Soaring Around the World!

With the start of a new school year comes a new set of challenges for our students and staff.  One of the major challenges for us as a school is ensuring the rigor of our curriculum is commensurate with the expectations of the Common Core State Standards.  Our staff quickly saw that the path to this more robust set of skills could not be achieved by relying solely on the tried and true methods of the past.  What our teachers started over the Summer of 2013 was truly remarkable.

Willard teachers gathered together over the summer months to collaboratively plan a themed curriculum that connects to our PBIS model of "SOAR Like An Eagle (i.e., where SOAR is an acronym for Show Respect, Ownership, Attitude, and Responsibility.)"  During the 2013-14 school year, Willard is "Soaring Around the World!"

Every grade level has chosen a specific continent to focus on, and students will be researching climate, native animal species, different maps (e.g., topographical, geopolitical, etc.), languages, and the cultures and traditions found in the countries located on that continent.  To this end, Willard is looking to set up Skype chats with classrooms on each continent!  We have established a Skype lesson, and are eager to make connections with students around the world.  Please do not hesitate to join our lesson or contact us via email if you are interested in connecting with us via a Skype chat.