Chariho Teaching and Learning Blog


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We'd like to thank Laine Whitaker for helping us start the new school year! You can find her presentation here

Posted by Michael Comella  On Sep 05, 2023 at 11:17 AM
  
I hope everyone had a wonderful summer! Please click here to learn more about the upcoming school year. 
Posted by Michael Comella  On Sep 05, 2023 at 10:39 AM
  

The deadline for submitting a grant to Community 2000 has been pushed back to November 1st, 2022. Please see their grants page for more information.

Both Katie and I are available if anyone would like support with the application or process, or would like to discuss ideas for their classroom or school. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.

 

Posted by Michael Comella  On Oct 16, 2022 at 5:46 AM
  

AIM Pathway Science of Reading Proficiency Training:

Thank you to everyone for your participation and engagement in the science of reading proficiency training!  We are off to great start. Thank you also for your feedback as we continue to move through this process. I wanted to share some information prior to the upcoming virtual community of practice:

  • Our first Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) takes place during the early release time on Thursday, September 22. The district is organized into four cohorts in the following way:
    • Cohort 1: Charlestown
    • Cohort 2: Richmond
    • Cohort 3: Ashaway & Hope Valley
    • Cohort 4: Middle & High School
  • You can find the zoom link to your cohort by logging on to the AIM dashboard, then:
    • Participants log into the platform
    • Click 'my courses'
    • Click the pathways to proficient reading tile.
    • Then, they scroll down to VCoP #1 and click 'view'. The zoom link is next to 'location'.
    • Please remember to upload your prework for the VCoP #1:
  • The directions for uploading file submissions are in a separate tile from the 'my courses' screen.
  • Go to My courses
  • Click the 'file submissions' course
  • Click 'start' next to VCoP 1, then read and follow the directions to complete the assignment. 
  • You can find the pacing guide for the year here
  • Some teachers have found it helpful to work on the lessons together to be able to discuss and debrief what they have learned
  • Some teachers have also found it helpful to download and print the lessons as a PDF. This may be more helpful than reading the content online, depending on how you learn best.

Please reach out directly to me ([email protected] ) if you have any questions about the platform.

Posted by Michael Comella  On Sep 26, 2022 at 8:31 AM
  

August 22, 2022

Dear Chariho Faculty and Staff,

I hope everyone had a restful summer, took some time to reflect and recharge, and is looking forward to returning to school! This past school year saw the successful implementation of two new curriculum resources in math and ELA, revisions to several curricula, embedded professional development, and one-to-one teacher coaching. As a result, we had a very successful first-year implementation that also yielded strong student results. This could not have been done without your dedication to ensuring that the implementation was done with both fidelity and integrity.  

This upcoming school year gives us an opportunity to collaborate and grow together in several ways. This year we will have opportunities to increase our knowledge and skill as we launch the proficiency training in the science of reading. This two-year professional development will allow our elementary teachers, special educators, and reading specialists the opportunity to learn about the research behind the science of reading and become active participants in implementing this learning in the classroom. In mathematics, we will also continue our collaboration with RIDE in bringing embedded professional development using the i-Ready program and begin our high school math implementation with our new curriculum resource. Science teachers will continue the work with interim assessments, and we will begin curriculum revisions in social studies. 

Social-Emotional Student Support

The district has contracted with Educational School Solutions to provide two clinicians, one at the middle and one at the high school to provide additional support to students and professional development to staff. The clinicians will play a pivotal role in supplementing the supports that are already in place for students. Elementary schools will continue to access and utilize Dr. Pat Meinhold's services for student and classroom support.

Parent/Family Communication

All teachers and staff are required to use their district-issued email accounts to communicate with students and parents/guardians. For the safety of all, staff may not use their personal emails, cell phone numbers, or any apps to communicate with students and families. Please follow up with your principals if you have any questions.

Curriculum implementation

As mentioned above, we successfully rolled out our new curriculum resources in math and ELA. We will roll out our high school math curriculum resource (Reveal Math) at the start of this school year. This implementation will complete the district-wide K-12 resource implementation for mathematics. We will also continue to build on the success of our year one implementation of our K-12 ELA  curriculum resources, maintaining a focus on implementing the resources with integrity. Research indicates that using high-quality curriculum resources can have huge gains on student achievement. Strong and skilled implementation of our curriculum materials has positively impacted student achievement. We look forward to continuing this momentum with embedded coaching and support in math and literacy. 

