Legacy Elementary School

It is seldom that you will come across an elementary school that promotes extra-curricular activities among children at such an early age; however, Legacy Elementary School is committed to changing the way we do “school.” It is the Legacy philosophy that children be given as many opportunities as possible to develop leadership skills and take ownership of their school environment before entering middle school. At Legacy, you won’t find students quietly doing work at their desks. Instead, you will find an environment with a heightened level of learning where students are placed at the head of the class. Over seventy-five percent of the second through fifth grade students are actively involved in leadership roles within the school. Legacy offers over thirteen extracurricular activities ranging from drama and art club to student broadcasting and technology team. A school store, a television station, a postal system, and one of the largest outdoor classrooms in the state of Alabama provide the educational structures that serve as the catalyst for developing deep levels of learning among our students. Legacy students can be found serving on budget committees, making decisions about what playground equipment should be ordered, writing scripts for the morning announcements, and consulting with the lunchroom staff on items to be placed on the menu. Students realize that their presence within the school is important and that they have a job to do, thus, giving Legacy the highest attendance rate in Madison County. The Legacy staff believes students should have their minds busy and their hands “dirty” every time they approach a skill. This experience-based learning has proven to be effective as Legacy boasts some of the highest SAT, ARMT, and ADAW scores in the state of Alabama.
Project Pond was established in the fall of 2009 and is a multi-dimensional project that has enabled a large area of land on the Legacy campus to be transformed into one of the state’s largest outdoor learning laboratories. This outdoor classroom boasts a ½ acre pond and additional ½ acre garden area and provides a platform for numerous partnerships developed with various groups teaching environmental responsibility, hands-on authentic learning, and service learning endeavors bettering our community. Project Pond serves as an outdoor learning laboratory where students are immersed in the sciences by planting vegetable gardens, creating turtle habitats, applying math strategies, studying different fish habitats, examining a variety of living organisms, and observing various ecosystems that have developed on land and water. Students at Legacy no longer learn about plant and animal habitats by simply reading it in a science book. They have stepped into the pages of their textbooks, and even though they may get their hands a little dirty…at least they are learning it first-hand!

Madison County Schools does not discriminate in its programs or employment on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, sex or age, except as provided by law or policy.