School Environment
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Small Schools
Our small school size provides teachers with the opportunity to understand the individual needs of their students and to develop a working relationship with parents. This results in more effective partnering between the school and families. Parents recognize many students—inside and outside of their child’s classroom—providing awareness and a caring environment. Research studies report that when it comes to school size, smaller is better. Smaller schools strengthen interpersonal relationships and a sense of community. There is generally stronger parental involvement and most students participate in extracurricular activities. (Roger Ehrich, “The Impact of School Size”.) Classroom Technology All classrooms, including the library, have computers with Internet access. Advanced Learning Opportunities (ALO) Green Lake School is proud to be an ALO school! ALOs are grades 1-8 Seattle Public School District-supported programs that serve the needs of academically highly gifted/gifted students AND teacher-identified students who demonstrate skills and readiness for participation in an accelerated, rigorous, and enriched curriculum. Within heterogeneous, inclusive learning groups and settings, ALOs provide an enriched, differentiated, accelerated and rigorous standards-based curriculum that presents learning at a pace, depth, and intensity that meets students’ intellectual needs and motivational levels. ALOs foster development of communication, thinking, and learning skills, as well as social skills. |
Students participating in an ALO program are expected to: demonstrate mastery of Washington State Grade Level Expectations, GLEs, in all areas, and work toward mastery of GLEs beyond grade level in reading and mathematics (typically, one grade or more above current grade assignment in reading and mathematics, following Spectrum guidelines.)
For more on ALO, please visit the Seattle Schools website. Team-Teaching Imagine being able to share teaching responsibilities, teach to your strengths, and partner with other teachers on a daily basis. At GLES, we use the team-teaching concept in connection with our “pods” and our primary and intermediate grade loops to bring both specialization and variety to the learning environment. The result—teachers work as, and are accountable to, a team that has the flexibility and skill to deliver educational materials in the manner best designed to reach each child. Learning Pods GLES has embraced the layout of the school building by using the large, open classroom spaces as ‘learning pods’ that hold multiple classes within adjacent areas. These pods are an integral part of GLES’ team-teaching concept. Although students are assigned to an individual teacher at the beginning of their two year loop, the large spaces allow the teachers in the loop to work together to develop teaching strategies that serve each child. In addition, the open spaces encourage a sense of community and ultimately promote the type of creative, nurturing and thoughtful school we all appreciate. The variety of ways the space can be changed to accommodate our dynamic school population and teacher needs makes GLES a progressive facility that fosters learning, self-reliance, critical thinking, and citizenship skills. |
