Sarah Crabtree, Associate Professor, San Francisco State University.

The Mt. Diablo Adult Education is offering free professional development classes for Special Education

Assistants, Teachers, Parents, Care Givers, and Community Members!

MDUSD Special Education Assistants get paid to attend one class per school year!

Looking to establish or enhance your Dual Language Education Program?

Join us on March 9 and March 11 to learn more!

According to the 2021 State of Computer Science Education: Accelerating Action Through Legacy Report, 50% of High Schools in Contra Costa County offer a foundational course in Computer Science. California has almost 76,000 computing jobs open each month, yet in 2018 there were only 7,311 CS graduates from California universities. CCCOE, in partnership with Code.org, offers a year-long professional learning program for Middle and High School teachers to learn how to teach CS with Code.org's free curriculum.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Teachers can apply at code.org/apply. The cost for CCC teachers is $1000 (a $1500 savings) and full scholarships are available.

Check out the video with past students and teachers at bit.ly/Code_orgCA_CS. You can find out more about the State of CS in California at advocacy.code.org or contact Christen Northrop at [email protected]

Date: March 8, 2022, 3:00-5:00pm

Integrated and Designated ELD in conjunction with culturally and linguistically sustaining practices are the foundational components of effective and responsive secondary schools for meeting the needs of English Learners. In this institute participants will:

● Build an understanding of how to integrate support for language development with disciplinary content knowledge.

● Learn how to plan responsive Designated ELD that is linked to academic content

● Become acquainted with high-leverage instructional strategies

● Focus on all four domains of language

Participants will become acquainted with the guidance provided in key CDE resources, including the English Learner Roadmap, ELD Standards, ELA/ELD Framework, and the newly published Improving Education for Multilingual and English Learner Students: Research to Practice.

Audience: Secondary teachers and teacher leaders, all content areas

Date: March 8 and April 19, 2022, 3:00-5:00pm | Cost: Free

Date: March 9, 2022

Two virtual professional learning opportunities will be facilitated by Dr. José Medina, co-author of Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education: Third Edition. The administrator series will focus on effective practices to establish and guide dual language programs while the teacher series will focus on lesson planning with an equity lens to increase access to grade level standards while developing dual language proficiency for emergent bilingual students. In both series, participants will engage with biliteracy research via interactive activities that provide an understanding of dual language education.

Audience: District or site teams of administrators, coaches, specialists, teacher leaders, and teachers interested in establishing or improving dual language programs in their LEAs

Date: Begins March 9, 2022 | Cost: Free

For more information, contact Lilia Tsui: [email protected]

Date: March 9, 2022, 9:00 - 10:30 am

The Contra Costa County Office of Education will host an ongoing collaborative workgroup to support LEAs as they research, design, and roll out their Ethnic Studies course implementation. These sessions, co-facilitated by CCCOE staff and the UCB History-Social Science Project, will support the following outcomes in the first three meetings:

• Understand the legislative requirements of AB101

• Explore the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum

• Collaborate on pathways for course implementation

Meeting 1: March 9, 2022 | Meeting 2: April 26, 2022 | Meeting 3: June 9, 2022

All meetings will be held virtually from 9:00 - 10:30 am.

Audience: LEA Ed Services Leadership, High School Administrators

To participate, please RSVP by email to Lynn Stevenson at [email protected]

Date: March 10, 2022

CPIN for ADMIN will wrap up on March 10, 2022. Early Learning Administrators have been attending weekly sessions on Thursdays to learn about developmentally appropriate practices in the early learning environment with a focus on PLAY. Participants are gaining an understanding of the learning that occurs when young children PLAY.

We are offering several regional professional development opportunities.

Please see the registration links below if interested.

Dual Language Learner Series: Click Here

History Social Science: Self and Society/Market Place Series: Click Here

Best Practices: The Powerful Role of Play in Education Series: Click Here

Date: March 15, 2022, 3:00-4:15pm

As part of the EL RISE! Elementary Coaching to Enact the English Learner Roadmap series, these Community of Practice sessions allow participants to dive deeper into the understanding of the material learned in the modules, combined with the opportunity to share reflections, practices, and application of learning with colleagues.

Audience: Elementary teachers, coaches, administrators

Date: March 15, 2022, 3:00-4:15pm | Cost: Free

For more information, contact Lilia Tsui: [email protected]

San Diego County Office of Education and California Indian Education for All are hosting a free, Native Ways of Knowing Webinar Series. K-12 educators and leaders are invited to learn from Dr. Debbie Reese in a six-session series to access free culturally responsive resources to improve representations and classroom climates for teaching and learning about California's first peoples. Participants will gain knowledge on supporting literacy and culturally responsive instruction for Native American students.

