Achieve the Core: A Website You Can Use! (The First in a Series)

How common is common core?  Well, it depends on where you teach and who "tells" you what you should or should not be doing in your classroom.  I teach in South Florida, which in my opinion, means that I have several different "entities" dictating what I should or should not use in my classroom.  Of course, everything I am told about is "highly suggested"...

This is an introduction on how I came to be comfortable with the CCSS, now the Florida Standards.  Starting next week, I will be posting weekly on using the ELA Shifts and how you can use these resources to help you achieve your goals that you have with implementing the shifts as pain-free as possible.  I would also love your feedback and questions!

My journey with the common core started at its inception years ago when I was selected as one of about 25 teachers in our state to create ELA formative assessments for a bank of items for the teachers in Florida.  I worked with a team of extraordinary teachers for over 2 years and we found that common core wasn't so common after all.  All of our districts had different ideas of when to roll out the standards, what the standards meant for our students, how to teach the standards, and which curriculum would best meet the needs of our students while teaching the standards.  Some districts were way ahead of others and some were so far behind that I think they are still drowning all these years later.  Needless to say, we felt a need to share what works best for us and we collaborated so much over those 2 years!  I took the best from the best and brought it to my team at my school.

There came my label as the CCSS expert at my school (expert: not at all,  educated on the standards:  yeah you could say that) and I was on the CCSS implementation and now I help out with the transition to the Florida Standards, when needed.  I mostly help my team of fourth grade teachers, as the Florida Standards mean different things for different grade levels, at least at my school.

Last summer, I was given another great opportunity and that was to become a Florida Standards Advocate.  A fancy name for someone who just wants everyone to understand how to best use these standards in teaching our students to be the very best they can be.  It hasn't been easy!  Teachers are a hard sell, but parents, well they are even harder.  It is difficult to have everyone see eye to eye, but we are getting there, standard by standard.  

The Florida Standards Advocate team works with Student Achievement Partners, a team of people around the nation who work to help states with the transition and implementation to the Common Core or whatever rendition of the core each state may be using.  Let's face it, you can call it whatever you want, but we are teaching Common Core in one way or the other.

Student Achievement Partner's website:  www.achievethecore.org, is amazing!  You will find mentor texts, mentor writing samples, a basal alignment project, mathematical practice help, and all things from a to z that have to do with helping our students become core conscious.   Student Achievement Partners are a non-profit organization dedicated to help teachers do the work of teachers by supporting them with the Common Core Standards. 

I hope that you take a look at this site and as it says below, STEAL all you can and share it with your colleagues.  You too can become an "expert" in helping teachers, parents, and essentially students become Core Minded!

Florida Standards: They are on Their Way.... Check CPALMS for Updates and FREE Lessons

I recently attended a training session for an upcoming FCR-STEM Math Workshop that I will be facilitating (more on this later) this summer.  I have mentioned my work with CPALMS in the past, but I am now a full fledged Expert Reviewer for CPALMS and I receive a regular paycheck, hooray!  So in my spare time away from the classroom, planning, blog stalking, etc., I review lessons submitted to CPALMS in order to keep up with the integrity of the lessons there for FREE for teachers all over the nation.  It is due to this work that I became an "expert" on the CCSS and now I will be an almost "expert" on the upcoming changes in my home state of Florida.

Florida has decided to make some changes in the standards and the full roll out will occur this summer.  There may not be a time frame like we were given with the CCSS, so everyone in  Florida, get ready because  you may be responsible for teaching these standards when you return in August. Hopefully, this will not be the case and if it changes, I will let you know.

Anyway, CPALMS is a Florida based website funded by FCR, RTTT, and FLDOE in conjunction with FSU,  It is free website where you can find thousands of FREE lessons aligned to each and every standard for all courses.  It is extremely user friendly.  Lessons are expertly reviewed by teachers who have been trained, like moi, and content area specialists.  You do not need to be afraid to download and use anything you find here.  

CPALMS is the go-to place for all things Common Core and now Florida Standards.  There is a brand new crosswalk to help you see which standards are changing, being removed, and staying the same.  So if you would like to see the document and maybe print it or save it for future reference, go to www.cpalms.org and check it out.

Try not to stress about the changes, we are already great at what we do. This curve ball is being thrown by those who truly don't get what we get when we teach the standards with fidelity.  So chin up blogging peeps, this is just another way for politics to keep us on our toes.  We are up to the challenge!

Click the sun below to head on over to CPALMS.  If you do check it out, leave me some love and let me know what you think.

Common Core Assessment Workbooks

For the past two years I have been using the resources from the First Grade Common Core Workbook to supplement my teaching.  I love using the pages during Daily 5 in each of my centers.  The wonderful people behind this workbook have now come up with Common Core Assessment Workbooks for grades K-5 to accompany the original workbooks.

I know how hard it can be to find resources that are to the point and really get in to the meat and potatoes of the CCSS, especially when it comes to assessing the standards.  After downloading the free sample of the first grade assessment workbook, I am convinced that this is the go to resource for assessing what my students have learned when we target specific standards.  The pages are marked with the standard that is being assessed and are easy for students to use.  Teachers will be happy to use the answer key to make it easier to score the assessments. You will absolutely love the progress reports that are provided, which can be used as a teaching tool and checklist for what has been assessed and what students may need additional instruction in so they can master the standards. 

Click on the above link or on the picture below to find out more about the Common Assessment Workbook for your grade level.

Faithfully yours,

Janine

McGraw Hill Wonders First Grade Mini Focus Walls Unit 2 Weeks 4-6

I am happy to report that my newest mini focus walls for the first grade Wonders series are on TpT.  Unit 2 Weeks 4-6 are ready for you to put up in your classroom!  This reading series is filled with so much content, so I am finding that these focus walls are taking much longer to create than my past reading series.  I am trying to fit everything in, so you have your whole week at a glance.

