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What is an integrated learning experience? Here at the San Mateo County Office of Education, we define an integrated learning experience as one that catalyzes deep connections, both across content areas and in the real world.
School must be a place where students develop the skills, knowledge and values to solve our most pressing problems. To that end, we must design instruction that promotes deeper thinking, curious inquiry, and connection-making — all of which happens when learning takes place in an integrated way. Over the past years, our initiatives and projects have continually surfaced the need for all of us to collaborate more as a team in order to develop Professional Learning Experiences that support educators of all levels to design integrated learning.
It is in this spirit that we are officially rebranding our regular newsletter from STEMCentric to STEAMCentric. Bringing Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator Michelle Holdt into the STEM Center is one impetus for the change - certainly the Arts are a powerful enabler for integrated learning and creative expression. The addition of the "A" is also about more than the Arts. It’s an acknowledgment that all learning should cross content boundaries in the service of enabling student-driven, real-world experiences. To us, these are the learning moments that lead to problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and so on. From Reading to Language to Maker-Centered Learning to Computer Science and more, we are committed to the programs that will prepare our County's students to become active, engaged stewards of humanity and of our planet. Rather than confining the vision for effective instruction to a simple acronym, we encourage educators, school leaders, and district administrators to think expansively about integrated learning experiences.
We are also thrilled to welcome Karen Gnusti as our Administrator for Curriculum and Instruction Services to help organize and advance this vision. Her most recent experience as a district leader in Jefferson Union High School District further energizes this direction. “Teachers are grappling with so many new ideas, projects, and directives – it’s impossible to do it all well," Karen says. "Bringing these efforts together is a critical step to supporting our schools and districts to prepare students for their futures.”
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Environmental Literacy Opportunities
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Monday, April 30
San Mateo County Office of Education
Join us at the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) for a one-day conference on Schools for a Sustainable Future! This conference will equip educators with the knowledge, skills, and values needed for moving this work forward across a school’s Campus and Operations, Curriculum and Instruction, and Community and Culture. It will also create the space for networking, problem solving, and exchanging innovative solutions that are driving environmental and social transformation across school communities. Click here to register now.
Featured speakers include:
- Morning Keynote: Marika Ramsden - director of One Planet Schools for North America
- Afternoon Keynote: Jackie Nunez - founder of the Last Plastic Straw
- Breakout Sessions: Office of Sustainability for the San Mateo County Community Colleges District, San Carlos School District Sustainability Coordinators, a panel of local teachers who have transformed their curriculum to integrated environmental sustainability, and more!
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Deadline to Apply: Monday, April 23
San Mateo County’s One Planet Schools Challenge identifies leaders who are taking action for a sustainable future within their Campus, Curriculum, and Community. The One Planet Schools Challenge is built around the One Planet Living Framework, which utilizes 10 principles that seek to make it easy and attractive to lead happy and healthy lives within the environmental limits of our planet.
How to Participate: Stakeholders (teachers, students, administrators, staff, etc.) across K–12 school communities can participate by submitting one or more activities they have led and completed. These leaders will then be recognized by SMCOE — and in some cases awarded cash prizes — for their efforts at the Schools for a Sustainable Future Conference this spring. Encourage leaders to submit to be recognized by April 23!
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Applications Currently Open | Summer Institute Dates TBD
College of San Mateo
The San Mateo County Zero-Waste Teacher Fellowship provides K–12 teachers with the opportunity to participate in a professional learning program that supports teachers in developing and implementing comprehensive, standards-aligned, project-based learning units that focus on the environmental, social, and economic impacts of waste. The fellowship kicks off with a summer institute and continues through the fall with coaching and ongoing support. The institute will prepare teachers to develop student’s awareness of the problems and issues associated with the waste system and will culminate with students engaging in civic action.
Participants receive a stipend of $500 upon completion of the program. Applications are currently open.
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SAVE THE DATE: Environmental Literacy & Statistical Reasoning Summer Institute
June 11 – 15 (5 days)
San Mateo County Office of Education
Mark your calendars for this exciting summer institute co-sponsored by the SMCOE and the Bay Area Mathematics Project (BAMP) where we build environmental and statistical literacy with a lens toward social justice. More details to follow — stay tuned!
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June 26 – 29 (4 days)
San Mateo County Office of Education
The San Mateo Environmental Learning Collaborative (SMELC) provides K–8 teachers with the opportunity to participate in a semester-long teacher fellowship program that focuses on teaching the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) using project-based learning and the local environment. The fellowship kicks off with a four-day summer institute and continues through the fall with coaching and ongoing support.
Participants receive a stipend of $750 upon completion of the program. Teacher teams of 2–4 are encouraged to apply here before May 31!
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July 23 – 26 (4 days)
ATTENTION GRADES 6–12 SCIENCE & HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS:
The San Mateo County Office of Education’s Integrated Learning Hub has partnered with ORIAS at UC Berkeley to offer a unique professional learning opportunity for grades 6–12 teachers. This training will deliver both high-quality content and instructional practices that can be used in any content area. What are the powerful social and scientific forces behind the effects of pestilence, and how has it impacted the world across time and space? What have been the lasting effects of these crises? In addition to receiving great content knowledge from UC Berkeley experts, teachers will be supported in designing an inquiry project that culminates into a civic engagement outcome. Teacher teams composed of both history/social studies and science teachers are encouraged to apply. Applications will be released here on April 12!
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@ SMCOE & the STEAM Center
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Maker Mondays
Every Monday 3 – 6PM
San Mateo County Office of Education
Come join our community of makers in a low-pressure, collaborative environment. Work on your own project using our 3D printer, CNC router, vinyl cutter, sewing machine, etc., AND/OR participate in our featured activity. Please contact Innovative Learning & Technology Integration Coordinator Robert Pronovost at rpronovost@smcoe.org to be added to our Maker Mondays mailing list and stay up to date with our featured activities.
Monday, April 2: Build a button!
Every Monday 3 – 6PM at SMCOE.
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Saturday, April 21 | 9AM – 12PM
San Mateo County Office of Education
 
How can Making support Literacy? Please join us for this hands-on workshop where we'll explore ways to combine paper circuits and cardboard engineering with Common Core reading standards. We will look at several books that work well with making activities, such as Not a Stick, The Most Magnificent Thing, Blackout, and Darkest Dark.
This workshop is intended for K–5 teachers.
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Thursday, May 17 | 6 – 9PM
San Mateo County Office of Education
Please join us for a VERY exciting movie screening! The San Mateo County Office of Education in collaboration with the Peninsula/South Bay Maker Education Meet-Up is thrilled to invite you to a very dynamic film screening of Landfill Harmonic.
Landfill Harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, the orchestra is catapulted into the global spotlight. Under the guidance of idealistic music director Favio Chavez, the orchestra must navigate a strange new world of arenas and sold-out concerts. However, when a natural disaster strikes their community, Favio must find a way to keep the orchestra intact and provide a source of hope for their town. The film is a testimony to the transformative power of music and the resilience of the human spirit.
Free to the public. Popcorn and drinks will be provided.
See you in May!
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Saturday, June 9
San Mateo County Office of Education
Bay Area educators are invited to participate in this day of learning and discussion about how to bring greater equity to our students in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) and digital learning tools.
Interested in presenting? If you or someone you know has expertise to share relating to these topics, please complete this form by THIS FRIDAY, March 30. We will review proposals and make selections by April 6.
If you have questions, please contact Karyn Warner at kwarner@rcsdk8.net or Cathy James at cjames@rcsdk8.net.
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June 21 & 22
The California Reading and Literature Project at University of California, Berkeley (CRLP) is partnering with the San Mateo County Office of Education to host two different literacy events beginning this summer. Read on below or click here for general information information on the Results: Foundational Skills Institute, and stay tuned for more information on our Content Area Language & Literacy Institute. Learn more about the CRLP mission here.
Word Recognition, Fluency, Assessment, Instruction and Intervention. Join us for an intensive dive into the foundational skills. Specific Outcomes Include:
- Learn to administer and analyze assessments which correspond to the Common Core Foundational Literacy Standards to improve instruction and student performance.
