Welcome to Rushwood

Rushwood Elementary School serves students in preschool through grade four. The school is located in Sagamore Hills, Ohio. Rushwood has earned a rating of EXCELLENCE by the state of Ohio. We emphasize high expectations and academic achievement for all students. The teachers at Rushwood will "do whatever it takes" so that students achieve.

At Rushwood Elementary, students with disabilities are included in regular education classrooms where an intervention specialist and regular classroom teacher work seamlessly together to help students achieve. Students who are behind their grade level peers work with an intervention specialist in reading and math 5 days per week 20 minutes per day. Reading fluency and comprehension are monitored through AIMSweb program. Interventions that are chosen to help students are researched-based by the team.

The school was designed as an open plan facility. Over the years some walls have been built to provide for current educational practices. Rushwood now has four classrooms that are clustered together and are accessed from the halls by a door. It is like a large open area with four small sections. There is a group area in the middle of the cluster for large group meetings. This allows an entire grade level to know one another and see each other frequently.

Teacher collaboration is a large part of the schools academic success. Teachers meet for team planning every other week. Curriculum as well as individual student needs are discussed. Rushwood curriculum is successfully aligned with the district curriculum. All grade levels use curriculum maps to guide instruction. Grades one, two, and three are using Houghton Mifflin Reading series.

The importance of Mathematics is emphasized daily through the Everyday Math program. This is a program which uses a spiraling curriculum and hands-on approach to learning to produce quality mathematical thinking in our students. The school's math scores rose last year due to the implementation of the program Kindergarten through grade 5.

Technology is integrated into all classrooms. In addition there is a computer lab which allows all students to work together as a class. Smartboard technology is used to integrate learning and bring the world to students.

Data is used on a daily basis to guide instruction and improve student performance. Teachers can use the data to generate reports on many aspects of student learning. From the data the teachers can differentiate instruction to meet individual student and small group learning.