MARCH 2017
High School
HIGH SCHOOL
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS Trent Stern | 239-4369 | tstern@ Upcoming PD
March 20: “Play, Passion, Purpose” - Participants will be given time to collaborate and access to resources to design and explore their own professional learning experiences. March 29: ELA department chairs will work collaboratively to address district common assessments and a vertical articulation of writing. These teacher leaders will also explore the notion of innovation in ELA. C&I Update ELA teachers have had access to revised unit guides for grades 9-12 since mid-October. As they continue to make meaning of this work in their PLCs, teachers are working to identify areas needing revision and holes in the scope and sequence. Focus continues to be placed on quality assessment, writing instruction and feedback, and innovation in the ELA content area. HIGH SCHOOL
SCIENCE Christie Purdon | 239-4375 | cpurdon@ Upcoming PD
We will have a 1/2 day of Professional Learning in April. Our focus will be understanding and designing 3 dimension assessments. C&I Update We are continuing to use our new science resources to teach our BV curriculum. The goal is for teachers to use all three dimensions of our standards as they teach. 3D lessons include the practice(s), the core idea (content), and the crosscutting concepts HIGH SCHOOL
WORLD LANGUAGE Diane DeNoon | 239-4101 | ddenoon@ Upcoming PD
March 20th - Teachers will work all day with national WL consultant on designing thematic course units that will be independent of any one textbook or primary resource. Focus will be on middle and lower level high school course units in preparation for upcoming middle school changes. C&I Update Changes coming to middle school in 2017-18 and 2018-19 will require an expanded WL curriculum in middle school which will impact HS WL program sequence and content. The long term vision is to create thematic units that are independent of any one textbook or resource so that a new 'textbook adoption' will unnecessary. This approach will provide for curricular flexibility to change units, as well as encourage teacher creativity. Teachers of all languages will be able to work together horizontally within a given course level, e.g. Beginning level, to develop and implement common thematic units with similar common assessments. Week of March 27th. We are administering the STAMP in speaking and listening (external web based WL proficiency assessment) to a total of 500 French and Spanish students across the district. Classes have been chosen and teachers have received training from STAMP. This assessment was scheduled for the week of Feb 21 but was postponed to a month later. IT is testing the WL labs to be sure they are functioning well. HIGH SCHOOL
PERFORMING ARTS Janelle Brower | 2369-4109 | jbrower@ Upcoming PD
March 20, 2017, District Designed, 8:00 - 3:45 p.m. HS Speech and Drama Teachers will travel to the Missouri Rep for a Tour and Q and A with Rep personnel. Debate and Forensics teachers will collaborate on content specific topics. Vocal Music and Orchestra teachers have designed share sessions in which they will present topics of interest to one another based on their professional strengths. Band teachers will explore and review various elementary teaching method books that are being considered for the 2017-18 school year and attend a clinic provided by visiting guest composer, John Mackey. C&I Update N/A HIGH SCHOOL
LIBRARY MEDIA Cristy Bolton | 239-4234 | cybolton@ Upcoming PD
Play, Passion, Purpose! - The ESST team is very excited for March 20th! We've made a concerted effort to create a day where teachers can learn, collaborate, research and define their own learning. Please encourage your librarians, ELA, math, social studies and science teachers to discuss what they would like to do that day, as they will have time to do it! Look for more information to come soon! C&I Update N/A |
HIGH SCHOOL
MATHEMATICS Adam Wade | 239-4226 | awade@ Holly McCarty | 239-4261 | hamccarty@ Upcoming PD
High school math teachers will meet at Blue Valley Northwest on March 20th from 8:00-3:45. The theme of the day is “Play, Passion, Purpose” and we are really excited to see what teachers develop during this time. There will be multiple experiences available on March 20th also, if teachers feel that those experiences best fit their needs. On April 24th, teachers will be trained on their new resources and will receive the physical materials corresponding to their new courses. C&I Update During the last couple of weeks, we visited each individual PLC to discuss March 20th. We are also in the process of visiting with each individual department chair to discuss textbooks, professional learning, and course sequencing. HIGH SCHOOL
SOCIAL STUDIES Kelli Haeffner | 239-4263 | khaeffner@ Upcoming PD
March 20th is right around the corner and we are so excited for you to get to experience Play, Passion, Purpose on this day! Get ready to drive your own learning experience! I would encourage you to think about what you want this day to look like for you and make it happen! Get in touch with others and make plans to collaborate and explore! C&I Update N/A Action Item: Bring anything you may want or need to collaborate, create, and explore on March 20th. (laptop, charger, resources) HIGH SCHOOL