I hope that you continue to use these focus walls to help with your planning and that your students are using them as well.  I find that giving them to parents is also very helpful!

Just click the picture below to check the product out on TpT.  The price remains at $6, but you will find that it is more than worth its weight in gold.  Enjoy!

McGraw Hill First Grade Wonders Mini Focus Walls (Unit 1 Weeks 1-3)

I am happy to report that my newest mini focus walls for the first grade Wonders series are on TpT.  Unit 1 Weeks 1-3 are ready for you to put up in your classroom!  I want to thank all of you who purchased the Start Smart product.  You are going to love what I packed into the newest edition.

As you know, this series has a multitude of tasks for us to teach and since it is new, many of us are a bit overwhelmed as to how to go about introducing the content to our students.  The layout of the unit focus walls will keep you on track, will keep your students focused, and will even help your parents.  

Just click the picture below to check the product out on TpT.  The CCSS are also included, so there isn't anything that you have to do except print, laminate, and find a place in your room to display them.  At $6, it is a bargain worth having!

Making Math Relevant With the Common Core Standards

A few weeks ago I received an email from Maria Jamella over at www.teacherlingo.com.  Here is some info on this website that I have been perusing since she approached me about posting a guest article on my blog:

“TeacherLingo.com is a teacher friendly, safe community dedicated to teachers.  We know that teachers like to share ideas and experiences and that having a family of teachers in similar teaching situations can make it easier to get through the week.  We want this to be a rewarding blog community where you can come to share and publish your thoughts and concerns about education.  We also hope that you will participate in the community and offer your thoughts and comments to other members."

I do like what the site has to offer so I am very happy to include the following article, written by Stacy Zeiger, contributing author to www.teacherlingo.com.   I would love for you to comment on the article and to check out the site and let me know what you think.  (I was not asked to post anything on the website itself, but after looking through the site, I do think it is a resource teachers would like to use.)

Making Math Relevant with the Common Core State Standards

Author Bio:  Today’s guest post comes from Stacy,  she previously taught 8^th grade English for 5 years and now focuses her efforts on educating educators by designing curriculum and assessments on a variety of subjects.  She has been featured by multiple online publications and is a regular contributor to Teacher Lingo.   

The Common Core State Standards for mathematics are designed to introduce students to a more rigorous curriculum and improve higher order thinking skills. However, the standards will only work if taught in a way that makes them internalize what they are learning. To make the standards stick, teachers must make math relevant.

The Importance of Relevance
At the elementary level, teachers typically do a good job of making math relevant. Word problems and activities focus on basic uses of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Children learn about fractions by cutting pizzas and pies. They develop an understanding of how money works through classroom stores and pretend play. When students get to middle and high school, these real world and hands-on experiences are often replaced with confusing equations. Students may be doing the most complex math, but if they do not understand how solving for x or y applies to real life, they will quickly lose interest.

In addition to creating a more rigorous curriculum, the Common Core State Standards are all about making math relevant. Included in the standards are indicators that require teachers to bring in real world examples and help students see how the skills they are learning apply to their current and future lives.

Word Problems
Word problems offer a way to bring in relevance while also building higher order thinking skills. Instead of simply giving students an equation or basic problem to solve, students must use the information in the word problem to come up with the equation or determine which process to use on their own. When writing or choosing word problems, look for those that feature scenarios your students are likely to encounter. For example, students at a middle or lower class school may not see the relevance in a problem about comparing country club memberships, but may relate to a problem about ordering from a menu.

Career Spotlight
Highlight how different careers use the skills students are learning helps make math relevant. Even if students are not considering a specific career path, it will help to see that adults really do use these skills on a daily basis. Try to include careers students may not automatically think involve math. For example, they know an accountant works with numbers, but may not realize there is math involved with a career in nursing or architecture. Invite parents and community members into the classroom to talk about how they use math in their jobs too.

Conducting Research
Give students a chance to conduct research to determine the relevance of what they are learning on their own. Students may be challenged to find their own real world examples of a concept or research the math behind famous inventions. They can also conduct research to learn how math plays a role in their future careers or conduct research and use their skills to create a budget, buy a car or invest in the stock market – all mock transactions, of course.

Making it Stick

The Common Core State Standards for mathematics are designed to help maximize students’ learning by building a strong foundation of basic math skills and making connections among those skills as students advance. In order to build that strong foundation and make those connections, the math students are learning must be relevant. By bringing real-world application into the classroom through word problems and research, students can begin to truly internalize the skills so they will be prepared to use those skills long after they have graduated from high school.

CPALMS Retreat

I know those of you who live in Florida have heard of CPALMS, but have you used it?  This is such an excellent resource and it is only getting better.  I have been part of a team of teachers realigning the resources to the Common Core standards, all summer.  This week some of us were invited to a retreat in St. Petersburg and we spent the day training and reviewing resources.  You should see the hotel and surrounding area, these guys really know how to treat a girl!


Friday will be an exciting day as iCPALMS will be launched, so if you haven't made your free account on the website yet, make sure you do this.  It is a free resource and you will have access to thousands of items made by teachers just like us.  You can be assured that the resources are dependable and accurate, since teachers (like me) are reviewing them for approval to be published.  You can go to www.cpalms.org to sign up or you can click the sun at the top of my post.


During some of our down time in training, I had to do some blog stalking.  The teacher behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what blog I was looking at because of course, she is a blog stalker too.  The teacher next to her confessed to being a blog stalker, so I told them not only am I a stalker, but I blog too.  One of them knew my blog, so now I feel so famous, LOL.  


I will keep updating everyone on the changes to come with the CPALMS website, so be on the lookout.