Oak Grove Lower Elementary School - Purvis, MS

Oak Grove Lower Elementary is a second and third grade school in the Lamar County School District in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Our school motto "We are responsible, we are respectful, we are ready to learn, we are warriors!" is the cornerstone of our school culture which is grounded in building relationships and a love of learning. Through a balance of long-standing traditions, high-quality academic and social-emotional instruction, and frequent school-home communication, Oak Grove Lower Elementary creates a culture that fosters high student attendance and teacher retention rates. Relationships between families and educators kept students safe and learning throughout the pandemic. When we were unable to be face-to-face, teachers held multiple online sessions and provided supplemental lessons, while counselors contacted every student to ensure emotional well-being.

Through our Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program, the staff builds social-emotional knowledge by rewarding "Warrior Bucks" or using our school motto to review positive behavioral expectations. "Warrior Wahoo" events celebrate students who have earned Warrior Buck goals. Engaging standards-based lessons are planned in teacher collaborative meetings. During the pandemic, technology-based lessons were adapted to student needs to address learning loss. As we returned to traditional learning, the focus moved to creating testing protocols to provide students equal opportunity and to improve data reliability. Better data equals better instruction through interventions and enrichment. Mutual respect, strong communication, a willingness to think outside-the-box, and high expectations for behavior and academics reflect the passion Oak Grove Lower Elementary has for laying the foundation of life-long student success.