engaging students,” says Tabatha Mountain, a science skills teacher at Zanewood. “Our students deserve the best. By offering all those different areas of STEAM, we are able build the best we can for them.”
Zanewood Elementary is hosting a STEAM festival on May 17th to preview many of the changes and classes they will offer in the coming school year.
