Number 10

Johnston County Third Grade Class Wins National Reading Competition

Thanksgiving Elementary third grade students, aka “The Buffalo Bookworms,” were crowned READBowl “Big 3” World Champions, the top third grade reading team in the United States. Students participated in “Read with Malcolm,” the Youth Literacy Initiative of NFL Super Bowl
Champion and Children's Book Author Malcolm Mitchell.

Read more here. Congratulations to The Buffalo Bookworms! 

Number 9

Parent and Family Engagement Survey

The Rethink Education team is seeking parents and guardians to help learn how to improve virtual and hybrid learning in their Parent and Family Engagement Survey. The Rethink team hopes to hear from parents school communities across the state to gain valuable and impactful information to support better virtual and hybrid learning for students. PIOs and other district communication leaders can find a toolkit on the survey here.

Parents and guardians can complete the survey here. 

Number 8

PBS North Carolina to Host Early Childhood Education Summit

PBS North Carolina welcomes educators to its inaugural l Impact Early Childhood Education Summit, a free professional development opportunity designed for early childhood educators. The daylong in-person event will be held at UNC Charlotte on Saturday, June 18, from 8am-4:30 pm, with a virtual component available the following week. Registration for in-person and virtual participation begins April 8 at pbsnc.org/impact-summit.

Read more here.

Number 7

NCVirtual Featuring Four Culture Cafe Episodes: Siberia, Japan, Global Art and Global Foods

The Culture Café hosts hour-long lectures on various cultural topics in Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Latin, and Arabic to broaden students’ cultural and world views. The presentations are delivered by the faculty of the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVirtual) as ancillary instruction for interested students on a variety of cultural, culinary, historical, geographic and architectural themes related to the target languages of our World Language Department. 

NCVirtual will be hosting four episodes on April 6 and 7. Learn more and join sessions here.

Number 6

Lunchtime Discovery Series: Earth Day - Celebrating Earth Day All Month Long

Throughout the month of April, the Lunchtime Discovery Series will recognize Earth Day. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will host live virtual presentations each Wednesday from 12-1:00pm.

Learn more here.

Number 5

MEMO: NC Kindergarten Pyramid Model

The competitive grant application (EC - ESSER III KPM - PRC 190) for the SY 23-24 implementation of the North Carolina Kindergarten Pyramid Model (NC KPM) is now open in CCIP. The NC KPM will address the associated learning loss and recovery efforts related to COVID-19 by extending the successful outcomes of the NC Preschool Pyramid Model into kindergarten, particularly focused on young children disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. LEAs receiving low wealth supplemental funding, with low performing schools, and with active NC PPM projects will be prioritized.

The application process closes on April 29, 2022, with notification to grantees occurring after State Board of Education approval.

Read the full memo here.

Number 4

2022-23 NC Energy Literacy Fellows Teacher Professional Development Program

The NC Energy Literacy Fellows Program is a year-long teacher professional development program designed to build knowledge of the evolving electric grid as a strategy to engage students in learning about renewable energy and prepare them for careers in the energy sector, with an emphasis on NC’s energy landscape.

Educators who teach STEM (grades 8-12) at a school located in either the Duke Energy Progress or Duke Energy Carolinas service territory are eligible to apply. 

Learn more here.

Number 3

MEMO: 2022–23 Testing and Accountability Training

Find the full memo on 2022-23 Testing and Accountability Training here. 

Number 2

2022 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching Finalists Announced

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) are the highest honors bestowed by the United States government specifically for K–12 science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and/or computer science teaching. Awardees serve as models for their colleagues, inspiration to their
communities, and leaders in the improvement of STEM education.

The finalists in mathematics are:

• Rebecca Criste from Cumberland County Schools
• Kimberly Inman from Pinnacle Classical Academy
• Nardi Routten from Craven County Schools

The finalists in science are:

• Adam Haas from Union County Public Schools
• Kerrie Lalli from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
• Susan Merrell from Carteret County School System

Read more about the award and finalists here. Congratulations to the six NC finalists! Thank you for your dedication to the students of our state. 

Number 1

Guilford County High School English Teacher Wins NC’s Top Honors for 2022 - Congratulations Leah Carper!

"Leah Carper, an English teacher at Northern Guilford High School, was named the 2022 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year during an awards luncheon today at the Umstead Hotel in Cary. Carper was selected from a field of nine finalists representing the state’s eight education districts and charter schools.

Known in her school as a “student’s teacher,” Carper emphasizes student engagement in her classroom as one of her highest priorities, whether teaching face-to-face or virtually during months of remote instruction forced by the COVID-19 pandemic."

Read the full release here. 

Congratulations to Mrs. Carper and all of our 2022 Burroughs Wellcome Regional Teachers of the Year. Thank you for all that you do for your students, and making North Carolina a great place to teach and learn.