Brownville Elementary School Hosts Dr. Seuss “Book Tasting Event”

In conjunction with Dr. Seuss’s birthday recently, Brownville Elementary School held a “Book Tasting Event” for their 3rd and 4th grade students. Organized by Title I Teacher Miss Ivy Stanchfield and Librarian Mrs. Jeannine Lavigne, students were invited to a “5 Star” restaurant to sample an appetizer, main course, and dessert in the form of books!

When they were done sampling, the students were able to take home books to keep courtesy of our Three Rivers Kiwanis, who supplies books for all K-8 students in the MSAD 41 school district.

“The kids had a blast,” said Carol Smith, Brownville Elementary Principal.

DATA WEBINAR: Home Instruction Forms and Rosters – March 23rd

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) NEO Home Instruction portal will open to superintendents on April 1st for 2022-2023 form submissions.

As School Administrative Unit (SAU) central offices prepare to manage a new school year of home instruction forms and rosters, we invite superintendents and/or SAU Home Instruction Points of Contact to join the Maine DOE Home Instruction Specialist and Data Team for a Home Instruction Webinar on Wednesday, March 23rd at 10am.

We will be discussing the new school year, updated resources, and how to access and navigate the Home Instruction Module in NEO.

Please follow the “Join Live” link at the time of the training to join us.

For questions, contact the Maine DOE Helpdesk at medms.helpdesk@maine.gov.

US DOE Invites Applications for the Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities Grant Program (ETechM2 Program)

The U.S. Department of Education published a notice on a discretionary grant program for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services: Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals With Disabilities Program-Innovative Technology-Based Approaches for Assessing Children With Disabilities.

The grant program seeks to support children with disabilities in a variety of ways, including through the use of technology, supporting educational activities, providing captioning and video description support, as well as through the use and distribution of accessible educational materials. The Department intends to use approximately $1,000,000 for this competition; however, the actual level of funding will depend on final congressional action.

Applications are due by May 2, 2022.

For more information visit the U.S. DOE Notice.

MLTI Launches – Space2Connect! 19th Annual MLTI Student Conference

The 19th Annual MLTI Student Conference will be held virtually on Thursday, May 26, 2022 from 8:30am to 2:00pm, and will be open to all MLTI 7th and 8th grade students. Since our first MLTI Student Conference in 2003, this event has been providing students with their own technology conference focused on issues, concepts, and subjects that matter to them. The theme of this year’s conference is: MLTI Launches Space2Connect! The intent of the conference theme is to reflect the many interpretations of space and connection as they relate to Maine students and their use of technology today.

This year’s virtual conference will have a brand-new, classroom-centered approach. Sessions will be delivered directly into your classroom where the workshop leader will act as a type of guest teacher. Workshop leaders will teach the class new skills, provide time for students to practice these new skills, and then support them as they create something new with what they have learned. This new design will allow students to work together as they explore new resources and applications, create with new digital mediums, and collaborate to complete tasks. For more information on our new conference model, please watch our video!

This virtual conference, as with past years, will be hosted on Zoom. The sessions will be 90 minutes with the morning session running from 9:30am to 11:00am, and the afternoon session running from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. All necessary materials will be provided to schools before the conference so students will have them to create with during the conference.

In past years we have asked educators to lead all of the sessions at the student conference. However, this year, since the pandemic has already asked so much of educators over the past two years, the MLTI team, in partnership with some educational partners, will plan interactive, creative sessions that we think students will be excited to attend. Having said this, if you would like to lead a session at this year’s conference, we’d love to have you! Please review the proposal submission information and fill out the proposals submission form, or reach out to Digital Learning Specialist Jon Graham.

Registration

Registration for the 2022 MLTI virtual student conference is now open. Please select a lead teacher from your MLTI school to fill out the online registration form (copy attached to review before filling out online). We will be asking for lead teacher contact information, the school information, as well as a physical shipping address so we can deliver or ship conference materials directly to the attending school. We will also need the total number of students attending in each grade, and the totals for shirt sizes. We ask that schools complete the registration form by April 3, 2022. For questions regarding registration, please reach out to Brandi Cota at Brandi.M.Cota@Maine.Gov.

Important Dates

March 10th registration opens
March 21st workshop sessions announced
April 3rd registration closes
April 4th session sign up opens
April 15th session sign up closes
May 12th session assignments finalized

For more information, please visit the MLTI Student Conference page or contact Brandi Cota at Brandi.M.Cota@Maine.Gov.

NEW Online Course: Cybersecurity Considerations for K-12 Schools and School Districts

The following opportunity comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center.

Does your emergency operations team know the types of threats facing their networks and systems? Is your team prepared to handle cyber threats before, during, and after one occurs? Is cybersecurity included in your emergency operations plan (EOP)? These important questions for your planning team to consider will be answered by taking this NEW online course, Cybersecurity Considerations for K-12 Schools and School Districts.

