The Grange Audubon - 4th grade opportunity

The Grange Audubon Center has a few different opportunities to help support you and your students this year. Through generous funding they are able to offer one of the following programs or toolkits at no charge to 20 remaining 4th-grade classrooms in Columbus City Schools this school year.

The new Audubon Adventures Resource is also available, free, to 20 schools for their entire 4th grade.

Please contact Allison Clark allison.clark@audubon.org ASAP to book dates for programming or toolkit check out this year or to reserve your Audubon Adventure resource! They will be opening remaining opportunities to classrooms who have not partnered with them in the past on January 1st. When space runs out, the charge will be $75 for each of the programs listed below per classroom and $25 for the Audubon Adventure resource (supplies for 1 classroom).

Virtual Conservation Classroom Lessons

(Prerecorded Lesson with Live Zoom Follow-Up with our Educators - single option)

They have prepared the core program topics for virtual viewing. These lessons include an engaging presentation about the topic at hand as well as hands-on and interactive activities to reinforce learning and assessments to measure understanding. Program topics to choose from include: All About Birds, Habitat Connections, Exploring Aquatic Habitats, Plants for Pollinators and Operation Conservation. The Grange Audubon educators will follow up with your students one week later so they can share what they've learned from their activities and they can answer any questions students may have!

Audubon Teacher Toolkits

(New for Classrooms During the 2020-2021 School Year)

The Grange Insurance Audubon Center is excited to offer a resource for teachers and their classrooms across Central Ohio during this unprecedented school year! Teachers will have the option to reserve Teacher Toolkits with lessons, activities, scientific equipment for observation and exploration in the schoolyard and support from our education staff. Please contact Allison Clark, allison.clark@audubon.org, Education Program Manager, to schedule your toolkit check out this school year! The following toolkits will be available January 1st, 2021: All About Birds and Habitat Connections

Audubon Adventure Resources

(Also New for Classroom Teachers during the 2020-2021 School Year)

Do you remember those fun and engaging Weekly Readers from your childhood? The Grange Audubon is now offering a similar resource, Audubon Adventures! Each Audubon Adventure topic will be accompanied with an engaging activity for reinforcement. We have a variety of topics to choose from to help support learning in your classroom!

Link to Grange Audubon Educational Programs

CAPA Offers CCS Students Free Tickets to Virtual Concerts and Performances

The show must go on! Even though this COVID crisis has canceled most concerts and performances, our partners at the Columbus Association for Performing Arts (CAPA) are making sure Columbus City School students can still experience nationally-renowned shows… for free.

CAPA’s virtual Passport to Learning Student Matinee Series has two special programs coming soon: “Black Violin” in January and “Full STEAM Ahead with Mister C” in March.

Because COVID-19 has limited the ability for students and families to visit theatres, CAPA created exciting new virtual content, and thanks to generous donors and sponsors, all of the content - including virtual tickets to these shows are being provided free of charge.

The programs will feature interactive videos and a resource guide to help connect the performance to curriculum benchmarks and extend the experience with fun activities. All of this can be done from home or from a Learning Extension Center.

CAPA shared a preview of these two upcoming shows during a recent Virtual Family Engagement Session:

• Black Violin (January 11-29) - The world-renowned, virtuosic duo of violist Wil Baptiste and violinist Kev Marcus crosses classical, jazz, and funk in their performances as Black Violin. Their 40-minute, multi-camera presentation for students in grades 3-12 offers a new, educational performance and answers many common questions about the duo with a previously recorded, student-moderated Q&A session. Link to learn more and register before January 8 at www.capa.com/events/detail/black-violin-2/.

• Full STEAM Ahead with Mister C (March 5-19) - In this virtual program for students in grades 3-8, scientist and educator “Mister C,” also known as Kevin Cornell, brings his regional, Emmy-nominated television show, “Full STEAM Ahead,” to life with hair-raising experiments, toe-tapping music, and media that captures the imagination of students and parents. Join Mister C for an action-packed adventure that inspires students’curiosity to explore science found in our everyday lives. Link to learn more and register before March 4 at www.capa.com/events/detail/full-steam-ahead-with-mister-c-vol-2the-world-in-motion/.

Educators, parents, and Learning Extension Centers can register for each engagement at www.capa.com/education/passport-to-learning. A link to access the content will be sent on the day the engagement begins and all content can be used as many times as desired for the duration of the engagement.

Ready Classroom Mathematics integrates language through the Try-Discuss-Connect instructional routine to help students engage in productive struggle, participate in mathematical discourse, and make connections between different models and solution strategies. During the Try portion of the routine, Ready Classroom Mathematics also encourages the Three Reads routine. This is a routine that helps students interpret the language in mathematical tasks or problems. A problem is read three times, each with a specific focus to ensure that students fully understand the problem situation and what is being asked of them.

Check out the resource on the Digital Binder or click the link below for more information on how these routines can support student learning.

Ready Classroom Language Routines

University of Florida Literacy Institute - - - Virtual Teaching Hub https://education.ufl.edu/ufli/virtual-teaching/main/instructional-activities/

Explore new ways to teach foundational reading skills using technology. This site has tools for reading instruction and intervention with children in the elementary grades.

Reading Interventions in a Digital Environment PD videos

https://sites.google.com/sstr5.org/readingdigital/home

National Handwriting Day was established by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association in 1977. Their motive is to promote the consumption of pens, pencils, and writing paper. January 23rd was chosen as this is the birthday of John Hancock. John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence. National Handwriting Day encourages us to put pen to paper and write out our thoughts. According to the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association, it is a chance for all to re-explore the purity and power of handwriting.

While technology speeds up the writing process and makes communication more efficient worldwide, there’s something to be said for writing something out longhand. Whether it’s a journal, notes, or even a letter to someone, the act of writing with pen and paper is a supremely tactile and patient practice. If it does anything, it forces the body and the mind to slow down and resynchronize.

Look around. In merely seconds, letters and words form when we text or email. Phones transmit our voices in realtime. Once sent or said, those words cannot be recalled. Meanwhile, writing longhand feels like taking a deep breath. Jumbled thoughts must be sorted before the ink spills onto a white page. They must count and be worthy of the lines that will fill it. It’s an exercise in faith. And it requires practice, too.

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalHandwritingDay

Whether you’re out of practice or execute some beautiful handwriting, share a little handwritten message with us. Here are a few other ideas to try:

• Start a journal.
• Send a handwritten letter to a friend or family member.
• Write a short story or poem.
• Take a calligraphy class.
• Write out a to-do list.
• Leave a love note for someone dear to you.
• Compliment someone with a handwritten sticky note.
• Pay with a check – if you dare.
• Leave your server a tip and a handwritten word of thanks for their service.

8 ways to celebrate National Handwriting Day - website

6 National Handwriting Day activities - website