March 1: Teaching Traditional Ecological Knowledge: We Are Water Protectors

March 15: Teaching the Gold Rush

March 29: Teaching American Indian Boarding Schools

April 12: Native Activism and Changemakers: Alcatraz

Audience: PK-12 teachers, administrators, tribal education staff, and school librarians.

Join educators and colleagues from across California to learn and collaborate around evidence-based practices in early literacy instruction. This session will feature a keynote address by Dr. Carol Tolman, and four other breakouts led by leaders in the field.

Audience: Early literacy educators | Date: March 30, 2022 | Time: 8:30 - 1:00 pm | Cost: Free

The Library’s second annual Community Reads for Kids features the book “The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish” by Karina Yan Glaser. This community reading program strives to get everyone in the county to read and discuss the same book at the same time. The program includes a virtual book discussion and a live Zoom event with the author. In the book, the Vanderbeeker children are busy planning Papa’s fortieth birthday when they find an old letter that pulls them into a family mystery. The series has received acclaim from numerous publications, including Booklist, The School Library Journal, and the New York Times. Plenty of copies of the book are available for check out. Visit ccclib.org to place a hold on the book, eBook, or eAudiobook version. Register to attend the virtual book discussion and register separately to attend the author talk on Wednesday, April 13, at 4 p.m.

Vote for your favorite children's book titles each week until only one book remains. All the books have been chosen by librarians from titles released in the last two years. The top title will be announced on April 1. Vote online for the Sweet Sixteen from March 1 to March 6. Only one book can win, so choose wisely.

The Library is excited to connect members of the community with information and resources dedicated to more sustainable methods of living. The Library’s sustainability efforts in 2022 feature programs, booklists, and blog posts that focus on sustainability in food, gardening, transportation, do-it-yourself projects, and civic engagement. Visit ccclib.org for more information

Learn a new language for free or brush up on your skills. Rosetta Stone through the Library offers 30 languages and more than 50 hours of foundational immersion instruction at every language level. Learning is structured around core lessons to build reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills and focuses on activities to refine grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Visit the digital resources page on the website to get started.

FREE, healthy meals for all kids and teens 18 and under!!!

Teens ages 11-13 are invited to join El Cerrito Library's Tween Book Club. Discuss this month's book, Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed, online in our monthly Zoom meeting (while the library is still closed to the public). Limited copies of the book will be available behind the front desk to check out up to one month before the club meeting.

How will you vote? Library March Madness is Contra Costa County Library's tournament of children's books. Each week books will go head-to-head until only one remains. Join Ms. Jessica and Ms. Amy for a virtual read aloud of a selection of the Elite Eight and then cast your votes.

Come to the Lafayette Library and Learning Center and write a short biography about a woman who is important to you! It could be a friend, family member, celebrity, athlete, politician, teacher, and more! We'll have pencils, crayons, markers, and lots of pages for you to create an amazing book. We'll then add your biography, written and illustrated by you, to a little library for everyone to read!

Come pick up a Grab and Go Activity Kit for teens at the library! Use the provided transfer paper to trace any image of your choosing onto the scratch art sheet. Reveal the colorful layer underneath by scratching off the black surface or along the lines of the traced image! Available while supplies last.

Come pick up our Grab and Go Activity Kits for kids while supplies last starting March 15th. These kits will be inspired by Andrea Beaty's fabulous book series. Do experiments like Ada Twist, Scientist! Make art like Aaron Slater, Illustrator! Sponsored by the Friends of the Antioch Library.

In celebration of Holi: the Hindu Festival of Love, Color and Spring, stop by El Cerrito Library to pick up a splatter paint take & make craft for kids. One per child while supplies last from Tuesday March 15 - Saturday March 19.

Join us for the first in our three-part Nature Exploration series as Uncle Jer and Ms. Ellen present an educational and entertaining program featuring a bee puppet, dancing, and live bees! Learn about bees, pollination, honey-making, bee safety and much more. Fun for all ages! Registration is required.

Teens, what is TAG you ask, and what does a teen advisory group do? It's a bit up to you. Each year TAG takes on a couple responsibilities, like decorating the teen area and helping create some take-home activities for kids. Maybe it's creating fun activities for fellow teens... Read More

This Women's History Month, let's tip our hats to women cartoonists who've changed the game. The week of Mar. 14th, we'll hide cartoons drawn by influential artists (like this one above, by Jackie Ormes) in the Laf. Lib. Teen Center. Find them all & pick out a small prize at the info desk.

