#1 - OPI Summer Institute Save the Date! June 20th-24th 
Synthesize student writing with an authentic audience and purpose! The Yellowstone Writing Project is proud to team up with the International Silent Film Festival to provide regional support for this incredible multi-media ELA project. Help students take their writing, media communication, and visual representation skills to the next level. Prizes are available for top entries. Contact Yellowstone Writing Project for more details.
# 3 - Smarter Balanced State Network Educators: Call for Action!
Smarter Balanced is hosting their annual workshop that provides teachers with the opportunity to collaborate and build high-quality instructional resources for the Tools for Teachers platform! This week-long workshop will provide K-12 teachers of ELA an opportunity to more fully understand the Smarter Balanced suite of resources and develop new skills for instructional resource development. This is the first year K-2 teachers are invited to develop resources!
Do you have great lesson plans that you want to contribute to Tools for Teachers? For details on how to become involved with the Montana State Network of Educators (SNE) and contribute a resource to Montana Tools for Teachers at one of the listed July 2022 Summer Workshops, reach out to the Assessment Help Desk at 1-844-867-2569.
July 12-14: ELA Workshop
July 18-20: Math Workshop & Additional K-2 Pilot Workshop
#4 - NPR's Student Podcast Challenge
NPR's fourth annual Student Podcast Challenge is back and now open for middle and high school students. There are three competitions, including opportunities for middle schoolers, high schoolers, and college students pursuing their associate's or bachelor's degrees.
The contest for middle and high school entries runs from January 1, 2022 to March 21. The winners will be notified in late spring. This year for the first time there will be a $5000 grant for the College Podcast Challenge Winner plus $500 for finalists.
Learn more about how to enter: HERE
Find the official submission page: HERE
ELA Standards Overview Documents
Grade Level Standards Documents
Family Roadmaps- Grade to Grade Crosswalks for the MT English Language Arts Content Standards
Involve stakeholders in student learning by providing parents and families with these grade-level guides to the content standards. Each grade level document provides a clear and easy-to-understand overview of what their child will learn and do in their grade. It also includes a side-by-side comparison of vertical alignment with the grade below and grades above to help parents and students understand the subtle differences in ELA skill progression as it is outlined in the standards. Each grade level document is concluded with a section on specific supports families can and should do to help their student meet their grade level ELA goals.
Kindergarten
Grade One
Grade Two
Grade Three
Grade Four
Grade Five
Grade Six
Grade Seven
Grade Eight
High School
Tech Directors: To access a machine-readable version of the official Montana Content Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy, please visit the IMS Global CASE Network site. Create a free login, select Montana Office of Public Instruction, and view or download the standards. The CASE version of the standards can be uploaded to student information systems, curriculum mapping programs, and a variety of other uses. Learn more about the CASE Network or view the CASE Network FAQ
Assessments
Our Montana Comprehensive Assessment System (MontCAS) is carefully designed to help all stakeholders in Montana provide an equal, fair, and quality education for all Montana students. The
Montana Assessment Roadmap outlines the entire process and suite of what our statewide assessment provides for education in Montana.
Formative Assessment
- Tools for Teachers- Teacher-created lesson plans aligned to our MT standards for math and ELA grades 3-12. Includes Formative Assessment Teacher resources and strategies. Provides next steps after administering Interim Assessments with Connections Playlists. Log-in is required but available to all Montana K-12 educators through your school's School Test Coordinator (STC).
- SmART Smarter Balanced Annotated Response Tool- Better understand how student writing is scored on Smarter Balanced assessments and support writing instruction in your school or classroom. Browse a range of response types, explore interactive scoring rationales and rubrics, and practice scoring on your own or with colleagues. Use student writing samples to support instruction and facilitate important writing and revision conversations in your class.
- Smarter Balanced Content Explorer Site: Learn more about Smarter Balanced's blueprints, claims, targets, standards, and sample items.
Interim Assessments
SBAC Interim Assessments- grades 3-12
Summative
Learn more about ELA Summative Assessments on the Statewide Assessment Page:
Helpful Links
Smarter Balanced Resources: Montana
MontCAS Testing Portal
Spotlight: EdReady Montana English Support
EdReady Montana has been serving schools in Montana now for the last 2 years to help students become critical readers and effective writers, for standardized test prep, and supplementing classroom ELA instruction. In that time, we’ve worked with hundreds of schools and teachers. We are here to help educators who are asking important questions as they emerge from the past year and a half of dealing with interruptions to their teaching and student learning and are starting to ask the following question…
How can I use EdReady English to tackle preparing students for ACT, College English readiness as well as shoring up student’s skills for writing across the curriculum?
The team at EdReady Montana is ready to help you with any of the following solutions:
- this Spring to bridge the gap to next year and help avoid erosion of English skills or prepare students for college-level reading and writing.
- this Summer to address gaps in learning and prepare for their next level of English.
- next Fall to efficiently identify gaps and weaknesses then help teachers supplement instruction by utilizing resources within the program to address them.
- More than one or all of the above?
Not only is the program available online to serve a variety of access needs for students and teachers, but our team of Montana educators is here to help you plan, set-up, adopt and efficiently implement the program. Remember that all professional development can also be used for CEUs. Contact us today and we can work together to help get you going this spring, summer or have you ready to go on day one of next fall!
Fill out this online form to set up a time to learn more!
Visit the EdReady Montana website to read about how others are using the program or contact them support@montanadigitalacademy.org | 406-203-1812 for more information.
Find a Book MetaMetrics Reading Challenge
Find a Book is a free, fun and easy way to identify books based on a child's reading level (Lexile© measure) and interests. Find a Book has over 300,000 titles, making it the perfect tool to keep your child reading all summer long.
How it Works:
- Go to Find a Book & enter your child's lexile measure or grade level.
- Pick books that match the child's interests.
- View & refine the search results to create the perfect book list for your child!
Summer Reading Challenge Flyer • Summer Reading Challenge Spanish Flyer
More Reading Challenges & Resources
Summer Reading Program at Your Public Library - Library Directory
Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge
Sync Audiobooks
Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program
ACT Academy: ACT Academy offers free summer math and English activities for grades 3-12.
For more summer learning opportunities for students, please visit the Summer Learning Opportunities page