Welcome to the River Room

Fifth and Sixth Grades - to honor their growing interdependence, independence, and swift movement into their larger community.  The intention is to move into learning with power and peace and to discover the many ways to have an impact on their world.

The River Room is a multi-age group of students who spend their days delving deep into studies in a learning environment that reinforces a sense of place within their social group. These 5th and 6th grade students take on leadership roles in play and academic activities as they interact with our larger school community.
Students enter the class each morning and spend time socializing with their peers, playing games, and completing small academic math or literacy components known as “Morning Work.”
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Everyone in the class gathers at circle carpet for Morning Meeting at the beginning of each school day where we greet one another, have time for sharing, complete a group activity, and discuss the morning message/daily agenda.

Our morning academic time is spent focusing on literacy, grammar, and math. Students in the River Room are taught individually or in a small group setting to ensure each child is moving at his or her own academic pace. Short, playful, whole-group activities are used as breaks in between lessons. Science and Social Studies lesson units conclude with student-led projects, presentations, and reports. One of the students’ favorite time of day is known as, “Novel Study.” This unique portion of our day, though only twenty minutes, lends to a deepening of reading comprehension skills and prediction making, as students are engaged, asking questions, and understanding the various components of a story.

Additionally, our days are intermixed with a blend of “Specials” which include American Sign Language, art, theatre, music, and physical education. River Room students partake in Expedition Days, Field Trips and visits to our local library to deepen their understanding of their curriculum and community.

Finally, our days end the way they begin: at the circle carpet. At Greenbrier Community School we come together at the end of the day and reflect upon our time together at our “Closing Circle.” Closing Circle is a five- to ten-minute gathering at the end of each day that promotes reflection and celebration through participation in group activity before transitioning home.


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Meet the teachers

Samantha Thomas
‍Lead Teacher

Sarah Elkins
ELA Teacher

Samantha Thomas

Master of Arts, Teaching; Elementary Education & Mathematics 5-9,
West Virginia University
B.A. Psychology, Marshall University

ABOUT THE TEACHER
I was born and raised in Charleston, West Virginia. Once I graduated with my master’s, my husband and I moved to Baltimore, Maryland where I taught math (general and honors) and AVID at Perry Hall High School for five years. In addition to teaching, I also coached three years of softball and one year of cross country. While teaching for the Baltimore County Public Schools, I learned that the most important part of being a teacher is not the content, but building meaningful relationships and accepting everyone as they come. I’m fortunate to still hear from former students today and cherish those relationships. After having our son, Parker, in 2019, we moved back to the Charleston area where I taught 7th grade math at West Side Middle School, and served as the 7thgrade team leader. In 2021 we moved to Greenbrier County and I have been in full boy-mom mode since. We live in Smoot with our cat, Bella, and dog, Oreo.
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From the first time I visited GCS, I knew something special was happening here. I immediately fell in love with the atmosphere and people. I’m excited to head back into the classroom and am looking forward to being part of the GCS Middle School. My priority is to get to know the students and their families, and to create a classroom community where they feel safe to take risks and reach their potential. I cannot wait to see what this year will hold!

CLASSROOM ENVIORONMENT
I’m so excited to join the River Room and continue to the GCS traditions of collaboration and cooperation. I look forward to helping the students work together to celebrate successes and discuss their challenges as they build each other up through positive affirmations and relationships. Throughout my educational career, I’ve understood and valued giving students ownership of their education by having them set their own educational goals, tracking their progress with them, and giving them autonomy over how they learn in the classroom.

I excel as a planner and an organizer, yet also value the importance of spontaneity and responding to the needs of the group. While I’m new to Responsive Classroom, finishing my certification the end of July, my educational philosophy, supported by my AVID certification, has always recognized clear communication, expectations and mutual respect as foundational to any classroom community.

Sarah Elkins
Master of Fine Arts: Creative Writing - Poetry, Pacific University
B.A. English and Philosophy, University of North Carolina At Charlotte

ABOUT THE TEACHER
Sarah Elkins is a freelance writer and poet, but she is mostly a reader. She earned a BA with majors in English & Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and an MFA in Poetry from Pacific University. She and her husband, Max, own and operate Hammer Cycles bike shop.

Since the early 2000s, Sarah has taught English language arts and creative writing in diverse classrooms. She taught 6th and 7th grade language arts at Smith Academy of International Languages, a language immersion charter school in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public School System. She’s taught college composition, literacy, and literature courses at community colleges in California, North Carolina, and, currently, at Mountain Gateway Community College in Clifton Forge, VA. Sarah also served as the Artist-in-Residence at FCI-Beckley, a men’s medium security prison, where she taught creative writing to inmate students.

Since 2019, Sarah has served as a member of Lewisburg, WV City Council, and chair of the Parks Commission. Sarah is an avid mountain biker and works to promote trail development throughout the Greenbrier Valley. She, Max, and a handful of other volunteers founded the Greenbrier Valley Youth Mountain Bike Team in 2019. She currently serves as team director and board chair. Additionally, Sarah chairs the local IMBA(International Mountain Bicycling Association) chapter GVORBA (Greenbrier Valley Off-road Bicycling Association) which is working to create, enhance and preserve trails and biking resources for this community.

Sarah lives in Lewisburg, WV with Max; their son, Tad, a rising 11th grader at GEHS; dog, Messick(named for the best ever 5th grade teacher, Mr. Messick); and one last goldfish, unnamed, who survived the roaming cat massacre of 2021.

Learn more about Sarah’s poetry life at SarahElkins.com.

The educator must take into consideration the academic, social, and emotional levels of a student
in order to educate the whole child.

Creating the Culture
of the Classroom

Over the first six weeks, the primary focus of all GCS classrooms is to set up the structures and behavioral atmosphere needed to create the ideal learning environment for all students. Students co-create this environment so that they feel safe to voice their concerns and needs, clear in their understanding of behavioral and academic expectations and inspired to learn and grow as a valued member of a real community. Click on the links below on the right for details.

Click on links below for details

Daily agenda Introduced
Every classroom has a daily agenda and the day begins and ends with a morning circle to discuss the the goals for the day and what may have been missed at the end of the day so students are aware of what adjustments will be made for the agenda on the following day.
Classroom Structure Development
Students make lists of what will make the class work smoothly. Procedures are set for how students operate in the classrooms, how they transition from activities, how materials are used and put away, and how they will take responsibility in the classroom for their behavior for their needs.
Social Behavioral Constructs
Procedures for how teachers respond to breakdowns with students, and how peers respond to each other if there is a conflict are developed. Teachers model behavioral responses for students to emulate, which helps to set the tone for a harmonious classroom environment.
Building Trusting Community
Teachers connect with students on a human level to create relationships as caring community members not authoritarian teacher/student roles. Strategies such as being at the door in the morning, saying good morning, showing empathy with separation from parents or emotional concerns of students may have.
Class Promise
A behavioral contract for the rules that govern the class is co-created by students and facilitated by the teacher. All students sign or add hand prints to validate the contract. The contract may get read daily and students are reminded that failure is ok and the class promise is in place for students to realign with if a breakdown occurs. Teachers post the promise in a visibly prominent place in the classroom for students to refer to often.

Useful links

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About GCS

Our school community is a place of collaboration, trust and civility.  We are a community of learners with classes from 18 months to 6th grade.  Our pedagogy is innovative with a commitment to be on the forefront of the progressive ideas that produce the best education and learning environments.

The Greenbrier Community School

413 Oak Street, Lewisburg, West Virginia 24901
phone 304.793.2420
‍info@greenbriercommunityschool.org