CIA Tidbits
SHARING STRATEGIES, HELPFUL TIPS, AND MUCH MORE!
May 2020
________________________________________________
Lancaster School District Updates
Check out the CIA Corona Virus Teacher Care Page
_______________________________________________
To Our Remote Learning Teacher Teams
For all of your hard work preparing our weekly units...
LSD Remote Resources for Employees
Click HERE to visit the Google Drive containing all of the LSD Remote Learning Employee Resource
Click HERE to review the Remote Learning Plan Teacher Guidelines
**Reminder** -The purpose of these lessons/units is to keep our students engaged in learning from home. During this time students will be engaged in activities that are review/practice. That said, although we will not be introducing any new skills at this time, they may be learning about new and interesting content topics. We are not focused on whether or not the students turn in assignments, but we want to be available to help or give feedback when requested or needed. Flexibility is essential for our families who are dealing with all sorts of challenges at this time. You are appreciated!
Lancaster Schools Standing Strong Remote Learning: Student/Family Link
________________________________________________
California Healthy Youth Act - 7th Grade Comprehensive Sexual Health Education
The law requires this unit to be taught once in middle school and once in high school. Due to the COVID-19 situation (and following guidance from the state and LACOE), it was determined that it would be best to deliver this unit in a regular classroom setting next year and not in a remote learning format. Therefore, both 7th and 8th graders will participate in the CHYA Comprehensive Sex Ed unit during the 2020-21 school year. Teachers will not be covering this unit this year. We will provide training for 7th and 8th grade teachers next year as well.
6th-8th Grade Science Curriculum Pilot and Program Adoption Update
6th-8th grade science pilot teachers were in the middle of their third program pilot when COVID-19 struck. The pilot team wanted to work with the Twig curriculum to see if it would be a viable option for adoption. The 6th-8th grade Twig curriculum is brand new and not completely finished by the company yet. Due to the pandemic, production of those materials has been shut down and they won't be available until at least January of 2021. As a result, our pilot process has also been delayed. The team determined that it would be best to wait and do a true pilot in the fall with students and actual materials with the TWIG program rather than make a decision on the two programs we have already piloted this year.
Therefore, middle school science will not have a program adoption going into the 2020-21 school year. But...we are working with the two programs we are most interested in to see if we can at least have some module access or digital access district wide for all teachers and students to use in the fall (more info to come on that as we finalize details).
We will also ask you to KEEP your current science materials as they will be required for the Williams legislation visits in the fall and you may continue to use them if necessary.
Our plan at the moment is to complete the pilot and make a final program recommendation to the board in late fall so that we can purchase and begin implementation mid year in 2020-21.
SST Power School Forms
We are excited to announce that we are very close to being able to move away from the Beyond SST documentation system and, instead, use forms built in Power School for SST and 504 documentation.
Teachers are able to see the forms and explore their function right now by clicking on the backpack for one of your classes. Then click on a student. From the drop down menu on the upper right you will now see an option for "SST Forms". It is in test mode at the moment so nothing can be saved.
There are a few changes that we are in the process of updating already. If you happen to have any suggestions, clarifications, or see changes that need to be made, please send them to Allison Harmon (harmona@lancsd.org).
Your SST chairs will be working with teachers to train you on the revised SST process and documentation systems either toward the end of this year or the beginning of next year. We are hopeful that these new documentation procedures and processes will ease the paperwork burden on teachers and staff as well as support a more focused intervention process for students with an SST.
_______________________________________________
Your Inner Artist Is Calling!!
Whether you have flexed your art muscle in the past or if you've never even thought about it, check out the free lessons here ... you never know!
