Architects Seek Input on New High School Plan, Wentzville Full Day Kindergarten Success

Architects from Hoener Associates will be holding an open house on Monday, Nov. 21 to get input from the community on the site plan for the new high school.

At Thursday night’s Wentzville School Board meeting, Hoener revealed a revised site plan for the school.

The plan featured what the administrative design team calls a ‘Ninth Grade Academy.’ Classes for ninth grade students will all be in the same wing of the building.

Bruce O’Dell of Hoener Associates said Wentzville administrators wanted to keep features in the building up to date on the latest educational research.

“There is a certain amount of data that says still at the ninth grade level, keeping the ninth graders together for some collaboration, etc. has been shown to have better academic results.,” O’Dell said.

The new plans also include a fitness room near the gymnasium, if budget allows. The architects are in Phase I of the project.

O’Dell said it is unclear how far the money allocated for Phase I will reach, but Hoener is going to do what they can to fit as many features into the first phase as possible.

The open house will be held from 7-8:30 p.m. Monday at  .

Teachers Declare Full Day Kindergarten a Success

The implemented full-day kindergarten programs this year as a trial to see if kids remembered what they learned more than in half-day kindergarten.

Teachers found that kids going to kindergarten for a full day were much more prepared for first grade than half-day kindergartners.

This year 99 kindergarten students scored above grade level in their Developmental Reading Assessments (DRAs), about 30 more students than last year.

first-grade teacher Susan Green said she was able to teach more new information to her first graders, instead of reteaching them what they already learned.

“The difference in how these kids were ready for school was phenomenal,” Green said. “It stuck a lot more when they were there all day.”

Many kindergarten and first grade teachers said kids were able to learn and remember sight words, letters, number identifications, writing to ten, and Singapore Math number bonds.

In addition, kindergarteners’ handwriting and critical thinking skills improved.

First-grade teacher at Discovery Ridge Elementary Katie Orlando said there are usually a handful of students whose handwriting she can’t read.

Orlando said, after preparing the kids through full-day kindergarten classes, almost all of her students were writing more clearly and communicating better.