MICHAEL ANDERSON ELEMENTARY
GRADES PK-5
Principal: Darlene Starr
Assistant Principal: Barry Warren
Serving grades PK-5 and located on Fairchild Air Force Base; serving mostly military students.
Kindergarten and end of year assessments are in place and designed to identify where a child is academically and behaviorally. Helps to even out classroom dynamics and provide an overall balanced classroom.
The school has an excellent counseling resource. The Child and Youth Behavioral Military Family Life Counselor. She is always there to assist students with school adjustment, deployment and separation, reunion adjustment, parent-child communication, behavior and grief.
RESOURCES:
Common Core Standards:
NWEA Assessments, Measures of Academic
Progress:
Registration:
CONTACT US:
Address:
400 West Fairchild Hwy,
Fairchild AFB 99011
Tel:
+1 509-565-3600
OFFICE HOURS
Monday - Thursday: 7:45 am - 4:35 pm
Friday: 7:45 am - 3:45
SCHOOL DAY TIMES
Monday - Thursday: 9:15 am - 3:30 pm
Friday: 10:15 am - 3:30 pm
AM PRESCHOOL TIMES
9:15 am - 11:50 am
PM PRESCHOOL TIMES
12:50 pm - 3:25 pm
Website:
Demographic Overview
Enrollment as of February 2023: 488
Gender: 51% Male, 49% Female
Race/Ethnicity:
54.3% Caucasian, 11.3% Multi-race, 23.8% Hispanic, 5.7% African-American, 3.5% Asian
Special Programs:
31.8% Free and Reduced Lunch, 12.5% Students with disabilities, 5.7% Section 504
Teacher Information:
35 Classroom Teachers, 10.2 Average Years of Teaching Experience, 51.4% of Teachers have a Master’s Degree, 100% of classes are taught by teachers meeting ESEA highly qualified definition.
Serving our Military Students
Michael Anderson Elementary is located on Fairchild Air Force Base. The attendance area is comprised of mostly military dependent students. This school serves as a community place for families and children of military members.
Medical Lake School District is continually analyzing factors associated with military families such as student enrollment and test scores (students moving from other states with different academic standards). This movement creates a unique challenge for us as educators. We constantly have new children with new and unique needs, and often once we start to see progress they move.
Our goal is to help each and every child that enters our door. We believe each child deserves the very best from all of us every day.
Pre-K Program
We offer a free preschool program for families residing on Fairchild Air Force Base. The classes are for ages 3 & 4 and are half days, four days a week.
Big Brother Big Sister volunteers
Military members are invited to work one-on-one with a student and serve as a positive, consistent role model. Students are nominated by teachers or a parent and are then partnered with a volunteer. Volunteers are recruited base-wide and commit to dedicating one hour per week from October through May to work with their student. This program allows students to receive and benefit from a little extra time and attention from a caring adult in the community.
MORE TIME
At Michael Anderson Elementary our students get “more.” More reading instruction, that is! Each day, every student in kindergarten through fourth grade receives 40 minutes of individualized reading instruction tailored to their specific reading needs. For some students this means instruction designed to help them catch up to grade level and for other students it means challenging them to read and comprehend at a level far surpassing their grade level. During our “more” reading time, additional teachers and paraprofessionals join the classroom teachers to work with students in small groups. For the most struggling readers, these groups have between 3 and 5 children! Students’ progress is monitored and instruction is reevaluated in order to ensure that our students are ALL progressing to become better readers.
After school activites
After-school activities allow students at Michael Anderson Elementary to participate in athletics, the arts and academics. A variety of activities are offered to students throughout the year. Some activities that have been a part of our after-school rotation include:
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STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)
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Natural Science
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Choralaires
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Crafts and Creations
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American Sign Language
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Bowling
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Robotics
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Fit for Bloomsday Runners’ Club
choralaires
The Michael Anderson Elementary choralaires are a talented group of musicians! This choir is open to all 3rd, 4th and 5th graders who are interested in music and performing. Under the direction of Mr. Corcoran, the choir rehearses two afternoons a week for the majority of the school year. The students learn, practice, and perform at assemblies, concerts, and community events. Each year the choralaires also attend the Large Group Choral Festival where they are judged on their performance. This select group has earned top scores for the past 3 years. The choralaires are a great source of pride for all of us at Michael Anderson Elementary.
