Elementary Curriculum Updates
Please share this important information with your teachers
8/15/2014
Welcome back! We hope you had a relaxing summer and wish you all
a successful new school year.  The Elementary Curriculum Team
GENERAL INFORMATION

K-2 Inspire
We had a wonderful time during our K-2 Inspire last week. Your school Math and
ELA representatives spent time collaborating with other teachers to:
o utilize the new ELA and Mathematics Curriculum Maps
o create successful lesson plans for the first nine weeks
o create instructional materials to enhance the academic and social focuses
to lessons
o understand the alignment of effective lesson planning to the Charlotte
Danielson Framework
All resources were provided to your school representatives to share with their
grade level teams. Resources are available for math on the VCS Intranet Math
Site. The ELA representatives can access the resources on the K-2 Inspire
Moodle. If you have any questions, please contact the elementary department
ext. 20670.

Elementary Assessments
Attached you will find the elementary assessment calendar. Elementary
instructional support staff is in the process of designing the assessments in ELA,
Math and Science as identified by grade level.

Progress Monitoring and Instructional Calendars 2014-2015

K-5 Curriculum At-A-Glance
Science and Social Studies Curriculum At-A-Glance documents provide a vertical
and horizontal quick look at the concepts and content that will be taught K-5.
This will allow principals and teachers to see the commonalities of instruction
across grade levels. The At a Glance will also support teachers with planning.
The Social Studies At-A-Glance will be sent out each nine weeks.
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LANGUAGE ARTS

FAIR-FS Information
Yesterday the FAIR-FS contacts were trained on the new FAIR-FS assessment.
All schools have access to resources that have been provided from the state at
this time. As more resources become available, we will post them for you to
access. FAIR-FS Resources
Attached is an overview of FAIR-FS.
Sub funding is available for K-2 teachers. Each K-2 teacher can utilize a sub for
up to 2 hours. The sub fund number will be sent to principals as soon as it is
available.
K-2 classroom administration (suggestion) - As in the past teachers may find it
useful to pair with another teacher or distribute students among the grade level to
assess students.

SIPPS Implementation support document
Attached are implementation support documents for teachers and administration
for SIPPS. These are also available here: SIPPS resources
MATHEMATICS

Supplemental Materials
The Lakeshore Learning Daily Math Journals and AIMS Bundles are available on
the collaboration site. Open the attachment for directions to these materials.

Instructional Mathematics Block
Open the attachment for a guide to create structure and a routine that allows for
small group and center implementation in the math block.
Principals, please contact Toni Chieppa for additional support. Also, be on the
lookout for the Fall PD Calendar which will include “Small Group Instruction in
Mathematics” and “Math Centers” district workshops.
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
Formative Techniques
Please refer to the many formative techniques in the back of each of the K-5
curriculum maps. You can also access 4 tasks for every K-5 MAFS
(Mathematics Florida Standards) at the Mathematics Formative Assessment
System (MFAS).
SOCIAL STUDIES

TCI- Former 5th Grade Teachers and Gifted 4th & 5th Grade Teachers
Directions for Accessing your TCI Subscription
1.
Sign in to your subscription at www.teachtci.com
2.
Select the program you will teach in the new school year. If you select
the same program, the custom presentations and assessments you've
already created will be available to you.
3.
Create new classes and add students.
*If you have questions about TCI, after logging in please click the settings icon
next to your name and select the help link. The TCI website is loaded with
helpful hints (like below) on most of the questions a teacher might have!

TCI-New to 5th Grade and Gifted 4th & 5th Grade
Please send an email to Scott Hallett stating you are a new 5th grade teacher.
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