What Makes Stono Park Special?

Outstanding Family Events:

• Family Bingo Night- A night of fun and prizes for the whole family. Families are invited to join us for several rounds of BINGO. If you are one of our lucky winners you can choose something to take home from our many donated prizes. This is usually held in the fall.
• Math Night in Candyland- A "sweet" tradition where our students and their families are  treated to hallways, classrooms, and the media center, all decorated in the Candyland board game theme. Kids are able to play games and use their math skills to collect prizes (mostly candy!). Our staff goes all in on this event with costumes and all the fun.
• Turkey Trot & Family Picnic- This family event helps support our wellness initiative. Students run two laps around our parking lot while families and staff cheer them on. Families are encouraged to cheer their scholars on and then join everyone on our grounds for an outdoor picnic afterwards.
• Literacy Night Around the World- Grab your passport and board Stono Skylines! This is another one of our epic school events. We transform our gym, hallways and several classrooms into different countries from around the world. Students receive a passport that gets stamped at each location where they complete a variety of literacy games and activities. Our book fair is also usually open during this event for shopping.

 

Outdoor Educational Spaces:

• Outdoor Classroom- Our outdoor learning area gives our scholars an opportunity to learn in a different setting. The mood and brain boost that the fresh air and sunshine provide are just a few of the benefits of this space. It is fully equipped with seating, a whiteboard for instruction, clipboards, etc.
• Sensory Garden- Scholars can take time to experience their five senses and learn how to use them to observe the world around them. This is also a great place to practice some wellness techniques like mindfulness and deep breathing exercises. This area is right next to our outdoor classroom and features a water fountain (sound), herb garden (smell & taste), kinetic sand tables (touch), and sensory wall (touch & sight)
• Story Walk (coming soon)- We are currently planning to add a story walk along our back courtyard space. This offers our scholars additional literacy exposure and opportunities to practice their reading skills in a calm surrounding while promoting physical movement.

 

Education Enhancements:

• MindPrint- Mindprint is a strengths-based approach to intervention and acceleration. Stono Park teachers use this data to personalize learning according to each student's strengths. MindPrint provides objective measures across core domains of executive functions, complex reasoning, memory, and speed. Teachers are provided with actionable next steps to support their students.
• SOS Games- Stretch or Support (SOS) games are used in our 3rd-5th grade classrooms. Staff members look at student assessments and identify which areas they have strengths and weaknesses in (verbal, quantitative and non-verbal); this information is then used to group students by their strengths. Students choose from a variety of games that focus on their strengths which helps them maximize their potential and build confidence. This is a strategy that is used by our gifted and talented department that we have chosen to utilize with our general population and have seen success.
• Clubs- Every K-5th grade scholar has the opportunity to participate in a club once a week. These clubs are run by our related arts team and allow our scholars to explore different interests not always available in the regular classroom setting. Our clubs vary from year to year giving our scholars a variety of choices. Clubs are run by semester so scholars are able to participate in two clubs each year. We offer options like: chorus, basketball, makerspace, craft, yoga, and instrument club.

 

Student Leadership Opportunities:

• Student Council- Our students have an election each year and vote for those they think will represent them best at the beginning of the year. Throughout the year they work on different projects to make a positive impact on our school culture and local community. Some projects our student council has participated in are running an anti-bully/No Hate campaign, selling Boo Grams, planting and gifting teachers classroom plants and more.
• Wavermaker Leadership Job Program- This is a program specifically designed for our fourth and fifth graders that allows them to grow into and practice their leadership skills. Students interested in being a “Wavemaker” must apply for the “job” that they want. Wavemaker jobs are things like being a student ambassador for guests to our school, escorting our younger students to class in the morning, being a part of safety patrol in our car rider line, etc. Students must meet behavior expectations to be considered for these roles. These positions allow our scholars to take ownership of their school, develop leadership skills, practice interpersonal communication and build confidence.

 

Wellness Initiative & Committee

• Our wellness committee works through our partnership with MUSC-Boeing to promote health and well-being in our students and staff. A few of the things they do to promote wellness are facilitating wellness bingos for staff and families, helping to organize our Turkey Trot and Fun Run and our bi-annual Walk-to-School days. We are also proud to say that we have won some top grants from MUSC-Boeing the last two years so we can continue to promote wellness within our school community!