Another Year Down

Wow, this sure has been a crazy year. We have really enjoyed developing the Math GNOMe and Common Core 4. As our own school year comes to an end (next week...wahooo) we are already planning lessons, creating templates, and tweaking how all this will look in our own rooms next year. This has been a wonderful learning process and has really allowed us to get in the Common Core mindset. The ELA plan has also come to take form. As we continue to create this summer we will be posting, tweeting and blogging about our ideas. We also have workshops that we will be conducted throughout our region! We will be blogging about those experiences as well.

On top of all this excitement we have to "blog brag" about our book... Our book which has been available on teacherspayteachers.com is now available on Amazon for print as well as Kindle version to download !

So, as our school year comes to an end and the summer begins we look forward to taking a bit of a breather and then really focusing on both our ELA and Math Common Core journey. 

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.  ~Gertrude Jekyll

New Videos!

Here are some of our newest videos! 

This first video is of a 1st grade GNOMe lesson. The lesson skills comes straight from the Common Core domain for Geometry. Students here are working on Partitioning Circles and Rectangles. Following this clip we have posted a quick video showing students checking in for Common Core 4 directly after the GNOMe mini lesson.  

* A special thank you to my student teacher for conducting the mini lesson and check in. 

This last video we have a panning of 2 classrooms while students are hard at work on Common Core 4. Notice that everyone is working on Math, talking about Math (if there is even any talking) and thinking about Math. Aahhh makes for a calm and focused teaching/learning environment. 

*These are 1st and 2nd grade students using Common Core 4 

What The Kids Are Saying...

Here are a few of our 1st , 2nd  and 3rd grade students talking about Common Core 4.

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Literacy SkiLLS for LIFE

As promised we have began to explore the ELA Common Core Standards and have created 1 page snapshots of the Common Core ELA Standards for grades PreK - 6. We call these snapshots our Literacy SkiLLS for LIFE. This phrase stands for the 6 domains represented in the CCSS. Speaking & Listening ; Language Standards ; Literature; Informational Text; Foundational Skills; Experience Writing. 
Our plan is to use these snapshot boards as you would for the Math GNOMe. We created them to be a tool for both teachers and students to use. This way we have a clear visual of what the learning/teaching expectations are for ELA. You can purchase the Literacy SkiLLS for LIFE snapshot boards at our TpT store (our 5th grade one is FREE!). 

Have no fear because we have also created independent practices that model after our Math Common Core 4. The ELA Common Core 4 activities we have in mind and will put in place with our students next year are...Read, Write, Spell, Respond. Stay tuned for more on our ELA plans. 

As always we are looking for feedback, ideas, and suggestions on all of our thoughts and products. Feel free to comment anytime! 

  With the Common Core in Mind  ~ The Work Wives

To Grade Or Not To Grade? That Is The Question

This post is inspired by a question we received at our TeachersPayTeachers store  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Work-Wives.
One of our newest buyers asked us ... “How do you grade during Common Core 4?”

NO GRADING is required for Common Core 4 activities. That is the BEST part :o) . Take a breath of relief now. LOL. Now, we for sure understand that not having your inbox full of papers to grade and checking to see if every student understands the center you have going on is a change in mindset. You have to remember that Common Core 4 is meant to give you more time one on one with students to work on specific skills rather than waiting for them to fill out a worksheet. The hardest part for us was letting go of a certain amount of control. We felt that without the paperwork we did not have the self validation that we did a good job teaching the specific skill to the class. However, with Common Core 4 the validation you get is amplified. You now have the time to reach all your students on an individual basis. You can focus on their mathematical level to pre-teach, reinforces concepts or meet with small skill groups.

Ok, so you may not be grading everyday but you are summatively assessing. Here is a thought...you will always need to assess your class based on the skill you have taught whole group and based on what your district requires you to do. What Common Core 4 allows you to do is that digging deeper with your students that the Common Core Standards asks us to do. What about having a “show me what you know folder” in their math box? Here you can store a GNOMe snapshot , and assessments for each skill. When the student is ready to show you what they know give the assessment and mark it down in their folder and in your grade book. Remember this is for the individual students.

