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Director's Notes
Dear Educators,
As the school year winds down, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the dedication, commitment and exemplary service consistently displayed in providing for the students of North Country. Without question, you have positively impacted their lives and the lives of their families. Through my many visits to schools, I have observed you successfully addressing a multitude of challenges. Such challenges have ranged from meeting the complex needs of students with disabilities to meeting the needs of students who exhibit the potential to achieve the highest levels of accomplishment. The guidance, strategies, practices and nurturance you provide, develops your student’s strengths, maximizes their potential and shapes their character for a lifetime. In short, as educators you have guided and helped your students to learn skills they will need to be successful in a world that presents many complex and formidable challenges. The North Country is fortunate to have instructional and support staff that consistently prepares its students to meet such challenges.
I wish you a most enjoyable and productive summer.
Ray Healey
Executive Director
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North Country Scholars
North Country Education Services and the North Country School Administrators Association recently recognized thirty-one outstanding students from the thirteen high schools within the NCES service area. The valedictorians, salutatorians, and outstanding Career and Technical Education students from the North Country gathered at White Mountains Regional High School on May 18th for the sixth annual scholar recognition ceremony.
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Integrating Land Use into the Upper Elementary & Middle School Classroom
Participants will learn a wide range of age-appropriate, inquiry-oriented field, laboratory, and classroom methods, using as a learning context the assessment of the health of the forest, with a focus on methods developed for the Forest Watch Program. Activities appropriate for 5-8th grade students will be presented for detecting, quantifying, monitoring and mapping a range of forest conditions, each designed to allow the individual student to learn the process of science through asking (and answering) self-generated questions. In addition, ways to motivate students for engagement in inquiry-based learning will be discussed.
Workshop Leaders:
Eleanor Abrams & Michael Middleton, UNH Education Department
Barry Rock, UNH Institute of the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space Institute
For: NH certified upper elementary and middle grade educators.
Dates/Times: August 15 & 16, 2011 from 9:00 to 4:00
Location: NCES
Cost: Free ($25 fee to hold your space, refunded on Aug 16 to attendees), lunch provided.
Stipend: $150 stipend for those who fully participate in the two-day session
Registration deadline: June 15. Limited to 10 participants (one seat left as of July 9).
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Astronomy and Star Signatures
Led by Eleanor Abrams and Michael Middleton of the UNH Education Department, and Toni Galvin, UNH Institute of the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space Institute, this seminar will cover:
Light
Light is more than meets the eye. These hands-on activities will allow participants to become space detectives and learn how scientists determine the composition of stars, nebulae and other space bodies, like a signature or finger print.
Electricity & Magnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four forces of nature. By building and taking apart several electromagnetic devices, participants will increase their understanding of how magnets and electricity works.
Motivation
Student motivation to engage in with abstract concepts will be discussed.
For: NH certified upper elementary and middle grade educators.
Dates/Times: August 17 & 18, 2011 from 9:00 to 4:00
Location: NCES
Cost: Free ($25 fee to hold your space, refunded on Aug 16 to attendees), lunch provided.
Stipend: $150 stipend for those who fully participate in the two-day session
Registration deadline: June 15. Limited to 10 participants.
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Communities of Practice
In Northern New Hampshire and Vermont, school based Related Service providers often work as the sole practitioners in a school or school district. In response to the problem of “professional isolation”, this fall, NCES will begin offering Community of Practice seminars for school nurses and occupational therapists.
The seminars will allow practitioners the opportunity to meet regularly for workshop presentations, networking, collaboration, problem solving and discussion under the direction of a highly respected and credentialed facilitator.
The registration deadline is September 8, 2011. Each seminar will be limited to 12 participants.
