Transitioning to FAIR-FS

Florida is transitioning to an updated version of the FAIR to be known as the FAIR-FS. The assessment will reflect the new Language Arts Florida Standards and will provide a Probability of Literacy Success (PLS).

The state of Florida will be providing training to select personnel throughout the summer, however, you can get a head start on learning what the new changes to the assessment are and what this means for your instruction.

Download the Webinar Training PPT

Download the FAIR-FS Fact Sheet

Stay tuned for additional information as it becomes available!

Language Arts Florida Standards (LAFS)

After a short (or not so short) hiatus, the Common Core Campaign is back in action! Check back through the remainder of the year and summer for updates and information to stay in the know.

Florida is now using the Language Arts Florida Standards. These include slight modifications and changes from the Common Core Standards. To view the standards (including the highlighted changes), visit the following:

http://www.fldoe.org/pdf/lafs.pdf

View it. Save it. Print it. Know it. :-)

DOK Question Stems

DOK Question Stems

 

 

Download the DOK question stems by clicking here. Ask yourself: Are your students given the opportunity to move beyond DOK1? We will be taking a closer look at HOT questioning and the DOK Question stems during upcoming grade level planning sessions.

2013-2014 Classroom Environment Checklist

Please download and review the 2013-2014 Classroom Environment Checklist as you begin to prepare your classrooms. These are recommendations based on instructional best practices.

Download

Textbook Adoption 2013-2014

IMPORTANT!!

Teachers,

Miami Dade County has selected McGraw-Hill Reading Wonders as our core series. You can log in to a demo account to begin checking out all of the resources that this series has to offer. You will be given your own access code for this site in the future. There are a myriad of resources available online so it is worth taking a look at including a Professional Development tab that offers videos that provide a comprehensive overview of the program.

To log in:

http://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/connected/

Username: flwonders
Password: wonders2014

Please note that you will be given assistance in implementing this series. This information is meant to give you a heads up and chance to take a "sneak peek" of our new core program.

Common Core Tools Courtesy of North Carolina



North Carolina has unpacked the Common Core Standards for ELA and Math!

Please visit the tools that they have to offer to add to your "Common Core Toolbox"  including: crosswalks, unpacked standards, exemplar documents, and graphic organizers. There are documents available for both ELA and Math.

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/common-core-tools/

Thoughts? Questions? Leave a comment below.

ELA Common Core Simplified

We all know that the transition to the Common Core can seem overwhelming. Luckily, there are a lot of useful tools from around the country that we can utilize to help make planning and implementation a little bit easier.

The Tulare County Office of Education has put out templates for the each of the ELA Common Core Standards from grades 1-5. Each template provides a comprehensive breakdown of the standard including: the standard, anchor, essential skills, academic vocabulary and Spanish cognates, teaching notes and strategies (with performance tasks pulled directly from Appendix B), question stems, and the correlating standard for the grade above and the grade below.

This is a very helpful document as we try to navigate through the Common Core. To download the template for your grade level, click on the link below.

Common Core Templates at Common Core Connect

Did you find this document helpful? If so, let us know in the comments!

PARCC is coming! Be in the know!

After the 2013-1014 school year, the FCAT will be no more. It will be replaced with the PARCC which is being developed as the assessment piece for the Common Core Standards in Florida. Check out the official website for the PARCC assessment to find out important information about what is to come so that we will be ready to prepare our students for what is expected.

http://parcconline.org/

Teaching the Core: Close Reading

Teachers:

This is just a reminder that on Thursday, February 28, 2013 Ms. Thompson will be holding a professional development from the Teaching the Core series.

Teaching the Core: Close Reading will be held immediately following intermediate dismissal. Location is to be announced.

Don't forget -- registration closes two hours before the start of the session so please register ASAP if you are interested in this professional development opportunity.

Make it HOT: Developing Higher Order Questions

Reading teachers have been working hard at developing higher order (HOT) questions to stimulate student thinking and develop deeper comprehension of a variety of texts.

Here are some additional resources to assist you in developing these questions for your lessons! Please see Ms. Thompson if you have any questions or need additional assistance utilizing these tools.

1. Reading Stems From ISAT Sample Test (2012) -- Download

2. Reading Stems From ISAT Sample Test (2013) -- Download

3. Inferential Question Maker -- Download

4. Literal Question Maker -- Download

5. What Questions Would a Common Core Teacher Ask? -- Download

PLC Session 2 Agenda and Materials

The Summer PLC agenda and materials are now available to download for your convenience if you were unable to attend.

PLC Agenda
Power Point - CIS Model
Reading Task Card
Writing Task Card
Discussion Task Card
Vocabulary Task Card
CIS Lesson Timeline
Promethus Handouts
Prometheus

Pacing Guides and Common Core Center Activities

Teachers:

The district has released revised pacing guides for reading, math, and science. The writing pacing guides will be available by July 31, 2012. You can access them via Learning Village found at http://village.dadeschools.net/.

Also, FCRR has aligned center activities for Language and Reading Foundational Skills to the Common Core. You can access the activities for K-5 at http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/SCA_CCSS_index.shtm.

MDCPS Reading/Writing Rigorous Planners

The Division of Language Arts has provided some planning templates that may be helpful to you as you prepare for the upcoming school year. A special thank you to Ms. Perry who has shared these documents from the district Grade 3 Common Core training she attended earlier in the summer. Click the picture to download the editable planner.

Grade 3 Writing Planner

Planning for a Rigorous Reading Lesson

Planning for Instructional Rigor

Daily Planner



Common Core Standards: Elementary School

Making Students Better Writers

Common Core Lesson Idea: Keep It or Junk It!

Summer PLC Documents

Summer Common Core PLC Participants:

Attached please find the downloads from our first PLC session. Click the link to download the attachment.

• Session 1 PowerPoint: Common Core
• Session 1 Agenda
• QAR Chart
• The Fisherman and His Wife Close Reading Exemplar (Grade 3)
• Depth of Knowledge
• Common Core Suggested Reading List
• Text Complexity Rubric
• Comprehension Stems (Informational)
• Comprehension Stems (Narrative)
• Text Complexity Scale
• Because of Winn Dixie

Remember that our next session will be held on July, 25, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. Please make sure to complete your follow-up activity prior to the session. See you there!

Common Core Library

The Common Core Library is a must-see site! Check it out by clicking the link below.

http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/CommonCoreLibrary/default.htm

Common Core: Professional Reading

Common Core is here! Below please find the suggested list of professional reading texts for the Common Core.

• Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth and Christopher Lehman
• Common Core Curriculum Maps in ELA, Grades K-5 by Common Core (Common Core Series)
• The Common Core Lesson Book, K-5: Working with Increasingly Complex Literature, Informational Text, and Foundational Reading Skills by Gretchen Owocki
• Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading by Nancy Frey and Diane Lapp Douglas
• Teaching Students to Read Like Detectives: Comprehending, Analyzing, and Discussing Text by  Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey  and Diane Lapp Douglas
• Teaching the Youngest Writers: A Practical Guide by Marcia Freeman - Primary 
• Building a Writing Community: A Practical Guide by Marcia Freeman - Intermediate

If you have a copy of any of these books and are willing to allow your colleagues to borrow, please comment on this post with the titles that you are willing to share. Thanks!