VISUAL ARTS Kathleen Cigich | 239-4337 | kcigich@ Upcoming PD
Play. Passion. Purpose. High schools are teachers will meet for a full day of professional learning on March 20th. In the morning, they will hear from local artist, William Rose, about how art teachers shaped his future. In the afternoon, teachers have submitted proposals for their own learning. Topics include technology integration, instructional strategies, Arrowhead Art Museum visit and collaboration time with course alike teachers. C&I Update N/A HIGH SCHOOL
PHYSICAL EDUCATION Kathleen Cigich | 239-4337 | kcigich@ Upcoming PD
K-12 physical education teachers will meet for a full day of professional learning on March 20th. Teachers will engage in a variety of activities including vertical alignment topics, future planning around curriculum and a visit to Simoneau sports training facility. C&I Update N/A HIGH SCHOOL
CAREER & TECH ED Linda Affholder | 239-4077 | laffholder@ Upcoming PD
March 20: CTE programs will visit local business/industry partners to gain insights on current trends in industry. Small groups will meet to work on curriculum and assessment development and upgrades to Adobe Creative cloud. C&I Update CTE PLCs continue to meet on first Thursday of each month. |
MIDDLE SCHOOL
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS Jen Duke | 239-4266 | jdduke@ Upcoming PD
March 20th will be a full-day professional learning day with the theme, "Play, Passion, Purpose." It will be an exciting day where staff will drive their own professional learning choices throughout the day! MS ELA teachers will specifically have the chance to work with author Kate Messner via Skype regarding teaching writing and revision. C&I Update N/A MIDDLE SCHOOL
SCIENCE Christie Purdon | 239-4375 | cpurdon@ Upcoming PD
6th and 7th grade teachers met on March 1st and 2nd for an all day meeting. We continued to design and create lessons and assessments. We also worked with our Ed Tech team to learn how to design digital breakouts for our students. We will have a 1/2 day of Professional Learning in April. Our focus will be understanding and designing 3 dimension assessments. C&I Update We are continuing to use our new science resources (CPO Science) to teach our BV curriculum. The goal is for teachers to use all three dimensions of our standards as they teach. 3D lessons include the practice(s), the core idea (content), and the crosscutting concepts. We also have Ellen Jardon (EdTech Team) supporting middle school science teachers in integrating technology with our science. MIDDLE SCHOOL
WORLD LANGUAGE Diane DeNoon | 239-4101 | ddenoon@ Upcoming PD
March 20th - Teachers will work all day with national WL consultant on designing thematic course units that will be independent of any one textbook or primary resource. Focus will be on middle and lower level high school course units in preparation for upcoming middle school changes. C&I Update Changes coming to middle school in 2017-18 and 2018-19 will require an expanded WL curriculum. The long term vision is to create thematic units that are independent of any one textbook or resource so that a new 'textbook adoption will unnecessary. This approach will provide for curricular flexibility to change units, as well as encourage teacher creativity. Teachers of all languages will be able to work together horizontally within a given course level, e.g. Beginning level, to develop and implement common thematic units with similar common assessments. Action Item: As time is available, I will welcome any opportunity to work with any (feeder or from random schools) group of MS WL teachers on the initiative outlined above. MIDDLE SCHOOL
PERFORMING ARTS Janelle Brower | 2369-4109 | jbrower@ Upcoming PD
March 20, 2017, District Designed, 8:00 - 3:45 p.m. Vocal Music and Orchestra teachers have designed share sessions in which they will present topics of interest to one another based on their professional strengths. Band teachers will explore and review various elementary teaching method books that are being considered for the 2017-18 school year and attend a clinic provided by visiting guest composer, John Mackey. C&I Update Committee work will begin soon to revise/create the following Speech and Drama courses for the 2017-18 school year: Grade 6 - Innovative Communications, Grade 6 - Theatre, Grade 7 - Theatre and Innovative Communications. Grade 8 - Theatrical Production. Grade 8 - Innovative Communications. Music course curriculum will be revised to reflect the addition of 6th grade music courses meeting every day. MIDDLE SCHOOL
CAREER & TECH ED Linda Affholder | 239-4077 | laffholder@ Upcoming PD
March 20: Inservice • Pre-engineering will evaluate Lego Mindstorms Robotics system • FACS will work with a mentor from PSU on integration of Farm to Table • Computer teachers will be introduced to Swift app developer (coding) 2 Sub Days in March or April: Pre-engineering will participate in professional learning related to new robotics system C&I Update • March 7 (sub day) Pre-engineering teachers will evaluate Vex IQ Robotics system • 2 Sub Days in March or April: FACS will develop instructional units for Farm-to-Table and My Style • 2 Sub Days in March or April: Computer teachers will develop instructional units for Coding and Digital Media and Design utilizing new Mac environment |
