Teacher Newsletter 3-5

Please take the Elementary Grading Practices survey to help us determine the feelings, beliefs, and actions currently happening in our classrooms around grading practices.

Pasco County has amazing practices in each classroom in all of our elementary schools. This data is anonymous and will guide the district in highlighting the best practices in place while giving evidence to support the next steps around elementary grading practices.

Date: Monday, March 28

Time: 6:00-7:30 P.M.

Webinar: Teams link provided upon registration

In preparation for April and Financial Literacy Month, our partners in education, USF Stavros Center, will provide this session to engage students with financial literacy activities that use film clips. These include connections to a variety of Disney film clips, with ready-to-use decision activities. In addition, we will present some activities connected to Discovery Education’s Cha-Ching Money Smart Kids series, which map some of the videos to Florida Standards. These videos include music videos to share financial literacy concepts. Using these videos and a new Disney song, we will also illustrate how to work with your students to create their own lyrics about Financial Concepts. Professional development points will be provided. Please register using this link.

Upcoming Module Materials: The Module 9 assessments are being printed and delivered to schools. Printing will be completed by February 23rd and will then be delivered to schools. Access to answer sheets and the digital assessment in myProgress will be available beginning March 7th. As a reminder, this is a required assessment. All scores should be entered by the due date listed here.

Using Module Assessments to Plan: The links for the Module Assessments have been removed on the Elementary Learning Network due to assessment updates completed by HMH. While modifications have been made on their behalf, there is still some work to be completed to ensure the test items are accessible in myProgress and test verbiage is in tight correlation with the ELA B.E.S.T. Standards. This work is in progress, and will be available in the near future. To support schools with planning with the module assessments in mind, the module assessments on the HMH platform may be used as a guide to review the type of questions asked and the standards that will be assessed. These assessments are NOT final and should only be used for planning purposes. The finalized module assessments, with any necessary modifications, will be released by ARM and OLL and made available in myProgress by the print release date listed here. To access the module assessments on the HMH platform, please use these directions.

Reminders:

• The optional writing prompt from the grades 1 and 2 module assessments has been replaced with the required Performance Task Writing Prompt. The 12 point scoring rubric will be used to score student responses and report data in myProgress. Please be sure to have your students complete all sections of the Module Assessment (Reading, Grammar, and Writing).

• Once all Module Assessment modifications have been made, the assessments and administering guides can be found in the Formative and Summative folder. Please refrain from printing assessments directly from the HMH Into Reading Platform to use for testing purposes.

DIBELS Progress Monitoring: Your schools have access to DIBELS measures for Progress Monitoring. Directions for entering data can be found here, Contact a member of the ELA Team and/or Larry Porter if you have any questions.

Pasco Students Speak: Last Call!

We are excited about the student showcase coming up in April and student information submitted by March 11th. Please complete the form here to note the point of contact that you would like to receive communication about #PascoStudentsSpeak directly.

Revisit ELA PD:

Fall PD Session Recordings:

• Differentiated Instruction with HMH Into Reading

Summer PD Session Recordings:

• ELA Overview of the Literacy Framework, New Instructional Materials, and ELN for 21-22

• Explicit, Systematic Foundational Skills Instruction (K-2)- Scope and Sequence and the Science of Reading

• Strengthening 3-5 Vocabulary and Communication Skills

For anyone wanting to pursue an endorsement by taking the K-12 Reading Test, you can register for the Reding Endorsement Prep Course in myPGS section #30847. If you only need a few courses, there is still space in the UF Literacy Matrix, and you can register using this link. Lastly, If you prefer the district online courses, you can access that schedule here. Any questions about the preparation course or reading endorsement classes, please reach out to Danielle Varcardipone.

On the B.E.S.T Path

It is not too late to join our Florida B.E.S.T Standards for Mathematics cohorts for Session 2 and/or Session 3. The dates, times, locations, myPGS course & section #s, and topics that we will focus on for each session can be found below. Please be sure to register in myPGS. Instructional participants will receive stipend pay and 2 inservice points for each session. We look forward to collaborating and learning with all of you as we continue our journey on the B.E.S.T path!

Session 2: Mathematical Thinking and Reasoning Standards (MTRs) & Fluency with Arithmetic Operations and Automaticity with Basic Arithmetic Facts

Session 3: Florida B.E.S.T Standards Alignment to Eureka Math & Zearn

Miss Session 1 of our B.E.S.T Standards for Mathematics cohorts? No worries! Access the recording of this session through the link below.

B.E.S.T Standards for Mathematics Session 1

Congratulations to those teachers using Zearn and/or Equip as an intervention with your students. We found 49% of students making growth that was over the 50th percentile on NWEA using those interventions. This means that students are not only growing but making catch-up growth that is filling gaps. Thank you for all your hard work!!

