Editor’s note: Ask Us is a weekly feature published online Mondays and in print on Tuesdays. We’ll seek to answer your questions about items or trends in Rowan County. Have a question? Email it to askus@salisburypost.com.

A reader asked what companies Rowan-Salisbury Schools uses for instructional materials provided to students. The following are some of them:

For literacy: 

• Achieve 3000, a New Jersey-based company focused on educational technology. The company was first founded in 2000 and says it has reached 9,600 school districts and 40,500 schools in dozens of countries.
• Smarty Ants, published by Achieve 3000.
• Actively Learn, published by Achieve 3000.
• Newsela, a literacy-focused education technology company based in New York City. The company says it serves 90% of schools, reaches 25 million students and more than 2 million teachers.
• Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading Collection, published by Heinemann, a company founded in 1978 in New Hampshire as a subsidiary of a United Kingdom-based company by the same name.
• Learning A-Z, published by Cambium Learning, which says it provided technology and “supplemental PreK-12 solutions.” It’s based in Dallas.
• Orton-Gillingham, published by IMSE, a Michigan-based group whose full name is Institute for Multi-Sensory Education.

For math:

• Discovery Education Techbook, published by Discovery, a large company that’s well-known for the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. It also has an education-focused arm.
• Freckle Math K-5, published by Renaissance, which says it’s used in more than one-third of U.S. schools. Its headquarters is in Wisconsin.
• Tools for N.C. Teachers, a free, open source text.

For science:

• Discovery Education Techbook, published by Discovery.
• DEX/Streaming Service, published by Discovery.

For social studies:

• Discovery Education Techbook, published by Discovery.

Multi-subject:

• Defined Learning, an Illinois-based company, for project-based learning lessons.
• Edmentum, which has offices in Texas and Minnesota, for course recovery.

Chief Academic Officer Jason Gardner said school systems in the state have discretion to purchase curriculum materials as they see fit, but they should be aligned with the N.C Standard Course of study as required by the state.

Is the local license plate agency closed?

No. The license plate is open on its normal schedule. It was closed for two days because of multiple employees dealing with personal situations at once.

Is the local Salvation Army location accepting donations?

Karl Dahlin of the Salvation Army’s branch in Salisbury said there were times in recent months donations were closed because the charity had too many donations to handle, but that’s no longer the case.

Dahlin said agencies tend to get overwhelmed during yard sale season. During those times, the Salvation Army builds up mountains of donations inside its warehouse.

The local family store on Jake Alexander Boulevard has been closed on Tuesdays recently. Dahlin said the hope is to return to a normal schedule.

What is being built across from Aldi on Faith Road?

The proposed project for that space is an 11,500-square-foot Goodwill retail location.

Rezoning for the parcel was approved by Salisbury City Council earlier this year. The 1.71-acre parcel on Faith Road was rezoned from urban residential and corridor mixed-use to corridor mixed-use only.