The Sartell – St. Stephen School District provides a variety of programs and activities to meet the needs of students who need increased academic rigor in curriculum and instruction. Moreover, many teachers have had training to differentiate instruction to challenge these high-achieving students. Differentiation and programming tailored to extend academic challenge occurs within the general education classroom as well as through academic extensions through a pull-out program.

Below, you will find links to our elementary and middle school academic extensions programs. If you have any questions, please contact Kim Killmer, Academic Extensions Coordinator for ORE and PME, Lori Dornburg, Sartell Middle School Academic Extensions Teacher, or Michael Spanier, Director of Learning Services. Thank you!

Elementary Academic Extensions        Sartell Middle School Academic Extensions  

Children come to Kindergarten with a variety of experiences and general information. These children may have had very different pre-Kindergarten experiences including time spent in daycare centers, time at home with parents or other family members, or attending other pre-school classes. Thus, they enter our Kindergarten classes with a variety of skills, knowledge, and needs. In order to accommodate their gifts and talents, the Kindergarten staff at ORE and PME are committed to providing differentiated instructional strategies and curriculum in order to foster children's cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development. Our teachers use the following activities (and more) to modify instruction to meet students' needs:

• Tiered activities including simple and more complex work that engage all learners
• Question of the day
• Math problem solving activity of the day
• Step Up to Writing activities
• Integrating the arts with language arts by having children draw pictures and include a sentence to explain the picture
• Learning centers with more challenging work
• Use of leveled readers in various ways that pique children's academic strengths and interests
• Implementing a home reading program using a variety of books to enhance students' abilities, interests, and topics of curiosity
• Comptuer activities that foster learning
• A variety of small group and whole group instruction with activities focused on academics and character development