Now, the next step would be finding appropriate assessments. This is where we are at a bit of a road block. Our district does not have assessments set for the core and are in the process of implementing a program or structure for administering formative assessments. In the mean time we wanted to find some assessments that we could use to directly assess the skills from the Common Core. I have come across some websites that have some wonderful assessment resources that I know I will be using right now as well as in the next school year.

These first 2 sites give examples of what is expected from the students for each domain and specific skill
http://www.illustrativemathematics.org/
http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/CommonCoreLibrary/SeeStudentWork/default.htm

The following sites is what I have found so far to help with the development of assessments to use
coedpages.uncc.edu/abpolly/elemath/core-assessments/k-tasks.pdf
http://web.me.com/acaciatc/UACC/PARCC_Resources.html

As we discover more helpful tools we will post them for sure. Please feel free to comment if you have any helpful sites or tools to add !

Check Out Our TpT Store

Oh how we are loving the support and the educational forum teacherspayteachers.com gives us. It's a wonderful sharing community of fantastic educators displaying what they do best...engaging lessons/ideas, expressing creativity and teaching. I encourage you to sign up , browse around and purchase some fabulous products. You can visit our store directly by clicking on the link in our menu bar on the right side of this blog. We have our 2nd grade GNOMe for free to download!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Work-Wives 

There's an App for that!

Educational reform is not just happening in our classrooms, it is happening in technology too. Common Core has made its way into the App world. Here are a few Apps that can help bring the Common Core right to your fingertips. Just download them from your Apple Store. 

App: Common Core Standards (FREE)

View the Common Core State Standards in one convenient FREE app! A great reference for students, parents, and teachers to easily read and understand the core standards. Quickly find standards by subject, grade, and subject category (domain/cluster). This app includes Math standards K-12 and Language Arts standards K-12. Math standards include both traditional and integrated pathways (as outlined in Appendix A of the common core) and synthesizes Language Arts standards with the Corresponding College and Career Readiness Standards (CCR's).

App: Common Core Look-fors (Mathematics, Technology) ($2.99)

Common Core Look-fors (CCL4s) is a great app for teachers integrating the Common Core State Standards into their classroom!

http://educationappreviews.com/    *** This link is a wonderful resource for some suggested skill based common core ipad/ iphone / ipod  learning applications.

I am sure that most would agree when we say... by providing students a variety of ways to explore and reinforce their learning they stay engaged, excited and enthusiastic about their own education. 

 

Common Core Videos

As we continue to dive in and learn more about the Common Core State Standards we found that like most things visuals are most helpful. Our state does provide a wonderful website (engageny.org) for explaining the CCSS. Although the videos on engageny.org are very informational, sometimes we want to see the "talk" in action.  

 The teachingchannel.org  provides just that ... teachers using the CCSS in their classrooms.

We found this particular video interesting. Click the link below to view. 

 CCSS Math Video

Checking In

This post is all about student choice.
You will see Mrs. Taylor’s (one of the Work Wives) 2nd grade classroom “checking in” for Common Core 4. Mrs. Taylor’s student teacher is in charge of the check in. Here each student chooses which of the 4 independent practices they would like to work on. As a reminder the Common Core 4 independent practices include math facts, technology time, math games, and mathematical practice or what some call paper practice. When the teacher calls on each student they not only say the activity they will be working on but they also state the GNOMe strategy that they are currently focusing on. As another side note, the checking in process does not look much different at the other grade levels. As they get more comfortable with Common Core 4 you can allow the students to check their peers in. This is nice because you can choose the first student to conference with and gain an extra few minutes with individual students. In this video you do not see the teacher keeping track of the students Common Core 4 choice. However, we do keep a check in recording sheet. If we find that a student is doing flash cards too often or technology too often we guide them to make another choice. We love this process because it really allows the students to take ownership of their learning.