MONO COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

Mono County Office of Education is proud to announce the County Teacher and Staff of the year for 2022-2023. Congratulations to Kim Dudley from Mammoth High School for being selected as the Mono County Classified Employee of the Year and Johanna Tackitt from Antelope Elementary School for County Teacher of the Year. Winners are eligible to participate in the State program. We hope to continue this celebration of staff and their achievements each year to recognize and honor all of our dedicated school employees. Thank you to the school staff who nominated their peers and to our county-wide panel of judges for taking on the difficult task of selecting the winners. Many deserving individuals were nominated by their peers and we appreciate all of our school staff for their dedication to our students and communities. Thank you!

3rd to 5th grade science teachers in four rural states (California, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana) are needed to help with a study looking at professional learning outcomes. Participating teachers will receive targeted support from professional learning providers and researchers to develop and implement engineering lessons during the 2023–24 and 2024–25 school years. Stipends available. Study activities will involve some of the following:

• Complete 1 online teacher survey about science and engineering teaching and learning and 1 survey about the quality and sustainability of the professional learning provided

• Distribute informational letters to parents, and return any opt-out documentation

• Participate in up to a total of 2 classroom observations per year

• Complete up to 2 teacher logs per year to describe a “unit” of instruction, including sharing lesson plans, assessments, presentations, worksheets, etc.

• Participate in up to 5 short interviews, once after the summer professional learning event, and once at the end of each study year.

For more information fill out this survey.

MCOE is excited to announce that we will have preschool programs available in Mammoth Lakes at a new site in the Fall of 2023. There will be three classrooms for children ages 0 to 5. We will be hiring new staff to teach at the center. Please share with anyone that may be interested in working at the learning center. Interested parties may reach out to Tammy Nguyen or Ana Danielson for more information. Stay tuned for more news as the opening date draws closer.

• Are you interested in teaching preschool , TK or Kindergarten? MCOE has grant funds available to support individuals pursuing a teaching credential or working on units towards the TK standards. Earn $1,000.00 per nine course units. The funding is available for the next three years and there are opportunities locally and remotely to earn credits. Contact Tammy Nguyen or Ana Danielson for more information.
• CSU Sacramento is accepting applications in their Child and Adolescent Development Program, an online BA program. This program allows students to finish their upper division coursework and graduate from Sacramento State within three years’ time. The program was created to meet the needs of working adults and students living in rural areas who seek to complete their first Bachelor’s Degree. Courses will be held synchronously two evenings a week from approximately 6:30pm-9:20pm. Click here for more information.

Let's talk grammar! There are a few tenses or grammatical constructions in Spanish that are easier for second language learners to master than other grammatical concepts and tenses. For example the gerund form (gerundio in Spanish) or progressive tense (-ing) is expressed by using the conjugated form of the verb estar (to be) plus the verb in action in the present participle. For example: Usted está leyendo este artículo. Los niños están estudiando la historia de California. Estaba nevando mucho.

Check out this explanation for more details and the English translation of the examples above.

During Math March you may have celebrated Albert Einstein's birthday or pi day (both March 14th) with your students or even practiced for the upcoming state tests. Here are some fun resources to keep a focus on math and logistics.

Mathigon - a mathematical playground with free tools, courses and manipulatives to make online learning more interactive and engaging.

Math for Love -a collection of free lesson plans, games and curriculum aimed at sharing the fun in math.

Youcubed -The Stanford School of Education hopes to inspire, educate and empower teachers of mathematics, transforming the latest research on math into accessible and practical forms.

Fun Brain -games and videos organized by grade level.

Hooda Math -games organized by grade level and subject.

HappyNumbers- classroom game ideas and directions.

The video above is one of 13 videos complied by Regional Educational Laboratory West (REL West) to provide actionable strategies to help students build resiliency and strong relationships. The six strategies presented by Dr. Cofer closely align with the CASEL SEL competencies focusing on Health, meeting the basic human needs of students; Vision, setting clear expectations and routines; Collaboration, establishing supportive networks; Tenacity, fostering resilience through relationships; Composure, modeling pro-social behaviors; and Reasoning, building social emotional competence. Watch more videos here.

Are you interested in learning more about how to support your English language learners? Are you in need of professional development but can't find the time to travel or not able to leave your snowed in home? Support Ed offers online, self-paced professional development for educators and paraprofessionals for a fee.

Also check out these free resources and trainings:

Multilingual Learning Toolkit

UC Berkeley California Reading and Literature Project

Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling Training

The Madera Superintendent of Schools is really excited to announce that we have lined up FIVE amazing authors (and are providing their books!) to bring the issues of equity in our schools to our Mid-State District Office, Site, and Teacher Leaders! As the attached flyer says, “Our Symposium is designed to highlight current equity-focused authors whose work could amplify the change-making efforts at schools, thus fortifying the educational lives of our most marginalized students.”

This is a Thursday (9:30 – 3:30), Friday (9:30 – 3:30), Saturday (9:30 – noon) event, at the Madera County Superintendent of Schools’ Conference Center, May 18-20.

Registration is waived and hotel accommodations are provided for Mid-State leaders (*first 50 rooms). Register here.

It's hard to believe that it is time again to begin state testing, another indicator that the end of the school year is approaching quickly!

Check out these resources for more information on specific tests:

• Overview of CAASPP
• Overview of Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment
• Overview of CAST
• CAASPP Practice Test Information and video
• ELPAC Testing Information
• Tools for Teachers

Most pictures and graphics are links to great resources, check them out!

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