At the head of its class: Woodland Elementary School open house a hit

• Greeting guests

Echo Press photo by Celeste Beam
• Classroom

Echo Press photo by Celeste Beam

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An estimated 2,000 people attended the community open house Tuesday at Alexandria School District 206’s newest school, Woodland Elementary School. Scott Heckert (far left), principal at Woodland, visited with students and their families during the open house. Students, parents, staff and community members toured the facility, checking out different areas including the library, lunchroom, gymnasium and classrooms, such as Jennifer Erickson’s, who is a new kindergarten teacher for the district. Woodland Elementary not only houses K-6 classrooms, but also Community Education, the Early Education Center and the district offices.

DID YOU KNOW?

There are 510 students enrolled at Woodland Elementary School for 2009-10 as of Thursday.

There are four sections of kindergarten and three sections of grades 1 through 6. In addition, one classroom on each floor is set up to accommodate specialized curriculum – technology instruction (floor 1), science lab (floor 2). These adaptable classroom environments can be used for other instructional purposes or as an additional classroom as enrollment changes.

There are 165 students registered for the preschool program at the Early Education Center. That does not include the number of students enrolled in Head Start. The center will serve more than 300 families/children this year through its programs, which includes Early Childhood Family Education.

There are 80 staff members at Woodland Elementary School, including 41 teachers.

Discovery Centers in each academic wing allow large group teaching and space to pull small groups of students out for individualized instruction. Lectures, demonstrations and various learning stations can be set up in these versatile spaces. These adaptable classroom environments introduce new options for teaching and learning beyond the typical classroom.

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