About Willow Brook

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Willow Brook is a K-4th grade Title 1 elementary school located on the west side of Oak Ridge. Willow Brook was established in 1949.  Currently Willow Brook’s enrollment hovers around 400 students. The vision and mission of Willow Brook is for student thinking and learning. Willow Brook offers many unique programs to help fulfill the vision and mission.

Motto: Reach for the crown.

Willow Brook Promise: As a Willow Brook student I will do my best to be honest, to be courteous, to be respectful, to be responsible and to be a hard worker at all times.

Academic Opportunities and Interventions

Discovery Center: To enrich the science curriculum the Discovery Center is a hands on learning environment where science comes alive. Students have the opportunity to interact with science concepts and explore the scientific process. It is a place of wonder and discovery.

Math Lab: With a full time math specialist, students at Willow Brook are afforded additional opportunities to strengthen math concepts and understandings. A math lab full of math manipulatives and hands on learning is used weekly by all grade levels.

Multimedia Center: Willow Brook has a state of the art multi-media center…25 brand new iMac desktop computers, a Promethium board, over head projector and surround sound allow students to experience learning through technology in the 21st Century. All students spend time in the center each week as part of their regular instructional programming.

I can read! I can write!: 1st and 2nd graders needing additional support in literacy instruction may be referred to this after school program. Meeting two days a week, students receive reading and writing interventions to support them in the regular classroom.

Add it up!: 2nd and 3rd grade students needing intervention in mathematics may take advantage of this after school program. Add It Up! focuses on concept development and mathematical understanding.

Wednesday Discovery: One of the flagship programs of the 21st Century Learning Grant is Wednesday Discovery. K-2nd grade students spend three hours each Wednesday at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge in hands on thematic study. 3rd and 4th graders have the opportunity to experience the American Museum of Science and Energy each Wednesday afternoon. One week students are at the museum and the other week they are in house as AMSE comes to them.

Information and Technology: This enrichment program offered through the 21st Century Learning Grant affords 3rd and 4th grade students who show an interest in technology the opportunity to explore their talents. Combining research, writing, graphic design and technology, students in this after school program are learning how to produce iMovies, powerpoints, and graphic magazines.

Soar: Solving Outrageous Arithmetic Riddles This after school club is designed for 4th grade students who excel in mathematics and like a good “math challenge”! Under the direction of math specialist, Mr. Frey, this club has entered the national KenKen competition and placed 10th in the nation in their first year!

ELLF: Through a partnership with Oak Ridge High School students, this after school program provides tutoring and academic support to our English Language Learners. As our ELL population continues to increase, this support is critical to their success at Willow Brook.

WBES: Willow Brook has a full service broadcast studio where students produce the school news each Tuesday and Thursday morning. From a sound board, a chromo key, two cameras, special reporters, a director and news anchors, students go on air live to bring the latest news to the school.

Strings: As part of the fourth grade music curriculum students are afforded the opportunity to play a stringed instrument. The WB orchestra meets each Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 8:35 a.m.

Climbing Wall: Willow Brook is the only school in Oak Ridge with both a horizontal and vertical climbing wall. Students get to experience harnessing into full climbing gear and learning the skills of rock climbing as part of their physical education program.

Study Island: Third and fourth grade students have the opportunity to work on state standards in a fun and exciting way through the use of Study Island. This web based program allows students to log onto their accounts at both home and school and play a variety of learning games all geared to the Tennessee State Standards. Teachers can customize work for students as well as see how each child is progressing. This is a super fun way to learn while students think they are just playing!

Family Involvement and Support

Family Resource Center: Under the direction of Mrs. Jo Bruce, Willow Brook is the only K-12 school with a full time social worker. By helping families overcome barriers that keep students from learning the WB vision and mission can be fulfilled.

Family Impact Coordinator: Working in collaboration with the Family Resource Center, the Family Impact Coordinator focuses on supporting parents to ensure students are academically successful.

English Club: In collaboration with the FRC office, the FIC office and the system wide ESL program, spanish speaking parents are offered free English classes on Mondays in the Family Training Center at Willow Brook. Helping our English as a second language parents over come language barriers helps to empower them in the learning process for their children.

We Love Our Parents: Once a year we invite our parents to breakfast to let them know how important they are in the lives of our boys and girls. There is no better way to start our day than with donuts, a gym full of important people, and tons of smiles!

Thanksgiving Lunch: Annually we invite our Willow Brook families to join us for a traditional Thanksgiving Lunch. Our amazing cafeteria staff cooks turkey and all the trimmings for about 750. Each year we give thanks for our Willow Brook families!

Super Hoops Classic: Once a year the Willow Brook staff takes on the Willow Brook parents in the annual Super Hoops Classic basketball game. Each spring the Red (staff) and the Black (parents) take the court at Wildcat Arena at ORHS. Super Hoops is a great way to build school spirit, community support and family fun! All proceeds from the Classic benefit the Willow Brook PTO.

Community Involvement and Support

Second Harvest Backpacks for Kids Program: The mission of the BackPack program is to meet the needs of hungry children by providing nutritious and easy-to-prepare food at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. Second Harvest BackPack programs are located at schools that have a high incidence of children in need. Each BackPack site distributes a pack of food to each participating child on Fridays that includes small pop top entrees, cereal, applesauce, a fruit cup, 100% fruit juice, shelf stable chocolate milk, and snacks.

H.A.B.I.T.: Through the UT Veterinary College, H.A.B.I.T. is a community group of volunteers working together to explore the circumstances and consequences of the human-animal bond and to promote this valuable bond between people and animals. Currently Willow Brook has four dogs that serve classrooms through the RUFF Reader program. Once a week the dogs with their handlers come to their classrooms to listen to boys and girls read.

National Award Winning, Mornings in Motion: In partnership with Next Level Training, boys and girls arriving between 7:45-8:15 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday begin their mornings with a trainer, Devin Driscoll. This program emphasizes the importance of physical activity and movement. In 2011 Mornings In Motion recieved the first ever National Healthy Innovations Award from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Volunteer Readers/Tutors: Through the Family Resource Center students needing one on one tutoring are paired with volunteers who are committed to thirty minutes a week. Through amazing community members Willow Brook has over 60 tutors serving students weekly!

Extras

Kids of Promise: Once each six weeks each classroom nominates one student to receive the Kids of Promise Award. The award is based on the words of the school promise. Students nominated for this award best exemplify the character traits of honesty, courtesy, respect, responsibility and hard working at all times.

Safety Patrol: Fourth grade students have the opportunity to serve in leadership positions as our school safety patrol. Patrollers help at arrival, hoist the flag, and at dismissal each day. Safety Patrol is sponsored by AAA.

Chorus: Under the direction of music teacher, Michelle Goethert, interested fourth grade students may audition for the Willow Brook chorus. The 4th grade chorus performs throughout the school year at a variety of events.

Secret Garden: When Willow Brook was renovated in the 1980’s the enclosure of the building created a natural green space. This space has been transformed into a beautiful garden that features forest regions and plants indigenous to the different woodland areas created within the garden. While on shore leave in the mid 1990’s the crew of the USS Tennessee came and built a covered pavilion as an outdoor classroom within the Secret Garden.

Podcasts: WBES broadcasts are podcasted and can be downloaded to an MP3 player. Podcasts may be accessed through the library link on the Willow Brook web site.

Celebrate the Arts: Each spring the “arts” programs at Willow Brook host a Celebrate the Arts event. Each student choses one piece from their personal portfolios for the school wide art exhibits, students work on multi-media projects to put on display. and students audition for the annual variety show under the direction of the music program and physical education program.