MIDDLE SCHOOL
MATHEMATICS Adam Wade | 239-4226 | awade@ Holly McCarty | 239-4261 | hamccarty@ Upcoming PD
Middle school math teachers will meet at Blue Valley Northwest on March 20th from 8:00-3:45. The theme of the day is “Play, Passion, Purpose” and we are really excited to see what teachers develop during this time. There will be multiple experiences available on March 20th also, if teachers feel that those experiences best fit their needs. On April 24th, Algebra 1 teachers will be trained on their new resource and will receive physical copies of teacher resources on that day. We will later determine teachers professional learning who do not teach Algebra 1. C&I Update Holly has been working with 8th grade math teachers at Harmony to implement many of Jo Boaler’s Mathematical Mindset ideas. We are tremendously excited at how this has gone so far. Let us know if you would you like another copy of the acceleration screener testing schedule. Also, on March 9th, we will be sending you the names of every student in your building that’s participating in the acceleration process. Please let us know if you have any questions. MIDDLE SCHOOL
SOCIAL STUDIES Kelli Haeffner | 239-4263 | khaeffner@ Upcoming PD
March 20th is right around the corner and we are so excited for you to get to experience Play, Passion, Purpose on this day! Get ready to drive your own learning experience! I would encourage you to think about what you want this day to look like for you and make it happen! Get in touch with others and make plans to collaborate and explore! C&I Update Action Item: Bring anything you may want or need to collaborate, create, and explore on March 20th. (laptop, charger, resources) MIDDLE SCHOOL
VISUAL ARTS Kathleen Cigich | 239-4337 | kcigich@ Upcoming PD
Middle school art teachers will meet for a full day of professional learning on March 20th. In the morning, they will hear from local artist, William Rose, about how art teachers shaped his future. In the afternoon, they will visit the Arrowhead Art Museum for a unique tour of their current collection as well as find out information about student tours. C&I Update N/A MIDDLE SCHOOL
PHYSICAL EDUCATION Kathleen Cigich | 239-4337 | kcigich@ Upcoming PD
K-12 physical education teachers will meet for a full day of professional learning on March 20th. Teachers will engage in a variety of activities including vertical alignment topics, future planning around curriculum and a visit to Simoneau sports training facility. C&I Update N/A MIDDLE SCHOOL
LIBRARY MEDIA Cristy Bolton | 239-4234 | cybolton@ Upcoming PD
Play, Passion, Purpose! - The ESST team is very excited for March 20th! We've made a concerted effort to create a day where teachers can learn, collaborate, research and define their own learning. Please encourage your librarians, ELA, math, social studies and science teachers to discuss what they would like to do that day, as they will have time to do it. Look for more information to come soon! C&I Update MS librarians met during parent-teacher conferences, and we had a great discussion around the upcoming changes for MS programming. While there are so many unknown variables, we discussed them taking a leadership role in project based learning, tech integration, co-teaching, and more. Librarians have been doing many of these things for a long time, and will truly be an asset as each school defines these areas for their respective school. Please let me know if you have ideas or questions around the library program and the role we can play in supporting change. |
ELEMENTARY
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS Mary Jane Weishar | 239-4179 | mweishar@ Upcoming PD
March 20 K-5th grade all day training for Benchmark Advance March 31 Reading Specialists Meeting on IPAD training (1:00-4:00) April 20 Elementary ELA Content Team Meeting (all day) April 24 K-5th grade 1/2 day technology training for Benchmark Advance C&I Update Benchmark Advance training is being planned for this spring and the following school year. The ELA Content Team will be working on Project Base Learning/Inquiry ideas to accompany Benchmark Advance. New differentiated word lists are being revised to accommodate Benchmark Advance. The Reading Specialists are being trained on the IPads that they have all received to best support the intervention program. A group of reading specialists are creating dyslexia lessons and videos to share with the general education teachers.t classroom teachers with dyslexia. ELEMENTARY
SCIENCE Callie Wietzel | 239-4268 | caweitzel@ Upcoming PD
I have enjoyed the time spent so far with teachers in PLCs and look forward to meeting with all teachers by the end of the year! During the PLC times we are discussing science resources and strategies to support the BV science curriculum and the Next Gen Science Standards. C&I Update We will continue to use our new BV curriculum based on the NGSS as well as our purchased resources (TCI). This is a year where we will make additions or deletions based on data from the 2015-16 school year. During meetings with grade levels, essential questions & learning targets were written for science units. ELEMENTARY
