Curriculum Connections Newsletter

We hope you had a restful and relaxing Labor Day weekend. As you move through your third full week of school, the Department of Learning just wanted to remind you of the curriculum pacing guides that have been created using our Board-adopted, Tier 1, High Quality Instructional materials (HQIM). Please remember these documents are created for you to help you plan daily lessons that align with Ohio's Learning Standards. Teachers may find that some lessons on the pacing guide may take 2 days instead of 1. That is OK. Pacing guides are available to help teachers plan engaging lessons that will meet the various needs of the students in their classrooms. If you have a question about a subject's pacing guide, please don't hesitate to reach out to the Instructional Specialist assigned to that subject or Chris Keating for clarification or guidance.

CH-UH 795 members can use the chart at this link for a list of all currently scheduled Professional Learning opportunities for the 2026-27 school year.

Warm Regards,

The Learning Team

Established on February 29, 1952, Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is celebrated on September 17 each year. This day commemorates the September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution. The U.S. Department of Education offers a resource list to get you started. In addition, the Constitution Center has live webinars for all ages, including a Naturalization Ceremony from 2024.

This is also a good opportunity to remind teachers of all disciplines about PBS LearningMedia. This site offers thousands of curated, standards-aligned videos and digital interactives for use as primary sources. You can create a free account with your district Google account, browse by subject or grade, and post the digital resources directly to your Google Classroom.

Additional Resources:

• Constitution Center, We Are Teachers, HMH Activities

• Census Fun Facts - The results of the Census have been published, discuss the importance of the Census and why it was included in the Constitution

September 11-13, 2026

Rosh Hashanah (literally, “Head of the Year”) is the Jewish New Year, which marks the beginning of a 10-day period of prayer, self-examination and repentance. This period, known as the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe or High Holy Days), is widely observed by Jews throughout the world, many with prayer and reflection in a synagogue. There also are several holiday rituals observed at home.

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which—because of differences in the solar and lunar calendar—corresponds to September or October on the secular calendar. Customs associated with the holiday include sounding the shofar, eating a round challah, and tasting apples and honey to represent a sweet New Year.

(information from: https://weinsteinjcc.org/jewish-holidays)

The CH-UH Professional Learning Day is just around the corner on November 3, 2026. We invite you to share your experiences and instructional strategies related to district initiatives like Clarity, Coaching, HQIM implementation, SEL, MTSS implementation, or AVID. Complete this form to submit your proposal by October 2, 2026. Reach out to Tekara Ray or Joyce Bukovac if you have any questions.

Per the negotiated contract, CH-UH teachers who are presenting will be paid for 1.5 hours of preparation time per hour of presentation. After November 3, you will want to request this payment by using an extra assignment sheet and sending it to Chris Keating at the Board of Education.

New LiveView Classroom Report is a real-time monitoring dashboard designed to give you in-the-moment visibility into student learning during digital lesson time.

Key Features of LiveView The dashboard helps teachers track engagement and pivot instruction instantly through several core functionalities:

- Real-Time Activity Tracking: Shows exactly which students are actively working and where they are located within a lesson sequence at that precise second.

- In-the-Moment Alerts: Delivers immediate notifications if a student begins struggling with grade-level math content, eliminating the need to wait until the end of the day or week to spot issues.

Please reach out to Joyce Bukovac with any questions or if you’d like support getting started with Zearn.

Pacing Guides ← K-8th grade teachers: Please use this pacing guide for your instruction. It is also located in the At-a-Glance document under “science” entitled “Sci Curriculum One-Pager”

Standards Transition

• This year, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District is beginning the transition to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Learn more here: Next Generation Science Standards.

Elementary-Level Instruction

• Classroom teachers and Discovery Lab teachers (formerly STEM) will work together to plan weekly, engaging science lessons.

• Classroom teachers should have received:

• Explore Science Studies Weekly magazines along with manuals

• Science kits for hands-on experiments

• One Unit within Studies Weekly - Explore Science is spread across two (2) weeks.

• Hours required for implementation of Studies Weekly Explore Science (combination of general education classroom instruction and Discovery Lab instruction):

1. Kindergarten - 1 hour per week
2. Grade 1 - 1 hour per week
3. Grade 2 - 1.5 hours per week
4. Grade 3 - 2 hours per week
5. Grade 4 - 2 hours per week
6. Grade 5 - 2 hours per week

Sharing Science Kits

• Science kits will need to be shared between classroom teachers and Discovery Lab teachers.

Instructional Goal for This Year

• Classroom teachers: Teach the content from the Explore Science Studies Weekly materials.

• Discovery Lab teachers: Conduct hands-on experiments and/or recommended extension activities connected to the week’s lesson.

• Overall goal: Create a collaborative approach that connects classroom science content with hands-on learning experiences.

To access Explore Science Studies Weekly, follow these steps:

1. Log in to Clever

2. Click on Studies Weekly icon

3. Go to classrooms

4. Click Create a Classroom

5. Then follow the steps to add Explore Science Studies Weekly. Only 5th grade teachers should add Science Studies Weekly Ohio.

**** Clever has pushed out a science course for you in the Studies Weekly app. The image below is what you will now see when you click into Studies Weekly. Your Explore Science Weekly curriculum can be selected here so your students will automatically be rostered.***

Need a refresher?

Here is a video that will provide you with a basic refresher of Explore Science —> WELCOME TO EXPLORE SCIENCE VIDEO