Community Garden
How does your garden grow? Our garden grows with the help of many 2nd – 5th grade students! The school building is constructed around a central courtyard that our students help maintain. Our 2nd and 5th graders have planted a hay bale garden which they have tended and harvested. Third and fourth graders have planted wild flowers and other plants to help beautify this space for all of us to enjoy. On a crisp fall day or a warm spring day, you are likely to find classes in the courtyard reading or working in the sunshine and enjoying this outdoor space.
Field Trips
Each year the students at Michael Anderson Elementary participate in field trips. Students at each grade level are given the opportunity to learn outside of the school environment. The focus of these field experiences is often connected to the curriculum and learning that is taking place in the classroom, but field trips also give our students the chance to practice independence, manners, social skills, and citizenship in a real-world setting. In the past, field trips have included trips to Mobius Science Center, Farm Fest, Greenbluff Pumpkin Patch, Camp Reed, Silverwood Theme Park, Spokane Children’s Theater, and the Spokane Symphony.
Associated Student Body/Leadership Club
Fourth and Fifth grade students at Michael Anderson Elementary have the opportunity to participate in the Associated Student Body Leadership Club (ASB Leadership). These students participate in a variety of activities around the school. They help at all-school assemblies, operate the school store, plan community service projects, and bring attention to our school-wide positive climate programs (PACE and Elite Eagles). This club is open to all fourth and fifth graders who are interested in leadership opportunities.
Family Events
Throughout the school year children and their families are invited to attend a variety of fun, education evening events at the school. These family activities are open to all Michael Anderson students and promote hands-on learning that involve the whole family. These family events each focus on a specific topic - Math, Literacy, Science and Fitness. This is one way the MAE staff extends students’ learning beyond the classroom, connects with parents, and makes learning fun.
Student Learning & Assessment
The following assessments are used to document student growth and to guide instruction in the academic areas of literacy, math and science:
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NWEA Map
three times a year- K-5
The Northwest Evaluation Association is a standardized test given to our students K-5.
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Smarter Balanced Assessment – Grades 3 - 5
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State testing should never be the sole judge of a student’s academic skills and knowledge. A student’s entire performance should always be considered.
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DIBELS
(Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills)
The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade.
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DRA
(Developmental Reading Assessment)
The Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) is an individually administered assessment of a child’s reading capabilities.
Profile Meetings
Three times each year the teachers at Michael Anderson Elementary participate in Profile Meetings. The Profile Team consists of the Principal, Special Education Teacher, Learning Specialist, Learning Interventionist, and Behavior Interventionist. This team meet one-on-one, for one hour, with each classroom teacher. The teacher shares assessment data, classroom observation data, academic successes and struggles along with social/emotional information on the students in his or her classroom. The Profile Team uses this information to create a plan of action and to implement a program that can best meet the needs of each student. Often times this means creating small groups for purposeful, differentiated instruction. It can also mean adapting or changing instructional materials, altering a student’s daily schedule, or providing additional training, materials, or resources for the teacher. The Profile Meetings assist the team and teachers at MAE so the needs of all our students can best be met.
Safety & Behavior
Michael Anderson Elementary staff has worked to develop an evidence-based framework for developing
positive student behavior and to create a school climate that is both positive and safe for all students andstaff. At the beginning of the school-year, we will conduct a “Positive Behavior Boot Camp” where all students will be taught our individual, classroom, and school-wide behavior expectations.
The ABCs of our behavior
expectations focus on the following:
Act Responsibility
Be Safe
Care About Others
CONNECT:
