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Northshore K-12 Math Newsletter

September 2020

Vol. 8, Issue 2

In This Issue

 
Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year! I hope you had a great first day meeting your new students. As we settle in to this unique school year, please let me know how I can support you and your students. 

Please forward this newsletter to any new math teachers at your school who may not be on this mailing list. Click the link at the top of this newsletter to subscribe.

I look forward to working with you this year to support our students!

- Patty Stephens
  K-12 Math TOSA, Northshore School District
    

Desmos has been working overtime this summer! The Desmos team has released several new features to help support teachers and students in this new learning environment.

 

Written Feedback

Sometimes student thinking is so interesting it needs a response. You’ve always been able to give your students verbal feedback on their work. Now you can give them written feedback as well and can type a message on any student screen. Students will see your comment and develop their mathematical ideas further. Click the image at the right to learn more about this feature.
 

Collaborate

Desmos just released their collaboration feature on activities to everyone! Some folks here have been testing this feature for us for a while, but now it's available to all Desmos users so you can collaborate with colleagues and friends without issue. Click the image at the right to learn more.
 

Co-Teachers

Teachers who co-teach or partner with a specialist or para-educator are able to add a co-teacher to their Desmos Activities. Click here or the image at the right to learn more!
 

Snapshots

Snapshots isn't brand new but is something that many teachers asked about after our Summer Institute session with Dan Meyer. You can learn more about this tool at Learn Desmos: Snapshots.
 

Learn.Desmos.com

To learn more about the Desmos calculators, Geometry tool, Classroom Activities and tools to support Distance Learning, please visit learn.desmos.com. 
 

K-5 Math Updates

 

An invitation for K-5 teachers... 

Recommendations for math instruction have been released for the 2020-2021 school year.  Several Regional Math Coordinators from around the state met and have decided to facilitate a conversation for elementary folks to help make sense of these recommendations within the lens of specific grade levels and curriculum materials. I invite you to take part in this 2-part series on Wednesday, September 9th and Wednesday, September 16 from 4:00-5:30 pm to dig into these documents together. Click here to register by September 5th.
 

NSD K-5 Math Scope & Sequences

To help support math instruction in the coming school year, our K-5 math pacing guides are being updated to include more detailed information and math instruction recommendations from the documents listed above and now include recommendations for each unit in Math Expressions.  Scope & Sequences can be accessed through the NSD Math Toolbox on the K-5 page of the NSD Math Toolbox under 'Math Expressions Resources' and through the Northshore Learns 3.0 group on Schoology.
 

Updates to ThinkCentral

ThinkCentralThinkCentral has made some changes, and NSD teachers now have access to 4 programs: 
  • Math Expressions (this is the 2013 version we're used to)
  • Math Expressions 2018
  • Math Expressions SP (2013 version in Spanish)
  • Math Expressions Spanish 2018
You can change which program you view using the dropdown at the top right. 

Need an account? Please submit a helpdesk request for a ThinkCentral account.

6-8 Math Updates

 

Middle School Math Recommendations 

Recommendations for math instruction have been released for the 2020-2021 school year.  These recommendations are currently being incorporated into our district scope and sequences.
 

NSD 6-8 Math Scope & Sequences

To help support math instruction in the coming school year, our district math pacing guides are being updated to include more detailed information and math instruction recommendations from the documents listed above. Scope & Sequences can be accessed through the NSD Math Toolbox on the 6-8 page of the NSD Math Toolbox under 'Core Focus Resources' and through the Northshore Learns 3.0 group on Schoology. 

9-12 Math Updates

 

High School Math Recommendations 

Recommendations for math instruction have been released for the 2020-2021 school year.  On Friday, August 21, math teachers and leaders from the region met with PSESD Math Program Manager Leslie Nielsen to dig into the 2020-21 Support for Instructional Content Prioritization in High School Mathematics document and help make sense of these recommendations. In the Algebra 1 break out room that I took part in, we began developing a rough draft for Algebra guidance. This is a work in progress and I look forward to digging into these recommendations within our own district. 
 

NSD 9-12 Math Scope & Sequences

To help support math instruction in the coming school year, our district math pacing guides are being updated to include more detailed information and math instruction recommendations from the documents listed above. Scope & Sequences can be accessed through the NSD Math Toolbox on the 9-12 page of the NSD Math Toolbox under 'Pearson/Prentice Hall Resources for Algebra 1/Geometry/Algebra 2'  and through the Northshore Learns 3.0 group on Schoology. 
 

Schoology


NSD Schoology Math Groups

NSD teachers are invited to join grade level Schoology Math Groups to collaborate with other teachers across the district, share resources, and get questions answered. To join a group, please visit Schoology and click Groups --> My Groups --> Join Group and enter the join code in this document. 

Teacher Support


Please book a virtual meeting with Patty for K-12 Math support. Some ways I may be able to provide support include:
  • meet with groups of teachers to learn about the math instructional priorities for 2020-2021,
  • provide resources and/or technology support for a particular lesson or topic, 
  • participate in math department planning sessions,
  • plan a math lesson with a teacher or a team, 
  • participate in your math PLC. 
If I can support your work with students or your department, please don't hesitate to ask! 

Links & Resources

 

Books I'm reading...

Other Things I'm Checking Out...
This newsletter comes to you by:
 

Patty Stephens

K-12 Mathematics Curriculum Specialist
Northshore School District
Email: pstephens@nsd.org
Copyright © 2020 Northshore School District, All rights reserved.


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