OLL Elementary School Communication

We are excited to announce a new digital mindfulness program that we have purchased for every school called Inner Explorer!  Inner Explorer is a Tier 1 Social Emotional Learning tool for all students preschool through high school.

Inner Explorer directly addresses Pasco’s Social Emotional Learning Standards including developing a positive sense of self-identity, recognizing how thoughts, emotions, and feelings affect behavior, and managing thoughts, emotions, and actions in constructive ways.

This video does a great job explaining the program, as well as giving an overview of how easily Inner Explorer can be integrated for your teachers’ daily lessons.  The best part?  There is no advanced planning needed for your teachers!  They simply log in, push the play button, and are ready to go with the daily mindfulness practice!  Keep an eye out for more detailed instructions for your school to get started with Inner Explorer.

Below is the official language from House Bill 7011, Student Literacy, that will require Reading Endorsed mentors for PDCP teachers in the following certification areas:

Elementary Ed K-6

PreK-Primary (Age 3 – Grade 3)

Middle Grades English 5-9

English 6-12

ESOL K-12

Reading K-12

Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, for all such personnel who supervise or direct teacher preparation students during internships in kindergarten through grade 3 or who are enrolled in a teacher preparation program for a certificate area identified pursuant to s. 1012.585(3)(f), must have a certificate or be endorsement in reading.

What does this mean for us? PDCP teachers with the above certification areas will need a mentor who is Reading Endorsed starting next school year. 

Now is the time to recruit your Reading Endorsed teachers who are not Clinical Educator trained.  Please check this list to see who is Reading Endorsed but not Clinical Educator trained.

The next Clinical Educator will begin in January. Please see this flyer for dates, times, and recommendation form. 

Please send your recommendation forms to Charlotte Kralik to be register in myPGS.

Pasco County Schools will host two virtual expo-style events to showcase the choices and innovative programs in our county for the 22-23 school year on November 15th for west side schools and November 18th for east side schools. The expo events will take place from 5-8 p.m.  Please use these flyers and the Pasco Pathways Expo website to advertise these opportunities with families. Printed flyers and posters have been sent to schools and departments for advertisement. In addition to these marketing materials, you can share the Pasco Pathways Catalog to showcase many of the options in our county.  We have updated the district website to have all information in one place regarding the options available as well as information about the 22-23 application window.

We are asking that schools and departments distribute this FAQ document​ ​to their support staff and other staff members as needed to answer questions families may have about the events and how to register.  We are also asking all principals to use this script, which can be modified to meet the needs of each school, to inform families of the events. In addition to phone calls home, please share/retweet all social media posts you see about the expos and application process. Schools and departments attending should have received individual emails with logistical information about the events. If you have any questions about the expos, please contact Francesca Howard, Pam Davis or Samantha Del Valle.

Pasco Pathways- 22-23 Controlled Open Enrollment School Choice Application- Programs to be advertised

The K-12 Controlled Open Enrollment School Choice Window for the 2022-23 school year will be open from January 6 through January 20, 2022.  The notification window is from February 23 through March 4, 2022.   The link below will take you to the document that details all the programs/schools that will be listed on the school choice application.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Francesca Howard by November 12th.

2022-2023 Pasco Pathways School Choice Options.docx

Thank you for inviting and encouraging your new teachers to attend the Year-Long Induction! We have completed Module 2: Your Influence and Module 3: Conquering Classroom Challenges. We had a great turn out for both sessions. Please check out the spreadsheet for who attended these modules of learning.

If any of your new teachers missed these sessions, their mentor can review the slide deck and/or watch the recording in the new teacher course. Please communicate this course to your mentors. Lots of great resources to support any new hire with building a compassionate classroom.

We know that many of you have just hired some new teachers. We have been working to update our roster to be sure that all our newest teachers are registered for this learning as well as sending them their books. Please use this roster to see who will be invited to all the sessions offered during the New Teacher Year-Long Induction.

Please view this flyer for dates of our next modules of learning. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Charlotte Kralik.

The Module 4 Assessment for grades 1-5 is available for printing beginning Wednesday, October 27th, and scoring is available through January 4, 2022. Please use this assessment as needed within the PLC cycle as a common formative assessment or to support you in measuring proficiency and mastery of standards of your learners. As a reminder, Module 5 Assessment will be required. An updated module assessment schedule can be found here Revised K-5 Module Assessment Year-at-a-Glance 2021-2022. Please be sure teachers maintain their instructional pacing so they will not feel rushed to teach and assess that module by the due date. If you need additional support with pacing, our ELA team is here to assist should you need advice on scope and sequence adjustments.

