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basic ground rules to ensure
both the presenter and the
person giving feedback are on
the same page and getting
something out of the
experience.
GROUND RULES
Pick work that
matters
Be kind.
Be helpful.
Be specific.
Keep it moving
Hold everyone
accountable
For the complete
article, click here.
This is an excerpt from an article
published on Mind/Shift.
By Katrina Schwartz
NOTE: While this was done with
older students, many of the
techniques are applicable to 3rd
- 5th graders.
Training kids to give effective
critique is one of those
teaching strategies that takes
some time on the front end,
but can save a lot of time once
students get good at it.
It’s common for
students to give
unhelpful, general or
unkind feedback that
doesn’t do much to
advance a peer’s
goals for the work,
but the teacher
found when she carefully
trained students on some
conversational
“commandments” and
attitudes around peer critique,
students could give feedback
as well as any adult.
Even better, when kids got
feedback from peers, she
found they internalized it
more.
The success of peer critique
depends on a lot on some
Developing Students’ Ability to Give and Take Effective Feedback
Take Time to Reflect on the First Half of the Year
As you wrap up the first half
of the school year, take time
to look back on the past few
months.
• What activities generated
the most learning?
• Which assessments gave
you the most accurate
feedback?
• Was there a formative
assessment strategy you
found especially
successful?
• How will you change up
things for the second
semester to keep it fresh
for you and your
students?
• In what ways are you
taking care of yourself ?
Look back on all your
successes, acknowledge all the
hard work you have put in for
your students and enjoy a
little time off.
Thank you for all that you do.
December 2017/ January 2018 Volume 6 Issue IV
Capture the Core
Inside this issue:
ELA 2
Math 3
Science 4
Social Studies 5
Learning Support 6
A Publication of the
Illinois State Board
of
Education Statewide
System of Support
Content Specialists
Th
ird G
rad
e thro
ugh
Fifth
Gra
de
As the weather outside gets
colder, we know the temp is
dropping! It means we are
almost half way through the
year and it’s a great time to
take a pulse check to find out
what skills have been mastered
by students.
A few key items to remember:
1) What skills have you
continually presented for
practice and mastery?
2) What formative
assessments have you used to
check understanding?
3) How do they align to
summative exams that will be
used for your grade level?
Last month’s issue shared
some assessment items that
PARCC created to assist with
benchmarks for 3-5. We
encourage teachers to also
view the Evidence Statements
for 3-5. Evidence statements
provide educators with
valuable alignment information
when creating practice tasks
or using the sample tasks that
PARCC has issued. These
tasks can provide a gauge of
the skills that students have
mastered, including
vocabulary. The following
tables can be accessed here:
• Grade 3: Reading
• Grade 4: Reading
• Grade 5: Reading
• Grades 3-5: Writing
"scrambler". The machine
then spins four sections of
the story sentence to create
the starter.
Storybird allows students to
create stories/books using
artwork/graphics provided by
artists curated from
Storybird. Books can either
be simple "picture" books or
poetry. A cost is associated if
students choose to print.
When students don’t have
access to outside play time due
to freezing temperatures, give
them the next best thing they
might be interested in:
technology! Listed here are
some of the most interactive
apps that can jolt anyone out
of the winter time blues.
Scholastic Story Starters
Students select from
adventure, fantasy, sci-fi or
have the computer choose a
Little Bird Tales is a digital
storytelling and lesson creation
site used regularly for it’s
flexibility. Users can create
stories, reports, interviews,
podcasts, interactive lessons,
etc. using their own photos,
drawings, images, text, and
voice. The tales and completed
lessons will playback in a
slideshow style format, with
audio (if recorded).
What’s the Temperature?
Winter Writing Apps
Sleigh bells ring,
are you listening
In the lane, snow is
glistening
A beautiful sight,
we're happy tonight
Walking in a winter
wonderland …
Bing Crosby
Page 2 ELA
Grades 3-5
Fiction and Non-fiction Resources for Winter
What better way is there to
warm up than finding those
great sites and resources that
really ignite your students’ love
for learning? The following
sites provide a few fun places
we have recently found to
encourage literacy activities
this winter.
