

Mascoma Curriculum Newsletter
November 2024
MCIA
Mascoma Valley Regional School District - MCIA Committee
What is the Mascoma CIA Committee?
A group of K-12 educators working to evaluate, align, pilot, update, and create district curriculum.
What can I contribute to the Mascoma CIA?
Your time and expertise! Join us once a month to dig into our current K-12 ELA, Social Studies & Science curriculums during the winter and spring of 2024-25 to conduct a review and make recommendations for summer work.
What are the timeline and expectations for joining the Mascoma CIA?
Contribute to monthly meetings via Google Meets from 3:15-4:15 (see dates below). Complete research to bring to meetings as needed. In the summer there will be a Curriculum Institute, where teachers will be paid to work on updating and aligning the ELA, Social Studies & Science curriculums based on suggestions from the Mascoma CIA Committees.
ELA - Second Monday of the Month
Monday, 11/4/24*
Monday, 12/9/24
Monday, 1/13/25
Monday, 2/10/25
Monday, 3/10/25
Monday, 4/7/25*
Monday, 5/12/25
Monday, 6/9/25
* Meeting Date changed due to holiday, vacation or conferences.
SOCIAL STUDIES - Second Wednesday of the Month
Wednesday, 11/6/24*
Wednesday, 12/11/24
Wednesday, 1/15/25
Wednesday, 2/12/25
Wednesday, 3/12/25
Wednesday, 4/9/25
Wednesday, 5/14/25
Wednesday, 6/11/25
* Meeting Date changed due to holiday, vacation or conferences.
SCIENCE- Third Tuesday of the Month
Tuesday, 11/19/2024
Tuesday, 12/17/2024
Tuesday, 1/21/2025
Tuesday, 2/25/2025*
Tuesday, 3/18/2025
Tuesday, 4/22/2025*
Tuesday, 5/20/2025
* Meeting Date changed due to holiday, vacation or conferences.
Week Long Summer Curriculum Institute, 8:00-3:00, dates TBD
Sign Up HERE
Early Release Days
October 👻
Our October Early Release Day had several offerings for professional development. K-8 teachers, special education case managers and paraprofessionals worked with Consultant Martha Madsen on Civics. Martha presented to the staff on Senate Bill 216: More Time on Civics. She shared innovative ways to integrate civics instruction in classroom management, literacy, social emotional learning and other subjects for K-5 teachers. For our 6-8 social studies teachers, she provided resources and best practices for adding the equivalent of a half-year civics course. The rest of the staff participated in 6-12 Curriculum Vertical Alignment or the CPI refresher course.
November 🦃
November's Early Release Day is used for Parent Teacher Conferences PK-8. The High School staff will work with ALL Together for their trainings.
App Vetting
Craig and I have been working hard to streamline the App Vetting process. Protecting student privacy is our main goal.
Here is a brief overview of the process:
1. Teachers submit a request for App Vetting via Google Form
2. Principals review the request; approve or do not approve the request
3. CIA and IT Directors review the request; approve or do not approve the request
4. If the app requested has not been approved by the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC), then a request is made to them. This part of the process can take months and I mean months to get approved or not get approved.
5. If the app requested gets denied by the SDPC, the app cannot be used!
Want to know more about App Vetting? Check out the video from our mandatory trainings below.
Assessment
Preparing for NH SAS Testing
NH SAS tests our students in grades 3-8 & 11 in the areas of ELA Reading and Writing, Mathematics and Science for students in grades 5, 8 & 11. Preparing our students for the test allows them to become comfortable with the testing interface before test day. It also allows them time to practice using the universal tools, designated supports and any accommodations they have before the big test. Think back to when you went to get your driver's license. You didn't take your driving test the first time you ever got into the driver's seat. You practiced driving over and over again to get better at it before you went for your license. Practicing for the NH SAS Test is the same thing. We do not want our students seeing the testing interface for the first time on test day. We want them to be comfortable in the driver's seat on test day!
Why Use the NH SAS Interims/Modulars
• Students gain experience with the test interface (Interims are the most like NH SAS test)
• Students and teachers learn the kind of questions being asked on the NH SAS
• Teachers can see which students have achieved proficiency on a standard and which need more instruction
• Modulars focus on group of standards, not entire curriculum
• Immediate results and ability to review student answers
Who Should Take Which Modular?
• Students can take modular at any grade level to measure progress in learning
• Students can take assessments above or below grade level depending on needs
• 3rd graders can take assessment (with answers provided) to gain experience with how the interface works
First Step - Test Administration Certification
Each year we need to get recertified for NH SAS Testing. Click the link below to bring you home page. Then select Test Administration Certification. Remember you have to reset your password every year!
PD Frontline Help
Need Help with Frontline? Attend PD Help Sessions.
Did you know? Each building hosts after school help sessions to help you with Frontline! See your PD building reps for more information. Remember, your PD reps are happy to help you when they are not teaching or working with students. Please be respectful of their time and attend after school help sessions.
Mandatory Trainings
Thank you all for completing the Mandatory Trainings!
MCIA Google Classroom
Check out our Mascoma Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment Google Classroom for professional development materials, Grit materials & new videos, K-8 math pacing guides, scope and sequence documents, and more. 📚 📏 📖
Course Code: cshmptt
Important Links
Teacher Curriculum Resources
Science of Reading Resources
Ann Elise Record - Math Professional Development Videos
Math Running Record videos - There is an introduction video and then one for each operation where I interview students and explain how I coded the running record. Teachers can download the recording sheets from the site www.mathrunningrecords.com for free and practice while watching the videos.
Daily Routine Videos - There are separate videos for Kinder through 4th grade. All links to the daily routines shared are on my padlet: https://tinyurl.com/RecordElementaryMath
Teachable Courses - Teachers will go to the link and click in the upper right hand side of the site where it says "All products". They will then see all the courses I currently offer on the Teachable site- Cuisenaire Rods, Problem Solving K2, Fraction Essentials, and Place Value.
Please see the Mascoma Curriculum Google Classroom for the code.
Mascoma IM Pacing Guides K-8
- 🖍️ Kindergarten
- 📏 First Grade
- 🎲 Second Grade
- ⏲️ Third Grade
- 🧮 Fourth Grade
- ✏️ Fifth Grade
- 📐Sixth Grade
- 📊 Seventh Grade
- 📉 Eighth Grade
IM Professional Development slides by Jess Jacques
Working with Jess Jacques, the Merrimack Valley School District Math Coach, we have developed pacing guides based on Mascoma I Can Statements laying out the quarter by quarter plan for teaching the IM curriculum. Each document includes helpful suggestions and links.
Accessing Opening Source Curriculum
IM has created many videos that give you a K-5 Overview and delve into different aspects of the curriculum. There are a number of features of IM K - 5 that were highlighted as especially helpful:
Math Routines are embedded: act it out, choral count, estimation exploration, how many do you see (subitizing), notice and wonder, number talk, true/false, which one doesn't belong, etc.
Center suggestions - actual new ideas that are clearly connected and engaging
Worksheets can be customized to better align to your instruction
Multiple strategies and ways to solve problems are utilized throughout the program
I recommend that you start the Registration Process to access the open source curriculum so that you can see the curriculum yourself when you're ready and have time. This won't happen all at once and everyone will need to start learning about the resources at their own pace. Here is a video from Jess Jacques on how to navigate IM Teacher Materials and one as an example of how to customize IM presentations & materials.