Hard to believe we are almost 1/2 way through the 2022-2023 School Year! This school year sure is going fast, but unlike the previous few years - this year isn't going fast due to the frantic and insane things we were having to navigate together as a community due to the pandemic. This year is the "good" kind of time passing quickly. The type of time that passes quickly when folks are engaged, and participating and doing good work together as a community! I'm sure you all know what I mean and can feel the difference too! As always, great things are happening in our schools and I'd like to start with sharing some pictures from the past few weeks that demonstrate that...
Also, in the video I referred to the "Bright Futures For Little Rams" Report. You can CLICK HERE to view the finalized report to learn more about how this Pre K work is just one small part of the incredible things happening in the community of Gorham on the early childhood front!
JANUARY'S CURRICULUM CORNER!
This month I've selected three questions from the parent survey this past fall to answer. I probably have enough to share the last set of answers in February's blog and then I'll run out. I'm likely going to share another survey in February for parent/guardians to complete to see what other questions folks may still have - so be thinking of those additional questions!
Question #1: What topics are covered in health class for 6th, 7th and 8th grade?
Answer: Please click on the link provided below to view a full list of all units and topics covered in health classes for grades 6-8.
Question #2: What information are parents able to get about what's being taught in classrooms across all Gorham Schools?
Answer: The best and most current information would be via the classroom teacher. Many teachers across all grade levels send home information regarding what is being taught. At K-5 levels, this is often done through weekly updates. At 6-12 levels this is done via google classrooms (which parents have access to through their students) and for an additional layer of information at grades 9-12, all course syllabi can be found on the GHS website LINKED HERE (then click on "School Info." and then on "GHS Course Syllabi").
You can also review a few key documents that outline concepts/content taught by grade level. Science content is aligned to the NGSS standards, K-8 Social Studies, K-8 Reveal Math, K-8 Being a Writer, K-5 Being a Reader, K-2. And Maine's Learning Results (K-12 Standards)
As a result of my fall listening tour, we are also looking to add more regular communications on specific projects on a quarterly or trimester basis across grades K-8 for the coming school year.
Finally, and as has been clearly demonstrated more recently, if families feel the need to ask for information via Maine's Freedom of Access Act (FOAA), the district also shares information as required by statute in this manner. You need only email your request to me (heather.perry@gorhamschools.org) or Rhonda Warren (rhonda.warren@gorhamschools.org) and we will follow all required processes to respond to your request in as timely a manner as possible.
Ultimately, we believe strongly that the best way to gather information about what your children are learning while at school is by talking with your children and/or by reaching out to your child's teacher. Our incredible professionals understand the importance of home and school connections and would be very willing to share what your children are learning. They like to "brag" (just like parents do) about the awesome stuff happening in our schools! So don't hesitate to ask and give them the chance to "brag"! ☺
Question #3: I would like to know what students are getting K-8 for social/emotional education, tech education, health education (beyond sex ed), and life skills education?
Answer: SEL: At the K-5 level, we are fortunate that our English Language Arts and Math curriculum offer a dual focus of both academics and social emotional learning. In addition, K-2 students receive social emotional learning through our Second Step curriculum taught by our teaching counselors each week.
At the 6-8 level the school counselors provide 6th grade levels that address anxiety and managing stress, the 7th grade lessons focus on strategies to manage thoughts, feelings and behaviors and the 8th grade theme is mental health and suicide prevention. They also all pull students together in groups to support students' friendship and social skills. They are planning to present information to students related to Executive Functioning (i.e. organization, task initiation, goal setting, etc.)with some follow up activities for teachers to use throughout the year. One other resource that will be used this year is from a company of girls called Empowered Girls Empower Girls and is a tool we hope will encourage self-reflection and inner strength and good conversations. Our social worker presents to 6th and 8th grade students. Here are copies of her presentations. 6th Grade Presentation, 8th Grade Presentation.
