Curriculum Notes 12/1/11

It's December already!  Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow---- somewhere else.

Here are the notes from the last CC meeting.  Thanks to Anita Hooker for going and taking better notes than I would have ever taken.           

Writing:

*There is a WSFCS Writing Quarterly Benchmark Document that I am placing in your boxes.  If a version becomes available online I will drop it in the S drive in the writing folder.  This document details what kind of writing each grade level should be doing each quarter. 

*All on demand writing has been eliminated.

*All grade levels should complete 1 writing product per quarter (per student) and place those in the Literacy Folders.  If you did not do so 1st quarter, do not go back and do it. 

*For the writing, it is very important to emphasize and teach the writing process- Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing.  Students should become proficient in each step of the process.

*Each grade level will decide on a topic for the grade level.

*Writing rubrics are available on the S drive in the writing folder.

*Writing Samples for each grade level and each type of writing are now on the S drive in the writing folder.  It is the PDF file titled 'Common Core'.  It is a huge file---do not print!  Here is the link if you want to access it here:  http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/commoncore/documents/Common_Core_Standards-ELA_Appendix-C.pdf

It may be a good idea to look at the samples in your PLC's (hint, hint).

*4th grade does not enter scores into the Moodle until further notice.  The rest of the process remains the same.

A wonderful strategy for editing papers is the TAG strategy used in peer editing.  That strategy requires both students to Tell something they like, Ask clarifying questions, and Give Suggestions.  This is a good way to get students to think critically. 

*I am placing another document in your box that gives more information about each type of writing at each grade level. 

Math:

In starting to look at common core, it is important to begin unpacking the 8 Standards for Mathmatical Practice in our common core trainings now.  All of the unpacked documents for Math K-5 are now on the S drive in the Common Core Math folder.  Enjoy!

Site Word Flash Cards

Some wonderful person at Forest Park Elementary has created flash cards with sound for our sight word lists.  These are wonderful, and easy to use.  Give it try with your kids.  I have reused her cards posted the link here:

http://quizlet.com/user/speasbees/

Interventions

We are in the part of the school year where we know some students are in need of extra help.  We have met with parents and we are running out of good ideas for interventions; be they academic, motivational, or behavioral.  Intervention Central is a great way to find research based interventions that are explained well and easy to do.  You can also find simple online tools to help graph student progress with interventions.  Check it out!

http://www.interventioncentral.org/

Manga High Math

Speas Teachers:  I have signed up every 3,4,5 class with an Manga High account.  In this site you can access Math activities based on Math Common Core Standards.  Each student has been entered and you can customize activities for your classrooms.  Some of the activities are really fun.  Check you email for your teacher account information.   It may a good idea to use in the computer lab as an alternative to Renzulli. 

Here are the links:

You should sign in from the homepage:
(mailto:http://www.mangahigh.com)

Your students should login using the following URL:
http://schools.mangahigh.com/speasbees

Adding Rigor to Lessons

Taken from:

http://tammy-andrew.suite101.com/rigor-in-the-curriculum-a75665

Including rigor in classroom lessons and throughout the curriculum can start with analyzing current lessons and then enhancing them with rigorous activities.
Rigor is a curriculum goal that is being pushed throughout education. It is meant to improve students’ ability to understand complex concepts, but sometimes is misunderstood to mean students should work with difficult concepts. Sometimes even the most difficult of subjects is not also a rigorous lesson. When teachers take some time to analyze their current lessons for rigor they can find where it is already present and where it might be added.

What is Rigor?

According to Strong, Silver, and Perini, “Rigor is the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging.” Students learn to manage difficult content and work with difficult ideas. They are presented with content created from interconnected parts or that is comprised of multiple meanings. Lessons might include sorting through a dilemma or struggling with an emotionally challenging problem. It is concerned with the quality, or depth, of the content more than the quantity, or breadth.

Adding Rigor to Lessons

Checking curriculum or lessons for rigor includes lessons for all students; rigor is not limited to gifted or college bound programs. Look for different ways that content can be presented and analyzed. Ask questions about the activities such as:

• Are the activities inquiry or project based, requiring students to form their own answers?
• Do students use the results of their answers to explore ways they can make a difference in the world around them?
• Do lessons contain elements from different disciplines, encouraging students to make connections with previous knowledge?
• Are students asked to examine their own emotions concerning dilemmas or to take a position on a controversial topic?

