Welcome back to North Hills School District for the 2017-18 school year! There are many exciting things happening at NHSD this year. We've detailed them in this post and posted online photo galleries from our first week of classes. Click here to see the photos!
McIntyre Elementary Construction
McIntyre Elementary School has undergone an expansion during the summer with the construction of a two-story, 11,480-square foot addition. The project adds eight classrooms, three small group instruction rooms and a reimagined playground area with some new equipment pieces and a hard-surface, rubber-coated playing area similar to the one created at West View Elementary last year. Inside the building, crews created a fifth kindergarten classroom by incorporating a new bathroom into an existing classroom and painted various spaces and classrooms.
High School Curriculum Additions
North Hills High School students have the opportunity to take a variety of new classes to prepare them to be college and career ready. Acting 1 to 4, Principles of Biomedical Science, The Art of Making – an engineering course in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh and World Language and Culture Enrichment are running for the first time this school year. In The Art of Making, students will obtain an introduction to design thinking, 'maker culture' and systems engineering.
New Elementary Computer Literacy and Science Curriculums
Students in Grade 5 and 6 will utilize a new computer literacy curriculum that includes keyboarding, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, digital citizenship and computer coding (programming). This digitally-based curriculum marks a major upgrade to the computer literacy program in district elementary schools as for the first time, elementary students will be taught keyboarding and computer coding skills that have become vital in today’s world. The new K-6 science curriculum expands and further integrates science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts into North Hills’ elementary program. Within the curriculum, engineering concepts will be introduced to our kindergarten students as part of a two-year integration process. The curriculum exceeds the PA Core Standards required in the commonwealth and fully aligns with the more rigorous national-level Next Generation Science Standards.
Elementary Technology Additions
Technology devices for students and teachers have been upgraded and refreshed in all four elementary buildings over the summer. A total of 12 laptop carts were added throughout the four schools offering 336 new laptops for K-6 elementary students, and three laptops were added in all Grade 4 and 5 classrooms replacing outdated desktop computers. All computer labs in elementary libraries as well as building computer labs were updated with new desktop computers. Grade 3 students will utilize new iPads purchased for their classrooms, and each elementary teacher received a new desktop computer as their classroom device.
Project Connect Expansion
Project Connect will continue to place iPads into the hands of all Grade 6, 7 and 8 students in the 2017-18, while also expanding to Grade 9 this year as students who utilized the devices during their studies in Grade 8 will continue to use them moving forward. Additionally, a fifth-grade classroom also will be part of a Project Connect pilot throughout the school year. Project Connect continues to allow the district to further embed project-based learning throughout the curriculum and utilize technology as a tool for personalizing instruction for every student. The devices allow North Hills students to be immersed in an innovative and problem-solving learning environment that incorporates vital skills for college and career readiness such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.
All-Sports Pass
North Hills Athletics Department now offers fans the opportunity to purchase an all-sports pass for the first time in district history. With the new all-sports pass, North Hills fans can attend all home, regular season athletic events at an overall discounted rate, while utilizing digital tickets sent directly to their mobile device. The all-sports pass is $75 for adults and $23 for students representing a cost savings of $241 and $137 over individual game tickets. The all-sports pass is now available for purchase online and is in partnership with StateChamps, a nationwide online ticketing service for schools.
#NHGoesGreen
North Hills School District will launch a campaign highlighting the many ways #NHGoesGreen every day throughout the district’s six schools. The campaign will showcase ongoing and new efforts as well as future commitments NHSD has undertaken to lower our environmental impact and educate our students and staff on the importance of sustainability. This campaign will be posted on the district’s communication outlets throughout the school year and is a combined effort of various departments including facilities, food service, communications and building-level staff members.