Mascoma Curriculum Newsletter
❄️February, 2024 🪅
Congratulations to Indian River School
🏆 A NELMS Spotlight School 🏆
New England League of Middle Schools are leaders in promoting middle level best practices by providing collaborative learning experiences that support students’ intellectual academic, social, and emotional growth and success. With 300 member schools and more than 15,000 individual members in six New England states and beyond, The New England League of Middle Schools is committed to offering quality professional development, advocacy for the important and unique middle years, networking, colleague support, and educational resources.
Spotlight School Recognition
This program identifies schools that have a record of powerful and research-based learning for young adolescents and consistently observe middle level best practices. A NELMS Spotlight School is a center of learning and strong effective programs that reflect concepts contained in The Successful Middle School: This We Believe. Responsive schools for young adolescents equitably implement the full range of structures, supports, and practices known to be most effective with this age group. This edition focuses on the areas of development, including physical, intellectual, moral, psychological, and social-emotional, and acknowledges that various student identities such as race, ethnicity, social class, gender, sexual orientation, and exceptionality are inexorably intertwined.
Principal Towle sharing the Spotlight School journey
Associate Principal Limero congratulating students and staff for their work in improving IRS
NELMS Executive Director, Jeff Rodman, congratulating IRS students, staff, and administration on their recognition
MVRHS continues its work with NEAS&C moving toward their ten-year accreditation visit. Staff at MVRHS will assess their previous recommendations from the school visiting team and create an action plan to track their growth towards meeting the NEAS&C standards.
Curriculum Google.Classrom
In an effort to curate curriculum resources, I am in the process of developing a MVRSD Curriculum google.classroom. Check out the class for professional development materials, K-8 math pacing guides, scope and sequence documents, and more. 📚 📏 📖
Course Code: cshmptt
Social Studies Resources & Professional Development
- Join NCSS and inquirED for "The Science of Building Knowledge" webinar series. Explore how students construct knowledge and how it plays a vital role in their success in college, their careers, and as participants in our democracy.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1 @ 3:30 PM CT
Inquiry vs. Knowledge Building: Dismantling the False DichotomyTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 @ 3:30 PM CT
A Brain-Based User’s Guide for EducatorsTHURSDAY, MARCH 21 @ 3:30 PM CT
Teaching for Knowledge TransferTHURSDAY, APRIL 18 @ 3:30 PM CT
Critical Connections: Experience, Emotion, and Knowledge BuildingTHURSDAY, MAY 9 @ 3:30 PM CT
Special Teacher Appreciation Webinar: The Power of Stories in the Classroom- Harvard Graduate School offers "How We Argue: Strategies for Disagreeing with Empathy and Evidence" online in March & April.
The call to teach and model effective ways to disagree has never been louder and more relevant. With the right tools and skills, disagreements can be productive–even illuminating–for all participants. In this course, you will learn how to lead your students and colleagues through complex disagreements using two techniques: Argument Mapping and Systematic Empathy. These methods help people clarify information, promote collaboration, and problem-solve.
How We Argue: Strategies for Disagreeing with Empathy and Evidence is designed to help you lead your students and colleagues through complex disagreements using two techniques: Argument Mapping and Systematic Empathy.
- NH CIVICS has partnered with NHED to share resources with educators via NHED’s Canvas platform. Using the public NH Civics course on Canvas, educators can stay updated on upcoming professional development, public events, in-class programs for students, the NH Civic Learning Coalition and more.
- Keene State College, Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies: We believe that Holocaust and Genocide Education has much to contribute to civics education. Although this is difficult and traumatic material, we teach to ensure consistent engagement with the pressing questions of individual and group responsibility towards the other. By exploring values, attitudes, skills, knowledge, and critical understanding of these complex issues and forces, we enable responsible civic engagement. As we remember, we seek to prevent genocide and crimes of mass atrocity by finding points of leverage, intervention, and empowerment.
- “Moose on the Loose” is a social studies curriculum for the State of New Hampshire. Created by the New Hampshire Historical Society, it explores the Granite State’s history, economics, geography, and civic life, introducing students to the state’s rich cultural heritage. The site was designed for kids in the upper elementary grades (Grades 3-6), but much of the material is adaptable for students in other grades. "Moose on the Loose" provides many ways for kids to connect what they learn about the past to current, statewide issues. It also provides a foundation for lifelong learning about New Hampshire, America, and the democratic traditions that unite us all. So dive in and find out more about the state we all love!
- Civics Fundamentals takes the one hundred questions asked by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on the naturalization test for U.S. citizenship and explores the “WHY?” to help the student discover their meaning and importance. We have created a two-minute video for each of the one hundred questions that can be turnkey lessons in civics education classes nationwide. Our goal is to move beyond the rote memorization of facts that dominates the current civics curriculum toward “inquiry-based instruction” that engages learners and is becoming more prevalent in education today. This video based product is available – at no cost to any educator or student – via online streaming.
ELA Review and Professional Development
The MCIA group is currently reviewing the K-12 ELA curriculum, data, programs, and texts. Our work has started to take shape via our action plan. Additionally, members of the group have begun to immerse ourselves in professional development including Lexia LETRS training and a book study on Shifting the Balance.
Ann Elise Record - Math Professional Development Videos
Math Running Record videos - There is an introduction video and then one for each operation where I interview students and explain how I coded the running record. Teachers can download the recording sheets from the site www.mathrunningrecords.com for free and practice while watching the videos.
Daily Routine Videos - There are separate videos for Kinder through 4th grade. All links to the daily routines shared are on my padlet: https://tinyurl.com/RecordElementaryMath
Teachable Courses - Teachers will go to the link and click in the upper right hand side of the site where it says "All products". They will then see all the courses I currently offer on the Teachable site- Cuisenaire Rods, Problem Solving K2, Fraction Essentials, and Place Value.
Please see the Mascoma Curriculum Google.Classroom for the code.
Alma - Student Information System
- Check out the staff help guide
- Elementary Report Card Rollout Plan
- Competency Grade Documents - Elementary (DRAFT!)
✏️ Frontline Professional Growth 📚
Check with your building P.D. Representatives for individual questions.
App Vetting
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
547 U.S. 4, Enfield, NH, USA 603-632-5563