January will begin with professional development for a new reading series in Lehighton Area School District.

On Dec. 22, the school board unanimously approved the purchase of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's "Journeys" series in kindergarten through fourth grade for $155,172.It is the first major language arts series purchase in eight years, according to Tim Tkach, Lehighton coordinator of curriculum and instruction, and grants."Reading is never lost in our schools," Tkach said. "It is always something you need. We had all of our reading specialists involved in this in-depth process. Teachers went to Hamburg and Pleasant Valley school districts before deciding on the new series."Janine Matika, first-grade teacher at Shull-David Elementary School, said "Journeys" meets the demand of Pennsylvania's "Common Core" standards."We're using Houghton Mifflin right now and our teachers like the scope and sequence of it," Matika said. "We think the new series will allow students to better comprehend the content and dig deeper into the text. The hope is they can carry that into what they are supposed to be doing in state testing."The "Journeys" series includes more technology and smartboard activities, according to district staff.Houghton Mifflin touts the series' digital learning tools, including mobile applications and interactive whiteboard lessons.Tkach said Lehighton has Ready-to-Learn block grant funds set aside for professional development.Teachers at each grade level will have their own individual training days through June."We're getting our lessons transitioned and hopefully, we'll be able to hit the ground running come August," Tkach said.The advanced training time, he added, gives teachers more time to focus on content and not the overall change on how the series would be implemented."This is another step forward in meeting the individual needs of our students," said Aaron Sebelin, principal at Shull-David and Mahoning elementary schools.