FHSD Elementary ELA Newsletter
April 2016
Important Dates
Mastery Connect Data Entry for ELA Writing Assessments
Third Quarter: Was: March 1-4 Changed to March 1-April 3
Fourth Quarter: Was: May 9-13 Changed to May 9-May 31
Assessment Wall
Fourth Quarter: May 6th-13th
Kindergarten
- Sight Words
- Assessment Wall
Awesome Resource for Space:
Google Sky is a part of Google Earth that allows you to explore space and star systems. Classrooms have the ability to view star systems using the best images from NASA satellites, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the Hubble Telescope. Google Sky is a great way to view the planets and constellations and witness the birth of galaxies and other items in the universe.
First Grade
- Galileo Reading Benchmark (optional)
- Assessment Wall
Reading Summative Assessments for 2016-2017
Since Galileo will no longer be utilized in first grade next year, feedback was gathered from teams regarding the preference for next year's reading summative assessments. The feedback from the teams was to use this year's "formative" assessments that are aligned to the priority standards.
Second Grade
- Galileo Reading Benchmark (optional)
- Assessment Wall
3rd Grade
- Galileo Reading Benchmark (optional)
- Assessment Wall
- Author's Note (Informational Writing)
Fourth Quarter Collaborative Scoring Opportunity
Third grade teams are invited to come together to collaboratively score fourth quarter writing the afternoon of May 2nd or May 5th. Any third grade team interested in participating will have the support of Melinda or Carrie through the collaborative scoring process. Please contact Carrie Hepburn by April 22nd if your team is interested.
Fourth Grade
Fourth Grade 4th Quarter ELA Assessments
- Galileo Reading Benchmark (optional)
- Assessment Wall
Second Semester Revisions Day is May 24th, PLC representative will bring
- Curriculum
- Feedback regarding the curriculum
- Student writing from third and fourth quarter writing assessments
- Daily Lesson Plans for Units 4-7 (optional)
5th Grade
Fifth Grade 4th Quarter ELA Assessments
- Galileo Reading Benchmark (optional)
- Assessment Wall
Second Semester Revisions Day is May 25th, PLC representative will bring
- Curriculum
- Feedback regarding the curriculum
- Student writing from third and fourth quarter writing assessments
- Daily Lesson Plans for Units 4-7 (optional)
Awesome Resource for Space:
Google Sky is a part of Google Earth that allows you to explore space and star systems. Classrooms have the ability to view star systems using the best images from NASA satellites, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the Hubble Telescope. Google Sky is a great way to view the planets and constellations and witness the birth of galaxies and other items in the universe.
Potential Resource for Plantation Project:
Build LEGO with Chrome
Google has partnered with LEGO so you can build with Lego bricks using Google Maps as your baseplate in Chrome. A Google team in Australia first developed this application as an experiment in 2012, and Google has now opened it up to everybody.
In the classroom –
- Students can build their own LEGO cities, highlighting data they have collected about their city.
- Students can build Lego versions of historical landmarks and write an essay about them.
- Students can view what others have built and discuss the various structures.
- Students can screen capture their creations to include in a digital story or video.
National Council of Teachers of English
New Research Curriculum
Background:
In 2015-2016 a research task force was created to investigate what students need to know, understand, and be able to do while conducting research to ensure college and career readiness. The task force representatives consisted of LMS’s, classroom teachers, content leaders, and administrators.
Goals:
The goals of the task force were to ensure every student who left Francis Howell had the ability to research effectively and had the opportunity to conduct a research project each year. Another goal was to provide an opportunity for the LMS to partner with classroom teachers to implement the research process.
Research: The group researched various research processes, such as Big 6, I-Search, and Super 3 to name a few. They interviewed university professors within the area asking about the research skills students were lacking to be successful in college. The group analyzed Missouri Learning and ISTE Standards for alignment within the research process and cross-referenced the standards.
After conducting a thorough investigation, the team determined kindergarten through third grade would implement the Super 3 research process and in fourth through twelfth grade the Big 6 research process.
Developed: Once the team determined the research processes a curriculum was developed aligning the Missouri Learning Standards, ISTE Standards, and research process standards. The curriculum was vertically aligned K-12 making sure skills would scaffold beginning in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Once the curriculum was completed scoring guides were developed for each step in the process.
Implementation: Next year the building LMS will partner with a classroom teacher in each grade level to “pilot” one unit using the new research curriculum. The LMS and teacher will collaboratively work together to implement the research curriculum with the ELA curriculum. The following units have been identified to implement the research curriculum: K-Community Helpers, 1st-Animals, 2nd-Native Americans, 3rd-Historical Figures, 4th-Plant & Animal Adaptations, and 5th-Colonies.
After piloting the curriculum feedback will be used to revise the curriculum prior to district-wide implementation.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Carrie Hepburn.
Elementary ELA Content Leader
Email: carrie.hepburn@fhsdschools.org
Location: 1405 Hwy D, Saint Charles, MO, United States
Phone: 636-851-6341
Twitter: @CarrieHepburn