April 24, 2024
Jenny Lent
Ron Gallagher
Save the Dates
School Leader Retreat - June 20 and 21. Registration
Discussion topics
Gov Shapiro: Less testing, More learning
ChatGPT Prompt of the Month
Esports Rocket League Tournament
Will be hosting a Rocket League challenge for the top 10 teams on May 23, 2024 at Waynesburg University.
A tournament will be held before this date to determine the top ten teams.
Students can register through Waynesburg University here.
ACT 45 Updates
Principals have 5 years from the date of hire, not certification date.
All new principals need an Act 13 training within the first 6 months of employment. NCEE (NISL) is the approved vendor by the state.
Online registration for ACT 45 will be located in SAS. (May 13th)
October 1st all courses will be loaded.
Keystone Scholars
PVAAS Updates
Roster Verification
Resource Alert! SY2023-24 RV Checklist is posted!
New highlighted feature! Run a Usage Report
Usage reports can assist School Admins / Roster Approvers in determining which teachers, if any, did not log in to the PVAAS account at the school during the previous Teacher Phase. This can help prioritize your attention for specific teachers’ rosters!
Also can assist District Admins / Roster Approvers in determining which School Admins, if any, did not log into their PVAAS account during the previous phases (Teacher / School Verification).
We added this to the checklist - School Admin at the end of the teacher phase and the LEA/District Admin at the end of the school phase!
Resource alert! RV Key Concepts & Topics
Answers many questions regarding decisions– Which teachers? Which students? How should instructional responsibility be shared?
Found in online help
https://pvaas.sas.com/support/pa/s/main/PVAAS-RV-KeyConcepts-Topics1.pdf
Notice the shifts in phase dates! We’ve made some improvements based on feedback.
Preview starts before PSSAs and Keystones to allow principals time outside of the PSSA window to do some preview work.
The first 2 days and last 2 days are the heaviest support requests, so this calendar has shifted those days to business days (not weekends).
Roster Verification e-Learning- Check it out to plan for RV season!
SY 23-24 Roster Verification Phase Dates
Preview: Thursday April 18, 2024 - Wednesday May 1, 2024
Teacher Verification: Thursday May 2, 2024 - Wednesday May 15, 2024
School Verification: Thursday May 16,2024 - Wednesday May 29, 2024
LEA Verification: Thursday, May 30, 2024 - Friday June 21, 2024
Note: Phases will now open on Thursdays with a longer 2-week Preview phase!
Roster Verification webpage updated with current dates, recordings, and webinar registration!
More Roster Verification Professional Learning
Ready, Set, Roster! Prepare for an Efficient RV Process webinar (Register here!) For principals and school leaders.
April 4 @ 9 AM
April 10 @ 1 PM
April 16 @ 9 AM
Question and Answer PDE Panelists
Stipends for Student Teachers: (last PDE update 4/12/24) More info was requested about the monetary award. Who? When? How? PHEA held a webinar on 4/3/24, and the application is now available. PA Student Teacher Support Program (pheaa.org) (Amy Lena 4/12/24)
Do Act 80 days count as the 180 days, but not for instructional hours? More direction forthcoming. However, if an LEA is meeting the required hours, they do not need to enact an Act 80 day. At this point, Act 80 days still exist because they are still in legislation. LEAs may want to still use Act 80 days and may do so. However, they are no longer a necessity. (Amy Lena 4/12/24)
PDE Content Advisors
Comp Planning/FRCPP
FID days for next year will be local decision.
Email was sent to all SD about the changes to new admin in FRCPP instead of EdNA. Changes for admin will be made in school reconfiguration in FRCPP. Must be an admin in FRCPP and the upload of the board minutes showing this hire.
FRCPP>Admin>Reports>State Required Reports>School Reconfiguration
Stay Interviews
CPE Summer Courses
CCBC HS Pathways
Equity and Engagement
Alyssa Moore
Meet Ryder Domenic Moore!
Born December 20, 2023
4 Months Old wearing 6-month clothes
Loves when big brother sings and plays with him
Now rolling from back to belly
IU1 and AIU CSOs at CMU for their Leadership Training Institute: IU1 students and advisors from Ringgold and Fort Cherry
PA Chief Science Officers
Intermediate Unit 1 is recruiting for the Intermediate Unit 1 Chief Science Officers Program for the 2024-2025 school year. Chief Science Officers, CSOs, are students in 6th to 12th grade selected to be liaisons for STEM and innovation in their schools and community. For the second year of the program, we can accommodate two CSOs per school district. School districts may decide if the two CSOs come from the middle school level, the high school level or one from the middle school level and one from the high school level.
For more details regarding the CSO program, please review this overview and frequently asked questions document . Also, you may wish to watch any or all of the short videos below.
