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Forest Hills Elementary (Florence City) Instructional Round

April 25, 2017 @ 8:00 am - 2:15 pm

Free

Grades: Pre-K- 4
# Students: 835
Demographics: 71% Caucasian, 19% African-American, 6% Hispanic, 3% Multi Race-Two or more races, >1% Asian, >1% Other
F/R lunch: 46%
Registration: 8:00 a.m. with a light breakfast
Begin: 8:30 a.m.
End: 2:15 p.m.

What can participants expect to see when they visit?
 Forest Hills Elementary School is the largest of three elementary schools in the Florence City School System. Our school opened in September of 1963 with a student population of 450 in grades one through eight.  Presently, Forest Hills serves approximately 830 students in grades Pre-K through fourth. Our OSR Pre-K class was added this year. We have 44 self-contained classrooms.  The faculty and staff numbers 104 including 60 certified teachers, nine instructional assistants, five custodians, seven child nutrition workers, an Instructional Partner, an English Learner teacher and a school nurse. Special education services are provided for students with a variety of disabilities with instruction occurring in the resource, self-contained and inclusive settings. A system-wide Autism/behavioral specialist provides services to students with spectrum disorders as needed. Forest Hills students who qualify through various assessments have the benefit of a gifted education specialist for enrichment.
     Forest Hills is an elementary school with various strengths. A primary strength is certainly the ability to reach and teach all students. The school has a diverse population with many students coming from homes in which education is valued. This group of students comes to Forest Hills with a wealth of background experiences and a rich vocabulary. Many families make Forest Hills the educational choice for their children because of the strong parental involvement and high student achievement associated with the school. In Spring 2016, our students demonstrated a proficiency level of 97% in reading and 98% in math. The strength of Forest Hills is the ability to bridge the gap between differing student groups and maintaining high expectations for all. We have a very low turnover rate of teachers at our school. Forest Hills faculty and staff work as a team and are committed to every instructional strategy, research finding, intervention, resource, program, and professional development which will afford all students the opportunity to succeed.
     From its inception until the present time, Forest Hills Elementary has had the support of parents and the community as evidenced through strong leadership in the Parent/Teacher Organization and community volunteers. This support system has proven to be a valuable resource to the students, faculty and administration in their combined efforts to promote a positive and progressive educational climate. With the meshing of this support system and the assistance of the Florence City Board of Education, numerous improvements have been made to the Forest Hills campus. This year, Florence City Schools expanded our 1:1 Technology Initiative to include all students in the system. All students in grade 3-12 receive Chromebooks and all students in grade Pre-K-2nd have IPads. In 2011, classrooms were equipped with SmartBoards and projection systems to enhance student engagement and teacher feedback. Teachers continue to receive professional development, training, and support to ensure full integration of our technology into instruction.
     With our diverse population of Forest Hills Elementary, we chose a theme of “Grow Where You are Planted” for our current school year.  We believe that our school culture should show growth in every area from academics, character, attendance, professional learning, behavior and fine arts To enhance this Growth Theme, our school applied for, and received a grant from the Alabama Wildlife Federation for an Outdoor Classroom. Through this experience, our goal is to engage students in a growth-mindset in which they are not afraid to try new things and experience learning new concepts and skills with their own hands through real-life experiences. The purpose of our Outdoor Classroom is to utilize hands-on activities with students to bring learning to life; provide inquiry-based learning opportunities so that learning is meaningful; create wildlife habitats; meet ALSDE required standards; increase test scores; teach about conservation and protecting/preserving our environment; get students outside and into the outdoors; make learning fun.

Details

Date:
April 25, 2017
Time:
8:00 am - 2:15 pm
Cost:
Free
Website:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forest-hills-elementary-florence-city-instructional-round-registration-32828088697

Venue

Forest Hills Elementary
101 Stovall Drive
Florence,AL35633US

Organizer

Alabama Best Practices Center