The 'SCOPE

This monthly newsletter is brought to you by the NISD MS Science C&I Team.

volume 9 issue 1

It’s hard to believe that we are officially in the first week of the Fall Season. We hope everyone has had a great start to the school year as we know it is always a fast and busy few weeks. As we welcome all returning and new teachers to NISD MS Science this school year, we want to thank you for the amazing FOCUS you have placed on exploring and implementing all things new to science this year. It is no easy task, but there is no doubt with everyone working together, MS Science will SHINE brighter than ever!

It was great to see so many teachers at eNgagement Academy eager to get a jump start on their learning and add to their instructional toolbox. We can’t wait to see all our young scientists in action!

It has been a pleasure meeting and getting to know our new middle school science teachers! Thank you to all for lending a welcoming hand to this amazing group. Welcome to NISD MS Science!

On Sep 17, 2024 our New Middle School Science Teachers spent the day engaging in strategies to support students' learning in science.

The picture shows the teachers playing the game Name It! to increase student discourse in the classroom.

MS Science Coordinators Go for Gold as these amazing leaders focused on next steps for curriculum, instruction, and assessment for the new school year. They reflected and reviewed updated information from TEA and NISD MS Science C&I while also testing their knowledge through a friendly game of trivia. Will see how the next round of friendly competition goes! The next meeting is on Wednesday, September 25th.

FOCUSED was definitely the word of the day as all Middle School Science teachers across the district met at Garcia MS for a morning of learning, which included curriculum, instruction, and assessment updates including an overview of the new SAVVAS resource.

Access to all summer learning resources can be found using the link below.

Please consider posting pictures, short videos, and experiences of how you and your students are connecting with science on X, the app formerly known as Twitter! Use the following link to view posts from @NISDMSScience.

Per district policy, please do not use emojis to block out student faces.

Are you wondering what your next steps are as a returning or new enrichment program sponsor for robotics, solar cars, or Project ACORN?

Make sure you check out the Middle School Enrichment Programs flyer as well as the Middle School Science Employee Connection Extended Learning Opportunities page!

Here you will find that each program has a Google site dedicated to each specific program as well as a scheduled kick-off meeting for each program. Don’t delay… Register in Unified Talent today!

With over 80 teachers in attendance from both elementary and middle school campuses our Project ACORN Kickoff was one to remember! There was a swag shop, swag bags and we raised over $600 for the Project ACORN NEF Grant Fund! Everyone got to spend time in the beautiful Los Reyes garden and learn about Sit Spots. Thank you, Dr Craft, for stopping by and thanking these dynamic teachers for taking their extra time to sponsor this program so they can connect more students to nature!

Are you ready to splash into the Submerged Season? We are! Join your fellow coaches for a dynamic workshop getting tips and tools for this season and meet our Head Referee and Judge Advisor who will be at all of our events. We highly recommend at least ONE coach from each team attends this essential workshop for your students to have a successful season in robotics. Coffee and Breakfast tacos will be provided.

Vale Middle School, Saturday, September 28th from 8am - Noon. Register Here.

Is your campus still in search of sponsors or do you just have questions? Please feel free to reach out to K-8 Enrichment Programs Sponsor, Amalia Sollars (amalia.sollars@nisd.net).

With the implementation of the new standards, ALL 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers will attend CIA pull-outs this year to support PLCs and instructional planning. 6th and 7th grade teachers will attend one pull-out while 8th grade teachers will attend two pull-outs. Teach a split? No problem. We will cover both days. Each campus is assigned a specific day, so please ensure your campus registers in Unified Talent for the correct day. Start putting in for those subs!

Teachers new to NISD MS Science also have the opportunity to attend our New Teacher Institute (NTI), which is an additional three pull-out days to work with the MS Science C&I team.

Please see the 2024-2025 MS Science Professional Learning flyer. All pull-outs are 8:30 am - 3:30 pm, but locations vary so please check the location for each pull-out.

Curriculum guides for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will be linked to the Year-At-A-Glance two weeks before the unit is scheduled to begin. **Important Reminder: Please make sure to review all curriculum guide components and individual resources as updates have been made for the 24-25 school year. Please don’t forget that the lab coat symbol indicates a REQUIRED lab.

Assessment items for upcoming 6th, 7th, and 8th grade units will also be added to the CMS CO Shared Item Banks two weeks before the unit is scheduled to begin. A variety of the new item types can be found in the bank. **Important Reminder: Campus banks or previously created CCAs were not retagged, so make sure they are aligned to the new 21 standards if adding those items to a new CCA.

For more information on the new item types, please see the New Item Types: STAAR, CMS, Schoology document also located on the Employee Connection: MS Science: STAAR Information page.

At this point, all teachers should have a class set of 35 hardbound student books in their classrooms. All teachers and students should also have digital access through the SAVVAS Realize icon on their portal. However, students will mostly access via Schoology.

Please see the Employee Connection: MS Science: New Textbook page for training opportunities including Schoology integration.

Please stay tuned as we push out additional support in the utilization and integration of this new instructional resource.

Each year, all science teachers are required to take an online safety training, earning CPE credit.

Teachers must start the online training using the following link to the session in Unified Talent#139751 MS Science: Safety in the Science Classroom | 2024-2025.

Please see the Employee Connection: MS Science SAFETY page for additional safety resources such as safety contracts, a link to the Flinn SDS search, and Administrative Regulations.

All required trainings should be completed by Monday, September 30, 2024.

This group will be our main mode of communication throughout the year so please make sure you have joined and that you have turned on notifications. If you are not yet a member, please use the following code to join:

Schoology Group Access Code 4CP8-WZJG-6XH4M

In addition to Employee Connection, this group is how MS Science C&I shares resources and provides updates. To ensure that you are notified when updates are posted, please customize the notifications for this group by selecting Group Update Posted under Email Notifications Settings. For step-by-step instructions, please see the Schoology Notifications Clicksheet.

Please visit the Employee Connection: MS Science page - and make sure it is in your FAVORITES! Information has been updated for the 2024-2025 school year. Check out the CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, and ASSESSMENT pages - menu links are on the right hand side.

Elaine Estrada Instructional Specialist

Lisa Crawford IST

Connie Schaub IST

Lauren Stiles Academic Technology IST

Amalia Sollars K-8 Enrichment Programs Coordinator

Email: NISD.MS-Science@nisd.net
Website: https://nisd.net/employees/department/ms-science
Location: 5900 Evers Road, San Antonio, TX, USA
Phone: 210-397-8661