- Acquire instructional strategies which correspond to the CCSS standards.
- Become familiar with current and confirmed research related to the effective literacy instruction of English Learners and struggling readers.
- Learn an instructional scope and sequence of teaching and learning foundational skills and how to utilize current resources to best support mastery of these skills.
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June 28 & 29 | 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM
San Mateo County Office of Education
Learn how to deeply engage your students in relevant, purposeful learning through the planning and development of a robust project. Hone your skills in managing a lively, student-driven classroom, designing instruction that is grounded in standards and is meaningful in the world.
This two-day introductory experience is followed by customized support and is ideal for those new to PBL. PBL is a multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary methodology that is best implemented in teams. Sign up for the June workshop today.
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SMCOE is proud to announce a partnership with Strategic Education Research Partnership at Harvard University. Read below for information on two upcoming SMCOE/SERP opportunities, and please complete this Google form to register for either event.
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July 30 & 31
Word Generation Weekly is a supplementary curricular resource that offers a series of cross-disciplinary, discussable dilemmas designed to promote students’ academic language and argumentation skills. Word Generation creates the opportunity for students to become familiar with current issues and persistent dilemmas, while acquiring skills prioritized in the Common Core State Standards. Read more about the program here.
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August 1 – 3
STARI aims to accelerate the progress of struggling readers by addressing both basic reading skills such as fluency and decoding, and deep comprehension skills simultaneously. Read more about the program here.
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Regional Opportunities
& Events
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Deadline to Apply: Sunday, April 15
San Mateo County Office of Education
The McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation believes that continuous, insightful, and innovative professional training and growth is crucial to the effectiveness of educators. It is the foundation's goal to promote best practices through cooperative and sustained commitment to increased efficacy, improved teaching, and active learning.
To that end, the foundation's Teacher Development Grants support small teams of teachers in the formation and implementation of K–12 classroom instruction. The grants provide opportunities for teachers to integrate innovative strategies that encourage critical inquiry into their classrooms and observe the effects of those strategies on their students.
To be eligible for a grant, applicants must be a licensed K–12 teacher employed in a public or private school in the United States. See the foundation's website for complete program guidelines, descriptions of previously funded projects, and application instructions. Visit here for more information and to complete an application.
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Monday, May 7
Skyline College | San Bruno, California
You are invited to attend this year’s San Mateo County Cal-PASS event, Placement is Destiny scheduled on Monday, May 7 from 4 – 7 pm at Skyline College. At this free event, learn how San Francisco Unified School District de-tracked their math courses and their latest results. Come and learn with your colleagues.
This event will serve as the kick-off to reconvene San Mateo County’s regional math articulation teams. Join us as we work together to reach our vision of providing rigorous and equitable math education for each and every one of our students.
Register here. We look forward to seeing you at this event!
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This month's BrainSTEM originated in the Wall Street Journal's "Varsity Math" series. 
As you hurriedly walk to your gate in the airport, you realize that you must stop for 30 seconds to tie your shoe. A moving walkway is in view ahead of you. You walk at a constant speed relative to the ground or walkway when you are walking.
Should you wait to tie your shoe while on the walkway, or does it matter in getting to your gate at the earliest time?
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To get to your gate in the shortest time possible, you should tie your shoe on the walkway.
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We envision a world filled with passionate learners who are empathic problem-solvers, adept risk-takers, and confident creatives.
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What We Do
We collaboratively design and facilitate
learner-centered experiences that nurture
innate human curiosity.
We catalyze innovative, research-validated educational strategies to support student success.
We build educator capacity through a range of professional learning opportunities.
We connect
schools, networks, communities, industries and government to create synergy and support innovation.
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Who We Are
Director
Science & Engineering
Mathematics
Visual & Performing Arts (VAPA)
Innovative Learning
& Technology Integration
Maker Education
& Computer Science
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The San Mateo County Office of Education STEM Center wishes to acknowledge the Oracle Foundation for its foundational support of our launch and continued funding for computer science professional learning for local educators.
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