The Bridge
Curriculum & Instruction - October 17, 2016
Tip of the Month
The 5:1 Ratio ~ Increasing Positive Interactions with Students
CLICK HERE to learn how to track positive and negative interaction and ideas on how to increase your positive interactions with students!
Comprehension Strategies
Teach students how to use several research-based reading comprehension strategies.
Teachers should explain to students how to use several strategies that have been shown to improve reading comprehension because different strategies cultivate different kinds of thinking. The panel believes that six strategies that improve reading comprehension, described in the Table 1 below are the most important for reading comprehension in the primary grades. Teachers should explain how the strategies can help the students learn from text—as opposed to having them memorize the strategies—and how to use the strategies effectively.
Sources: Appendix D provides more details on studies that tested the effectiveness of these strategies: Beck, Omanson, and McKeown (1982); Brown et al. (1995); Center et al. (1999); Hansen (1981); McGee and Johnson (2003); Morrow (1984, 1985); Morrow, Pressley, and Smith (1995); Morrow, Rand, and Young (1997); Paris, Cross, and Lipson (1984); Williamson (1989). Several other studies were resources for illustrating how to teach these strategies but did not test their effectiveness: Bramlett (1994); Morrow (1985); Paris and Paris (2007); Vaughn et al. (2000).
Professional Development
We began the day by exploring the 6 C's:
Collaboration
Communication
Content
Critical Thinking
Creativity
Confidence
Click HERE to learn about the 6 C's from How to Raise a Brilliant Child.
In the video below, teachers took a deeper look at what creativity would look like, sound like, and feel like in the classroom and presented it to their peers!
Career and Technical
The first Friday of October marks Manufacturing Day. The movement seeks to improve public perception of manufacturing careers and expand understanding of its value to the United State economy.
In Indian River County, the Indian River Chamber and the Board of County Commissioners have proclaimed the entire month to highlighting the importance of manufacturing in Indian River County.
In recognition of the role manufacturing plays in the United States Economy, the School District of Indian River County Career and Technical Education’s students and teachers will be participating in activities with local businesses, government offices and manufacturers to increase awareness of the different career pathways available.
- The Biotechnology students at Sebastian River High School will be visiting the Forensic Lab at the Indian River Sheriff's Department.
- The Career and Technical Education Senior Students will participate in the annual Indian River State College Career Pathway event, Great Explorations.
- Career and Technical Education Teachers will touring local manufacturing business during their October 19th, Professional Development training.
- Special thank you to Helene Caseltine, Director of Economics and Development, Indian River Chamber of Commerce for coordinating the event.
The link to Manufacturing Day is: http://www.mfgday.com/resources/manufacturing-infographic
Montoring i-Ready Alerts for Student Instruction
As the testing window for the first i-Ready diagnostic assessment closes, each student is set on an individualized path of instruction based upon his/her performance. It is recommended that students receive at least 45 minutes of i-Ready instruction per subject each week in order to see significant growth.
During the personalized instruction, i-Ready gives the student four opportunities to pass each lesson. If the student does not meet expectations the first time through the lesson, the exact same lesson is repeated. If the student does not meet the passing criteria again, a different lesson with the same skill is provided. This lesson will also be repeated twice if passing criteria is not met.
ALERT! If the student does not meet passing criteria (70%) after four attempts, the ENTIRE domain will be turned off !
This alert will appear for the teacher under the Instructional Progress area on the HOME screen. Any student who has an orange warning symbol has had a domain of instruction turned off.
After the teacher provides intervention for the student based on the deficit skill area(s), he/she MUST turn the domain back on for the student to continue to receive instruction!
Please note: Alerts disappear after 14 days. It is imperative that teachers check their alerts AT LEAST once per week to ensure that students continue to receive instruction in all domains.
Quick i-Ready Tips!
*Look for some great implementation resources, including classroom implementation guides, descriptions of i-Ready components, and cheat sheets on instructional reports, visit i-Ready Central at the top of your i-Ready home page.
*Find the scale score expectations for each grade level, go to i-Ready Central and in the search bar, type in SCALE SCORE TABLE.
The Title I team is available to provide training, answer questions, work with grade level teams, help analyze reports...whatever you need! Please contact Julie Green (ext. 6099) or or Krista Sadlers (ext. 6180) for assistance.
SMART Tip!
You can use your SMART interactive board for much more than just whole group activities!
Using the board during center rotations is a perfect time for students to work collaboratively on content standards! SMART Exchange lessons are ideal for small group work.
Have students show what they know while interacting with the content! You can access thousands of ready made lessons at SMART Exchange.
Student Services
How to Talk About Bullying...Keeping our students safe!
Parents, school staff, and other caring adults have a role to play in preventing bullying.
They can:
Help kids understand bullying. Talk about what bullying is and how to stand up to it safely. Tell kids bullying is unacceptable. Make sure kids know how to get help.
Keep the lines of communication open. Check in with kids often. Listen to them. Know their friends, ask about school, and understand their concerns.
Encourage kids to do what they love. Special activities, interests, and hobbies can boost confidence, help kids make friends, and protect them from bullying behavior.
Model how to treat others with kindness and respect.
Help Kids Understand Bullying
Click on the links below to learn more about bullying, access resources and get ideas!
Kids who know what bullying is can better identify it.
Encourage the child to report bullying if it happens.
Talk about how to stand up to kids who bully.
Urge them to help kids who are bullied by showing kindness or getting help.
Watch the short webisodes and discuss them.
Research tells us that children really do look to parents and caregivers for advice and help on tough decisions. Sometimes spending 15 minutes a day talking can reassure kids that they can talk to their parents if they have a problem. Click on links to get ideas for talking with children about life and about bullying. If concerns come up, be sure to respond.
Teachers and Staff
Encourage Kids to Do What They Love
Help kids take part in activities, interests, and hobbies they like. Kids can volunteer, play sports, sing in a chorus, or join a youth group or school club. These activities give kids a chance to have fun and meet others with the same interests. They can build confidence and friendships that help protect kids from bullying.
Model How to Treat Others with Kindness and Respect
Kids learn from adults’ actions. By treating others with kindness and respect, adults show the kids in their lives that there is no place for bullying. Even if it seems like they are not paying attention, kids are watching how adults manage stress and conflict, as well as how they treat their friends, colleagues, and families.
For additional information on the role of teachers and staff click on the link: Teachers and school staff
Exceptional Students
Literacy-Based Behavioral Interventions
A Literacy-Based Behavioral Intervention is a short story that describes a situation, skill, or concept to help improve the understanding of the person involved. This type of intervention can be used to help with a distressing situation, teach a skill, describe a routine, introduce something new, or change a behavior.
Formats:
Social Stories (Gray, 2000)
Comic Strip Stories
PowerPoint stories
Hand written story with photographs
Buddy story (create a story for 2 or more children if they have the
same need, for example raising a hand to gain attention)
Important Tips:
Each story you write should be individualized for the person (people)for whom you are writing the story.Photographs of the individual can help to personalize the story. Additionally they provide the individual the opportunity to see themselves “doing” the behavior you are hoping to teach. If this type of intervention is being used to eliminate a negative behavior it is important to consider the function of that behavior and incorporate a replacement behavior into the story that will meet that need.
Useful Websites:
http://www.wittycomics.com/make-comic.php
Free comic story website – just sign in and you can begin. The background and person selections are limited.
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/
Free basic comic strip making program
http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/
Teaching Children with Autism – information on social stories including sample story sentences
http://www.thegraycenter.org/index.cfm
The official website for Carol Gray