Reading Science

When approaching the reading of the text, have you thought about the strategies that you use or do students simply "read"? How do you help them understand and process the information in their science text?

Share your thoughts on how you help students understand what they read.

Million Minute Marathon

The Florida Department of Education in honor of Celebrate Literacy Week, January 24th -28th is encouraging all of us, students and teachers, to read during the day and keep track of the number of minutes that you read. As a part of this celebration Florida's First Lady will be at Kirby Smith Middle School to take part in that celebration.

International Dark-Sky Association Freebies for Teachers

The International Dark-Sky Association has free lesson plans and materials that are available to assist students with learning to appreciate the night time sky. For more information visit their website.

Go to http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=118977&orgId=idsa, for additional information,

FCAT 2.0 Item Specifications

The Florida Department of Education wants you to learn more about the content of FCAT 2.0. Individuals may review the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards and the Test Item Specifications. The Standards specify the expectations for student learning in Florida and the Test Item Specifications describe how the test questions (or items) on the assessment will measure student achievement of these Standards.

To download a copy of this publication go to:
http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcat2/pdf/FL09G5Sci.pdf

Textbook Adoption Sites

Elementary science instructional materials have been available since mid-December for teachers, administrators, parents, and the community. Comment forms are available at all sites for providing feedback. The review period has been extended to mid-February. Comment forms will be collected from review sites on Friday, February 18.

You are encouraged to review the three textbooks being considered for your grade and provide us with feedback.  If you are planning to review after school hours, please call the school site to determine how late they will be open on a given day. The two district sites (Administration Building and Textbook Department at Bulls Bay) are open 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Elementary School	School Address and Phone	Location	Principal or Supervisor
Ft. Caroline	3925 Athore Dr., 32277 745-4904	Portable 6	Tammy Boyd
George W. Carver	2854 West 45th St., 32209 924-3122	Media Center	Timothy Warren
Oak Hill	6910 Daughtry Blvd., S., 32210 573-1030	Room 23	Rebecca Rhoden
Greenland Pines (available 12/13)	5050 Greenland Rd., 32258 260 - 5450	Media Center	Chiquita Maxwell-Rivers
Administration Bldg.	1701 Prudential Dr., 32207 390-2681	Third Floor, Room 308	Ruth Senftleber
DCPS Consolidated Services Center	4880 Bulls Bay Highway, 32219 858-3671	2nd Floor	Bryant Frazier

Summer Research Experiences for Teachers

Looking for an exciting opportunity this summer? 

Teachers  in grades 4 and up have an opportunity to participate in programs at Florida State University during the summer 2011. One of the programs is at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, FL and the other is at FSU’s Coastal & Marine Laboratory at Turkey Point, FL (just south of Tallahassee). Both programs provide wonderful and engaging opportunities for teachers. Each program includes a $3600 stipend for full participation.

The program dates for the Magnet Lab RET are June 13^th  - July 22^nd, 2011.

The Coastal & Marine Lab RET will take place June 22^nd  – July 29^th, 2011

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For further information including applications please visit:

www.ret.magnet.fsu.edu (Magnet Lab RET)

http://bio.fsu.edu/osta/ret (Marine Lab RET)

 

The World Golf IMAX® Theater Educator Preview

Did you know that the World Golf IMAX is going 3D? Be one of the first to see, THE ULTIMATE WAVE TAHITI 3D on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Seating is limited, so we ask that only educators attend. Complimentary popcorn and a beverage will be served.
Reservations required: call 904-940-4010 or email rcrowe@wghof.org
Please include your name and the school where you teach when you reserve your spot.

NSTA web seminar

On Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 6:30 pm NSTA will host a web seminar that will review the newly released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2009 Science report.  With the recent release of the PISA report showing that U.S. students maintain an average understanding of science compared to students around the world, we expect the NAEP report will be met with much anticipation.  The NAEP report gives a detailed assessment of what American students know and can do in science.  The report breaks down the findings by regional and student demographics such as state results, school locale, race/ethnicity, gender, etc. Arnold Goldstein, Program Director for Design, Analysis, and Reporting in the Assessment Division  and Emmanuel Sikali, the Senior Research Scientist and Director of Training Programs for the National Center for Education Statistics will lead attendees through the fundamentals of NAEP, highlighting student results and how NAEP can be used in the classroom. The web seminar is free and open to any that are interested. 

To register go to http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NAEP/webseminar.aspx