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Elementary School

Light the Spark.

At the elementary level, Pathways learning is designed to excite students and give them a glimpse into their future. It allows them to wonder and reflect on what’s next in their learning journey. 

Elementary Student Playing Chess

 

The love of learning starts here.

What sparks a love of learning? Exploring a variety of themes and topics to discover what is possible. Students discover a world of possibilities through rich learning experiences aligned to our high school Pathways career fields: 

  • Arts, Communications and Literacy

  • Design, Engineering and STEM

  • Health, Wellness and Social-Emotional Learning

  • ​​Entrepreneurship

Elementary Pathways learning is not tracking students and asking them to choose a career path. Rather, Pathways introduces elementary students to different experiences to spark curiosity, wonder and a love of learning.

Implementing Pathways

Pathways was expanded to the elementary schools in the 2020-21 school year and continues to grow and be expanded to best serve our students. Elementary design teams and feedback from stakeholders has been instrumental in the direction of this program and will continue to drive the future of elementary Pathways. 

What to Expect

  • Advanced Learning Specialists working with gifted and talented students
  • Band and orchestra experiences for all students 

  • Digital Learning Specialists facilitating design and coding units for all students

  • New K-5 math curriculum implemented across the district

  • Health and well-being career exploration activities at each school

What's Next

  • Enhanced Makerspaces for additional engineering Pathway experiences

  • Project-based learning training and planning sessions for elementary teachers

  • Implementing entrepreneurship, math and design project-based learning at each school

  • K-5 math curriculum implementation informs K-5 science curriculum review, including Next Generation Science Standards

  • AVID Elementary program explored for students in grades 3-5

PreK-5 Pathways in Action

Four male elementary students practice playing their instruments
  • Announcements
  • Pathways & Partnerships

Those are just two of the many instruments students get the chance to play over the course of the year in Instrumental Music. The program, which started in the 2020-21 school year, gives each fifth-grader the opportunity to take 3-4 small-group lessons with instruments from each of the four orchestra instrument families - strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion. 

shrey pothini
  • Announcements
  • Building Community
  • Pathways & Partnerships

No single person embodies the culture of community service in District 191 quite like Shrey. Growing up in Savage, Shrey was surrounded by a family who showed him different aspects of the world, teachers who encouraged him, and a community who rallied behind his efforts. It started when he was three years old and his mother Seema took him to a local teen homeless shelter where she served on the board.