Presidents Blog - Why Walgrove?

January 2012

I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked the question “Why Walgrove?”. With all of the west side school choices of charters, private and parochial, people have asked what made us send our oldest to Walgrove five years ago and what has kept our family coming back.

So with three kids currently at 1630 Walgrove Avenue (4th, 2nd and kinder), I thought I would take the next few months to share three reasons why our family chose and continues to choose Walgrove. First, there is the recognition of students as individuals, second, the neighborhood community and third, the very real diversity.

My daughter began kindergarten during the first year of our school’s Studio program, now our Studio Lab. And despite being married to an educator, I confess that I had not given too much thought to my personal educational philosophy. With that, I signed up to help on the Educational Vision Committee. Through this I became aware that there had been a group of people at Walgrove - both educators and parents - who had been working for YEARS with the vision to bring something new and different to this neighborhood elementary school. It was from these “salons” in neighbors’ living rooms along with the infant FOW meetings that the vision grew - one that that recognized students as individual learners with individual learning styles and individual learning needs. And from this group came the birth of our Studio Lab where every Walgrove student spends a precious hour of their week.

It is in our Studio Lab that students expand on the learning that takes place during regular instructional time. There is an emphasis on actively using materials for students to experience all manner of hands-on learning. Students may draw to learn about an object, they may paint, construct with three dimensional materials, or conduct science experiments. Additionally, the Studio Lab encourages the students to think about thinking and to learn to express their thinking in many ways. Lastly, the Studio Lab Program provides opportunities for the classroom teacher to explore alternative teaching methods that address their class’ whole spectrum of learning styles. 

And new THIS year to Walgrove, our dynamic community of educators and parents has developed and funded the position of Differentiation Support Provider. It is through this Instructor and their collaboration with staff that an innovative Small Group Program is being developed at our school. This program and position - along with our amazing Instructional Aides - allows for our Teachers to undergird instructional time by daily breaking into small groups to offer more specific enrichment for our full range of students - from advanced learners to those needing more support.

So again, Walgrove is a place where individual students are recognized, valued and served as individual learners. As a mother of 3 kids at the school who are most definitely individuals, I for one am extremely grateful! Stay tuned in coming months for more from me and others about “Why Walgrove?”

Sarah Reimers, Friends of Walgrove