This 30 to 45 minute free online course aims to help K-12 school personnel, school district administrators and staff, and state/regional education agency personnel include cybersecurity in EOPs and obtain critical data needed to prepare for network breaches and insider threats. This online course uses an engaging visual format and interactive features such as learning activities and quizzes that help you:

Recognize the connection between school safety and cybersecurity;
Identify the evolving threats facing school and school district networks and systems;
Prepare for possible cyber threats before, during, and after; and
Integrate cybersecurity with EOP development and planning.

Take Another REMS TA Center Online Course
The REMS TA Center offers a diverse set of self-paced, online courses as asynchronous training and professional development opportunities on school safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness topics. If you are a first-time user, create a profile for easy access to all our online courses.

Fundamentals of EOP Development

Annexes and Related Topics

School EOPs In-Depth: Planning for Large Events

Climate Data-Art Workshop for Educators

Join the Maine Department of Education and Friends of Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge as they cohost an afternoon with Jill Pelto, an accomplished climate change artist with a passion for constructing new ways to communicate science through art.

March 31, 2022
3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
virtual event

This 3-hour workshop is designed for middle and high school teachers that would like to learn how to braid climate science, data, and visual art as a means of communicating both the data and the urgency of climate impacts in a novel way. Jill’s data-art approach has been utilized in classrooms internationally.

During the workshop, teachers will demo the activity as “students” and create an original artwork that integrates scientific data collected by researchers from Friends of Maine Coastal Islands, including Tern (Arctic, Common, Roseate) recovery and Atlantic Puffin fledgling rates in Maine. This activity can be adapted for the classroom using the same datasets, or other datasets that teachers (or upper-level students) identify.

Instructional objectives of this workshop include:

Understand the meaning of the data
Relate to the data personally
Create an original artwork that illustrates a story

Register here for this workshop. An agenda, list of simple materials to have at hand during the workshop, and the Zoom link will be sent to all participants after successful registration. Space is limited.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact Shari Templeton at shari.templeton@maine.gov or 207-530-6407.

Register Now for Public Pre-K Technical Assistance Sessions Available April – July 2022

Members of the Early Learning Team will be providing an opportunity for new and expanding Pre-K programs to come together to learn and discuss the components of high-quality programming.

These sessions will be offered virtually on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, April through July 2022, from 3:30-4:30pm. You may register once and have access to all sessions. Each session will be recorded and links to the recordings will be shared.

Once your registration is confirmed, you will receive an email with a link to a document that highlights resources related to each session topic. This should be used as a guide during the sessions.

Please feel free to share the registration link with others in your school system who may be interested.

The sessions are scheduled as follows:

April 11, 2022: Pre-K Application in Accordance with Ch. 124 and the Pre-K Guidebook Review & Reflect
April 25, 2022: Community Needs/Recruitment/Enrollment/Transitions
May 9, 2022: Partnering with Community Providers Exploring MOUs & Child Care Licensing
May 23, 2022: CDS Relationships/Coordination/Screening
June 13, 2022: Curriculum and Assessment Choices
June 27, 2022: High-Quality Classroom Environments & Materials
July 11, 2022: Early Childhood Development Teacher Training and MELDS
July 25, 2022: Family Engagement Strategies

Register here. For questions and clarifications, please contact Early Childhood Specialist Nicole Madore at nicole.madore@maine.gov.

Bangor High School Civil Rights Team Creates Calendars to help Celebrate Diverse History and Culture

Bangor High School’s Civil Rights Team has been hard at work this year, collecting materials to help their community celebrate African American History Month, Women’s History Month, and beyond. They recently created several calendars of content, including picture book read aloud stories to help elevate and celebrate diverse stories and cultures.

To put the calendars together, the group researched other calendars featuring content relating to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and content that would align to the mission of the Civil Rights Team Project.

“When it came to the ‘Celebrating Black Stories’ calendar, we looked specifically for videos featuring the author or illustrator doing the read aloud as a way of preserving authenticity,” said Stephanie Hendrix, English Teacher and the Civil Rights Team Advisor at Bangor High School. “We also looked at a number of different book lists for recommendations, and we paid close attention to the Coretta Scott King award winners.”

The information was collected from various sources in the hopes of creating resources that are user friendly for teachers and students in their school community, to help them think and talk about issues related to race and skin color, national origin and ancestry, disability, and gender.

Here are a few of the February and March calendars but the group has calendars for the other months as well:

BH Civil Rights Team Celebrating Black Stories - Feb

BH Civil Rights Poem of the Month - February

PDF versions of the calendars and other relevant activates to help celebrate:

“The students on my team and I understand how important it is that everyone feels safe and welcome in our school community, and one way we can help people feel not only included, but also celebrated, is by finding opportunities for them to be seen – whether through the stories we read and bring into the classroom, the poems we share that speak to the human experience, or the calendar events that help us understand that our normal may not be everyone else’s normal,” said Hendrix. “Ultimately, we don’t know what we don’t know, and the research that the Civil Rights Team has been doing to collect and curate these materials has helped us all learn more about just how diverse our school community is and just how important it is to see and celebrate everyone’s complex humanity.”