Weather Wiz Kids is run by
Meteorologist Crystal Wicker
who designed the site for
children, teachers and parents
so they can learn more about
the world of weather. It
provides adults with the right
tools to explain the different
types of weather to children.
To assist with content and
lesson plans, Readworks has
guidance and integrated tools
to support classroom.
Many students have large
breaks from school during
the winter months. In order
to keep literacy skills active,
visit Storyline Online. The
Screen Actors Guild
Foundation’s award-winning
children’s literacy website
streams videos featuring
celebrated actors reading
children’s books alongside
creatively produced
illustrations. Read alouds just
went to a new level with Chris
Pine , Betty White, and Viola
Davis.
Spice up your winter lesson
plans with these engaging
activities from Illuminations.
Illuminations, published by
NCTM, offers the following
resources:
• Lesson Plans—
hundreds of ready-to-
use, searchable by
standard, assessment
options, discussion
questions, extensions
for students, reflection for
teachers
• Brain Teasers—puzzles
and rich problems to
engage and challenge
students
• Web Interactives—
virtual manipulatives for
use on student devices
or the classroom smart
board
• Mobile Apps—free to
download to any device
collection and analysis of
data.
Find this lesson plan and
many more at http://
illuminations.nctm.org.
This lesson will get your
students up and active in
addition to engaging in
mathematics. Students
explore taking a pulse,
collecting and
interpreting data, making
predictions, and drawing
conclusions. The focus of
the lesson is the
Illuminations by NCTM
Constructing a Geometric Solid Ornament
which allows you to
explore, manipulate, and
build geometric solids
virtually.
Find this activity and
many more at http://
illuminations.nctm.org.
In this hands-on activity,
students build geometric
solids out of pipe
cleaners, coffee stirrers
and beads. This activity is
a compliment to the 5-
lesson unit shared by
Illuminations on
geometric solids which
includes an interactive
Mathematics Page 3 Volume 6 Issue IV
Grades 3-5
There should be
no such thing as
boring
mathematics. –
Edsger Dijkstra
Every Beat of Your Heart—an Illuminations Lesson Plan
The Moon and other small
bodies without atmospheres
are extremely cold, so NASA
is asking students to design a
“lunar thermos” to keep
things warm. Engage your
students in exploring energy
transfer and engineering
design, visit: https://
www.nasa.gov/
pdf/630753main_NASAsBEST
ActivityGuide3-5.pdf
Project Wild to better meet
the needs of our students and
get them thinking about how
animals use the energy they
take in. This lesson and the
associated materials will be
posted for download soon at
www.scienceteachersinaction.org
The ISBE Science Content
Specialists just wrapped up
their most recent pilot
project, an eight week Lesson
Study, where they worked
alongside six teachers to
develop an NGSS aligned
lesson. Our teacher delivering
the lesson was starting a unit
about trophic levels, so we
chose HS-LS2-4 as our focus,
modifying an activity from
Keeping Warm in the Cold of Outer Space
NGSS Aligned Lesson Created at Science Teachers in Action
Use Gallery Walks to Get Students Moving
information from other
students. In particular,
students can use gallery walks
to show initial or revised
models of phenomena, share
out data collected from
experiments or compare
design solutions to a problem.
For more information on the
gallery walk protocol, visit
https://www.bie.org/
Are your students feeling
cooped up now that cold
weather has hit? Let them
stretch their legs while using
science practices from the
NGSS. Gallery Walks are a
great way to let students
share their thinking publicly,
and meet SEP Obtaining,
Communicating and Evaluating
Information as they walk
around the classroom to see
"Equipped with his
five senses, man
explores the
universe around
him and calls the
adventure
Science."
Edwin Powell
Hubble
Page 4 Science
Grades 3-5
ThemeSpark™ is a free web-based teacher tool that was designed by a former teacher David Hunter.
Garrett Podgorski, Curriculum Specialist & Instructional Coach for the RSSP of South Cook ISC/Regional Office of
Education 7 states, “I have been using ThemeSpark for creating rubrics that have some complexity level in order to help teachers create a way to assess. Specifically it can be used as a source in
introducing the Social Science Standards and measuring 21st century skills. I believe this is a great tool compared to other rubric programs for classes that give the flexibility of creating differentiated products while following the standards.”