You can also review these flyers for more details regarding the CSO Program.
Click here to get started: CSO 2024-2025! Please complete this form by September 4, 2024 to begin your CSO journey.
Selected students will need to register using this link: Student Registration 24-25.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Alyssa Moore, alyssa.moore@iu1.org!
OpenSciEd Kits/ Science Matters Update
This will be our final year offering our current versions of elementary science kits. We are currently transforming Science Matters into an OpenSciEd Certified Kit Distributor. We welcome your district to lease these kits for the 2024-2025 school year, but please be advised that these versions are not aligned with the Pennsylvania STEELS standards. In the 2025-2026 school year, we will begin offering Elementary OpenSciEd kits to support our educators in making science accessible to K-5 students fully aligned with the PA STEELS Standards.
OpenSciEd kits for grades 6-8 will be available for leasing starting in the Fall of the 2024-2025 school year.
Please fill out this form to indicate interest in receiving more information about piloting these kits in your middle school classrooms.
For any questions, please contact Alyssa Moore, alyssa.moore@iu1.org
The Western PA Intermediate Units Welcome You to Register for the 2024 Western PA Environmental Education Summit!
June 12, 2024, 9am-2pm
Grove City College
Presenters include Creek Connections, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, WestWinn Urban Ag, local conservation districts and much more
Upcoming Professional Learning Opportunities
July 16-17, 2024-FREE- STEELS Institute for Secondary Science Teachers - Registration:PA STEELS Institute- Secondary Educators (6-12)
July 30-31, 2024-FREE- STEELS Institute for Elementary Science Teachers- Registration: PA STEELS Institute- Elementary Educators (3-5)
August 21, 2024- PA STEELS Immersive Experience Using OpenSciEd
Jordan Lozosky-Social Studies Curriculum Specialst
The Committee of Seventy has partnered with elementary and middle school educators to create programming that gives children basic civic skills, like respectful listening, creative inquiry and thinking, and community problem-solving. These programs illustrate many ways that young people can become engaged citizens in their community.
We offer an interactive Democracy for Kids program for K-8 students that helps them practice basic civic skills, like respectful listening, creative inquiry and thinking, and community problem-solving.
For high schoolers, our Elections & Voting curriculum is a starting point for multiple programs that allow young and future voters to engage with their community. We have many FREE programs that educators and students can participate in to understand and practice engaged citizenship. Check them out!
Do you have what it takes to lead like George Washington?
Be Washington is a first-person interactive leadership experience. Come face to face with challenges that George Washington confronted as commander in chief or president in four key scenarios. Host a game and control the pace of individuals, or play as a single player. This game is COPPA compliant.
Make sure to check out my IU1 Social Studies site for more information and resources!
If you are seeking additional resources or any information related to enhancing your existing social studies curriculum, please contact:
Jordan Lozosky, Curriculum Specialist
Phone: 724-938-3241 ext. #405
Email: jordan.lozosky@iu1.org
Jordan Lozosky-Gifted Education & Updates
To Register for the Gifted Email listserv - https://forms.gle/j63SgtjfGTcUALgLA
Regular Ed Teacher Slide Deck (It will force them to make a copy. That way they can make changes to the slides.)
State Meeting: April 29/30th in Harrisburg (will provide updates)
Additional Information:
Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAP)
Friday is our last day for the School Health Profiles Survey. We are nearing our goal of 70% completion rate state wide for both administrators (64%) and lead teachers (60%). We need your help in encouraging the remaining schools to participate. For ease of completion of the survey I have included each questionnaire in a word document. Schools on the list can complete these and send via email to me by Friday (COB). If schools ask for their user name and password they are available on the excel document I have provided in the email. The link to the survey is also listed below.
I will send daily reminders the next two days to help get our numbers up. You can include the message below when reaching out to all your remaining schools. Thanks so much for your help.
*Ignore all colors except for red. Red indicates one of the two surveys were completed for the school.
We are 3 days away from the deadline to complete the 2024 School Health Profiles. We currently have a completion rate of 64% for building principals and 61% completion rate for lead health/physical education teachers. CDC requires a 70% completion rate to receive funding and weighted data for the state. To meet this goal, we need at least 45 principal surveys to be completed and 60 HPE teacher surveys to be completed.
Ways to help meet our goal:
Use the log in information below to check on your survey. Either start and complete the survey or continue your saved survey and complete. Surveys can only be submitted once it has been saved and the user returns to the homepage. There will be a submit button you must click on to officially submit the survey.
If you completed either the administrator or lead teacher survey, make sure you try to have both surveys completed for your school.
We provided a word version of the survey that can be filled out and returned to Nick Slotterback at nslotterba@pa.gov by Friday. (Save the document as School Name SHP 2024)
If you finish both surveys before Friday your name will be removed from our final email list for our daily reminders for the rest of the week.