Though not all lessons need to contain rigor, students should be exposed to rigorous curriculum throughout the week. If very few lessons contain rigor, then find existing lessons into which to incorporate rigorous activities. For example, learning about a writing style might include an analysis of the author’s meaning or intent or including a discussion about bioethics in a biology unit.


Read more at Suite101: Teach a Rigorous Curriculum: Tips for Including Rigor in Existing Classroom Lessons | Suite101.com http://tammy-andrew.suite101.com/rigor-in-the-curriculum-a75665#ixzz1etYT4jKo

Testing Schedule

Speas Elementary Testing Schedule 2011-2012

W-APT Testing Kindergarten  8/31-9/28

Dibels BOY- 9/12-9/23 (Data Entered by September 23^rd at 4:00 PM)

K-2 Literacy Assessment components need to be completed:

*K-1 Book and Print Awareness

*K-2 Running Record and Retell

*High Frequency Word Checklist

Dibels Progress Monitoring (10/10-1/20/12) More details TBD

1^st Quarter Testing 10/24-10/28

CogAT Testing 2^nd Grade/Select 5^th Grade  11/2-11/4

4^th Grade Writing Test 11/7-11/11

ITBS Testing 2^nd Grade/Select 5^th Grade 11/14-11/16

Dibels MOY 1/22-2/6

2^nd Quarter Testing 1/16-1/20

ACCESS Testing 2/1-3/16

Dibels Progress monitoring 2/27-4/27

4^th Grade Writing Test 2/20-2/24

NAEP Testing 1/9/12-3/16/12

3^rd Quarter Testing 3/26-3/29

Field Testing 3rd Grade Math 4/9/12-5/18/12 Time window from state.  We will know the exact date later.

Field Testing 5th Grade Reading  4/9/12-5/18/12 Time window from state.  We will know the exact date later.

Field Testing 5th Grade Extend 2 Online 4/9/12-5/18/12.  We will know the exact date later.

Dibels EOY 4/30-5/18 (Data entered at May 18^th)

EOG/Extend 2 5/14-5/18

K-2 Assessment completed 5/18-6/7

*K-1 Book and Print Awareness

*K-2 Running Record and Retell

*High Frequency Word Checklist

EOG/Extend 2 Retest 5/29-6/1

Do You Dibel?

Hey K-2 parents and teachers,

  let's talk Dibels.

What is a DIBEL?

DIBELS Overview

The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills.

DIBELS are individually administered measures of student skills in each of the key basic early literacy skills.

DIBELS are comprised of seven measures to function as indicators of phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with connected text, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. DIBELS were designed for use in identifying children experiencing difficulty in acquisition of basic early literacy skills in order to provide support early and prevent the occurrence of later reading difficulties.

History of DIBELS

DIBELS were developed based on measurement procedures for Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM), which were created by Deno and colleagues through the Institute for Research and Learning Disabilities at the University of Minnesota in the 1970s-80s (e.g., Deno and Mirkin, 1977; Deno, 1985; Deno and Fuchs, 1987; Shinn, 1989). Like CBM, DIBELS were developed to be economical and efficient indicators of a student's progress toward achieving a general outcome.

Initial research on DIBELS was conducted at the University of Oregon in the late 1980s. Since then, an ongoing series of studies on DIBELS has documented the reliability and validity of the measures as well as their sensitivity to student change. The DIBELS authors were motivated then, as now, by the desire to improve educational outcomes for children, especially those from poor and diverse backgrounds. Research on DIBELS continues at DMG and at numerous universities and research institutions around the world.

(copied from http://dibels.org/dibels.html)

Dibels at Speas

We currently Dibel all of our K-2 students.  We use the information to inform our instructional practices and identify deficits in student learning.  Teachers, once you have identified weakenesses, your Imagine It intervention kit has excellent resources to use to develop the skills individual/ or small groups of students are lacking.  Here are some other resources for you to use.  I will also post these on the web resources section.

Teachers, you can pick up the Nokia devices in my office.  Please try to remember to plug them back in when you are finished using them. 