Teachers can quickly build a lesson from a rubric or standard and can choose from 1000s of standards-aligned lesson resources or add their own. Social science
lessons and rubrics are aligned to the C3 Framework, from which the Illinois Social Science Standards were derived. A video is provided to take teachers through the process.
Go to https://themespark.net and sign up (for free). ThemeSpark was listed as a
“District Administrator Top Product for 2015”.
activities can be found on the
official Bicentennial website at
https://illinois200.com/.
The Bicentennial Commission
is also partnering with various
organizations throughout
Illinois to provide a variety of
opportunities to join in on
the celebration. For example,
the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and
The Official Illinois
Bicentennial Celebration
begins December 3rd, 2017
with events in Springfield and
Chicago. The celebration will
continue with programs and
events throughout 2018,
culminating with the
Bicentennial Birthday Party
on December 3rd, 2018 at
the United Center. More
information on events and
Museum will create statewide
historical commemorations and a
new Bicentennial museum exhibit for
2018.
Additionally, educational resources
exploring 200 years of Illinois will be
launched in early 2018 to engage
students of all ages in the
Bicentennial. Be sure to check out
February’s Capture the Core for
more information on these exciting
educational opportunities!
Add a Bit of Spark to the Cold Winter: ThemeSpark
Illinois’ Bicentennial Celebration Has Begun!
Book Power: Helping Social Science Come Alive for, as well as a summary of
the book. Click here for the
list.
Elementary teachers can scan
the site and determine what
books may be infused in their
current Social Science
lessons and units.
In addition, CBC, in
collaboration with the
National Council of the Social
Studies, publishes an annual
reading list of exceptional
books for use in social studies
classrooms, selected by social
studies educators. Click here
to access this resource.
The Children’s Book Council
(CBC) has compiled a list of
books that help readers
discover those who shaped
the world around them.
These titles remind readers
that they too can inspire and
spark change no matter their
age!
The list includes the title,
author, grade level designed
“The only
thing new in
the world is
the history you
do not know.”
― Harry Truman
Social Science Page 5 Volume 6 Issue IV
Grades 3-5
GOAL 1 Self - Awareness &
Self-Management
Everything is cooler in the
winter. Students can build
their own ‘cool off’
snowflake.
Provide a list of
cool off options for
students to choose
from. Include more
options with older
students. Cool off
template is available at
the link below.
Allow students to work
in small groups to discuss
their choices.
Attach to ELA/Soc
Science lesson with
character who ‘cools
off’ (or doesn’t).
http://bit.ly/COOLOFF
GOAL 2 Social Awareness &
Relationship Management
Having a ball with SEL!
Each student makes a
snowman.
Each snowman can ‘earn’
an SEL snowball (to put in
their pile) through first
display of that desired
behavior.
Students then ‘earn’ time
to ‘tag’ or move their
snowball to another
student if they’ve seen that
student display the same
desired behavior.
Once tagged, students can
‘earn’ time to ‘tag’ another
classmate.
Post a list of 5-6 desired
behaviors using SEL language.
Find guides HERE
GOAL 3 Positive
Decision Making
Marshmallows are essential
for winter survival! Use them
in a fun and experiential way.
http://bit.ly/wintersel3
Buy twice as many large
marshmallows as
student(s) - and a few
extras for self rewards.
Explain the ‘rules’ of this
‘test’… “Here’s the deal,
you each get one
marshmallow on your
desk. You can eat it, or if
you wait (# of minutes),
then you can have a
second marshmallow.
(less time for younger,
up to 15 min for older)
Journal or create art on
how some resisted.
Prompts avail at link.
Have students decorate and
complete a ‘my family is unique’
worksheet. (template HERE)
Provide blank paper and guide
students through creating at least
two snowflakes—through scissor
cuts.
Facilitate write/talk about snowflake
similar/different observations with a
classmate and in small groups.
Facilitate write/talk about family
similar/different observations with a
classmate and in small groups.
Social Emotional Learning Winter Classroom Ideas
Comprehensive System of Learning Supports
Check us out on the web:
Illinois Classrooms in Action
Climate & Culture
Grades K-5
Climate & Culture
Action Network
Family Engagement - Winter Classroom Ideas
EVERY FAMILY IS SPECIAL
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