Technology Education. Digital Citizenshiop across the K-5 span, including Safety in my Online Neighborhood, Media Balance, Pause and Think Online, Digital Footprint, Privacy and Security, and Bullying. Some coding, some keyboarding. All under controlled website access. At grades 6-8 all students receive digital citizenship presentations their first week of school. Technology education is then embedded in our daily curriculum by leveraging the power of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) in all grades and curriculum. We are using Book Creator in 6th and 8th grade english as an example. This skill teaches our students how to become published digital authors and teach the beginnings of graphic design. We use 3D printing and design thinking and robots in our science classroom to model simulations of genetic codes and their relationships. We have multiple subscriptions available to teachers like Brainpop, Flocabulary, Gimkit, and Newsela that enhance current events and other specific learning activities asynchronously. We also empower our students with creative design tools in all content areas with Cospaces, and Breakoutedu. Cospace allows students to create a virtual world that students can use in many ways such as virtual museums, storytelling and physics simulation experiments. Our students can also advance to use coding and make the scene literally interactive. Utilizing AR and VR with CoSpaces and Quiver, our students develop important design thinking strategies that align with the 4C's (Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking and Communication). These important skills benefit our students in many ways as they deepen their approach to learning. Breakout edu is a game based platform used in all grade levels and is again centered around the 4C's as it allows our students to create content based games for others to play.
Health Education: Grade 4: physical body changes, acne, emotional changes, personal hygiene. Grade 5: Further explain menstrual cycle (with diagram) - egg is the female sex cell. Sperm cell is male sex cell - explain path of sperm (with diagram). Reproduction process - on a basic biology level. Human reproduction occurs when egg and sperm unite. Watch video on reproduction and stages of human development during pregnancy. This is also available online. We base a lot of our curriculum off of "Puberty Happens" curriculum - from Maine Family Planning. We talk about being accepting of everyone going through puberty at their own pace. We also talk about making healthy choices from the 53210 - Eat fruits/veggies, limit recreational screen time, daily physical activity and zero sugary drinks. And, getting adequate sleep.
In 6-8, Here is a copy of the topics in the Health class by grade level (also shared earlier). GMS Health Units
Skills For Life: K-8 are taught and grade throughout the year. Linked Here: K-5 Skills for Life, 6-12 Skills for Life.
DISTRICT LEVEL ANTI-RACISM & EQUITY COMMITTEE WORK UPDATE
The Gorham Schools continues to move forward in this important work at several different levels. At the student level, we have worked diligently to strengthen Civil Rights Teams and other student leadership teams across all five schools. At the school level, we have embedded DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) goals within each school's Comprehensive Education Plan and we have created school based Intercultural Leadership Committees at each school. At the district level, we continue to examine our curriculum with the assistance of Lawrence Alexander as our experienced consultant and we continue our work with the District's Anti-Racism and Equity Committee.
The focus of this update is on the district level work of the Anti-Racism & Equity Committee.
This committee, comprised of almost 30 school and community members has met as a large group twice now. We have also been able to organize the group into smaller, more facile working groups that we call our "Equity subcommittees". Those are focused on the following four topics:
- Policy
- Student Voice
- Professional Development
- Community Outreach
These small equity committees have now met twice and are focusing in on some great ideas and action steps that will be exciting to see move forward. In policy for example, the group is working to clarify and strengthen existing policies and to create a "toolkit" of sorts that will be intended to help guide a full review of all policies with the important lens of DEI. The professional development group is looking at focusing in on issues revolving around trauma as a way to move our training forward for staff and students. The community outreach group is looking to host some evening meetings to get more folks involved and our student voice group is looking to perhaps develop a student led "listening tour" of their own across all schools where students listen to students about their experiences and work together to identify possible ways to strengthen our practices with their important voices at the center.
This is just a small snapshot of the current conversations. If you want to follow those, you can by going to our website (www.gorhamschools.org) and clicking on "About Us" then on "School Committee" then on "School Board Subcommittees" and then scroll down and click on "Anti-Racism Advisory Committee". You can also cut to the chase by CLICKING HERE.