From thevirtualinstructor.com- this website offers both FREE and paid lessons and courses. Just type the word "free" into the search for a quick glimpse or search around the site until you find something that interests you. Their lesson plans are also free and can be used with students when we return, but until then, you can keep your own creative juices flowing! Don't worry if you don't have the fancy supplies either, you could use crayons if that's what you have on hand! Here are a few examples:
Click on the picture(s) below to access:
Draw a Doughnut with Colored Pencils
Futuristic Perspective Drawing - Art Lesson Plan
How to Draw a Leaf- Mixed Media
_______________________________________________
Upcoming Professional Development
Teacher Virtual Professional Development Opportunities
CIA/Tech PD Offerings (this will be updated WEEKLY)
Please click on the link at the time and date shown, as these are live links to Zoom or Google Meet*
*There is no sign up requirement for these meetings. Please just click on the link at the noted date and time to join the live session meeting*
PLEASE REMEMBER TO MUTE YOUR MICROPHONE WHEN ENTERING MEETINGS
Week of May 18th: CIA PD Options:
UDL: Focusing on Engagement
Engagement is one of the 3 key principles defined using the UDL Guidelines. Engagement is a priority for sustainable learning. Here we will do a foundational exploration of the Engagement Priority in order to turn our students into Expert Learners who are Purposeful and Motivated.
Friday, May 22 12:00 to 1:00 pm
Week of May 18th: Tech PD Options:
All Teachers
WebEx Meeting Basics for Scheduling and hosting meetings.
Monday 5/18 11am
Tuesday 5/19 8am
All Teachers
WebEx Training-An Introduction to Webex Training (A Strong Tool for Teaching Remotely with different options available to the host then WebEx Meetings)
Monday 5/18 3pm
Join Webex meeting start of session
Training Session 2nd part of session (when told to enter training)
Tuesday 5/19 11am
Training Session 2nd part of session (when told to enter training)
All Teachers
WebEx Sharing - An Overview of WebEx Content Sharing
Tuesday 5/19 10am
Join Webex meeting
Wednesday 5/20 8am
Past PD Resources:
Answers to Questions from WebEx Training Session 1
Self Guided Training/Review Nearpod
Google Slides for WebEx Trainings 3 in 1
PPT for WebEx Trainings 3 in 1
Past PD’s Available on Video:
Beginning Teachers
- Webinars for Candidates who are not able to Participate in Supervised Clinical Practice due to COVID-19
- The California Alliance for Inclusive Schooling (CAIS), in collaboration with the Orange County Department of Education and with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Thompson Policy Institute on Disability at Chapman University, is offering a statewide webinar series. Each topic is presented at various depth levels for teacher candidates. Mentor teachers, university/college supervisors, and university/college faculty at Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and Institutions of Higher Education are also welcome to attend and participate. The webinars are designed for candidates in all preliminary teacher preparation programs—Multiple Subject, Single Subject, and Education Specialist candidates. Learn more HERE.
Digital Curriculum Resources and Help
McGraw Hill- Initial Program Training
The videos below were created to assist teachers/teams in working with the curriculum remotely.
Wonders:
StudySync:
My Math:
IMPACT K-5
IMPACT News: Current Events for K-5 Students
SyncBlasts for Social Studies
SyncBlasts for Science
________________________________________________
Additional McGraw Hill Program Resources (ELA, MATH, HSS)
McGraw Hill Support for Remote and Distance Learning
________________________________________________
Congratulations to our lucky April gift card winners!
Ron Rubio (AC) & Teresa Cole (SU)
Complete the Google Form below to enter May's Drawing!
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
We Are CIA!
Krista Thomsen ext 301 - Director Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Sarah Schneider, ext 301 - CIA Administrative Secretary II
Connie Hobson, ext 321 - Induction Administrative Secretary I
Renee Rubio, ext 322 - Induction Facilitator
Michelle Lambeth, ext 323 - Induction Facilitator
Kristi Zenno, ext 311 - District Instructional Coach (ELA, History/Social Science, Newsletter)
Gina Wilson, ext 312 - District Instructional Coach (Reading Intervention, Arts Integration)
Allison Harmon, ext 314 - District Instructional Coach (MTSS and Inclusive Practices)
April Gridler, ext 313- District Instructional Coach (Math, Science/NGSS)
Janine Sciallo, ext 302 - Office Assistant
Email: CIA@lancs.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/lancsd.org/lancasterschooldistrict-cia
Location: 44327 Fig Avenue, Lancaster, CA, USA
Phone: (661) 723-0351