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Train the Trainer: Bicycling 1-2-3 Youth Instructors
The Bike-Walk Alliance of NH (BWA-NH) is pleased to offer a Safe Routes to School-funded “Train the Trainers” program for elementary school faculty members wishing to promote standardized and sustainable bicycling education in grades 4 and 5. Course material was developed by the League of American Bicyclists and the National Bicycle Dealers Association. The “Train the Trainers” program is conducted by a certified Master League Cycling Instructor (LCI) who is authorized to certify “Bicycling 1-2-3” Youth and Skills level instructors, even for people without extensive classroom or on-bike training. While knowledge of cycling is needed, a key point of the program is that the “trainee” need not be a highly skilled, fast, or long-distance cyclist. The “trainee” is to teach students what they need to know at their level, not to teach what the “trainee” may know or not know about the finer points of bicycling. This allows a “Train the Trainer” session to be completed in just three hours with minimal on-bike time and no tests. Bikes and helmets may be brought to the seminar by the participants but they are not required. All that is needed is a commitment to implement the LAB/NBDA standardized bicycling education in your school on a sustainable basis. Part of the training session includes suggestions how such may be accomplished without significant addition to class time.
BWA-NH will provide all documentation, forms, and handouts for the “Bicycling 1-2-3 Youth Instructors” plus samples of the materials to be used with the students. (Back-ups are provided on a CD.) Three hours of free training by a Master LCI, handouts, certification of the instructors, and travel expenses (gas and tolls, not lodging) are included in the SRTS-funded “Train the Trainers” program.
Cost: For school personnel working directly with grades 4 and/or 5, there is no charge (this can include classroom teachers, nurses, PE teachers, Guidance, Special Ed, or even paraprofessionals or principals). Others, including non-school personnel, may attend for a fee of $40 payable to the BWA-NH.
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 from 3:00 to 6:00 PM
Location: NCES, 300 Gorham Hill Road, Gorham, NH
57 Regional Drive, Suite 6, Concord, NH 03301-8518 by October 5th.
Questions: Contact Dave Topham at 603.898.9926 or dave@bwanh.org
Note: A minimum of 8 participants working directly with 4th & 5th grade students is required for this training to be offered.
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Moodle 2.0 for Educators
Interested in learning about why you should use Moodle, how Moodle can improve student learning or how to make your Moodle class appealing and effective? Ron Danault a WMRHS teacher will answer these questions and teach you how to: 1. Create a course. 2. Create user accounts. 3. Update user profiles. 4. Upload files and folders. 5. Work with images. 6. Create hyperlinks. 7. Create assignments. 8. Using other features of Moodle Participants in this three morning series may host one class on the NCES Moodle server for the 2011 / 2012 school year. This class will be taught in Moodle 2.0, Moodle’s latest software platform update.
Instructor: Ron Danault
Dates/times:
Monday, August 8: 9:00 – 11:00
Tuesday, August 9: 9:00 – 11:00
Monday, August 10: 9:00 – 11:00
Location: NCES Conference Room
Meal: Light Continental Breakfast
Cost: $125: A $25 deposit is required for this class.
Class size: Limited to 16 participants
Registration deadline is August 1, 2011.
Questions: Contact Matt Treamer at 466-5437 / matt@ncedservices.org
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Differentiated Instruction: Student Pathways for Success
Through this series, you will come to understand how Differentiated Instruction interfaces with Response to Intervention and be able to
- identify learning/teaching styles to inform teaching
- demonstrate and coach the use of assessment to drive instruction
- teach how to plan and create a DI lesson
- apply research based instructional practices
For: School/District Teams including teachers, principals,department chairs and instructional coaches.
Dates/Times:
Thursday, August 25, 2011 from 8:30 to 3:00, Session 1—Fundamentals
Friday, August 26, 2011 from 8:30 to 3:00, Session 2—Assessment
Friday, October 14 from 9:00 to 3:00, Session 3—Strategies
Friday, November 4 from 9:00 to 3:00, Session 4—Routines/Unit Planning
Location: NCES, Gorham, NH
Cost: $395 (includes light breakfast refreshments and lunch)
Register online (note,this link will bring you to the SRPDC registration site):
Checks/PO payable to: SRPDC, 175 Broad St., Claremont NH 03743.
Graduate credit: Optional, 3 credits through Keene State College of Graduate Credit.
