the RAH
January 15-19, 2018
Rookie of the Year
Every year, we have the exciting opportunity to welcome new teachers to our district. As they begin their careers, it is wonderful for us to be a part of and support their learning and growing.
The Rookie of the Year award was established in honor of Malori McGhee, an outstanding beginning teacher was tragically killed in an accident during her first year. The purpose of this award is to honor novice teachers (first through third year) who demonstrate and exemplify building meaningful connections with students and connects students to their learning, collaborates with peers and grows their skillset and capacity at exemplary levels, and believes that relationships and education are the key to opening opportunities now and in the future.
The Rookie of the Year will be awarded at the Annual Teachers’ Banquet. Please note: this award is not sponsored by the Foundation for Springfield Public Schools Teacher Banquet; it is simply presented as part of the evening celebrations.
If you have a first year teacher you wish to nominate, please complete the nomination form by clicking here. Nominations will be accepted through Feb 23, 2018.
from Curriculum-
Upcoming Learning Support Events
January 11 - Super CDC K-2 (8:00-11:00)
January 11 - Super CDC 3-5 (12:30-3:30)
January 17 - Number Talks (4:15 - 5:45)
January 31 - Rekenreks - (4:15 - 5:45)
February 1 - Split Grade Level Classroom Teacher Support (8:30-11:30)
February 7 - Fractions, Fractions, Fractions - (4:15 - 5:45)
Super CDC
The Super CDC met on Thursday, January 11th. Topics discussed included science processing, PBL rubrics, PBL unit feedback, writing prompts, and math competency rubrics. You can access the presentation here or on the CIA Canvas course.
Guided Math Connection
Component 7: Small Group Instruction
This week at job-alike, you were able to look inside a classroom and view an example of four different guided math groups. One of the goals of math workshop is to provide a structure to allow teachers to provide intervention through small group instruction that meets learners at their zone of proximal development (ZPD).
We have explored the resources available for teachers through the My Math differentiated lessons and iReady lessons by standard. Teachers who are looking to dig deeper into differentiation may choose to view tasks and lessons available through the Coherence Maps on AchievetheCore.org. This is an excellent resource for differentiation as it shows the relationships between standards and across grade-levels.
Differentiating tasks is a great place to begin, but that must be coupled with rich conversation and peer discussion. Discussions can be framed around the Standards for Mathematical Practice by allowing students opportunities to explain their thinking and make sense of mathematics through modeling and conversation. The practice standards can be used in conjunction with the content standards to provide rich instruction to all students.
more from Curriculum-
Literacy Connection
Readworks.org is a a wonderful resource for teachers to use during mini-lessons, guided reading, or independent practice. Not only does Readworks provide lessons and units, but it provides many resources to help students as they practice reading skills, research during PBL units, and build vocabulary.
In order for teachers to have resources for these lessons, we have ensured that each building library has one copy of the books needed to teach the readworks lessons. If teachers are unable to locate a specific book, it is likely out of print and unavailable. Books that were available have been purchased and distributed to building libraries.
Below is a snapshot of other resources available from Readworks.org:
from J-
When I ran across those ridiculous silver thumbs, I never thought they would turn into something so fun. Now it has it's own twitter account (@SilverThumbSPS) and is trekking across the states. One of the latest recipients, Gary, made it part of his assembly (click here to see that). Just a great big thank you for making this work and journey together fun!
Make it a great week! Let me know how I can support you!
J