Woods Learning Center K-8th

 

Phone: (307) 253-3900

 

 

 

Woods Learning Center is an elementary through middle school program in a small school community where everyone knows and works with each other. Students who can demonstrate responsible independence and self initiative can help create a personalized and meaningful experience where they become motivated and empowered to pursue their own goals and dreams.

 

WLC is a Teacher-Powered school led by a collaborative team of teachers and staff. There is not a principal. All core academic standards are taught in an environment that emphasizes the skills of the 21st century: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. We acknowledge the importance of information, media, and technology skills and how they must be incorporated into the skillset of any modern citizen. We believe character and independence are crucial to success and happiness in life, so personal and social skills are a focus. Service learning is an important goal of our program.

 

Parents are welcome members of our school community. Parent involvement is fundamental to our program and parents of our students must be willing to participate and volunteer with us as well as participate in regular student-parent-teacher conferences to discuss progress.

 

Student voice and choice are crucial to our mission. Students have frequent opportunities to contribute their interests and opinions in a constructive manner. Their curiosity and inquiry help drive our instruction. Students graduate from eighth grade well prepared for high school with the skills and abilities to be successful in whatever they choose to do. Without a transition to a large middle school, students remain focused on their goals, are leaders in our school community, and graduate from our program confident in their own identity.

 

 

The curriculum begins with the academic standards required by the state and school district. Inquiry Based Learning, in which students research, collaborate, and present on topics of their choice, integrates many subject areas at once and is a key component of our program. We are dedicated to in-depth instruction in English language arts, math, science, social studies, the arts, and physical education. Middle school students have some choice in elective courses and enrichment learning, and may achieve Hathaway high school requirements in fine arts or French. We do not use traditional letter grades. Report cards show the level of achievement students have earned towards proficiency in the content standards and parent-student-teacher conferences complete the assessment reporting.

 

The interests of our students determine extracurricular activities each year. Some popular activities include art club, cooking club, drama club, bike club, and woodshop club. All middle school students may participate in instrumental or vocal musical performance groups. Eligible middle school student athletes may participate in athletic teams at another middle school of their choice. They may leave school early for their practices and games.