Curriculum Connections
Linking to Teacher Resources
October Website - SMORE
Do you need to connect with your community or your classroom parents? Spread the word online! Smore.com makes it easy and fun. Smore makes you look like a pro every time. Even if you have zero design experience. https://www.smore.com/
Edutopia - Website for Primary Source Documents
Check out this great resource for English Language Arts and Content Teachers-
6 Free Online Resources for Primary Source Documents by Monica Burns.
This site gives a detailed description of primary sources you can find at different websites.
October Distance Learning Student Session Highlights
Friendship and Respect
Building student citizenship skills through respect are an important component of any classroom setting. Students will look at gaining and giving respect to each other through interactive literature extensions. The perfect distance learning event for building friendships in the new school year. Cost: $85.00, 30 student maximum REGISTER
Boo-ti-ful Pumpkins
Students will examine various math concepts in this “fall themed” video conference lesson. Using a pumpkin, the presenter will facilitate an interactive student lesson on circumference and estimation. Student groups work collaboratively to explore the mathematic concepts and to explain their methods of achieving the answer. Appropriate
literature is used to solidify the topics explored.
Cost: $85.00, 30 student maximum
A-Maize-ing Corn!
This fun and interactive lesson teaches students in grades one through three the value and procedure of estimation. Using the themes of corn and of Thanksgiving, students will learn the difference between wild guesses and reasonable guesses and will learn to make estimation decisions in groups using a variety of different activities. Cost: $85.00, 30 student maximum REGISTER
October PIN of the Month
Have you ever struggled with helping kids understand where they live? This creative activity will help kids understand the concept of learning about where they live relative to the Earth, their Continent, their Country, their State, their City, and their Street.
Connecting to the Arts
Writing Through Art
How do I get students to think at the levels that the Common Core demands? Looking for strategies to connect Common Core with the Arts?
The Arts are the backbone of integrated, meaningful learning. Both the Common Core and Arts standards are built upon practices and big ideas which lead to process learning for all (Susan Riley, EducationCloset.com).
The English Language Arts Writing Standards are key in process learning. Students are asked to create narrative or informational writing. “In the arts, this translates into creating a composition. This could be a painting that reflects an understanding of the foreground and background or it could be writing a brief composition in music showing the use of quarter, eighth and sixteenth note rhythms.” (Susan Riley, EducationCloset.com)
Check out the following resources from the Educator’s Closet that support writing in the Arts classrooms:
Visual Arts-Grades 2-5: Writing Scrapbook http://educationcloset.com/2011/11/18/writing-scrapbook-lesson/
Visual Arts- All Grades: Artful Journaling
http://educationcloset.com/2011/02/02/artful-journaling-lesson-plans-education-closet/
Visual Arts Grade 6: A Balanced Composition Digital Photography and Writing Lesson http://educationcloset.com/steam/a-balanced-composition-digital-photography-and-writing-lesson/
Visual Arts- High School Grades: Degas Analysis
http://educationcloset.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/degasanalysis.jpg
Technology Skills for Today's Learners
Let’s face it; today’s learners are all of us. Technology plays an important role in our learning. As learners we need to be able to use technology for critical thinking, problem solving and other 21st Century skills. As educators, we need to be in the forefront, so we can prepare our students to use 21st Century learning skills. One question that is on everyone’s mind is: What technology will students need for upcoming assessments?
October APP of the Month
Motion Math: Zoom, By Motion Math
$2.99
Motion Math teaches place value, a fundamental concept that will allow learners to develop flexible mental computation, numerical estimation, and quantitative judgment. Research suggests that understanding the number line has a profound impact on a child's future math ability.
COMMON CORE ALIGNED K.CC.7, 1.NBT.2, 1.NBT.3, 1.NBT.5, 2.NBT.1, 2.NBT.4, 3.NBT.1, 4.NBT.3, 4.NF.6, 4.NF.7, 5.NBT.3, 6.NS.7a
Motion Math is a member of Moms with Apps, a collaborative group of family-friendly developers seeking to promote quality apps for kids and families. Recommended Ages: 4-7, 8-10, 11-12
Here is a link to a video on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suqk5kpcmpc
Gifted Resources
TeachersFirst’s Classroom Resources includes anything you would use with students in the classroom. You can find over 16,000 educator-reviewed web resources, searchable by subject/grade or keyword. You can also find lesson plans/units, ready-to-go content you can share on student computers, a projector, or interactive whiteboard, and special topic collections of web resources. The site even offers just-in-time collections organized into a classroom planning calendar. All resources are written or reviewed by experienced teachers who know the realities of teaching. http://www.teachersfirst.com/classroom_resources.cfm
Questioning Strategies
The Art of Questioning: Content to Meaning to Style
How do you develop and sequence questions that lead students through a scaffolding of complex questioning and thinking?
Karine Schaefer, High School English teacher, sequences questions with increasing levels of difficulty when leading classroom discussions about a text. She starts with (1) content questions that asks students to react to the content of the text, requiring students to examine the topics and the nuances of the text. She then moves the students to questions that lead the students to the (2) “big picture” or meaning of the text. Lastly, students examine how the text structures the argument looking at the (3) style of writing and the form of the piece.
View High School English teacher, Karine Schaefer, and specific questions on content, meaning and style on The Teaching Channel.
College and Career
Learning Express Library - INFOhio
Are you interested in exploring careers with your students? Check-out the Learning Express Library (a part of the INFOhio website resources). Students, teachers, and parents can explore different careers, create resumes and cover letters, and prep for job interviews. This site offers a wealth of free resources to help guide you for future opportunities. Employees of Ohio schools can request that INFOhio establish a username and password specific to the school system. The use of school system accounts will allow students to remember the log in information for the INFOhio web site more easily while away from school.
Log in Automatically?
That's right! If you're at school, you might be able to login without having to type your username and password at all. Just look for the green 'Try Auto Login' button located on pages throughout the site.
Value-Added Reports
ODE has reported that Overall and Component Local Report Card Grades will be delayed until 2016. Measures will continue to be reported and graded, but no sanctions will occur while the safe harbor provision is in effect.
EVAAS data will become available in late October and teacher reports are scheduled to be out Mid-September. High School VA will be reported in 2015, but not graded until 2016.
In preparation for the change in assessments, student projection reports will no longer include probability of success for the OAA. Student projections will show probability of success in spring of 2015 relative to the 50th and 80th percentile in the statewide distribution of the new assessment.
Change in Teacher Value-added Report:
* The upcoming Matrix change is that instead of the previous growth calculations of 5-most effective, 2,3,4- effective and 1-least effective, this year’s reports in eTPES will place the 1 & 2 level at LEAST EFFECTIVE.
Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center
Email: cathy.morgan@mvesc.org
Website: www.mvesc.org
Location: 205 North 7th Street, Zanesville, Ohio 43701, United States
Phone: (740) 452-4518