District to Move Forward with Construction Updates
This summer the Woodward-Granger CSD will be taking on phase II of the voter approved General Obligation construction updates. Included in this phase of construction will be the addition of air conditioning in both the Early Learning Center and the Middle school along with some minor renovations to each of these facilities.
Both of these projects will go to bid sometime in March with a completion date for the fall of 2016. School calendars may reflect a later starting date for the 2016-17 school year as contractors will need all the summer they can get to complete the estimated two million dollars plus worth of work that will be scheduled.
Once these projects are complete, the district will have satisfied all projects associated with the General Obligation language and will have one new and two updated buildings as a result. We thank the general public for supporting these improvements to our school district.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this article and/or the projects please contact Brad Anderson, Superintendent 1904 State Street Granger, Iowa 50109 PH: 515-999-8022 or at bradanderson@wghawks.school.
School Board Approves Extended Summer Daycare Program
At the regular school board meeting on January 18th the Woodward-Granger CSD Board of Director’s approved the extension of the current Before and After School Program to include programming over the summer. The program will run from Tuesday May 31st with hours from 6:30a.m.-6:00 p.m. and will end prior to school beginning on August 29th.
No ages younger than 3 will be accepted and students will have had to participate in the W-G 3-year old program during the school year to be considered eligible. Additional ages accepted through 5th grade.
Cost for the summer daycare options will be $300 for a half day, $600 for the full day with drop-in rates of $20 for half- day and $40 for a full day respectively.
For more information please contact the Early Learning Center at (515) 999-8058 for details.
Next Generation Science Standards to be Fully Implemented in 2018-19
The Next Generation Science Standards is the name of learning expectations in science for grades K-12 that all states can consider adopting and adapting to meet their needs. Twenty-six states, including Iowa, led the development of the Next Generation Science Standards, which refocus the way science is taught to help students truly grasp the subject and apply what they’ve learned.
In October 2014, the Iowa Department of Education convened a Science Standards Review Team in response to Gov. Branstad’s Executive Order 83. The executive order called for a review of Iowa’s academic standards, including public comment, to determine the content of, and to continually improve, the standards.
The team’s charge was to review Iowa’s science standards, as well as rigorous science standards from other states and organizations, and to make a recommendation for improvement. The team’s recommendation followed six months of work in an open, transparent process that emphasized public input as well as the team’s scientific expertise.
The board’s vote was based on a state review team’s recommendation that Iowa adopt the Next Generation Science Standards. The board accepted that recommendation and directed the Iowa Department of Education to develop a timeline and plan to help schools statewide put the new science standards into practice.
Iowa’s implementation plan includes the current school year, in which districts are charged with developing a professional development plan to ensure all educators receive the training they need. By the 2018-19 school year, districts should have the science standards in place in the classroom.
The science standards reflect a change in both expectations and teaching practices. They allow students to think of science learning not as memorization of disconnected facts, but as a holistic understanding of integrated and interrelated concepts. Teaching practices are expected to connect scientific principles to real-world situations, allowing for more engaging and relevant instruction that clearly covers complicated topics. The science standards also build off one another from grade to grade.
To learn more check out: https://iowacore.gov/content/ iowa-core-science.
Brad Anderson
Superintendent
