Edwardsville Elementary School Teaches Kindergarteners How to Be Successful Students

EDWARDSVILLE - As the school year starts, kindergarteners at Leclaire Elementary School in Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 are learning basic skills to be successful students.

Interim Principal Cari Wencewicz is always impressed by the teachers and K–2 students at Leclaire, and this year has driven home the work that teachers do to ensure their students have a good year. Especially as the kindergartners learn how to interact in a school setting, Wencewicz is thankful for the teachers who make a difference at Leclaire every day.

“I want students, first of all, to feel safe and cared for when they’re at Leclaire,” she said. “I want them to go through this school year feeling like Leclaire is a place they can take risks and learn and make new friends and grow as a learner, but also as a child. I want them to feel like this is a place that they are comfortable enough to do that. I want the teachers to feel the same thing. We have a culture where we support each other, and then we can support our students and families. My goal is for that to continue throughout the school year.”

Wencewicz recently observed a kindergarten lesson in which teacher Jessie Buehnerkemper showed her students how to safely and calmly walk to their chairs, sit down, and stay in their personal space so they are “ready to learn.” Buehnerkemper showed students pictures and modeled how to stand up, walk to the chair and sit with all four chair legs on the floor.

Watching this lesson in action, Wencewicz was impressed by how much the students have to learn and how patiently the kindergarten teachers show them these skills. It reminded Wencewicz of the joys of teaching young kids.

“Things as simple as walking to your chair and sitting in it, how to line up in line, how to ask for help, all of those things that they need to be a student — they have to teach them,” she said. “That was just a little glimpse of the detail that they take and the time that they take to teach them simple things that you wouldn’t think that you would teach in a school setting. They teach them how to function in the group setting and be safe and responsible while they’re doing it.”

In the first week of school at Leclaire, the teachers and students celebrated PAWS Week by learning the school’s four pillars: promise to be safe, act responsibly, work to solve problems, and show respect. These skills are important to Leclaire’s culture, but also to the greater goal of teaching students how to be successful members of a school community.

Every time a class leaves its classroom, the teacher and students will recite these four pillars to remind students of their responsibility as they move through the school. Wencewicz believes this reinforces these ideas and contributes to the school’s atmosphere.

“They say that motto and repeat the four expectations, so it’s fresh and just sets the tone for the whole building as to what our expectations are and how they need to act and what they need to think about to keep our school running safely and efficiently,” she said.

A month into the school year, Wencewicz is already amazed by the students’ growth. She noted that these kids will continue to learn in the coming months.

Some of their most important lessons aren’t reading or math, but rather how to interact with others, how to care for themselves, and how to be a safe and respectful member of a community.

“It really is amazing to see the growth over a school year, especially when they’re this young,” she added. “An incoming kindergartner in August is completely different than an outgoing kindergartner in May. The amount that they learn, the skills that they learn, both socially and academically, is just astounding. It’s really exciting to be in a K–2 school and see that growth happen every year.”

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