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Waterloo board meeting spotlights multilingual literacy, UFly intervention and hands-on elementary projects
Summary
At the May 11 meeting, Highland, Lou Henry and Irving elementary teams presented multilingual family literacy night results, UFly literacy interventions and project-based learning activities; presenters reported book distributions, student growth metrics and improved attendance and staff-satisfaction indicators.
Three school presentations at the Waterloo Community School District board meeting on May 11 highlighted classroom-level strategies aimed at family engagement and literacy growth.
Highland Elementary: bilingual books and family night Jill Peters and Paul Hope from Highland escribed a multilingual family literacy night held May 7 that combined readings in home languages and English, cultural food and take-home bilingual books. Peters said the event was funded through a Waterloo Schools Foundation grant plus donor fundraising; presenters reported distributing roughly 400 bilingual books and that about 59 children attended the family night.
"Dear students, I see you," Peters said, describing the event as an effort to honor home languages and promote family engagement.
Lou Henry Elementary: expanding UFly into third grade Andy Hansen and instructional strategist Paige Lash described adopting UFly, a structured foundational-literacy program usually used in K–2, for third-grade groups after fall benchmark data showed 52% meeting expectations. They explained a flexible grouping model (multiple intervention groups tailored to skill levels) and cited individual growth examples, including a student whose reading fluency increased from about 35 words to 114 words between fall and spring benchmarks.
"We
nticipate using a similar model next year to support all levels of our readers," Hansen said, describing plans to shift some groups toward comprehension and fluency.
Irving Elementary: project-based engagement with chicks, garden and postcards Hillary Rogers and Irving staff presented cross-grade project-based learning: incubating chicks, reviving a school garden, and a postcard collection project meant to broaden students —ultural exposure. The team tied these activities to engagement and attendance goals: they reported average daily attendance of 94.6% (goal 94.4%) and chronic absenteeism at 20.3% (goal 20%). Rogers said staff saw higher student engagement and positive staff-culture survey shifts.
Board reaction and takeaways Board members praised the classroom work and suggested amplifying these stories to the community. Directors and the superintendent linked the classroom examples to broader district objectives such as increasing graduation readiness through hands-on and career-focused learning.
Provenance and data points: presenters supplied attendance, distribution counts and benchmark numbers during their remarks; quoted lines and figures are taken from the school presentations at the May 11 meeting.
