Here is a great resource courtesy of America Achieves the Core.

America Achieves Common Core

Dear Darlene, We are writing to you as a valued registered member of the America Achieves Common Core community. America Achieves launched the Common Core website in April 2012 to assist teachers and principals around the country with implementation of the key shifts that Common Core brings to classrooms. Since its launch, the website has been visited more than 50,000 times and gained over 17,000 registered users - teachers, principals, district staff, educational researchers, and others. Many of you have given us great feedback over the last year and we have worked hard to incorporate your ideas. We are excited to announce that on 25th August 2013 we re-launched the site with lots of new lesson videos and resources. Below is a list of some of the new videos that can now be watched:

Daisy Comes Home Grade K English Language Arts 2D shapes Grade K Mathematics Close Reading: The Case of the Strange Noise Grade 1 English Language Arts The Commutative Property Grade 1 Mathematics Text Evidence to Support an Argument Grade 3 English Language Arts Comparing Fractions Grade 4 Mathematics Close Reading: I Hear the Wail of Millions Grade 10 English Language Arts Trigonometric Ratios Grade 10 Mathematics

Thank you so much for your continued support of our site. We are dedicated to making continuous improvements that deepen knowledge about common core standards and implementation. Please continue giving your feedback and comments via 'contact us' on the website, or email us at common.core@americaachieves.org. Best Regards Support Team Common Core Website America Achieves http://commoncore.americaachieves.org

America Achieves is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization | 2012 America Achieves America Achieves Common Core by commoncore.americaachieves.org is licensed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Free webinar on Comprehending Content-Area Texts

Content Provided by: A Wider World: Comprehending Content-Area TextsBeing able to comprehend complex texts from a variety of content areas is an essential skill in the information age. Teaching students how to adapt their approach to a text based on its content area is a key part of comprehension. Pearson’s iLit is a comprehensive literacy solution designed to produce two or more years of reading growth in a single year. Based on a proven instructional model that has produced results for students in districts across the country for more than a decade, iLit has been carefully crafted to meet the rigors of the Common Core State Standards and to prepare students for success. In this webinar, Dr. Sharon Vaughn, executive director of The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at The University of Texas at Austin, will discuss strategies for teaching students vocabulary and comprehension within content area texts, and how iLit provides an effective way of implementing these strategies. Presenter: Sharon Vaughn, executive director, The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, University of Texas, Austin This webinar will be moderated by John Guild, senior product and marketing manager, Pearson iLit. Register now for this free live webinar.

Webinar Date: Thursday, Aug. 22, 2 to 3 p.m. ET Can't attend? All Education Week webinars are archived and accessible "on demand" for up to four months after the original live-streaming date.

Here are some great resources from Choice Literacy that can be helpful for planning the beginning of the year reading assessments.

 

 

Free for All

 

[For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links,  follow Choice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/ChoiceLiteracy or Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/choiceliteracy/]

 

 

Here are two features from the Choice Literacy Archives to help you and your students assess reading skills and needs.

 

 

Amanda Adrian explains why running records remain an essential assessment tool for elementary teachers in Tried and True Trumps Shiny and New:

 

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1155

 

 

In Eyes on the Fries, Gretchen Taylor helps her middle school students resist peer pressure as they analyze which books are "just right" for their independent reading:

 

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1449

 

 

This essay from The Reading Zone blog challenges reading assessment data that comes from commercial publishers with a vested interest in the results:

 

http://bit.ly/1a5f18N  

 

 

One of the best ways to learn what students know, value, and need is to have them lead conferences. Pernille Ripp has written a lot about the benefits of student-led conferences, and she's finally compiled her advice in a step-by-step guide:

 

http://pernillesripp.com/2013/08/03/how-to-do-student-led-conferences/

 

 

Autumn in Maine is beautiful (we should know, since it's Choice Literacy's home state). Join us to see the leaves turn and the learning ignite at the Coaching the Common Core Workshop on October 12 - 13 at the Samoset Resort on the ocean in Rockport. Presenters include Jennifer Allen, Heather Rader, and Franki Sibberson:

 

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/workshops-detail.php?id=43

Here is a great resource as we prepare to go back to school. Courtesy of Corbett and Dena Harrison. Enjoy:}

Hello, Teacher & Writer Friends,

Since I was a few days late posting the lesson last month, this month I'll be a few days early.  Actually, Dena and I celebrate our 8th anniversary on August 1st, and we'll be driving home that day from two-day sneak-away, so I have to post now; it'll be the first time we leave puppy Tucker in the hands of our house-sitter, and Dena is nervous about her "baby."

