Students across the Norwin region expect wrap up their summer break Tuesday, as they head back to school for the 2012-13 year.
The new school year brings several changes, and new faces, across the Norwin School District, according to Tracy McNelly, assistant superintendent of secondary education.
"We have a lot of new administrators this year, but some of them will be familiar faces," she said.
This year, the former assistant principal at Norwin Middle School, Heather Newell, is the new principal at Sheridan Terrace Elementary School, while former Hillcrest Intermediate assistant principal Brian Henderson is principal at Sunset Valley.
McNelly said Lisa Willig, Norwin's former response to instruction and intervention coordinator, is the principal at
Hahntown Elementary, and former Sunset Valley Principal Natalie McCracken is serving as interim assistant superintendent of elementary education.
"We've been working with our administrators all summer, so the beginning of the year gives us a fresh start with new ideas," McNelly said.
Other changes include:
Paperless report cards and progress reports
The new school year marks the first time Norwin School District plans to send electronic report cards and progress reports to parents and guardians, McNelly said.
Administrators plan use the Skyward Family Access computer system to deliver report cards, which are sent out every nine weeks, and daily progress reports, McNelly said.
"We've been talking about going paperless for a couple of years, and since most of our students' families use the Skyward Family Access system, we felt it was time," she said.
Before moving to the electronic system, the schools sent report cards home with students, McNelly said.
This year serves as a transition year for the district's paperless report system, she said. Any families without Internet access still can receive traditional paper reports by contacting the district's administration offices.
"We have an obligation to continue sending paper reports to some parents, but our goal is to be as paperless as possible," McNelly said.
Independent reading
Elementary administrators hope to get students in kindergarten through the fourth grade reading more books outside of class.
Unlike previous years, where the district used reward-based programs, such as Reading Counts, administrators developed their own "Reading Roundtable" program, McCracken said.
"it's basically our way to encourage students to read by letting them set their own goals and choose the type of books they want to read, with teacher guidance and input," McCracken said.
The program allows teachers to work with students to develop personalized reading goals, based on their needs and reading levels, McCracken said.
Throughout the year, teachers plan to give students time to critique books and recommend books to each other. Teachers also plan to let students make creative projects and write papers about the books they've read, McCracken said.
"It's very open-ended, but aligned with our literacy objectives," she said.
"The important thing is it gives kids a choice of a variety of materials, which helps them develop a love of reading."
At Hillcrest Intermediate School, which houses grades five and six, administrators plan to challenge students to read at least 25 books, independently, over the course of the year.
"We don't expect them to read 25, but we're challenging them to try to read that many," McCracken said.
ELL/ESL curriculum
Administrators plan to keep about a dozen students in Norwin's classrooms by offering an English Language Learners, or ELL, and English as a Second Language, or ESL, curriculum.
According to Margaret Zimmer, director of special education and student services, administrators developed their own curriculum focusing on English reading and writing.
"We have a variety of students who speak other languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Punjabi, Vietnamese and Turkish," Zimmer said.
In the past, the district sent students to receive similar instruction at the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit in New Kensington, Zimmer said.
Students in the ELL and ESL program take the majority of their classes with their peers but attend specialized classes to help them develop a better understanding of the English language.
The program uses traditional lessons with a teacher, along with programming on computers and other technology to help the students understand English, Zimmer said.
"Technology provides instant translations and may become a bigger part of what we do to help them translate what we say to their own language," Zimmer said.
