Curriculum Connections
February 2015
Linking to Teacher Resources
February is upon us which means Spring is right around the corner! We hope you enjoy the resources the Muskingum Valley ESC Curriculum Department has chosen for this month. STAY WARM!!
February PIN
Link to MVESC pinterest page (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/397161260864292802/)
The Science Tool Kit for Ohio's New Learning Standards
Dr. Linda Rogness has created easy to use classroom activities to engage students in inquiry-based science. She uses an interdisciplinary approach that integrates science content with math and language arts. Students gather and interpret data, create graphs and reflect on their own learning. Check out the Science Tool Kit units for curriculum, literature and writing connections, instructional ideas, resources, assessments and much more!
Each K-2 Science Tool Kit contains:
- Units to cover Ohio’s New Learning Standards for Science
- Age-appropriate experiments using common materials
- Literature to coincide with the lessons
- Problem-solving and critical-thinking activities
- Vocabulary and “I can” statements
- Formative assessments
Grade 3 Science Tool Kit Coming Soon!
COST: K-2nd Grade - $20.00 each
Electronic Download
College Night.... Invest in Your Future
College Night 2015 is a community service project developed by area high school counselors. The purpose of College Night is to provide parents with the tools necessary to help their children choose an appropriate post secondary education. Attend College Night and participate in sessions on financial aid, college admissions, the ACT, Ohio's new graduation requirements, choosing a college, where to start and many more.
Download the College Night Brochure for more information on sessions.
Date: March 12, 2015
Time: 6:00-8:30pm
Targeted Audience: Students and Parents Grades 7-12
No Cost
Location: Zane State College and Ohio University Campus Center
February Websites
Ohio’s New State Tests
There’s now easy access to ALL Ohio’s assessments on ODE’s home page via this bright green button. Read more
Technology
With the process of putting our assessments online, we’re faced with teaching our students the technology skills they’ll need as well as the content. Read more
Presidential Learning
These three websites offer exciting activities centered around Presidential Learning. Check them out!! Read more about each one.
FunBrain http://www.funbrain.com/who/
Scholastic http://www.scholastic.com/kids/president/
iCivics https://www.icivics.org/games
App of the Month - BLUSTER!
By McGraw-Hill School Education Group
FREE
Description: Breeze through vocabulary building with Bluster!
Link to iTunes Page https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bluster!/id416160693?mt=8
This word matching game develops vocabulary and word understanding for school-aged children, or anyone brave enough to battle the elements. Shine bright in single-player mode as you learn and practice important word skills. Match rhyming words, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms, homophones, adjectives, and more. Read more.
February Student Video Conference - Grades KDG-3
Egg-Citing Animals and Egg Activities
No “yolk’s” about it folks, this video conference will keep your students engaged for an entire 60 minutes! This lesson is packed full of “dozens” of egg facts, fun, experiments, and literature. Topics explored include: Dr. Seuss (author discussion, and shared reading of “Green Eggs and Ham”); Rhyming Words; Reader’s Theater (Shared student reading of poetry selection); Identification of main ideas, characters, and supporting details; Science Link: Oviparous Animals. This lesson is perfect for celebrating Dr. Seuss’s March birthday or incorporating it into Spring or Easter classroom activities.
The Importance of Teaching For, Of, and About Thinking
In his new Growing Thinking Students in Thinking Schools LumiBook (cloud book), David Hyerle offers a brief analysis of the last 100 years of research on thinking, from early psychological testing based on IQ to the 1950s behaviorist views to constructivism and the “thinking skills” movement of the 1980s.
This “thinking skills” movement, which included Howard Gardner’s challenge of the constraining definition that bound thinking to an intelligence quotient, was introduced into classrooms by education leaders including Dr. Art Costa and Dr. Ron Brandt to help bring about a change in educational practice by emphasizing the idea of teaching for, of, and about thinking in every classroom.
These cogent, practical approaches to thinking align with and support the Thinking Schools model, and are well worth a closer look. Keep reading.
Organizing Thinking to Analyze Text
Are you looking for strategies to promote student understanding of historical text? Are your students reading through a text, reading just to finish? Check out a strategy that supports students in organizing thinking to analyze text.
Watch 5th Grade teacher, Jennifer Brouhard, demonstrate “Keep It or Junk It”.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/help-students-analyze-text
Teacher Video Conference of the Month
Wednesday February 25, 2015 (4pm-5pm)
Building Number Sense - Part 2
A continuation from session 1. Receive additional information on building number sense with students. Discover strategies to develop number sense in early education classrooms. Ruth will model rich math tasks to use in the classroom and participants will walk away with an additional rich math task to use with their students the next day. Register Here.
Instructor:
Ruth Ware, Curriculum Consultant
Muskingum Valley ESC
Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center
We Connect with educators.
We Create specific services and provide resources.
We Contribute by providing shared services to help our districts economically educate our children.
Email: cathy.morgan@mvesc.org
Website: www.mvesc.org
Location: 205 North 5th Street, Zanesville, OH, United States
Phone: 740-452-4518