Tiger Academy Helps Kindergartners, Teachers have Successful Year

Kindergarten is a whole new experience for kindergarten students and parents. But this year at West Elementary, it was also a new experience for the kindergarten teachers.

“As a kindergarten team, we strive to create learning environments that promote success for all students in each classroom. Our goal is to get to know each child through different school scenarios,” West Principal Rachel Tabuya said. “Throughout the first week, we observe both academic and social behavior to create well-balanced classes for the entire school year. Our Tiger Academy helps students get familiar with our school-wide expectations, as well as safe faces they will see regularly. We want our students to love being a Tiger!”

Tiger Academy is a week-long experience for incoming kindergarteners to learn what it’s like to be an Ozark student. This was the first year Ozark hosted Tiger Academy, piloting the program at West to see if it is something that should be expanded to all four Ozark elementary schools. 

“Tiger  Academy was great,” said Michelle Giles, who has taught kindergarten for more than two decades. “I loved meeting all of the kindergarten students and building relationships with everyone. This time allowed teachers to really get to know all students and look at data to place them in balanced classrooms.”

Unlike the other grades at West, kindergarten students were not assigned a teacher before school started. Instead, the little Tigers spent time with each kindergarten teacher, learning school-wide expectations and routines. Through hands-on activities and play, teachers focused on building relationships while also building their class rosters to ensure the best fit for the most successful year. 

“This helped teachers and students get to know each other in a short amount of time while giving us a chance to make class placement decisions with more information,” Tabuya said. “More thoughtful placement will result in students receiving the support they need and teachers being able to collaborate more thoughtfully around student needs.”

Tabuya said the kindergartners loved the experience, especially the big class reveal on the first Friday when each student got to hear their name called and join their teacher for the first time with big smiles, happy nerves and lots of excitement.

“They had big smiles on their faces on decision day, and we have heard from several that they are excited about their new class and teacher,” Tabuya said. “Teachers felt the time and effort was worth it to help each student and teacher start the year strong.”