Traditional Program

Rolling Hills traditional classrooms foster a nurturing family friendly environment. It has been our joy to have siblings of former students come through our doors! We work hard with each individual family to help students succeed at their level and celebrate their growth throughout the year. Parent involvement is highly recommended and appreciated. We believe we are a team who works together to help the student succeed. Open communication is valued in our traditional program! We keep our families informed through classroom updates and individual emails or phone calls. 

Students have desks where they can keep their belongings and sit at for specific directed lessons. Students move around throughout the day and rarely use their desks for independent skills practice. Students have the choice of sitting on the carpet or sitting outside when working in groups or independently. 

We have 1:1 iPad devices that we use to enhance learning skills at their individual levels. With the use of specific apps, students are able to practice skills that help them grow as independent learners. We use other apps to help with project based learning activities and showcasing our projects. Students record their voices while they read what they wrote in their journals each week.

We use a variety of resources to help students grow. In our classroom, students have books that they read at their level and as they grow, they move up levels at their pace. Reading with fluency is a huge focus in 1st grade. We offer many ways for students to pick up reading skills at their level. We have a mentor program with the 6th graders who come and read with the 1st graders. My students have classroom buddies who can help provide support when needed. Writing is another key focus. 1st graders need to be able to write using complete sentences. We use journals, whiteboards, and word packets to help foster this growth. Those who are ready move on to writing complete paragraphs with an opening sentence, details, and a closing sentence. 

With the use of Reading games and Math games, specific skills are practiced for a much longer period of time in a fun and friendly manner. Students learn turn taking, following directions, playing by rules, and being good sports if the game is competitive. Students practice skills and standards through a variety of reading and math games and are able to transfer those skills to paper and pencil tasks when checking for understanding. 

We celebrate successes weekly! At the end of the week we have Friday Fun Time- an opportunity for all students who completed their school work during the week to play games, do puzzles, draw/color, read, etc..  with their peers. Students look forward to celebrating their work completion and enjoy the special "Friday" games on the shelves! 

Students and families in our traditional program are loved and valued! Each student is unique and we believe in teaching using a variety of methods to accommodate and accept the diverse population we work with. Diversity is valued and students are taught to take care of each other, as this is their family when they are away from home!