 Photos: NASA and Bolivar-Richburg Central School What's out there in space? How do we get there? How do you live in space? These are some of the questions that were answered for Bolivar-Richburg Elementary students. Over 300 elementary students and teachers were invited to a Virtual Field Trip Showcase event that took place in their school on Friday, March 28, 2014. Each grade had the opportunity to have the world brought to their classroom through Distance Learning. Students sat patiently as Scientists, Firefighters, and Museum experts talked with the students about space, habitats, building communities, and fire safety.
 When a professional development day focusing on writing evolved into a discussion about reading comprehension, the day took a very eventful turn. Lesa Dionne, staff specialist for Cattaraugus Allegany BOCES, was providing professional development on the writing process for fourth and fifth grade teachers at Cuba Rushford Elementary School. The fifth grade teachers arrived in the afternoon, frustrated after looking at student work and realizing the class was having a difficult time citing evidence and answering comprehension questions. Student seemed to be struggling with the challenging texts from the Common Core and teachers wanted them to become more active learners. Lesa looked at the student work and pointed out that the students cannot write about a passage that they can’t comprehend. The discussion quickly changed from the writing process to reading comprehension and the use of questioning as a strategy to actively engage students.
 It isn’t very often that an entire district’s faculty has an opportunity to see the vertical alignment of standards that impact every area of instruction. Curriculum development within districts is generally saved for the summer, and at that time teachers work within departments to map out their curriculum alignment for the upcoming school years. Very seldom do we have the opportunity to see the vertical alignment of the standards and how they apply to every grade level, let alone across several content areas.
 Candy Crush. Farm Heroes. Words with Friends. All of these applications have one thing in common: they started with an idea and transformed into a phenomenon amongst today’s iUsers. Local high school student Josh Deichmann became intrigued with technology early on, ultimately leading him to explore app development through an independent study project with Genesee Valley Central School District.
Deichmann, whose interest level stemmed from his initial exposure to such technologies and programs as Power Point, has been enamored by the world of technology. His family, which owns an organic milking farm run with the help of a robotic milking system, has also embraced the power of technology. With the innovation of farming happening in his own backyard, and his overall interest in programming, Deichmann set out with a goal: design a fully functional app and publish it to the app store upon creation.  Through the generosity of a PEP Grant awarded to the Portville and Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School Districts, physical educators from across the region have been gathering over the last year as a Collaborative Learning Community.
With meetings alternating between Houghton College and the Olean Main Center, teachers have had time to explore best practices and strategies both inside and outside of the physical education classroom setting. PE teachers have heard presentations on DASA/bullying, law issues in sports and athletics, SLO’s and APPR, and the academic benefits of physical education. In the gym, they’ve shared lesson and warmup ideas, including ways to integrate technology in education, and have headed outside to explore Houghton’s Ropes Course. Together, they have established a Weebly to share information online and have been given access to a Physical Educators email list-serve. Our hope is that they are able to establish collegial relationships that extend outside of our workshops and improve their practice on a regular basis. The next Active PE Forum is scheduled for Friday, May 30th at Houghton College. To register, please contact Laurie Sledge at 376-8357 or laurie_sledge@caboces.org.  There was more to March Madness than just college basketball! The CA BOCES ISS Professional Development team delivered four workshops that supported 90 of our math teachers as they implement the Common Core Standards.
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