Welcome to December! We know this is an extremely busy time of the school year, and we so appreciate all of your hard work and commitment to your students this semester. We hope that you have time to rest, reflect, and rejuvenate over Winter Break.

Read on for information about: 

• Featured Resource
• Upcoming Professional Development
• Core Curriculum News
• Opportunities for Educators 
• Recent Activities

This information (and more!) is also provided on the SFUSD Math website at www.sfusdmath.org, and you can follow us on Twitter: @SFUSDMath. Feel free to share this newsletter.

Thank you for all that you do!

The Math Team

Featured Resource

Math Talks Bank 
Math Talks are a powerful teaching tool. They are a teacher-led student-centered technique for building math thinking and discourse.

Math Talks can be centered around any math topic. They are best when the content is generally familiar to students up to their Zone of Proximal Development. They serve to further understanding of Math Content while addressing Math Practice Standard #3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. Each of the units in Grades K-5 has an associated Math Talks Bank in the teacher pages. For ideas on how to use Math Talks, see the Math Teaching Toolkit.

Core Curriculum News

Materials

Delivery of materials for Spring is planned for the week before winter break. Please inventory the materials upon arrival and contact the math liaison assigned to your school if you are missing any materials or have extra.

Your feedback makes the curriculum stronger; please post resources, corrections, and suggestions to Google Classroom or to our feedback form: http://tinyurl.com/SFUSDMathFeedback.

The latest versions of the curriculum are always available online.

Spring District Assessment

The scores for the Spring District Assessment should be entered in Illuminate by February 21. If you have questions about the District Assessment for Math, or need materials, please contact the test coordinator at your site, or email Kathy Bradley in the Achievement Assessments Office.
 

District Milestone End of Unit Dates
Kinder: Jan 29
First: Feb 1
Second: Jan 30
Third: Jan 23
Fourth: Feb 4
Fifth: Feb 1

Upcoming Math Professional Development

Response to Intervention (RtI) Working Group 
Join K-5 educators who are interested in exploring research and best practices regarding RtI and Tier 2 math interventions for the purpose of implementing them and making recommendations to the larger district community. IRFs, ARTIFs, RSP Teachers, Math Interventionists, and Classroom Teachers are all welcome. The flyer and registration are located here. 

Contact Person: Kawthar Duncan

Spring 2019 K-5 Math Milestone Task Calibration and Scoring

• Wednesday Feb. 13, 4:00-6:00PM, Location TBD (English, Spanish, or Chinese). Support provided for Spanish scoring.

• Tuesday Feb. 19, 4:00-6:00PM, Location TBD (English, Spanish, or Chinese). Support provided for Chinese scoring.

Bring your student work on the District Assessment Math Milestone Task and calibrate scoring of the Math Milestone Tasks using rubrics and sample work.

Contact person: Kathy Bradley

Opportunities for Educators

Computer Science Education Week is this week!
This is a great time to demystify code and help students understand that everyone can create with computer science. You can participate by showing videos, leading activities, hosting volunteers, and sharing information about how to learn at home. Learn how at CSinSF.org/CSEdWeek. Suggested math integrated activities include:

• K-5: Bee-Bots + Math Curriculum Integration
• K-2: Pizza Party (unplugged)
• 3-5: Code a Multiplication Math Story

Teacher-Leader Professional Learning Grant (NCSM and NCTM)
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) are co-sponsoring a grant to provide professional learning assistance for mathematics teachers and mathematics teacher-leaders. For 2018–2019, a grant of a maximum of $4000 will be awarded to an elementary or secondary school to fund professional learning focused on one of NCSM's signature initiatives, Formative Assessment, Digital Learning, or Access-Equity-Empowerment.

The applicant must have at least one current (on or before October 12, 2018) Essential or Premium member of NCTM. Additionally, the applicant must have at least one current member of NCSM. The deadline to apply has been extended to December 7, 2018.  Go to www.mathedleadership.org/about/awards10.html for more information, including the Proposal Requirements. 

SF Math Teachers Circle
The San Francisco Math Teachers' Circle is a professional community of teachers and mathematicians who love solving fun, challenging math problems. Teachers of any grade level are welcome! Upcoming sessions are on 2/2/19, 3/2/19, and 4/27/19 at the Proof School, 973 Mission Street. Sessions are on Saturdays from 9:30–noon, approximately. Sessions are free, and lunch is provided. For more information and to sign up to attend, contact Paul Zeitz: zeitzp@usfca.edu

Recent Activities

• Experience what doing and learning math can look and feel like for us and how we can apply this to our own classrooms;

• Examine strategies that support each and every student to grow their own and their peers’ understanding of important mathematics;

• Collaborate with grade level colleagues from around the district to plan effective instruction using the SFUSD Math Core Curriculum.  

Thank you for all that you do!