Welcome to Heatherwood

Success Starts Here.  Our goal is to build a solid educational foundation for a lifetime of success for every student. We focus on educating the whole child - their academic, social, and emotional growth.  Every learning and social experience at Heatherwood is focused on meeting this goal.

Heatherwood Elementary is a neighborhood school that serves approximately 340 students. Heatherwood prides itself on creating a strong sense of community among parents, teachers, staff and students. With a dedicated and caring staff, a population of talented learners with strong parental support at home, and an abundance of parent involvement, our community is the essence of our school.

“The community feeling is by far the biggest strength of Heatherwood. Having other parents to help support and supervise my children is a benefit I never thought would be so powerful! We also love that Heatherwood has such a dedicated group of parent volunteers, and some of the best teachers and staff we know!” – A Heatherwood Parent

“The personable, caring staff, the abundance of parent involvement, and the incredible sense of community are what makes Heatherwood unique. These qualities make the children feel that school is an extension of home to a certain extent. I sense that all students are comfortable in the school which creates a wonderful springboard for true learning.” – A Heatherwood Parent

Curriculum

In 2005, Heatherwood students’ continuous academic improvement earned Heatherwood an “excellent” overall academic performance rating and the John Irwin School of Excellence Award. The school’s academic strength is based on a balanced and integrated curricular program.   Literacy, writing, and math skills are the core of the curriculum.  Children acquire and apply these skills through learning that emphasizes research, problem solving, and experiential learning. As skills are mastered, children are taught the use of these skills in higher level problem solving.  The focus on academics, complemented by interdisciplinary instruction in physical education and the fine arts, and its regionally recognized teaching staff have lead to Heatherwood’s success.

“The 'teacher-created' learning material and individualized approach toward educating each child are the tops of our list.” – A Heatherwood Parent

“The organized programming, broad educational and extra curricular offerings create well-rounded learners” – A Heatherwood Parent

Grade Configuration

The goal of Heatherwood’s grade configuration is to maintain a low teacher-student ratio. Where appropriate and feasible, para-educators and student pull-out groups are used to reduce class size and meet individual students’ educational needs. Our multiage configuration in the primary grades (1st and 2nd) allows the class sizes to remain low.

Classroom Configuration

Heatherwood has an open space classroom design.  While you won't see four walls and a closed door style of classroom that you may have grown up with, you will see well defined, amazingly quiet classroom spaces.  In our experience, the open structure encourages and enables flexible grouping of students for academic activities and cooperative teaching.  Our teachers love the camaraderie and accountability of the open space and students readily adapt to the environment.  Students learn to be aware of and respectful of others.  BVSD middle school teachers comment that students from Heatherwood are very good at focusing and staying on task. 

“I'm always impressed when I walk through the classrooms how quiet the environment really is. The children learn how to respect others by knowing that they need to use quiet voices and feet while they're going from place to place. The students can see immediately how their loudness affects other students and visa versa. This has actually been a tremendous asset for my children.” – A Heatherwood Parent

“I love the open classroom environment. It closely resembles home and the real world and develops skills of respect, awareness, and a team approach early on. The kids develop an ability to focus and block out distractions. It also contributes to the feeling of community.” - A Heatherwood Parent

Teaching Staff

The influence of a highly qualified, motivated and dedicated teacher cannot be overstated. At Heatherwood, our teachers are constantly striving for success and continuous improvement. Their efforts are reflected in the academic achievements of our students and have been regionally and nationally recognized.

 “Heatherwood has a core group of dedicated teachers that go the extra mile in support of their students like visiting extra curricular activities, writing summer notes, knowing their students interests and activities, and strong support of PTO activities and fundraisers.” – A Heatherwood Parent

Literacy Programs

Heatherwood has a strong emphasis on literacy across all grade levels and it is an area of focus and investment for the entire school.  Beginning in kindergarten, the basic literacy skills are introduced to develop a solid foundation. To maintain and build on these skills, teachers at Heatherwood use the same language across all grades when teaching reading comprehension strategies. This reinforces the learning and use of literacy skills as students progress to higher grade levels. Literacy specialists and para-educators provide one-on-one and small group literacy instruction. Literacy specialists meet weekly with classroom teachers to discuss instructional plans, assessments, and individual student needs. 

Writing and reading are naturally connected. Heatherwood teachers guide students to read like writers. Writing instruction begins in kindergarten and continues throughout each grade level.  Writing instruction starts with brief lessons using authentic literature as a model for the teaching focus.  Lessons include a variety of writing forms such as narratives, reports, procedures, persuasive, poetry, letters and more. Each day, students in all grades are given large periods of time to write.

