BCS Elementary Ed Newsletter

As we enter the final month of 2022, take time to reflect on the value you have added to the lives of our Brunswick County children and their families. You matter. Your time and work in our schools matter. In the front of the LETRS volume 1, Louisa Moats says, "Informed teachers are our best insurance against reading failure. While programs are very helpful tools, programs don't teach; teachers do." LETRS is a professional development program filled with research, best practices, and resources. However, teachers create readers. Teachers create learners. In every building, teachers are surrounded by administrators, teacher assistants and support staff who chose to be in education to help others. Just like our teachers, our school staff matters.

Thank you for all your hard work and the time you've dedicated to our BCS children and their families this calendar year. Finish 2022 strong, and enter into 2023 knowing your worth and the value and good you add to the lives of others.

With the front conference room transformed into a game show entitled “Spin that LETR”, staff at Union enjoyed a popcorn bar while engaging in rich conversations reflecting their professional learning in LETRS thus far. Staff members took turns spinning the wheel of letters that corresponded with discussion questions centered around reading instruction based on the science of reading.

How to Use

1. Three

After the lesson, have each student record three things he or she learned from the lesson.

2. Two

Next, have students record two things that they found interesting and that they’d like to learn more about.

3. One

Then, have students record one question they still have about the material.

4. Review

Finally, the most important step is to review the students’ responses. You can use this information to help develop future lessons and determine if some of the material needs to be taught again.

*For Primary Grades K-1, this strategy should be used in whole-group rather than as an independent task, with the teacher charting ideas. Of course, since many children will want to participate, there might be more than 3-2-1 ideas/questions in each section.

When to Use

Use Three-Two-One at any time during a lesson to encourage students to think about their learning:

• As a Check for Understanding during any portion of the lesson
• During class discussions as a way for students to record their thoughts
• As a closing activity so that students can review what was learned in the lesson
• As an exit ticket at the end of the class period

Variations

Compare and Contrast 3-2-1

As a way to compare and contrast, have students record three similarities between two items, two differences, and one question they still have about them.

Reading 3-2-1

When reading, have students record three of the most important ideas from the text, two supporting details for each of the ideas, and one question they have about each of the ideas.

Pyramid 3-2-1

Have the students create a triangle and divide it into three sections horizontally. In the bottom section, the students record three things they learned for the day. In the middle section, the students record two questions they have. In the top section, the students describe how the information learned is applicable to their everyday lives.

Academic Vocabulary 3-2-1

To increase comprehension and use of academic language, ask students to explore a concept through 3-2-1. First, have them speak with a partner. Provide the structure for 3 minutes of conversation using targeted academic language. Then, ask students to write 2 sentences using the language. Finally, have students read 1 paragraph which contains the targeted vocabulary.

December 19-21 - Non-Required Workdays

December 22 - Annual Leave

December 23, 26-27 - Holiday Christmas

December 28-30 - Annual Leave

January 1-2 - Annual Leave

January 16 - Martin Luther King Holiday

January 20-End of 2nd Quarter/DIBELS 8 MOY Begins

January 23-Required Workday

Amplify is excited to announce that beginning at MOY, the mCLASS D8 system will automatically require all students in all grade levels to be assessed on all measures. Educators will no longer need to override gating rules for grades 1-3. Please note, this product update will require all Kindergarten students to be assessed on every measure at every benchmark window.

In partnership with NCDPI, Amplify is offering professional learning sessions for teachers and leaders.

Dec. 7, 2022 - 3:30 - 4:30 pm

Register Here

Join us over the next 5 months as we share Effective Teaching and Learning from the book, Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All. The math team will highlight and share one effective teaching practice each month.

Upcoming Issues will feature effective teaching practices related to:

• Levels of Demand

• Facilitating meaningful mathematical discourse.

• Posing purposeful questions.

• Implementing tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving.

• Using and connecting mathematical representations.

• Building procedural fluency from conceptual understanding.

• Supporting productive struggle in learning mathematics.

• Eliciting and using evidence of student thinking

• Beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics.

Completed Actions: ✓ Data Review Committee (DRC) Report completed and shared with the Standard Writing Team ✓ Standards Writing Team (SWT) orientation and work session (mid October) ✓ Standards review updates are being sent through Science, Math and STEM newsletters and listservs, and posted on the website Next Steps:

• SWT completing the first draft of the revised standards
• DPI will release the first draft of revisions (tentatively) in mid-November for 30 days for both public and PSU standard-by-standard survey feedback
• Communication is being, and will continue to be sent, preparing the public and PSUs
• After the 30 day window, the survey data will be sent to the Office of Learning Recovery & Acceleration

The month of December is a time to celebrate holiday traditions. The Behavioral Science Strand for grades K-5 follows a vertical progression to explore values, beliefs, and cultures of various groups.

K.B.1.1-2 - Cultural practices of people in local communities around the world

1.B.1.1-3 - Cultural practices and traditions including artistic expression of local communities around the world

2.B.1.1-2 - Examples of how values and beliefs of different cultures shape American identity

3.B.1.1 - Describe the values, beliefs, and cultures of various groups and explain how the values, beliefs, and cultures influence the development of local and regional communities

4.B.1.1 - Provide examples of artistic expression, traditions, and social structures that have influenced the identity from various groups in North Carolina.

5.B.1.1 - Explain how the identity of the United States was shaped by various traditions, social structures, and artistic expression.

5.B.1.2 - Describe the values and beliefs of various indigenous, religious, and racial groups and how the values and belief systems of these groups contributed to the development of American identity.

Check out these resources for ideas:

Diwali in India Virtual Field Trip - Student Tasks

WinterHolidaysAroundtheWorldAustralia-1.pdf

WinterHolidaysAroundtheWorldIsrael-1.pdf

WinterHolidaysAroundtheWorldGermany-1.pdf

WinterHolidaysAroundtheWorldMexico-1.pdf

WinterHolidaysAroundtheWorldtemplate-1.pdf

Digital Teaching and Learning is excited to share a new self-paced professional development course on the IIS, Schoolnet.

The Continuing to Keep It Simple in Schoolnet 24 course is a “Level 1” introduction to all things Schoolnet.

If you are interested in this PD opportunity, enrollment information can be found in the NCEES Self-Paced PD Guide.

Katie Bunn, Denotra Franks, Savanna Helms, Lori Hummel, Holly Jackson, Jennifer Lentz, Shelly Mongelli, Christina Procida-Rush, Michele Taylor, Crystal Walker, Jen Damin (Executive Director)