September 15th Update

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Literacy Happenings

DIBELS testing starts on Wednesday, September 15th!!  We will have a team traveling from school to school administering the assessment this year.  YEAH!!   DIBELS schedule here.

Schools will be able to enter data on the Acadience website starting on Wednesday.  

During the Innovative Conference in August our keynote speaker, Mary Ehrenworth from Columbia University, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project advised us to avoid giving running records this fall to assess student reading levels.  She emphasized the need to spend as little as time as possible assessing and getting right to instruction.  She advised giving a phonics screener and/or a diagnostic spelling assessment instead.  In addition, she said it is critical to address missing foundational skills while still engaging students in complex, grade-level text.  

We had some really great integrated projects last year that might be fun to bring back and use with your students. 

Mathematics Happenings!

DreamBox – ATTENTION ALL THIRD GRADE TEACHERS! – You must move all students into the 3-5 environment. Here are the directions. This will not change their content, but will make the learning environment more 3-5 friendly.

Remember do not change a student’s “grade level” in DreamBox. It does not change their content, it only messes with Predictive Insight Data.

Unit Screeners – Once you administer the unit screener, don’t forget about the Unit Screener Implementation Guide! It has wonderful suggestions for just-in-time instruction for students with unfinished learning. Additionally, consider these scaffolds when supporting students in your core instruction:

Seesaw – Check out the Math at Home resources already in Seesaw!

Looking for professional learning that will support your math teaching and leading? 
Registration is now open for this fall’s course through PSU designed for preK-8 teachers and teacher leaders in mathematics: CI 513 Enhancing Algebraic Thinking: Generalizations about Operations. See flyer for details.
Other courses this year will include the preK-12 courses: 

  • Winter 2022 – CI 515 Developing Geometric Thinking and Concepts
  • Spring 2022 – CI 518 Implementing Mathematics Reform

Each class meets Tuesdays from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. Note: due to an abundance of caution for you, your families, and your students, this Fall’s course has shifted to an online synchronous format. At this time, we plan to return to the Attend Anywhere format (which means you have your choice about format––face-to-face or online synchronous (Zoom)) for Winter and Spring. 
Interested in knowing more about this program? These courses are part of the Deepening Understanding of Mathematics Teaching and Learning Series at Portland State University; they can be used for the Mathematics Instructional Leader Specialization from TSPC or a certificate of completion from PSU. Click here for program application information and scholarship options. 

Supporting English Learners

Our ELL Teachers/Language Specialists are busy getting all the required paperwork and assessment done so that they can build their schedules and begin working with students.  If you have questions about your ELL students please reach out to them and if you have a chance, invite them to come visit your classroom so they can get to know the students you share.

Social Emotional & Mental Well-Being

Many of you likely still have questions about the BRYT/Student Success intervention at your school. Here are a few more definitions to help capture our district’s new resource:

BRYT Student Success "is" and "is not" table of info.

Once again, stay tuned for additional details in these weekly updates, and feel free to ask your Student Success Coordinator, Student Success Coach or Administrator for more info! 

Technology Update

iPadOS 14.8 / macOS 11.6 security updates
Staff should update their iPads and laptops as soon as possible.

Explore ideas from CommonSense.org
Back-to-School 2021-2022 and learn ways support students’ digital well-being.

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