Kindergarten Teacher Uses Read-Aloud Strategies to Transform Storytime

Because the Common Core expects students to read a text closely and cite evidence to back up their understanding, kindergarten teacher Jamie Landahl from Ruby Duncan Elementary School in Las Vegas is making a major shift in her reading instruction--with fantastic results! She stretches out the reading of the story and stops frequently to get deeper into the text. She also includes partner discussion and illustrating pictures on sentence strips as the story goes along to later retell the story. Students build a greater vocabulary and gain a better understanding of the book's mission.
Watch the video of Landahl and her class in action!

Free Video Series--Geometry Instruction for K-8 Teachers!

If you have spare time this summer, take a look at the amazing, in-depth, comprehensive teacher resources from ANNENBERG LEARNER. The mission of the nonprofit organization is "To Advance Excellent Teaching in American Schools." The website is full of fantastic resources for all disciplines, and well worth a closer look.

Included in those resources are a number of in-depth video courses with supporting materials targeted to a variety of grade levels and subject areas. THIS VIDEO SERIES helps frame geometry, not only as a set of skills or objectives for your students to master, but also as a strategic method for problem solving in general. To follow the entire series, you should allow for the better part of a day. Begin with the first session, and then follow along with the prompts to move through the entire series.

Reaching Out to Parents--How to Talk About Common Core

As every educator knows, having active, involved, supportive parents can make an enormous difference for students. No doubt you have heard questions or concerns from the parents of your students about what Common Core State Standards will mean for their children, and how CCSS will impact students.

These resources from the National PTA are a great place to help begin the conversation with parents. There is a brochure with parent FAQs about student success, plus longer booklets geared toward parents of K-8 students. The focus is on math and ELA standards, and the parent guides offer suggested methods and activities for extending learning beyond the classroom into the home, and key things to know about CCSS. There are even tips for parents of high schoolers about college and career planning.

Knowing and understanding parent concerns, and getting ideas about how to address them better will help you partner with parents as you implement CCSS instruction and assessment in your classroom! Let them know about these great resources, and TAKE A LOOK at them yourself so you can be prepared for conversations and collaboration!