Offered in partnership with the NHDOE and LESCN.
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Technology Integration - Coffee, Computers and Creation
Join us for these 1/2 day summer workshops for ideas on having your students create, generate and compose utilizing technology. Take one or take them all! Designed to be fun, hands-on and informative, each session uses software you may already have or free software available for download.
Animation in Education - Introductory Level
We will cover some basics of animation in the classroom including managing and planning, creating curricular projects, taking pictures and making simple animations with simple background music or narration.
Software: MovieMaker
Hardware: digital camera or document camera
Date: Wednesday, July 6
Repeated: Thursday, July 14
Repeated: Thursday, July 21
Optional equipment cost: $90 for a IPEVO Point 2 View Document Camera
Let Students be Heard – Introductory Level
This workshop will teach you the basics of Audacity, a free sound recording software that can be used to record and edit voice, sound effects and music. Learn to make podcasts, audio book reviews and fluency recordings.
Software: Audacity
Hardware: Headsets with a microphone boom.
Date: Thursday, July 7
Repeated: Wednesday, July 13
Repeated: Tuesday, July 26
Pocket Document Camera
Learn to take pictures, manage picture files, set up Skype for your classroom and develop strategies for using it as a document camera in your classroom.
Hardware: IPEVO Point 2 View camera
Date: Tuesday, July 12
Repeated: Wednesay, July 20
Optional equipment cost: $90 for a IPEVO Point 2 View Document Camera
Animation in Education – Intermediate
We will return to animation techniques to build more complex animations where timing and a variety of images are used. Scripts made in Audacity will be added to the images for more sophisticated animations. Open to all levels, some basics with MovieMaker is helpful.
Software: Audacity and Movie Maker
Hardware: Document camera and headsets with microphone boom
Date: Wednesday, August 3
Cost: $10 for staff from SAHE participating schools (see list), $25 for others
Optional equipment cost: $90 for a IPEVO Point 2 View Document Camera
Interactive Whiteboard Activities
Whether you have a Smart Notebook software, Promethean Active Studio or Interwrite (MOBI), use this session to create actual lessons that you will use with your students. We will cover the basic tools, how to find already created lessons and how to tailor those lessons with your needs.
Date: Tuesday, July 19
Repeated: Tuesday, July 27
Let Students be Heard – Intermediate
Building upon the basics of using Audicity, we will add music, special effects, working with multiple tracks and the fine points of editing.
Software: Audacity
Hardware: Headsets with a microphone boom.
Date: Tuesday, August 2
Introduction to iPad 2
Learn the basics of using the iPad for personal productivity and explore education apps that enable students to create, consume and reflect on their learning.
Date: Thursday, July 28
Note: You must bring your own iPad (2nd generation will be used for demonstations)
Optional equipment cost: $550 for a 16GB wifi only iPad (2nd generation, no case, no Apple Care). Payment for iPad must be prepaid by July 6th.
NOTES ON ALL SUMMER TECH SESSIONS
Cost for each session: $10 for staff from participating SAHE schools (see list below), $25 for others.
Time: 8:00 to 12:00 for all sessions. Light breakfast refreshments provided.
Personal equipment: Please bring your own laptop and hardware noted if you would like to learn on your own equipment. If not, let us know and we'll set you up with NCES equipment for the morning (except for the iPad session).
Equipment warranty: NCES is not responsible for warranty or repair of optionally purchased devices. For the iPad, AppleCare can be purchased directly through a vendor for an additional $79 for up to 2 years from the date of purchase.
Location: All sessions will take place at NCES (air conditioned).
Registration: Participation is limited to 12 people per session. Please register online at http://tinyurl.com/ncestech2011 or by calling Lisa at 800-268-5437 or 466-5437.
Cancellation policy: Registration may cancelled up to 7 business prior to the session for a full refund. Any equipment purchases are non-refundable.
