School Information

Kids' SAFARI offers before and after school programs for children in kindergarten through grade 5. The focus is on school-age childcare and enrichment opportunities designed to meet the changing needs of children and families. This is accomplished through creative learning experiences designed to increase social interaction. Our programs are fee-based and administered by the Bloomington Community Education Youth and Family Department. Kids' SAFARI is located in all Bloomington elementary schools.

Register for Kids SAFARI

Olson Elementary believes in fostering the whole child.  This includes opportunities to interact among each other.  Kindergarten students are given time on one Friday afternoon a month  to choose stations. Students can collaborate among one another, make personal choices and have a voice in their learning.  Families are invited to sign up to volunteer during this beloved time for the children!

Each fifth grade student is assigned to a leadership position in the school.  These positions create a feeling of ownership and mentorship within the school setting.  Students may choose to be a patrol, bus buddy, kindergarten buddy, work in the school store, or be on the OLE News show.  Students take pride in their positions and staff is thankful for the talent each child exudes.

Olson Elementary’s principal meets monthly with representatives from each grade level to talk about what’s happening in the grade levels and to make collaborative school-wide decisions on monthly spirit days.  Student council is also the driving force for Olson Elementary’s efforts in the district’s yearly food drive. A president, vice president and secretary are voted in each year.

The WordMasters Challenge™ is a program that helps students to think both analytically and metaphorically.  WordMasters Challenge is offered in third, fourth and fifth grades and the contest addresses higher-level word comprehension and verbal reasoning in two ways.  It bases the analogies on special vocabulary lists, developed for each grade and difficulty level by experienced teachers, which participants study before each meet and it challenges students to complete analogies based on relationships among words they have learned.

Continental Math League (CML)  is a problem solving competition.  Students compete with their peers in Challenge Math problems throughout the state to correctly solve six problem solving questions.  These in-house competitions are held during Math Class. There are three meets for 3rd grade. Awards are given to the top scorers.

Using the character traits of highly effective leaders, students are taught to use these Eight Keys of Excellence to become well rounded citizens. Originally created by Quantum Learning Network, these keys are Integrity, Feedback Leads to Success, Speak with Good Purpose, This is it, Commitment, Ownership, Flexibility, and Balance. Each month, Olson focuses on one of the 8 Keys of Excellence. The Key is introduced and highlighted at the monthly White Tiger rallies and then reinforced during Social Studies which is taught by a school-wide specialist.

All fifth graders throughout the district are involved in either band or orchestra.  Students work in small groups, once a week, to learn an instrument of their choice. Their work is celebrated at the end of the year with a band/orchestra concert.

Band and Orchestra website