Dibels Electrified- Get to extra web-based activities categorized by: Letter Recognition, Rhyme, Letter Sounds, and Putting Words Together.  Great for computer lab, or workshop.

http://teachers.cr.k12.de.us/~galgano/dibelletter.htm

Read Write Think

http://www.readwritethink.org/

Dibels Schedule for WSFCS

Beginning of Year (BOY) Benchmarks:  September 12th-23rd

Middle of Year (MOY) Benchmarks:  January 24th-February 6th

End of Year (EOY) Benchmarks:  April 30th-May 18th

 

Remember, progress monitoring takes place every two weeks for students identified as red and every four weeks for students identified as red or yellow.

 

 

Web Resources for Teachers

Greetings Wonderful Faculty at Speas. I am posting a host of web resources here for you to use. I will try to narrow the field for grade levels and content matter. Happy Hunting!

I am putting this one at the top because it is the very best thing I've seen for our teachers.  Doreen Bates has made a Live Binder that has incredible content customized for each grade level.  It is what I wanted to do here, but it is much better.  If you don't look at anything else on this page, the following link is worth the click.

http://livebinders.com/

Just type in 'bates' under search for in the upper right hand corner.  Go to the drop down and select author.  Then hit the search button.  You will see all of the wonderful binders she has created for us to use.
Some of the stuff in her binders will be highlighted in the blog later on.  Some of it may be highlighted at a staff meeting at some point.  Thanks to Doreen for creating these wonderful resources. 


Math Resources:

Math Chimp has about 100 math websites organized by grade. Take a look. This may help with your students who still need that extra push in addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc.

http://www.mathchimp.com/


Ghost Blasters

Great smartboard game to develop awareness and skill in multiplication and division.

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Ghostblasters1/gbcd.html



The Problem Site

This site has links to wonderful games that can be played for reinforcement in multiple skill areas. Also, there are games in other content areas as well.

http://www.theproblemsite.com/math_games.asp


Social Studies

3-5 Teachers
Here is a great idea to integrate your Social Studies into your Reading instruction. Students can create fake facebook pages on this site. They can create pages for historical figures, events, organizations, etc. Check it out! Some of these are really good.

Cinderella

Step-Sister, Step-Daughter, Kitchen Maid Studied at home! I've read every book in the house! Lives in an at-times unkind world From a small French fairy tale Born on , or, rather, under a lucky star

Mouse

That was one beautiful wedding! I cried so much, my whiskers got soggy! Love ya!

Sunday, May 24th · Like · Comment · Share · See Friendship'

4 people like this

Cinderella Thanks for giving me away, M-Man!

Sunday 2:13 p.m. · Like  · 3 person

Prince Charming Tom, G-Ma, Mouse, Mom, Dad, Ella and I want to thank you for making yesterday so memorable!

Sunday 2:22 p.m. · Like  · 4 person

Fairy Godmother Live happily ever after, you two! ;)

The end · Like  · 4 person

The above was cut and pasted, it looks much better on the actual site.  Check it out.

http://myfakewall.com/


American History Power Points
Great resource to introduce content and events!  Check it out.

http://americanhistory.mrdonn.org/powerpoints/index.html


3-5 Teachers
A unique way to create posters. Allow your students to create posters of historical events, figures, etc.

http://www.glogster.com/



3-5 Teachers

Another way to get your students creativity flowing! This is an interactive site where students can create their own timelines. This may be effective for getting students to show how things change over time.
Ticki Tocki
http://www.tiki-toki.com/




General Education Stuff

Create your own online flash cards.

http://www.studyblue.com/


Don't reinvent the wheel! Check slideshare before creating a presentation for your kids. Thousands of powerpoint shows are already created and uploaded about topics in your curriculum. Check it out.

http://www.slideshare.net/


Free Interactive Smart Board Resources
K-2
check it out everyone! A plethora of Smart Board games. Be careful
http://www.iboard.co.uk/curriculum.htm#maths-year1numstrategy_yearreception

Build Background Knowledge, Create Interest, Encourage Wonder, Explore Content
Wonderopolis
http://wonderopolis.org/category/holidays-2/

Lots of online help!
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/



Interventions

Are you looking for a way to help individuals or small groups with specific content, or behavior. Check out this site full of research based interventions. It is extremely helpful.

http://www.interventioncentral.org/

Language Arts
4-5 Teachers
Tell a multimedia short story.
http://storybird.com/