Curriculum Connection

There are many exciting things happening at Blue River Valley Schools. Our staff members have had various opportunities to grow as educators. Vikings students will continue to benefit from the dedication of our staff members.

Second Semester also contains state testing for many of our students.

Testing Windows Include (BRV specific schedule will be shared when testing gets closer):

• WIDA (Test for English Language Learners) - January 9-February 24
• ASVAB (Juniors and Some Seniors) - February 2
• SAT (Juniors) - March 1-3
• IREAD (2nd and 3rd Grade) - March 6-17
• ILEARN (Grades 3-8) - April 17-May 12
• ILEARN Biology - April 17-May 19

The Curriculum Leadership Team met on January 4th. The goal of this leadership team is to plan for the future of BRV with a collaborative approach K-12 by creating strategic action plans.

Our Curriculum Leadership Team uses a Plan-Do-Check-Act model. We created strategic action plans in the following areas:

• Data Disaggregation
• Curriculum Planning
• Instructional Focus
• Interventions/Re-Teaching
• Enrichment
• Assessments

The Curriculum Leadership Team will meet within their building throughout 2nd semester and then update their strategic plans in the summer of 2023.

Curriculum Leadership Team Members Include: Mr. McCormick, Mrs. Dickerson, Mrs. King, Mrs. Whaley, Mrs. Wordinger, Mrs. Cross, Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Gregory, Mrs. Sharrett, Mrs. Creviston, Mr. Brennen Bales, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Foreman, Mrs. Daniel, Mr. Brendel, Mrs. Tran, Mr. Terry Bales, Mrs. Chernowsky, and Mrs. Powell.

Mrs. Dickerson, Mrs. Walradth, Miss Evans, Mrs. Raines, and Mr. Brennan Bales have been attending Curriculum Mapping training throughout the first semester. Each of these team members is responsible for creating a curriculum map to be used during the 2023-2024 school year. A curriculum map is a scope and sequence for staff to use to as a long term plan. The maps include objectives, standards, assessments, and essential vocabulary all in one place for staff members.

Mrs. Dickerson will lead all K-12 teachers through the updated curriculum mapping process throughout the rest of this semester. She has already met with Kindergarten and 4th grade teachers. While the curriculum mapping process has been started previously at BRV, this will be the first time our staff will all be using the same format.

All K-12 students participated in their next Learn to Think lesson on January 23, 2023. Students in each grade focused on making individual dream boards. They developed their dream boards from their personal core values that were created in October. A student dream board is centered around their future dream (career). Our next Learn to Think lesson will allow students to create educational plans from their individual dream boards. This will help our students determine which classes he or she should be taking in the future at Blue River Valley Schools.

Blue River Valley Schools was the recipient of the IDOE Digital Learning Grant for $50,000. BRV has created a team of teachers and administrators called the Digital Learning Cadre. Cadre members have participated in online digital training and professional development days with Dr. Megan Tolin from Trine University.

Dr. Tolin has met with the Digital Learning Cadre Team each month. During these meetings, our BRV team has completed various activities. Currently our team is working on creating resources for our staff to use in the future with technology integration. The Digital Learning Cadre team will lead future professional development sessions for all Blue River Valley teachers.

SAT Readiness - Mr. Terry Bales and Mrs. Dillon attended training last semester on how to better prepare our students for the required SAT assessment for all juniors.

ILEARN Readiness - Mr. Brennen Bales, Mrs. Stultz, Mrs. Raines, and Miss Evans attended professional development on either ILEARN Math or ILEARN English Language Arts. They have shared their new knowledge with other staff members in preparation for the upcoming assessments.

IREAD Readiness - Mrs. Gregory, Mrs. Hook, and Miss Bilby attended professional development on resources to use in preparations for the IREAD exam given to second and third graders each spring.

• Jr./Sr. High Teachers can attend 1 hour of professional development on various topics on Wednesdays after school for 1 hour. Elementary teachers have the same option, but on Thursdays after school for 1 hour.
• Some teachers will get the opportunity to attend national conferences this semester.