To learn more about starting a Civil Rights Team in a Maine school, visit the Maine Attorney General’s website or reach out to Project Director Brandon Baldwin at brandon.baldwin@maine.gov or sign up for their newsletter. To get copies of the other calendars, reach out to Stephanie Hendrix at shendrix@bangorschools.net.

Nominations Open for Maine School Nurse of the Year

The Maine Association of School Nurses has opened nominations for the Maine School Nurse of the Year (SNOY) 2022-23.

This award recognizes an outstanding school nurse for their contributions to the school and community they serve. The award provides recognition to an individual who demonstrates leadership in six areas of practice: care provision, program management, health education, professional development, community involvement, and research.

The individual selected will receive a $500 cash award and be recognized at the July 2022 Maine School Nurse Summer Institute.

The application deadline is April 25, 2022. The completed nomination packet must include: Nomination Form, reference letters (3-5) with at least one from administration, curriculum vitae, and a written report addressing the six content areas. Submit the original and 3 copies by April 25, 2022 to SNOY Coordinator Erin Taylor at etaylor@capeelizabethschools.org.

If you know a school nurse who inspires you with their dedication to their school community, please consider nominating them for this prestigious award!

For more information, please visit the MASN website.

Resources and Information to Support Celebrating Women’s History

March is National Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the contributions of women to United States history, culture, and society and to recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields. Below please find resources and information from Maine Department of Education Specialists for Women’s History Month and all year.

Digital Resources to Support Representation of Influential Women in Teaching and Learning

As a global activist for female education, Malala Yousafzai is outspoken on the importance of education for girls and women. To learn more about the work that Malala and others like her have been doing, check out the Assembly publication. To explore digital resources to support the representation of influential women in teaching and learning, check out the infographic above (or download the infographic here).

Influential Science and Technology Leaders

Hedy Lamarr was a self-taught inventor and actress who was awarded a patent for her invention of a “secret communication system”, which became the basis for wi-fi, GPS, and Bluetooth technologies. To learn more about Hedy Lamarr, check out this video.

Influential Computer Science Leaders

Katherine Johnson was a prolific NASA scientist, credited for many space-related achievements, including helping with the first moon landing. To learn more about Katherine Johnson, check out this video.

Influential Computer Science Leaders

Known as the woman who “taught computers to talk”, Admiral Grace Murray Hopper is one of the most well-known women in the field of computer science. #CSEdWeek in December is even based around Hopper’s birthday. To learn more about Admiral Grace Murray Hooper, check out this video.

Joy Buolamwini is perhaps best known for her role in the PBS documentary film, Coded Bias in which she, along with other mathematicians and scientists, expose the discovery that artificial intelligence algorithms (AI) currently can “not detect dark-skinned faces or classify women with accuracy”. Buolamwini has become world-renowned in her advocacy for equity in artificial intelligence algorithms. To learn more about Joy Buoloamwini, check out this video.

Influential Physician, Researcher, Advocate

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris is best known for changing the way our society responds to one of the most serious and widespread public health crises of our time: childhood trauma. Her 2016 TED Talk titled ”How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime” has been viewed over 4.7 million times. Another great resource to access is this article from Channel Kindness: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris on Kindness, Adversity, & Mental Health.

Additional Women’s History Resources

Women’s History Month Resources for Teachers – Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

This comprehensive and wide-ranging collection of resources will support all educators at all grade spans/levels to explore the importance of women in the history of the United States. These governmental organizations have pooled their collective resources to offer perspectives on the variety of important roles and responsibilities women have played in the development of important institutions in government and beyond.

The Smithsonian Institute – Women’s History in America

This continuously developing site, curated by Colleen Murdock through the Smithsonian Institute, contains a collection of images, text, and videos “intended to inspire learning about different events, accomplishments, and themes in women’s history in the United States.” Interactive in nature, students and educators alike will enjoy sorting through the collection of items, forming connections between and among the contents and other artifacts from outside the collection.

The Smithsonian Institute – Women’s History in America: Highlights Collection

Another collection of images, text, and videos that highlight many of the accomplishments of influential women in science, art, women’s rights, and athletics throughout history. Use these in your classroom to make connections between and among women who may have played pivotal roles in more than one field – an artist who used their art for social activism to promote women’s rights. etc.

The National Women’s History Alliance – National Women’s History Alliance Resource Kit

This collection of high quality resources, last updated in March of 2020, includes readings, panel discussions, documentaries, and even a read aloud.

The New York Public Library – Women’s History Month

The vast collection of resources that the New York Public Library brings to bear on the topic of Women’s History includes a wide variety of types of texts that students can engage in – a series of articles that highlight books that are available to access either digitally or in your local library, that cover a stunning array of perspectives into all the contributors and contributions of women throughout history.