Science Academy

We are excited to open registration for our first face to face Academy in over two years. We will host a Life unit Make and Take night in Training room C on March 9th from 6-8pm. There will be stations set up to explore and investigate hands-on opportunities in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade for the life units. Register at HERE.

Annual Water Poster Contest

The FGUA and Pasco County Utilities, in cooperation with Pasco County Schools, presents the 13th Annual Water Awareness Poster Contest. This STEAM program educates students on where water comes from, the importance of keeping our water clean, how utilities help protect and care for water, and the importance of water conservation. Students awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, in each grade level K-5, will receive a prize package from local sponsors. All students who submit a poster will receive a certificate of participation.

Winning posters will be displayed in Pasco County Government Centers and online.

Please visit WaterContest.org for more information and program resources, or contact us directly at info@watercontest.org. Registration deadline is March 25th.

Science Showcase Update

We hosted over 300 elementary students for the 2022 Pasco Science and Engineering Showcase. 130 Student scientists and engineers were recognized for their work on February 2nd at our Showcase Awards Gala. The top three student projects received the Best in Show award. It was truly inspirational to listen to our students creatively design solutions to problem impacting their community. The top three project included a thermal road sensor to minimize animal loss due to road incidents, a wearable device and app to aid pediatric panic attack sufferers and a fire detection drone to alert officials of small fires before they develop into large scale wildfires. The judges raved about the quality of the Elementary projects. Thank you for your support of our youngest scientists and Engineers.

Women's History Month

As we begin March, we take time to remember the contributions of notable and ordinary women, in hopes that the day will soon come when it's impossible to teach or learn history without remembering these contributions. It has been annually observed in the United States and other countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, every March since 1987. Please use this link as well as the suggested instructional calendars embedded in your learning networks to support instruction around this required instructional mandate: s.1003.42(2)(q), F.S., The study of women’s contributions to the United States.

March 25th - Medal of Honor Day

In Florida, March 25 of each year is designated as “Medal of Honor Day” and Medal of Honor has been added to s. 1003.42, F.S., Required Instruction. This is a perfect opportunity to embed the Medal of Honor Character Development Curriculum and promote these core values as we launch the 4th quarter.

Admissions are now open for Summer and Fall 2022 cohorts for USF’s Master of Education in Educational Leadership program.

Please see the Program Flyer and FAQs for more information.

We are excited to share our next technology experience with you!

Please save the date for Monday, February 28th through Friday, March 4th for an opportunity to learn how you can use Microsoft Office 365 applications for student engagement.

Each morning you will get a myPascoConnect announcement and a link to watch a quick screencast. Then scan the QR code to join our myLearning course. There will be an asyncronous course to dive a little bit deeper and learn how to use these applications for your own personal use or to up your game with integrating some fun technology into your lessons. You can earn two professional development points for learning and turning in your final work product for each application featured.

Feeling a little frustrated or eager to learn more about your Windows device? Well join us for "Tech Hours." We will have the following windows (Lol!) of time open for you to ask all of your questions, up your game with your new device, or just troubleshoot some concerns you may have.

Tech Hours:

Monday, February 28th- 3:30-4:00pm

Tuesday, March 1st- 8:30-9:00am and 3:30-4:00pm

Wednesday, March 2nd- 8:30-9:00am and 3:30-4:00pm

Thursday, March 3rd - 8:30-9:00am and 3:30-4:00pm

Friday, March 4th- 8:30-9:00am and 3:30-4:00pm

*Zoom link will be communicated in our myLearning course and announcements. Be on the look out for it!

Looking forward to "Spring into Technology" with all you!

OLL and OTIS

Saint Leo University is offering Customized cohort based program in partnership with the District School Board of Pasco County starting in May 2022!

Check this flyer for details.

If you have any questions or need any assistance please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us on the elementary team.

• Elementary Programs: Kim Hedgspeth - kfoster@pasco.k12.fl.us
• ELA K-5: Roshonda Royster - rroyster@pasco.k12.fl.us
• Mathematics PK-6: Tracy Miller – tamiller@pasco.k12.fl.us
• Science K-8: Lesley Kirkley – lwade@pasco.k12.fl.us
• Social Studies K-12: Tina Stavrou-Klem - astavrou@pasco.k12.fl.us
• Art & Music: Tom Viking – tviking@pasco.k12.fl.us
• PE & Health: Matt Wicks – mwicks@pasco.k12.fl.us
• SEL: Deedra Mitchell - dcopelan@pasco.k12.fl.us
• Reading Prof. Dev. & Learning: dvarcard@pasco.k12.fl.us
• K-12 Literacy Intervention: clough@pasco.k12.fl.us
• K-12 Mathematics Intervention: janderto@pasco.k12.fl.us
• Instructional Coaching: jdblair@pasco.k12.fl.us