Our discipline approach centers on supporting student in making good choices, accepting responsibility and taking charge of themselves. Each classroom develops and posts its own rules/agreements. Students receive direct instruction in how to talk things out and how to take constructive social action. Intermediate students serve as mentors for younger students in need of extra academic and social support. Many of our classrooms are participating in a Character Education pilot program that is aligned with our language arts program and engages students in activities to promote responsibility, cooperation, patience and caring. Social and academic improvement and achievement are celebrated through our “Cougar” rewards, Braggin Dragon, 5000 Page club and Honor Roll.  

Staff members monitor the school grounds ten minutes before the start of school and immediately after both of our dismissals. Our parent traffic volunteers maintain a safe and efficient traffic flow during morning drop-off times. All visitors are required to check in at the office when visiting the school. They are given visitor badges to identify them while they are on campus. Additional safety lighting was installed in our parking lot and along the playground.

Our new facility is designed to support teaching and learning. Each building houses three classrooms built around a shared space that is available for small group learning and teacher collaboration. We added three portable classrooms. Each classroom has a phone and access to a multi-media system. We offer our students a fully automated library with three computers with Internet access. Our updated computer lab consists of twenty-seven Dell Optiplex GX 240 computers and six Dell C610 laptops with airport cards. These laptops are available as a “mobile lab” for use in the classrooms for student research and publishing. The PTA is in the process of equipping each of our 1-5 classrooms including our NSH classroom and Learning Center with new Dell computers.  

Hanna Ranch was built in 1995.

School facilities are cleaned daily. For repairs, safety concerns are given the highest priority, followed by work that impacts the educational program.

The site administrator brings extensive teaching curriculum and professional development experience to her principalship. To achieve the goal of building a fully inclusive and responsive learning community, the school leadership is distributed among staff and community members. Our community uses its equity-based mission statement to guide its decision-making and program planning. The Instructional Leadership Team consisting of a teacher from

each grade level facilitates the staff's professional cycle of inquiry and promotes communication among the grade levels. This ongoing improvement cycle guides our analysis of student need, our planning and implementation of our data-driven, standards-based core curriculum and our reflection on its effectiveness. Teachers use this cycle to inform their continuing modification and refinement of our school program. The team also reports to our School Site Council, plans the staff retreat and assists with the annual revision of our school plan.

Informed by our cycle of inquiry and parent input, the staff identified reading comprehension and writing strategies as their instructional focus areas. Students develop and extend essential reading and writing strategies as they learn to read and read to learn. The core curriculum is based on the district standards and uses research-based teaching strategies. All students have equal access to the core curriculum. Teachers meeting grade level groups to discuss students' needs and to plan the range of instruction, coaching and guided practice needed to insure all students' successful engagement with the curriculum. They use a variety of teaching, learning, and grouping strategies to provide students with differentiated instruction and the help necessary to achieve grade level standards. K-3 teachers collaborate to plan and implement an appropriately leveled, flexibly grouped “by name, by need” intervention program to assist students at risk. Grades four through five teachers collaborate with the resource specialist, NSH teacher and the Special Education Department to plan and implement a similar model within a learning center context. Intermediate teachers provide challenging, differentiated instruction that allows students to work beyond the core curriculum. The teachers of English Language Learners meet regularly to discuss instructional strategies, assessment and student progress. English learners receive standards-based ELD instruction. They also receive the specialized support of sheltered instruction and a weekly after-school program. Students with learning disabilities receive targeted support coordinated by an Individual Learning Plan. Classroom teachers collaborate and consult with Special Education support staff on how best to address their learning needs. Teachers monitor student progress through the analysis of student work, observation and performance assessments. They share student progress data at a fall Parent Teacher Conference and use the newly adopted standards-based report card to detail grade level achievement benchmarks and to keep parents informed of their child's progress toward these grade level standards.

WCCUSD K-8 textbooks adoptions

In support of our district-wide focus on literacy, we began using the following language arts textbooks and materials in 2002-03: Open Court for kindergarten through fifth grade; Prentice Hall for sixth through eighth grade; and, High Point for fourth through eighth graders who need intervention.

In 2001-02, we adopted the following texts: In math, Harcourt Brace for K-6, and Prentice Hall for Pre-Algebra students. In science, Holt for 6-8. In social studies, McGraw Hill Adventures in Time & Place for K-3, and Harcourt Brace for 4-6. Houghton Mifflin for Grade 7, and, Holt, Rinehart and Winston for Grade 8.

In 2003-04, we adopted Algebra Structure and Method, McDougal Litell by Brown, Dolciani, et al. for our Algebra 1 students, and Prentice Hall Algebra by Smith, Charles, et al for Algebra 1A and 1B students.

Our language arts, math, social studies, and grade 7-8 science texts are all standards based and selected from state-approved lists. We have used a hands-on, kit-based science adoption, the Full Option Science System, in grades K-5 for several years. We are working to supplement the FOSS kits with other materials in order to provide our students with standards-based science instruction.