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Instructional Services

Group work at BLE

The Sumner-Bonney Lake School District has a strong staff dedicated to leading our teaching and learning initiatives. We are guided by the following principles:

Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services
Kelly Denn
 

Phone Number
(253) 891-6052

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As a community responsible for developing citizens for the 21st century, staff, parents and community members gathered to define what we wanted for our children through the development of a new strategic plan in the 2020-21 school year. We want our students to understand that learning is a dynamic process reflected throughout one’s life. Students will develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes and master essential content areas to be:

  • Responsible Community Contributors
  • 21st Century Collaborators
  • Innovative Critical Thinkers
  • Globally-Conscious Members of Society
  • Self-Empowered Learners

With the achievement of these goals, our students will have the foundation for living a balanced and healthy life, succeeding in the workplace, and contributing as members of society. 

Belief Statements

Sumner-Bonney Lake School District instructional leaders and instructional specialists came together to determine what we believe about teaching and learning. From these belief statements, those same instructional leaders crafted our Guiding Principles of Learning. These statements reflect what we in the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District believe to be true about our learning community:

  • Learning is a life-long process.
  • Education is a dynamic, collaborative process shared by students, parents, educators and the community.
  • All people need to experience success.
  • Diversity enhances the richness of the learning environment.
  • All people can and want to learn.
  • People support, value and respect what they collaboratively create.
  • People have dignity and worth, which need to be affirmed in an environment that is safe, respectful, and creates a sense of belonging.
  • All people benefit from a variety of learning opportunities that stretch them to develop their full range of abilities and create a sense of balance in their lives. 

Guiding Principles of Learning

  • Learning should be an active process that demands full student participation. Students need to make choices, accept responsibility, and become self-directed.
  • Learning should be an individual and a cooperative venture, where students work at their own pace and performance levels. Students also need opportunities to work with other students on solving problems.
  • Learning should be goal-oriented and connected to the real world so that students understand the application of what they learn in school to their lives and communities.
  • Learning should be personalized to allow students, with their teachers, to set learning goals that are realistic and attainable yet challenging and pertinent to their future aspirations.
  • Learning should be documentable, diagnostic, and reflective, providing continuous feedback to students and families to encourage students and to train them in self-evaluation. Ongoing assessment is a tool to develop further teaching and learning strategies. 
  • Learning should be in a comfortable and attractive physical environment and in an atmosphere of support and respect, where students are affirmed and valued and where mistakes are analyzed constructively as a natural step in the acquisition of knowledge and understanding.
  • Learning should be diverse in content, delivery, assessment, and settings to provide opportunity for growth in a natural, lifelike environment. 

View our instruction and core curriculum.