WORLD LANGUAGE Diane DeNoon | 239-4101 | ddenoon@ Upcoming PD
March 20th - Teachers will work all day with consultant on re-design of K-5 units and creation of new performance assessments to take the place of discrete skills on current elementary report cards. C&I Update As content curriculum work time is available, elementary FLES teachers will reconfigure units and create common performance assessments which, over time, will replace current curriculum documents. Action Item: As time is available, I will welcome any opportunity to work with any (feeder or from random schools) group of FLES teachers on the initiative outlined above. ELEMENTARY
PERFORMING ARTS Janelle Brower | 2369-4109 | jbrower@ Upcoming PD
March 20, 2017, District Designed, 8:00 - 3:45 p.m. Teachers will learn strategies and techniques for using their curricular resource, "First Steps in Music." The clinic will be presented by the book's author, John Feierabend. C&I Update N/A ELEMENTARY
LIBRARY MEDIA Cristy Bolton | 239-4234 | cybolton@ Upcoming PD
March 20 - Elementary librarians will spend the day in an Ed Camp style professional learning environment. Librarians are currently working on topics they would like to spend time on, research, and plan. C&I Update Mary Jane Weishar led librarians in a review of the new ELA resource. It was a great session that gave librarians information on how/what to support. I will be meeting with Kelly Ott & Mary Jane in a few weeks to discuss the inquiry piece of the new resource as well. |
ELEMENTARY
MATHEMATICS Jennifer Taylor | 239-4262 | jtaylor@ Upcoming PD
I have enjoyed my time in buildings during PLC’s. I would love to continue helping teachers in planning their math instruction. I will also continue to support the needs of all students by providing additional resources to all grades. I have been storing these resources in Google drive. Teachers have access to these using their Blue Valley Gmail account. C&I Update We are in full swing with math acceleration. Teacher and parent requests have been processed. We will be out in all your buildings in March to give screening exams to some of your students. Students who pass the screening exam (or who were 2 standard deviations above the fall norm) will take the battery of acceleration exams on April 18th. These will be administered by your building math coaches. We will provide a sub in the morning for them. Math coaches will grade these on May 4th. We will notify administrators, teachers, parents and students of acceleration results via email on Friday, May 12th. Thank you all so much for your support of math acceleration and the new process this year. *2nd Grade Curriculum Update-2nd grade teachers are in the process of voting for the final draft of the new 2nd grade Scope and Sequence. I am hoping to have the results before Spring Break. Once it has been approved, I will be communicating with the teachers and supporting them with additional resources and lessons. ELEMENTARY
SOCIAL STUDIES Callie Wietzel | 239-4268 | caweitzel@ Upcoming PD
I have enjoyed the time spent so far with teachers in PLCs and look forward to meeting with all teachers by the end of the year! During the PLC times we are discussing social studies curriculum, teaching strategies, and areas of difficulty within the curriculum. On April 6th the ES SS Curriculum Committee will meet to continue the work that was started last year on the scope and sequence. The focus for this year will be on assessments and different learning experiences, as well as enhancing the 5E lesson plans. C&I Update From last year, we have 5E lesson plans in our unit guides for teachers to share and use (T:drive -> Education Services -> Social Studies -> BVSS Unit Guides or print shop). In addition, scope and sequences for each grade level, sample 5E lessons, suggestions for the first ten days of lessons, and links to online resources, including the KSDE HGSS Skill Expectations can be located on the Blue Valley Social Studies Weebly - http://bvsocialstudies.weebly.com/ and on the curriculum resource page. Action Item: Please help support your teachers by directing them to lesson plans in the BV SS Unit Guides on the T:drive or through print shop. While teachers are not required to follow these lessons plans, they were created by BV ES Teachers, edited by our curriculum committee, and offer a lot of support for our ES SS Curriculum. ELEMENTARY
VISUAL ARTS Kathleen Cigich | 239-4337 | kcigich@ Upcoming PD
Elementary art teachers will meet for a full day of professional learning on March 20th. In the morning, they will hear from local artist, William Rose, about how art teachers shaped his future. In the afternoon, they will collaboratively work on sharing instructional strategies related to drawing. C&I Update N/A ELEMENTARY
PHYSICAL EDUCATION Kathleen Cigich | 239-4337 | kcigich@ Upcoming PD
K-12 physical education teachers will meet for a full day of professional learning on March 20th. Teachers will engage in a variety of activities including vertical alignment topics, future planning around curriculum and a visit to Simoneau sports training facility. C&I Update N/A |
Special Education
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