My wife and I have spent the past month working on our two new classroom products.  My project--10 Common Core-Friendly Vocabulary Lessons--is showing strong interest and sales, which is nice, and two of the package's ten vocabulary/writing lessons are posted for anyone to peruse, in case you want to determine if this new product will work for you or not; click this link to preview the two PowerPoints and read about ordering the product.  Dena's project--Reader's Notebook Bingo Cards--has been drafted; we are revising the  online instructions that come with each of the 25 writing-about-reading prompts and challenges, and we are fancy-ing up the layout of the Bingo Cards themselves.  Dena's new project should be ready for pre-sale in the next two weeks.

Here are this month's writing lesson and writer's notebook prompt:

• August's Lesson:  Finding Unique Antonyms & Fixing Mr. Dickens' Comma Splices  So each of our new 10 Common Core-Friendly Vocabulary Lessons comes with not only a PowerPoint lesson that's pretty easy to follow and teach from, but also each lesson comes with direct access to a complementary on-line lesson that can be used right before showing the PowerPoint lesson or right after.  One of the vocabulary lessons is on antonyms and synonyms, for example, and there is an online writing lesson that focuses on the same topic.  This month's writing lesson is the lesson that can accompany the PowerPoint Vocabulary Lesson on antonyms and synonyms.
• August's Notebook Prompt:  The Acropolis of Acronym Tasks  Early on, I believe you need to set up the notion that a writer's notebook's pages can become collections of things: words, phrases, titles, jokes, puns, quotations, etc.  I like my students to learn how English words were formed, and we do writing tasks when we learn a new etymology technique.  Acronyms (and initialisms) are interesting words to be aware of, and they are fun to poke fun at, as this writer's notebook page task attempts to do.  This prompt has students play three games with acronyms--each game is designed to tap into a different part of the thinker's brain.

We report back to school on the 7th here in Northern Nevada, and we have the kids back on the 12th.  If you're in a similar boat, I hope your transition back is a smooth one.  If you still have most of the month to play, then play!

--Corbett & Dena Harrison

Visit Writing Lesson of the Month Network at: http://writinglesson.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

I am posting the following article for all educators - but am asking this audience to think about the implications technology will have in the area of writing, i.e. focus on research, use of the keyboard, collaborative writing, etc. - courtesy of ASCD SmartBrief.

Technology changes the role of school librarians

The role of the school librarian has changed in Massachusetts and elsewhere, with some districts turning librarians into technology specialists and others eliminating the positions entirely. Fairhaven Public Schools Superintendent Robert Baldwin said his district eliminated librarian positions in favor of hiring technology specialists. "The instructional technology teachers are not just going to be teaching the students, they're going to be teaching the adults how to integrate technology into their instruction," he said. "I look at it as expanding and enhancing the role." SouthCoastToday.com (New Bedford, Mass.) (tiered subscription model) (7/1)

Here are two great opportunities for this summer. Enjoy!!

 

Katie DiCesare and Franki Sibberson are leading online classes for Choice Literacy next month. Katie's course, Designing Primary Writing Units with the Common Core in Mind, is offered July 8 - 15, and Franki's course, The Tech-Savvy Literacy Teacher, is offered July 16 - 24. For details and registration materials, click on the Workshops link:

 

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/workshops.php

 

Common Core State Standards Workshop at Vinalhaven School, June 16-19, 2013

Fifteen teachers of the Vinalhaven School, Pre-K to 12 including the principal met for a Common Core Workshop from June 16-19.

The staff looked at the instructional changes necessary for their students to succeed as citizens in the 21st Century.

Special Education Director, Dorothy Marecaux, met with the team during the afternoon and shared information on RTI and the special education process in Vinalhaven.

The Common Core focuses on success for all children.  In order to achieve this goal, the entire staff needs to collaborate and work together.  The teachers and administration began working on creating a structure to support this process - beginning implementation in the fall.

During the three days the team focused on three instructional changes:

1. Increased reading of informational texts,
2. Providing evidence when answering (either written or spoken) questions based on texts,
3. Consistent use of appropriately complex texts.

Teachers broke into fluid groups over the three days in order to plan vertically as well as by grade level.  

 Kudos to all staff members for their hard work!!!

The students at Vinalhaven School will be well prepared for success in the 21st century thanks to their hard work and commitment.