Grades 1-5:

• Available for printing in myProgress: Wednesday, October 27^th
• Suggested Administration Testing Window: Friday, October 29^th through Wednesday, November 3^rd
• All results for completed tests must be finalized in myProgress by: End of Day, January 4, 2022

Grade K:

• There is not an updated testing window as teachers and students should still be working through their Module 3 content.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Some questions on the Module Assessments may have been designed for students to practice matching responses to correct answers. This feature is not available in myProgress so those questions must be omitted. ARM will provide edited Module Assessments and updated answer sheets when this occurs. To note any modifications to assessments, please follow the instructions included in the Module Assessment Administration Guide. This Guide and Communication can be found here Module Assessment 4 Administration Information and for all modules can be found here Formative and Summative.

November 2 – Election Rights Education/ Ocoee 1920 Election Education – Share required instructional mandate with teachers

Highlight the importance of language and semantics, and offer grade level appropriate activities that reflect student development, around the 1920 Ocoee Election Day, which includes as many sources (primary and secondary) as possible to build a K-12 understanding of this Florida historical event. A K-12 crosswalk for this event along with other resources to help build teacher knowledge on this event may be found here.

HOLOCAUST HISTORY EDUCATION WEEK- NOVEMBER 8TH – 12^TH – Share required instructional mandate with teachers

Holocaust Education Week in Florida is held annually the second week in November which coincides with the anniversary of Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, a major turning point in the persecution of European Jews by the Nazi regime. This year Holocaust Education Week in Florida will be held November 8-12, 2021. Resources on this page has been shared by the Florida Holocaust Education Task Force and shared out with school districts to support accurate education on the events of the Holocaust with grade appropriate content.

NOVEMBER 11TH – VETERANS DAY Video to be Shown on 11/11 – Share required instructional mandate & video with teachers

Instruction to promote patriotism and honor veterans is a part of our required instruction per Florida Statute, 1003.42 which states: “In order to encourage patriotism, the sacrifices of veterans have made in serving our country, and protecting democratic values worldwide. Such instruction must occur on or before Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Members of the instructional staff are encouraged to use the assistance of local veterans when practicable.”

Pasco County Schools will be partnering with Brian Corley, Supervisor of Elections for our 8th annual district wide Veteran’s Day event to support Vote in Honor of a Veteran. This year our event will once again be pre-recorded and be 100% virtual so the recording may be shown each period at our secondary level or at set time established by the elementary or secondary school.

Additional resources to help with the importance of this day, may be found here. This page  will also be updated with a video link to access the Pasco virtual Veterans Day program on Veterans Day.

November is Native American Heritage Month – Share required instructional mandate with teachers

Native American history is often underrepresented in historical textbooks. As teachers, it is critical in this time of culturally relevant education that we expose our students to comprehensive, thoughtful and accurate education in Native American history and culture. For many of our Social Studies courses we have dedicated standards that address Native American history. For additional resources please use this link.

Saint Leo University is offering an Information session on Advanced Degrees in Education on Wednesday, November 3rd  at 4:00 PM or 7:00 PM.

Click here for the flyer with details.

Communication went out this week to teachers that need to renew prior to June 30, 2022. Teachers may view their transcript and credit bank in myPGS on the credentials page. 

If you are short a few points, please check out the courses page in myPGS and below for great professional learning opportunities to earn in-service and ESE points.

Option 1:

The BEESS Portal to Professional Development Alternatives (PDA) offers a variety of online courses for Florida educators that will increase their ability to respond to the needs of students with disabilities. The courses from the PDA Portal site have been combined to create a “one-stop” for professional development related to students. Some of these courses are facilitated or self-paced. Please see the courses page in myPGS for additional information on professional development opportunities.

Option 2:

By using our Functional Behavior Assessment platform: Insight’s to Behavior, we have the opportunity for online training. There are over 38+ different workshops available for staff to participate in online. The e-learning workshops range from less than 1 hour up to 2 hours. Each workshop has a corresponding course that has been created in MyPGS. When staff complete the e-learning workshop on the Insight to Behavior website with a 80% or higher, they receive a certificate of completion that can be emailed to wcrosley@pasco.k12.fl.us and in-service/training points are awarded.

Please click HERE for a power point for additional information and click HERE for a listing of all e-workshops with topic descriptions and time needed to complete. If you have any questions, contact Anna Randazzo via email: arandazz@pasco.k12.fl.us

For questions about your professional development points and opportunities, please email Charlotte Kralik.

For questions specific about renewing your certificate, please find your certification specialist and email your specialist for support with your certificate and the renewal process.