Weeden Elementary (Florence City) Instructional Round

April 26- Weeden Elementary (Florence City)
Grades: K-4 Title 1 School
# Students: 425
Demographics: 31% are African Americans, 32% are Caucasian and 37% are Hispanic/Other
F/R lunch: 96% of our students receive a free or reduced price lunch
Registration: 8:15 a.m.
Begin: 8:30 a.m.
End: 2:30 p.m.

What can participants expect to see when they visit?
At Weeden Elementary our mission is to empower students to explore, create, challenge, innovate and lead. Weeden has 24 homeroom teachers, 5 Special Education teachers, and 4 Title I teachers. There are several full time teachers in the areas of art, music, library, physical education, speech and counseling to meet students’ diverse needs. Two full time ELL (English Language Learners) teachers are on staff to ensure that ELL students are able to reach a proficient achievement level on state tests and succeed in English-led classrooms. A full time Instructional Partner is on staff to help build capacity among teachers to implement effective instructional practices that improve student learning. A full time school resource officer is available to provide safety and security for the campus.
Weeden is Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model School. SIOP is a proven framework for teaching both academic content and language skills in ways that are more effective for English Language Learners. All classroom teachers are AMSTI trained.   Weeden is also currently an Alabama Reading Initiative School. Weeden Elementary received the Torch Bearer award for the 2012 – 2013 school year
Weeden values integrating technology into the curriculum. A 1:1 technology initiative was implemented this school year. Students in Kindergarten through Grade 2 are issued an iPad and Grades 3 and 4 have Chromebooks. Teachers are issued an iPad and a laptop computer. Every classroom has a Smart Board, a projector, an Elmo and a printer.  The library has a bank of 12 desktops that are available for use as well. Internet access is provided and many programs are accessible for use on the student online resource page.