Discounted pricing: Staff from the following SAHE participating districts are eligible for the reduced pricing: Berlin, Bethlehem, Colebrook, Gorham/Randolph/Shelburne, Lafayette Regional, Landaff, Lisbon, Milan, Pittsburg, Profile, Stark, Stewartstown and Stratford.
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Making Inclusion Work
Strategies for Regular Ed / Special Ed Collaboration
with Trish Walton, Educational Consultant
Including students with disabilities in regular education settings does not always mean the same thing to special education personnel as it does to regular classroom teachers. To make inclusion successful, all of the adults need to create a common vision and communicate in order to make collaboration work for the benefit of all students. And, in fact, effective inclusion may look entirely different for different students and in different classrooms.
This one-day interactive workshop will start by using a tool that teachers and aides can use to establish comfortable norms for sharing a classroom and students. Strategies for communication, collaboration, lesson planning, team teaching, and sharing the evaluation process will be presented and developed.
Monthly or bi-monthly follow-up (at your school or at NCES) will be an important part of creating structures that work for your building.
Teams of teachers should plan to attend together in any of the following configurations:
- Regular Education Teachers & Special Education Teachers
- Classroom teachers & the aide(s)/paraprofessional(s) who work with in their classrooms
- 1:1 paraprofessionals & classroom teachers & special education teachers
- Grade level team of teachers (including special education teacher) & the paraprofessional(s) that work with the grade
- Administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals
 About Trish Underwood: A regular education teacher by trade, Trish has been a part of special ed/regular ed teams that worked, as well as a few that didn’t. Trish will guide participants through the elements essential to making inclusion successful or all – students and teachers alike.
For information about scheduling and cost for the one-day workshop and follow-up at your school/district, contact Lori Langlois at lori@ncedservices.org or 603-466-5437.
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VEX Robotics Teams
The 2011 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical recipient, David Kelly, could really use your help. He is looking for people interested in starting VEX robotics teams in the state of New Hampshire. His project, NH-STEM: An Adventure for the mind through the use of robotics, is attempting to create VEX robotics competitions in the geographic regions of the state. He is also looking for people interested in holding robotics competitions in the Seacoast region, the Connecticut River Valley region, and the North Country region. David's contact information is available on his web site, http://simplerobotics.org.
(Reprinted from NHDOE-ETNews)
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Advanced RTI Leadership Implementation Training
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July 7 & 8, 2011
Concord, NH
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Troops to Teachers
ATTENTION VETERANS
$10,000 bonus available to teachers returning from a National Guard or Reserve deployment who work in high need public schools.
$5,000 stipend available to teachers with qualifying military service who are transitioning from teaching non-critical need subject areas to critical need subject areas in public schools.
New England Troops to Teachers
(888) 463-6488
nettt@maine.edu
www.newenglandttt.org |
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Apply to be an RTI Pilot Site
The NH Department of Education is pleased to announce that New Hampshire has been accepted as one of nine states to receive “intensive technical assistance” from the National Center on Response to Intervention (NCRTI). The focus of the technical assistance will be to provide a framework for the successful implementation of RTI in NH and to formalize statewide efforts that will promote school-wide practices that ensure highest possible student achievement in both academic and behavioral pursuits within the RTI framework. This will also include the selection of 6 pilot sites to demonstrate the implementation of the RTI process in NH.
This is an opportunity for public elementary and middle schools to apply to be a NH RTI Pilot Site
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Living with Mental Illness
"Knowing Me as a Person", a presentation on what it is like to live with mental illness, will be offered by the National Alliance on Mental Illness - NAMI NH. This free presentation and dinner will by presented by someone who has struggled with mental illness and is now in recovery.
June 29, 2011
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Colebrook, NH
FMI or to register:
Becky McEnany, ext 51
Annette Carbonneau, ext 25
800-242-6264
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NHCSS Call for Proposals
The New Hampshire Council for Social Studies is still accepting workshop proposals aimed at elementary grades for their conference to be held on October 27th in Manchester, NH. The conference theme is The Role of Social Studies in the 21st Century. For more information see the events section of nhcss.org.
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Contact Info
For more information:
Directions to NCES
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