Science of Reading Training

On June 23rd, 2022, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed legislation that modified the Right to Read Act. As a result, the training for teachers who need to meet the requirements for proficiency will complete the training over the next two years. You can find the Science of Reading PD Calendar here. We will confirm dates for the SY 23-24 in the Spring of 2023. This change will still allow teachers to meet proficiency requirements within an acceptable timeframe while learning about the most recent research and evidence around the science of reading. We will begin this training on August 31st with an orientation and pre-assessment. More information will follow as we get closer to our start date. We will also utilize our professional development and early release days for this professional learning. 

 Due to some accessibility issues that happened this year on PD days with Bridge-RI and the additional time needed to complete some of the course work with each module, teachers can continue to complete the modules for Awareness Training during the 2022-2023 school year. Please update your module completion here

 District Math Coaches

We are happy to introduce Kristina Sparfven and Eric Mulvey as our district math coaches for the upcoming school year. Kristina will work at the middle school, and Eric will coach across the elementary schools. Many of you know Kristina and Eric as district math specialists. They will continue the training and embedded coaching that many K-8 teachers received during year one of the i-Ready implementation. The purpose of coaching is to support the implementation of the math curriculum resource as well as to provide strategies to help teachers meet the needs of all students. 

District Literacy Initiative

We are happy to have Kerry Pastore return in her role as ELA Fellow for the district. Kerry will continue to provide coaching as she has this past school year and lead the work of our reading specialists, who have collaborated to create a literacy assessment plan that will be rolled out in each school on August 31st. 

Chariho Literacy Workspace

The Chariho Literacy Workspace has been updated to include our ELA K - 12 curriculum documents, assessments, the science of reading resources, updates to the elementary report card, and professional development. You can find all important information related to ELA on this site, which will be updated throughout the year. We will also be updating the math workspace this year as well.

Assessment Calendar

You can find the 22-23 assessment calendar here

Important Dates: 

  • New Teacher Orientation: Thursday, August 25th, 2022; 8 - 3:00 pm in the CMS Library
  • Convocation: Tuesday, August 30th, 2022; 8:00 am in the CMS Auditorium
  • Professional Development Day: Wednesday, August 31st, 2022, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm at your schools. Your principals will share the agenda for that day with you
  • Upcoming PD Days
    • September 13th, 2022
    • November 8th, 2022
    • December 5th, 2022 (Asynchronous day for students)
  • Early Release Days (All dates fall on a Thursday)
    • September 22, 2022
    • October 20, 2022
    • November 17, 2022
    • December 15th, 2022
    • January 12th, 2023
    • February 9th, 2023
    • March 23rd, 2023
    • May 18th, 2023
Posted by Michael Comella  On Sep 07, 2022 at 11:17 AM
  

Friday, September 3rd, 2021

Congratulations on successfully completing the first week of school! I know that this was a very busy week of preparing, planning, and finally welcoming our students back to school. We are off to a great start!

 Please read below for updates on the curriculum resources and assessments, as well as information about the Right to Read Act.

Curriculum Resource Update:

Thank you for your participation in the professional development this week on our new curriculum resources! I know that a lot of information was presented in a very short amount of time, and I appreciate everyone's patience and professionalism as we navigate this implementation. Though most of you have received all of your materials and online access, we continue to work with the vendors to ensure that all materials will be at schools within the next two weeks. We will continue to provide professional development with these new resources to ensure that we can implement them with fidelity. As you know, anytime a new resource is implemented, it takes time to learn about and become comfortable with all that the resources offer. That is why it is critical to implement each resource as they are meant to be used, and with fidelity, in this initial year of implementation. Any modifications to the curriculum resources will not give us a clear understanding of the curriculum's impact on the level of instruction and student outcomes. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Assessment Calendar Update: 

You can find the 2021-2022 Assessment Calendar here. Please review important assessment information below:

1.     We will continue to use the Fountas and Pinnell Running Record. Into Reading has a version of this 
      that we will learn more about and consider using for the next school next year.

2.     We will continue to use KSA for Kindergarten in reading and math in the ESGI platform.

3.     Into Reading: Module assessments will be administered at the end of each module (replacing common assessments)

4.     StudySync: End-of-Unit Assessments will be administered at the end of each unit (replacing QCAs 6-8).  Benchmark Assessments will be used in place of STAR for grades 6-10.

5.     iReady: Assessments will be administered at the end of each unit (replacing QCAs).

