Curriculum News - August 9

Dear Principals,

K-8 ITBS /iRM Consortium Feedback: Thank you for your positive feedback and again, you are welcome to play with the ITBS/iRM data tool as you study the depth of this web-based tool .




AppliTrack and our Teachers: As schools are bringing their certified and non-certified staff onboard with AppliTrack, the CSD will be organizing a monthly email to teachers in our AppliTrack system, using their emails, to share with them pertinent links to assist them with teacher links that may be worthwhile to them. Our first teacher email “blast’ will occur on Monday, August 16th with ‘back to school’ items that might be helpful in long-range planning and their commitment to academic excellence.

12 GARDENS OF STEWARDSHIP: Because we feel there is still a great amount of cultivating and harvesting that can be achieved this next school year, the Office of Parish Stewardship and the CSD will be working together this year to update and uplift the monthly Gardens’ themes and share those Stewardship resources directly with our K-8 teachers each month. We want to thank the creativity and the collaborative spirit that has been witnessed as our teachers are generously sharing some of their favorite pearls on the instructional level. Elizabeth Reyes is one of our teachers who has integrated the Garden of Citizenship with ‘Project Citizen’ a civics education curriculum and has offered to be a resource to teachers who are interested in this excellent example. Thank you Elizabeth for sharing your example of integration.

Stewardship: Lesson Plans and Class Activities: Teacher Contributions
Garden of Citizenship - 'Project Citizen'
Submitted generously by Elizabeth Reyes, 7th & 8th grade teacher, St. Vincent de Paul School, Federal Way. Elizabeth teaches Project Citizen to her class each year with a culminating activity of participating the We the People... Project Citizen Washington State Showcase in Olympia.


Overview: Project Citizen is a program created by the Center for Civic Education. We the People: Project Citizen is a curricular program for middle, secondary...that promotes competent and responsible participation in local and state government. The program helps participants learn how to monitor and influence public policy. In the process, students develop support for democratic values and principles, tolerance, and feelings of political efficacy.

The class works cooperatively to identify a public policy problem in the community. They then research the problem, evaluate alternative solutions, develop their own solution in the form of a public policy, and create an action plan to enlist local or state authorities to adopt their proposed policy. The students develop a portfolio of their work and present their project in a simulated congressional hearing before a panel of civic-minded community members. For additional background and resources, check it out at: Center for Civic Education

Embedded in this curriculum unit is the unit’s correlation to the state EALRs on social studies, reading and writing, and correlated to the Archdiocese standards. Please note that this unit is aligned with the Washington state civic Classroom Based Assessment requirement.

Have a great week! The deanery and leadership meetings are starting to occur, so please check the CSD calendar for specific information. Click here for current calendar information.

Respectfully submitted,
Sandra Barton Smith