School Program Highlights: Angus Valley Elementary

“Our hope at Angus Valley Elementary is that the social emotional skills [our students] learn here, especially early on, will make a lifelong impact on their growth and development,” said Ashley Canterbury, the school counselor at Angus Valley Elementary.

During the 2017-2018 school year, the Angus Valley Elementary Principal, Angelia Noel, added a social skills segment to the specials rotation, which also includes PE, music, and technology. A district-wide character education committee from Sand Springs Public Schools helped identify key character traits deemed critical for students to discuss and learn in the socialemotional portion of the specials rotation.

“Personal growth is the intention behind the entire program. We take seriously our responsibility to teach our students more than just academics” - Ashley Canterbury

28 WeAreSandSprings.com | March 2020 At the beginning of each new school year, the rotation begins with teaching students self-regulation skills that will help them be successful in their classrooms. These lessons show students how to be good listeners, how to identify feelings, how to stay in control of their emotions, and how to appropriately communicate how they are feeling. As the year progresses, components of the program focus on social and relationship skills, which the students practice by playing games and discussing how to take turns, exhibiting good workmanship, and identifying how to work together.

The program honors select students each week and month based on the current trait being taught, plus it invites members of the community to present engaging programs on various topics. The ParentChild Center of Tulsa and the Tulsa Health Department have visited to discuss everything from identifying and preventing bullying to practicing personal hygiene.

“Personal growth is the intention behind the entire program. We take seriously our responsibility to teach our students more than just academics,” Canterbury said, “and of course, academics are a priority, [but] we want to see our students develop into well-rounded adults one day and that requires so much more than just reading and math.”

With approximately 430 students between preKindergarten through 5th grade, the social-emotional learning program provides each student at Angus Valley Elementary the opportunity to get to know and become comfortable with their school counselor.

“When our principal made the decision to add this rotation for our youngest students, it was done to create a second layer of support,” Canterbury said. “The rotation allows me to build a personal relationship with them that, otherwise, might take much longer.”

“Early learning relies heavily on interactions with others. Our goal is to create a solid foundation for our students with healthy social and emotional skills that will help them be successful in life,” said Angelia Noel, the principal at Angus Valley Elementary. “Mrs. Canterbury’s social skills classes are creating a shared vocabulary and understanding among our students that strengthens our learning environment as a whole.”

Canterbury said the pre-K and kindergarten teachers do a phenomenal job integrating socialemotional learning into their regular classroom routines, adding that it helps the students understand that there is an adult who loves and cares for them unconditionally, one they can approach at any time for any reason to discuss a problem they’re facing in the classroom, on the playground, or at home.

“We want every student at Angus to feel like there is, at minimum, one adult with whom they have a personal connection,” Canterbury said.

“It is so important to address social-emotional learning with our young students,” said Sherry Durkee, the Superintendent of Sand Springs Public Schools.

“Early learning relies heavily on interactions with others. Our goal is to create a solid foundation for our students with healthy social and emotional skills that will help them be successful in life” - Angelia Noel,

“Mrs. Canterbury is amazing at connecting with students and helping them manage emotions associated with situations they encounter. We are proud of her work.”

“Since entering the field of education, my growth has been immense,” Canterbury said. “I am not the same teacher I was 13 years ago when I walked into my first classroom at Elm Grove Middle School in Bossier City, Louisiana.”

Mrs. Canterbury said one of the biggest reasons she became an educator is her love of learning and growth. “Growth for teachers doesn’t end [when we graduate from our program], in fact, it’s only the beginning. Every year, we move forward, even just a little bit. We strive to #BuildExcellence, in our students, in our classrooms, and in our schools,”

Thanks to the work Mrs. Canterbury, Mrs. Noel, Mrs. Durkee, and the rest of the teachers and educators in the Sand Springs Public Schools district are doing each day, the children of Angus Valley Elementary continue learning and growing, and one day they will bloom into emotionally-adjusted, capable adults.