SAND Elementary School

SAND Elementary School derives its name from a neighborhood action league formed in the 1960’s called South Arsenal Neighborhood Development (SAND). The original school for the neighborhood was built in 1899 but was razed to make room for a campus-style school in the 60’s. At that time it was known as the SAND Everywhere School. After many years of service, the campus school was also razed and our new facility was built in the mid 1990’s, opening in 1998.

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SAND Elementary School will open its doors in August 2009 under an exciting new school design called America’s Choice. America’s Choice provides a comprehensive research-based school design that focuses on standards-based curriculum and instruction, integrated assessment, high level and on-going professional development for teachers and leaders including on-site coaching, and a parent engagement plan. America’s Choice has been adopted as a school reform model in over 1,000 schools nationally with a record of turnaround success.

Students will engage in their language arts curriculum using a Readers and Writers Workshop approach which provides a highly organized classroom structure where students take the lead within learning centers. Learning centers may include a poetry center, an arts center, a writing center, a drama center to provide students with depth of understanding of the piece of literature or the theme in their unit of study. The language arts curriculum will also include an Author and Genre Study that will provide exposure to diverse literature. Literacy Navigator and Mathematics Navigator are two intervention programs that will be used in this school to help students who are not currently meeting grade level expectations and just as importantly to stop the achievement gap before it begins. The Rituals and Routines classroom management approach will be built into the instructional system to ensure that all students are engaged in productive learning.

Within this new school model a rigorous middle school curriculum will be developed in grades 6-8 that overlays a Journalism theme, where students will focus on developing strong writing skills. This will serve as advanced preparation for students who want to apply to Hartford’s Journalism and Media High School for grades 9-12.

Grade Levels: SAND will remain PK-6 for one year and become PK-7 in 2010-2011 (most seats in PK and K)

School Hours: 8:02 AM – 2:35 PM

After School Hours: TBD

Dress Code: Please call the school for specifics

America's Choice at S.A.N.D.

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