We would love to reach our goal of 70%, so we can continue to provide funding to all IUs for professional development and support to our HPE programs across the state. We currently plan to host at least 30 trainings across the state next year, if we reach our target of 70% completion. Please consider completing the School Health Profiles Survey. Thanks for all you do!
We ask that you complete the survey no later than April 26th, 2024. If you have difficulty with the on-line survey, you may use the attached surveys and email your results back to us.
School Health Profiles Link and Usernames and Passwords
https://apps.leaderservices.com/_healthprofiles/index.aspx
Nicholas Slotterback | Health and Physical Education Advisor, Bureau of Curriculum and Assessment, Division of Instructional Quality
Department of Education | Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
333 Market Street | Harrisburg, PA 17126
P: 717.787.9878
Mathematics
Reinventing Secondary Math
If you haven't already gotten your hand on Prisms VR secondary math curriculum supplement, your students are missing out! Prisms revolutionizes the way students learn complex mathematics from MS through Calculus. It brings conceptual understanding through contextual embedment into the forefront and makes effective learning fool proof for the teacher!
Join us at IU1 McMurray on May 9 to hear from the program developer/CEO as well as try out the headsets for yourself! Teacher leaders are encouraged to attend!
Please schedule Act 80/in-service dates for '24-'25!
Districts are currently schedule coaching and consulting days - if you're interested in reserving specific dates for district-wide or school-wide PD workshops, please reach out to secure those dates ASAP!
That last thing we want to do is tell you "no" because we're both booked!
Sign-up for a once-monthly newsletter!
Be the first to know about:
Upcoming math workshops for grades K-12
Student STEM competitions
New and exciting teaching resources and programs
...and other helpful information!
I promise you won't receive more than one email per month! Please encourage your teachers to sign up!
Coming this fall....
Math Fluency PD Series
Join specialist Teresa Brown in a comprehensive math fluency series designed for K-7 teachers (but beneficial for all) starting this fall and running through Spring 2025! We'll overview what it actually means to be fluent in mathematics, clarify how we define math success, and work to support our students' mathematical reasoning from subitizing in kindergarten through multiplication reasoning with decimals and fractions. Dates TBD.
Session 1: Making Sense of Number Sense: What is Math Fluency?
Session 2: The Art of Subitizing: What Should Students "Just Know?"
Session 3: From Counting to Additive Reasoning
Session 4: Multiplying Isn't Just Skip Counting
Session 5: Fractions, Decimals, and Percents - Oh My!
Sessions *can* be attended in an a la carte fashion, but it is highly recommended that teachers attend all 5.
24 Game Challenge
While automatic answer recall is NOT math fluency - it is one important component, especially for 4th and 5th graders!
Jumpstart your school year with fact fluency practice in your classrooms, and put your quickest students to the test with our challenge on Oct 24, 2024. (Anticipated start promptly at 9:24 AM!)
Each school is welcome to register and bring up to 4 students until the registration limit is reached.
I (IU1 Curriculum Specialist, Teresa Brown) will be present at both events as a Remake Learning Ambassador! I hope to see you there!
Remake Learning Days are Here!
Join in the excitement, and be sure to check out our fabulous community-oriented events across the region!
With the beautiful weather approaching, you'll definitely want to check out these two local opportunities in the Farmington mountains (not far from the Summit Inn and Nemacolin Woodlands Resort).
1) Aubock: The Gallet Collection at Touchstone
2) Mother's Day Bird Hike at Ohiopyle State Park
Click the links below to learn more!
Sarah D'Urzo - https://sites.google.com/iu1.org/innovationanddesign/home
Remake Learning Days 2024
Get ready for Remake Learning Days 2024 coming May 2 - 22! The PA Department of Education joins us in expanding this successful, innovative learning festival statewide. Get started today and also share this opportunity with other event hosts!
Submit your event today at: https://remakelearningdays.org/southwesternpa/
CMU Project Baseplate: Brick Clubs
CMU has announced its partnership with a UK social enterprise, Play Included®, to officially launch the Brick-by-Brick® program, an internationally-acclaimed LEGO® brick based therapy, in the United States. The partnership will enable CMU to train education professionals to deliver the program in their own schools and out-of-school community settings to support children’s development and personal wellbeing. Learn more at https://www.cmu.edu/gelfand/project_baseplate.html.
Training will be available to interested schools to have their teachers trained in starting at Brick Club in their school. Trainings may be held in your district or the the IU1 Central Office for multiple districts, stay tuned for offerings.
Interested in starting a Brick Club and scheduling a training within your school or for pricing information, contact sarah.durzo@iu1.org.
Learn more and watch a video about the Brick-by-Brick program at: https://playincluded.com/en-GB/the-brick-by-brick-programme