Kids, your voice matters. What do you want to say? Throughout the week we'll have postcards and pencils available in the Children's Area of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center. Come write about what's important to you... Read More

Let's have some fun with an activity bundle that includes writing prompts, activity sheets, and a matching game to learn more about historical women. Pick up this free craft in the Children's Area of the Lafayette Library & Learning Center. For ages 6 and up while supplies last.

Come pick up our Grab and Go Activity Kits for kids while supplies last starting March 15th. TJoin Ms Rosa for stories, songs and dance. This will be a Live Zoom session in English and Spanish that will be held every Fourth Saturday of the month at 10.00 am. Registration using an email is required to receive the Zoom information.

Did you know that you can use your fingers to knit instead of knitting needles? Finger knitting is a fun and easy way to create projects with yarn. Join us on Zoom and make something fun! Space is limited and recommended for ages 10 & up. Materials for the program will be available at the Concord Library for attendees.

Join us for our second annual Community Reads for Kids featuring The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish by Karina Yan Glaser. Our community reading program strives to get everyone in the County to read and discuss the same book. The program includes a virtual book discussion and a live Zoom event with the author... Read More

El Sobrante Library distributes FREE MEAL BOXES for all students 18 and under while supplies last each Thursday starting at 12pm. The meals may be picked up in the Meeting Room in the rear of the building (accessed either from inside the library or from outside via the Meeting Room door that faces the outdoor amphitheater behind the library). This program is presented in partnership with West Contra Costa County Unified School District.

Date: March 8, 2022

Meet us in the library this evening for an intimate talk, with a panel of influential members of the San Francisco community highlighting female empowerment and leadership for International Women’s Day.

Date: March 8, 2022 | Time: 5:30 pm | Location: 455 Valencia St. San Francisco, 94103

Date: March 8, 2022

Come together as a community to celebrate International Women's Day and recognize the Women Of The Trades. Join us for a panel discussion about the future of women in the trades, the changing culture, and how to attract MORE!!

Date: March 8, 2022 | Time: 12:30 - 3:00 pm | Location: Laney College, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland, CA 94606

Date: March 19, 2022 | Time: 11:30 - 12:30 pm | Location: Benicia Historical Museum, 2060 Camel Road, Benicia, CA 94510

Benicia Historical Museum presents History Talks - Women in the California Gold Rush with Jerrie Beard a National Association of Interpretation certified interpreter. Jerrie is a CA State Parks employee from Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park and an independent public historian. Come learn about the roles women played in the gold rush and their financial successes during this great Women's History Month presentation. History Talks are included with regularly priced museum admission. Tickets are available through Eventbrite or at the door.

Date: March 231, 2022 | Time: 4:30 - 6:00 pm | Location: Lisser Hall: Mills College School of Education, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94613

You are invited to join us for an extraordinary Women's History Month panel event, hosted by Mills School of Education. Though the leadership competency of women and people of color is regularly questioned and undermined, our communities and especially our schools rely on diverse women’s leadership to articulate and advance a vision for the development of our youth, our communities, and our society. Cultivating equity-centered educational environments is essential for every child to learn, grow, and thrive from their very early years through adulthood... Read More

Safeway funds grant applications for communities where stores are located. Grants should focus on Safeway's priorities, including education. The Safeway Foundation's Grants are accepted throughout the year. Typical grants are between $2,500 - $10,000

The California State Library has launched a new website that streamlines all available state agency grants for education, small businesses, nonprofits, individuals, tribal governments, and more!

Full-time K-16 teachers can now apply for Ignited’s 2022 Summer Fellowship Program. Selected Fellows complete industry and research projects at companies and university labs, like Amazon Lab126 and Stanford Universities. Teachers work full-time for 7 or 8 weeks and are paid up to $9,000 for completing an 8-week project with the Summer Fellowship Program.

Projects range in industry and subject, with the majority of in the STEM fields (science, tech, engineering, and math). Participants gain first-hand experiences in the applications of the subjects and skills they teach and are supported in infusing the curriculum with “real world” connections that further engage students. Participants can also choose to earn 32 CEUs and/or apply for Ignited’s Fund for Innovation, a competitive $1,000 grant that supports new and exciting classroom ideas that improve teacher instruction and student achievement.

These projects begin to be filled in March, so it’s best to apply ASAP. For more info, review the eligibility criteria and requirements, frequently asked questions, and application process.

The California State Park Adventure Pass is for all fourth-grade students! See how you can visit some of the most amazing parks in the country with your family and friends—for free.