Choosing Thornton CreekDistrict Enrollment ServicesPlease access these downloadable information sheets for further reading: Welcome - School at at Glance, Philosophy, History See also Classrooms |
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Frequently
Asked Questions:
What does Thornton Creek have to offer my child? The learning environment at Thornton Creek engages students in academically rigorous exploration and discovery. Our program offers a partnership between teachers, students and parents that emphasizes best effort, high expectations, high quality work, and collaboration. Our curriculum encourages creativity, as well as promotes academic growth and critical thinking. Students learn to take responsibility for their class work as they participate in peer critique and work with their ideas through multiple drafts. Thornton Creek is a leader among the national coalition of Expeditionary Learning schools, a federally designated New American Schools reform design. What does alternative mean at Thornton Creek? Thornton Creek uses a project and theme-based curriculum that emphasizes the development of both knowledge and character. Expedition projects culminate in exhibits, performances, or publications that highlight student work, visual and performing arts, and community service projects. Collaboration and teamwork are taught as learning strategies that help students to see events from multiple perspectives. Community is developed throughout the school with multiyear class assignments, class partners, daily class meetings, and parents as partners in the classrooms. Portfolios, conferences, student self-evaluations, and teachers' written comments provide a comprehensive, developmental assessment of improvements in student work. Will my child be ready for middle school? Peer critique, individual reflection, and collaborative assessment support students to set high expectations for themselves and enable them to work independently. Feedback from parents, middle school teachers, and former students makes is clear that our graduates are academically and socially some of the best-prepared students entering local public and private middle schools. Thornton Creek is very popular. What are my child's chances of getting an assignment to Thornton Creek? Thornton Creek has two full day kindergarten classes. Most children on the 2003 waiting list for kindergarten were offered an assignment at Thornton Creek. There is no risk in selecting Thornton Creek as your first choice. If your child does not get assigned to your first choice school, the school district will process your second choice as your first choice. Does Thornton Creek have on-site before- and after-school childcare? Yes. Kids Time, a Seattle Parks and Recreation program sponsored by Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, offers on-site extended daycare. Call 206-729-9538 for information and to check on space availability. Is bus transportation provided? Yes. If you live in our reference areas in north or northeast Seattle and live more than one mile from school, the district will provide bus transportation. When can I visit Thornton Creek? Please join us for parent tours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at during January and February except for the week of mid-winter break in February. We will also have an evening open house on Thursday, January 24th. |