Finally, if you want to see a summary of the historical work done by the Gorham Schools thus far in our journey you can CLICK HERE . This is kept up to date on a quarterly basis or so. Lots of great work done...lots more to go ...and we are excited about the continued journey together!
UPCOMING SUMMER COLLABORATION WITH MAINE ASSOCIATION OF GENERAL CONTRACTORS!
Just wanted to share an exciting new partnership that the Gorham Schools now has with the Maine Association of General contractors. We are starting a new summer program together! This program will specifically target recent GHS graduates for a six week immersion experience with the trades! The program pays participating students a substantial stipend to "immerse" themselves in the trades with the help of local business partners!
GHS will have ten available slots and Westbrook HS will have ten slots. Classes will take place at the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center. Students will gain experiences in carpentry, electrical, heavy equipment operation, crane operation and more!
This will be the first year of what we hope will be a multi-year program to benefit graduating seniors from GHS who want to get a "leg up" in determining their career pathways in the trades or just a "leg up" in exploring all the possibilities the trades have to offer!
Want to learn a little more, see the flyer below and feel free to reach out to Eliza with questions!
ASPIRE GORHAM JANUARY NEWSLETTER AVAILABLE
January's Aspire Gorham Newsletter is available to view using the link below. Check it out to learn more about what Aspire has been up to this past month with Adopt-a-classroom and partnerships with Junior Achievement and more!
Aspire Gorham January Newsletter
NEW "HELP ME GROW" RESOURCE FROM MAINE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
In a recent update from the Maine Department of Education we learned of a new free resource for parents called "Help Me Grow". This program is a new free, and easy-to-access resource that connects children up to 8 years of age and their families, as well as pregnant people, with information and services related to child development and other family needs in Maine.
Check out the link below to learn more!
DATA FROM GHS 10TH GRADERS REGARDING DEVICE USAGE - PERHAPS WORTH A PAUSE?
Updated Friday, Jan. 13, 2023 @ 3:00 p.m.
Even before the Pandemic there were several large studies being done regarding the impact of excessive "screen time" on children. If you simply google search this topic you will find a wealth of information. It is certainly a topic that parents and families in today's world must figure out how to best navigate.
The purpose of this piece though, isn't to attempt to dictate what families decide is best for monitoring of their children's screen time. I'm not going to suggest that so many hours of screen time are appropriate or not appropriate for children. These are individual family discussions that I definitely strongly encourage our families to have with their children, but that isn't what I wanted to share in this piece.
Instead, I thought I would share some data from our very own students at GHS that might provide families a reason to "pause" and think about this important topic and to have conversations with children about what is the "appropriate" amount of time to be spending on devices vs. engaging in other more person to person dialogues and social interactions.
Below is data that was collected by tenth grade english teachers at GHS as part of a larger learning project. Sixty-two tenth grade students at GHS participated in the data collection. Students answered the first two questions, and then added their estimates together for the third.
- How much time do you spend on your phone on average per day? Include all social media apps (TikTok, Instagram, snapchat, etc) and games. DON'T include time just listening to music or even watching TV or movies.
- How much time do you spend on OTHER DEVICES on average per day? DON'T include homework or time just listening to music or even watching TV or movies.
- See graph below:
So yes, just in case you need help reading that pie chart...based on this data collected from 62 of our 10th grade students (about 1/3 of our 10th grade), when you combine the purple, green and blue components of the graph, 90.3% of students indicated that they were spending more than 4 hours per day either on their phone or on other devices.
The intent here isn't to make value judgements. The intent here is to simply ask ourselves as educators and as families - if this data is accurate - is this what we think is an appropriate amount of time to be spent each day? How can we learn more from our children about the time they are spending on devices during the day? For what purposes are children using these devices? What is our own family's threshold for appropriate time spent on devices vs. too much time spent on devices? Interesting data - and food for thought for sure!
Well, that's enough for this blog post...will post again on January 27! See you then!
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