 Right to Read Act – Awareness Training

To all teachers who are participating in the Awareness Training of the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy:

 Teachers, please fill out Chariho 21-22 Right to Read Awareness Course Completion Form  as you complete the courses for the Awareness Training of the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy. This form will be used to track PLU’s that you receive for each course. Please note that only the first course is live. According to the RIDE website, courses 2 & 3 will go live on November 1st and the final two courses will go live on January 1st, 2022. You will be provided time during upcoming professional development days to complete the courses. 

 Upon completion of all 5 courses you will be asked to submit a copy of your certificate of completion. You can find additional information about both the awareness and proficiency training on the Chariho website under Teaching and Learning-àRight to Read.

 Thanks again for all you do!

Posted by Michael Comella  On Sep 07, 2021 at 8:50 AM
  

Dear Chariho Certified Staff,

On May 25, 2021, you were sent an email about the Rhode Island Right to Read Act, which is a law requiring ALL educators to exhibit either ”Proficiency” or  “Awareness” in the knowledge and practices of the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy.

  • All PreK-5 classroom teachers, PreK-12 special educators, and PreK-12 Reading Teachers, and our PreK-12 ESOL Teacher will need to exhibit “Proficiency”.

In order to help you meet this requirement, our RI Right to Read Act Committee has selected AIM Pathways to Proficient Reading, and we are working with the provider to potentially schedule the training to begin in the Spring of  2022.  Due to the implementation of the new Gr. K-12 ELA High Quality Curriculum Materials next year, “Proficiency” training would not begin until next Spring.

Further information can be found on the RIDE Right to Read Act webpage.

 Chariho’s Right to Read Act Selection Committee

Co-Chairs:  Jane Daly, Jen Durkin & Committee Members:  Stefani Anderson, Jill Burke, Mary Beth Florenz, Giuseppe Gencarelli, Dana Hall, Sandra Hanley-Stansfield, Jennifer H Krekorian, Paige Leddy, Mary Markovitz, Mary Ann Mello, Iris Ornberg, Kerry Pastore, Karen Pellegrino, Rene Rosivach, Andrea Spas, Mary Ellen Sposato, Jean Westcott

Posted by Jane Daly  On Jun 17, 2021 at 2:19 PM
  

Westerly Community Credit Union (WCCU) is pleased to offer the Teacher Grant Program for the 2021-22 school year!  They will be awarding up to $8,500 in teacher grants.

Link to view both the 2021 Grant application updated with a deadline of October 31, 2021 and the Awarding Guidelines.

Posted by Jane Daly  On Jun 15, 2021 at 10:07 AM
  

The Teacher Toolbox and i-Ready have been rolled into the one platform. As a reminder, you no longer need to login to a separate website and use a separate login! To access the Toolbox, login to i-Ready Connect and simply click on “Assess & Teach” > choose “Resources” > select a subject under “Teacher Toolbox.”  

Posted by Jane Daly  On Jun 10, 2021 at 3:20 PM
  

Dea. Dear  Chariho Certified Staff,

The Rhode Island Right to Read Act was passed in July of 2019. This law requires ALL educators to exhibit either ”Proficiency” or  “Awareness” in the knowledge and practices of the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy.

 Pages 6 and 7 of the RIDE RI RIght to Read Act LEA Guidance identifies which staff need to exhibit “Proficiency”, and which staff need to exhibit “Awareness”.  

 Chariho has created a committee of administrators and teacher representatives to research and then select our provider(s) from the approved RIDE listing, and plan for providing this professional learning.  

 Due to the implementation of the new Gr. K-12 ELA High Quality Curriculum Materials next year, “Proficiency” training and Gr. 6-12 ELA Teacher “Awareness” training will begin no earlier than Spring 2022 or during the 2022-2023 school year.  All other certified staff who require “Awareness” training will begin in the fall of 2021.


Here are some resources and professional learning groups for further information:

 

From your Right to Read Act Selection Committee

Co-Chairs:  Jane Daly, Jen Durkin

Committee Members:  Stefani Anderson, Jill Burke, Mary Beth Florenz, Giuseppe Gencarelli, Dana Hall, Sandra Hanley-Stansfield, Jennifer H Krekorian, Paige Leddy, Mary Markovitz, Mary Ann Mello, Iris Ornberg, Kerry Pastore, Karen Pellegrino, Rene Rosivach, Andrea Spas, Mary Ellen Sposato, Jean Westcott


Posted by Jane Daly  On May 25, 2021 at 12:33 PM
  
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