“Heatherwood does a wonderful job supporting the early learner with excellent results in writing and reading skills.” – A Heatherwood Parent

Math

Heatherwood's math program aims to prepare students for the future.  It is based on the BVSD curriculum and math standards.  We teach Investigations Math supplemented with the Scott Foresman/Addison Westley math program. Students learn to use problem solving strategies and critical thinking in their math activities along with basic math computational skills.

Heatherwood has a math lead teacher who works directly with the staff on “best math instructional” practices.  For kindergarten through second grade, teachers provide differentiated instruction and flexible grouping for specific content areas in math.  Students in grades 3, 4, and 5 receive their math instruction during a common “math block” time.  This allows students to be placed or accelerated into the developmentally appropriate math level.  Heatherwood’s math block also includes a sixth grade section for students performing at the middle school level.  Student’s math needs are also met though our Talented and Gifted programming and several math enrichment opportunities.  Our CSAP math scores consistently rank Heatherwood among the top schools in the district. 

Fine Arts and Physical Education

Heatherwood’s fine arts and physical education programs are integral to our philosophy of educating the whole child.  Music classes are coordinated with academic activities and support the various content areas of the classroom - literacy, science, and social studies. Our music program and music technology lab provide a myriad of opportunities to perform, compose, and experiment through music, allowing each child to express themselves in a unique way.  The students’ love of music is shared as each grade level performs a musical program for parents. 

The Art curriculum strives to create an early appreciation and passion for art and extends the classroom curriculum through subject-related art projects. Students in the younger grades (K-2) are introduced to the basic elements of art via projects that explore line, texture, form, shape, color, composition and value. Older students (grades 3 - 5) are challenged with more complex projects using the elements of art and studying more artists and art-based careers.

The Physical Education curriculum couples specific grade level activities and goals with out-of-class challenges and strives to build a well-rounded, physically-fit student. The K-2 grade curriculum emphasizes a foundation of fundamental movement and manipulative skills. The 3rd grade students begin to apply those skills. The 4th and 5th grade curriculum is sports-related and emphasizes team play and learning to be a contributing team member. In addition to in-class instruction, PE holds many special activities during the year like Challenge Day, after-school intramurals, and the Heather Heatherwood one-mile fun run.

Student Culture and School Climate

The social and emotional development of our children is of utmost importance to the Heatherwood community. The Heatherwood staff takes pride in creating a warm, welcoming and safe learning environment where all children are accepted.  The Heatherwood student body developed the Heatherwood Constitution that fosters diversity and acceptance. 

The cross-grade buddy program teams children from the upper grades (3-5) with children from the lower grades (K-2) in an effort to foster friendships throughout the school. Buddies meet weekly in each other’s classroom to work on projects together, which is usually the highlight of the students’ week!

Heatherwood has adopted the WIN/WIN guidelines for conflict mediation.  This has helped students learn to successfully manage and mitigate conflict and fosters a positive classroom and playground environment. The school has also proactively implemented the BVSD bully-proofing program to further support an inclusive and positive school environment.

Parent Involvement

The success of Heatherwood students begins with high-quality dedicated staff, continues with academically, socially, and emotionally nurtured children and is completed by the support and involvement of parents and community members. Each year parent volunteers log over 5,000 hours in the classroom.  Parent volunteers serve on committees that are fundamental to the success of our school. These include the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), School Accountability Committee (SAC), Auction committee and many more.  The school PTO raises over $55,000 annually that is used to fund a variety of programs that contribute directly to the school's improvement and academic goals.  The PTO also fosters the spirit of community that characterizes Heatherwood by organizing numerous family-focused events throughout the year.

Parent Communication

Communication between school, parents and teachers is vital to our success.  Parents are encouraged to communicate with teachers, staff and the principal as needed. All teachers and staff have voice mail and e-mail in addition to being available for one-on-one meetings.  Parent teacher conferences are held twice a year to ensure that the lines of communication are well established and any issues or questions are addressed.  To facilitate effective classroom and student specific communication, a weekly folder is sent home with each student which includes classroom work, teacher updates and other pertinent information. The Husky Highlights newsletter contains important school wide information and is sent home twice a month. 

“There is a high degree of formal and informal communication between the school staff, teachers, and parents and, thus, I feel like I am always aware of what is going on at the school.” – A Heatherwood Parent

The Heatherwood staff and parents foster mutual cooperation, emotional support and personal and academic growth for all of our students.

Success Starts Here… Please Join Us!