September 28th Update – Elementary Curriculum and Instruction

Preparing for Conferences

Are you looking for ideas and resources for parent-teacher conferences? Here are some great resources and ideas to help you. They are also located under “More Resources” of this website.

Professional Learning

1st year hires to Bend Lapine (beginning or experienced educators) Are you in your 1st year of working for Bend-LaPine Schools, beginning or experienced educator? Please plan to attend our required 3 half-day professional development opportunities designed just for you! Learn more here. Here is a quick video on how to sign up in performance matters. The sub code for office managers is : 2 2240 73 681 0316

Committee Opportunities

Literacy Language Arts Review Team application (click here): You are PAID FOR YOUR TIME on this team! We are looking for folks interested in being on our language arts adoption team. This will include materials for language arts (language, comprehension, vocabulary, knowledge building) and writing. This is a one year commitment of after school meetings and you will be paid curriculum rate for those hours. Reach out to Julie Walker if you have any questions. Deadline to submit is September 30th.

Math Curriculum Review Team application. You are PAID FOR YOUR TIME on this team! We are beginning the review process of our math curriculum. This will be a two year commitment of after school meetings and possibly school day meetings. Reach out to Julie Walker and Kerry Morton if you have any questions. The deadline to submit an application is September 30th.

Literacy Happenings

Engagement while teaching RGR Don’t call on individual students even though the teacher editions says to. Just a reminder that your TE may say to call on individual students during the lesson, this is residue left from RGR being used in small group intervention. Instead of calling on individual students consider: turn and talk, choral responses, stop and jot, partner reading (one student is reader, other is coach) then switch.

Training videos for Really Great Reading You will be receiving an email from RGR with links and instructions on training videos to support you in implementing RGR. These videos will help answer many of your questions, support you in understanding the why of the program, and may help prepare you for conversations with parents during conferences. You can move through them at your own speed. Course 1 and 2 are recommended to complete during the first 4 weeks of instruction and then Course 3 after 4-6 weeks of instruction. Screen shot below:

Spelling inventory assessment – Administered as a whole group spelling test. This assessment quickly shows where students’ phonics skills break down. If you are interested in trying this and want support in planning instruction from the results, reach out to your instructional coach. I linked the LETRS version above or feel free to continue using words their way!

Really Great Reading office hours

Nick Goodman from Really Great Reading will be available to answer any questions you or your team have regarding foundational skills instruction. Stop in anytime during the following blocks of time.

October 12th

1:30 – 2:10 pm Countdown office hours- link to meeting here
2:10 – 2:50 pm BLAST office hours- link to meeting here
2:50 – 3:30 pm HD Word office hours- link to meeting here

Math Happenings

Bridges Unit Screeners – As a reminder, we are using the Unit Screeners again this year. There are some great resources for re-engagement activities linked directly on the Implementation Guide – no need to search for support materials!

Bridges Scope & Sequence – Bend-La Pine Schools will be following these plans for the 2022-2023 school year. The Bridges Educator Site (login through Clever) has some guidance for addressing individual student needs.

Forefront – The rosters should be working now. If your roster still seems incorrect, complete this form.

Supporting English Learners

Looking for ideas to support and connect with your emergent bilinguals and their families? See this article from Edutopia, for easy to implement tips and helpful hints that will get their year off to a great start!

Social Emotional & Mental Well-Being

Tier One Support:

Harmony 3rd Edition Unit One: Being Your Best Self.

Students will Learn:

Recognizing Emotions
Linking Emotions and Thoughts
Connecting Emotions, Thoughts and Actions
Emotional Regulation
Growth Mindset

Harmony has an app in self service for you and students. You can access games, mindful breathing breaks, and the connection cards there.

Resources to help your MeetUps run smoothly.

Movement Moment

The PE Minutes Google Doc is getting updated weekly with a lot of Brain Break videos you can use in your classroom.

Also the Harmony Buddy Collaborations are now on the PE Minutes google doc. Any buddy activity except the drawing activities will count towards your PE minutes.

Dance:

Handclap – 3:25
Dance Monkey 3:25
Chicken Dance with a live chicken 5:05 (K – 2)
Tolls: Can’t Stop This Feeling (GoNoodle) 3:04

Yoga:

Cosmic Kids Yoga – Focus Potion (K-2) 5:10
Silly To Calm Yoga Moves (K – 1) 3:60
Yoga For Kids 25:04
Dynamic Stretches 4:03

Fun Brain Breaks:

Instructional Technology

The Instructional Technology team has some great resources available for you to use in your classroom, including:

Sphero Bolt Set – Sphero is a programmable robot ball that students can drive and use as a fun and engaging way to learn how to code. You can request a case of 15 Sphero robots for week-long check-out anytime from October to June using the Sphero Request Form.
SAM Lab Kits – Free SAM Labs kits are up for grabs! The district is permanently dispersing the brand-new STEM based SAM Labs kits housed at the district office. If you are interested, please fill out this Google Form to request a SAM Lab Kit.
- Other important information about SAM Lab Kits
  - SAM Labs requires a subscription to utilize the app.
  - The district paid the subscription for everyone K-8 for the 22/23 school year. The app is in Self Service.
  - Moving beyond 22/23, sites wanting to utilize their SAM Lab kits will purchase their own subscription. Pricing is included in the request form.
  - SAM Lab kits are obsolete without a subscription to the app.

Ozobots – Ozobots are little robots that use color combinations drawn on paper to move from one location to another. They are a great way to introduce students to coding without using screens. One of the instructional technology coaches will provide instructions for use when they are delivered to your classroom. You can request Ozobots here.

You may see an i-Ready icon under “more apps.” This is only used for TAG assessments. This is not for classroom teachers as it is not a district approved assessment.