The staff at Hemlock Creek Elementary welcomes you to our website. We hope that it will provide you with valuable information. Our staff is committed to providing the very best educational experiences possible for our students.
Hemlock Creek Elementary opened in the fall of 2007 and a $4 million addition was completed for the start of the 2015-2016 school year. Hemlock Creek welcomes approximately 785 students in grades kindergarten through fourth grade. Hemlock Creek 4 Year Old Kindergarten classrooms are located offsite at our community partnerships sites. We have both morning and afternoon 4K sessions.
Each grade level, Kindergarten thru 4th grade, has a common block of time scheduled for literacy and math. Our teachers are committed to using data to make instructional decisions and monitor student progress. A differentiation time is also scheduled for each grade. Differentiation time allows us to provide extra help to students who may need work on a specific skill or provide activities to challenge other students who are very secure in a particular skill.
In literacy, we use the Units of Study for Reading and Writing developed by Lucy Calkins in conjunction with the Teacher's College at Columbia University. This curriculum gives children unbelievable power as readers, writers, thinkers, and composers of meaning. Reading and writing workshop have a very predictable structure. The first 10-15 minutes of reading and writing workshop is a designated mini-lesson, or direct teacher instruction focusing on techniques and strategies that good readers and writers use. After each mini-lesson, students have independent reading and writing time that gives them choice and provides an opportunity for them to practice skills and strategies taught. During this independent time, the teacher meets with individuals or small groups to conference and support their growth as readers and writers. Typically, during independent work time, there is a mid-workshop interruption. This is a time for the teacher to refocus the group, offer another strategy, or to highlight the extraordinary efforts of an individual student. At the end of the workshop, time is spent giving students an opportunity to share their work with the class or a partner.
Students in grades K-4 receive art instruction once a week for 50 minutes, three 25 minute sessions of physical education and music twice a week for 25 minutes. We have an extensive library that students visit weekly, a full time and a part time counselor, and access to an abundance of technology to include chromebooks, iPads, green screen, and maker space activities. Each classroom also has a cluster of technology within the classroom that aligns to their grade level curricular items. Each classroom has an interactive board and amplification system for use in the classroom.
Hemlock Creek benefits from strong parental involvement and support. Your involvement is vital to our students’ success! We invite and encourage you to be an active participant here at Hemlock Creek through volunteering in our classrooms, joining the PTO and joining us for special events.
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