Schools of the Week: Chapman's Retreat Elementary, Winstead Elementary

  • Published May 4, 2022

    The Schools of the Week spotlight is shining on Chapman's Retreat Elementary and Winstead Elementary. Here are a few things that make their schools special.

    Chapman's Retreat Elementary

    • Chapman's Retreat Elementary has won the Grey Ghost 5k for seven years in a row.
    • CRES has the smallest geographic area in WCS, making it a true neighborhood school.
    • The school's playground was designed by a group of CRES students as part of a class project.

  • It's a small world for Chapman's Retreat Elementary kindergarten students.

    Kindergarten classes are learning about the seven continents. In CRES teacher Kim Stallings' class, students are learning about South America and creating murals to hang up in the classroom. Each kindergarten class focuses on one continent, and then families will have the opportunity to tour the creations.

    "We drew a pink dolphin, bananas, trees, llamas and jaguars," said CRES kindergartner Emily Gamboa. "My favorite part is just being with my group, drawing and making crafts."

  • Winstead Elementary

    • Winstead Elementary was named after Winstead Hill, which was a major battle site during the Civil War.
    • In 2022, the WSES Math Olympiad team was awarded a plaque for being in the Top 10 percent of elementary teams in the Elementary Division. This is out of 3,500 teams in the US and more than 1,000 teams from all over the world.
    • Winstead Elementary was the first two-story elementary school with its floor plan.

  • What do Winstead Elementary students want to be when they grow up? That was the question in WSES third grade teacher Traci Grace's class.

    As part of their unit, students are learning about different careers. Each student takes a Career Quiz for Kids, which gives them several job suggestions based on their answers. Students then choose to research a career, education requirements, what tools they would need and more.

    "My class really loved the ability to research something of interest to them," said Grace. "They were excited to find out how they could get into their specific careers. After that, students used a cutout of a person and some construction paper to create themselves as they would be when they have that job."