Common Core Changes

My early summer lay off isn't exactly over (it's been four weeks since my last post), but I do feel that I'm ready to start posting my Common Core (CCSS) units fairly soon. To provide a little background, here in New Mexico, at least here in Las Cruces, grades K-3 adopted the CCSS this past school year. Grades 4-12 will be adopting this upcoming school year. I know many states have already been there for a few years, but this is my first big experience with it all.

Before I jumped right in and started putting up lessons, ideas, units, assessments, etc. that are CCSS aligned, I wanted to make sure I sufficiently understood what the CCSS is all about. I've attended (and facilitated) a number of workshops and trainings this summer, and have also been reading Pathways to the Common Core, a great book that makes it easier to digest these changes in the literacy and writing classrooms.

Now that I've got a good idea of the direction I'll be going to one last math training today. I attended a few earlier this week about math pacing guides, and this one today is about CCSS and our new math series, Pearson enVision. There will be some changes to my page here. What I'll be doing is re-aligning my units for the CCSS. I will not take down my old units and lessons, but will be attempting to include CCSS resources in them, even the science and social studies one. I will be attempting to re-do those units to reflect both the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) standards that haven't been mandated in New Mexico, but are definitely coming, and the National Science Education Standards (NSES), which are also not mandated but help tie together my lessons to a broader focus.

I will begin posting these units this weekend, as well as some ideas on how to setup instruction in the various subjects according to the CCSS while addressing rigor, relevance, and a much greater depth of learning.

I'm excited about this shift to the CCSS, I think it will really force teachers to demand more of themselves and their students, and will pay off in the long run. Like anything else that is mandated in education, there are pitfalls and things to make you shake your head. But I've decided that, as it relates to the CCSS, there's not much value in complaining, we're all in this together (quite literally, all states with the exception of Texas, Virginia, and Alaska... and Minnesota in math, have adopted the CCSS, you can see that for yourself on this In the States graphic).

I hope you'll come back and be able to utilize some of what I put up here. Thanks!

My 100th Post

This is my 100th post on this blog, a minor milestone. Aside from those 100 posts, I also have created 32 static pages, which now span two different blogs (I had to creatively work around the 25 static page limit per blog and create a second, nearly identical blog to continue these pages).

Over the first 100 posts, I am proud to say that I've had many teachers who have taken the materials posted and used them in their classrooms. My goal as a teacher is to reach my students and give them opportunities to love learning and take control of their own education. By sharing my ideas, and the great ideas of others, on these pages, it is my hope that other teachers can reach their students and see them learn independently, and challenge themselves.

My philosophy behind this blog is to offer free items to teachers in the upper elementary grades. All too often, these grades get ignored. Much of what comes into elementary schools is meant for the primary grades, and the intermediate (3-5 grades) teachers are asked to adapt  resources to their students. I don't accept that, it's a cop out and a reason not to go the extra mile. I work to hunt down (or make) resources that are intended for this age group.

And finally, it's all about free. Teachers Pay Teachers is a great site because it allows teachers to make a little extra money for their ideas, but I'm not about that. I believe that my ideas should be freely shared, education isn't about profit, it's about learning, and I'm glad to see that there are so many out there who agree with this. So, thanks for coming, thanks for reading, and here's to another 100 posts!

Blogger Static Pages: I Used Up My Limit, Now What?

Anybody else out there who blogs in Blogger, you've surely come upon the greatest thing ever, the static pages. I use these static pages to post my subject specific unit pages of resources and lessons (they are linked to in the right side bar). They're great because each page acts as a stand alone web page, separate from the daily postings of the blog.

When I started my blog, I was blissfully unaware that there was a limit on the amount of pages a blog could have. I just figured I'd make the 100 or so pages I need to finish my vision all right here in this blog. I found out yesterday that there is a limit, and that limit is 20 (counting the home page).

So what now? I had a few options at this point. I could just start posting these unit and lessons pages as posts, because there's no limit on those (well there is, but it's something like 10,000, so I'm not concerned). The only problem there is I like having them separate from the blog itself.

I'm sure there are many work around, but the most simple I found is this: Make another blog.

One Google account can have up to 100 blogs. Do the math, that's up to 2,000 static pages. I made a second blog, and am working to make it identical in appearance to this blog (same back ground, header images, ad placements, etc.), and do 20 more pages there. This is the most simple work around I have found, and I should be publishing my first static page from there sometime tomorrow, and I'm confident it will have the same look as the static pages here, minus a few things. First, I won't have the same ability to move viewers through to the rest of my blog, so I'll need to make sure they have a way to reach "home" (the main page of this blog). Once I have that going, I'm sure it will work out fine.

If anybody has found something else that works better, I would love to hear about it!

My Latest Unit of Resources: World Wars (World War I, Great Depression, World War II)

My most recent update to my units is Social Studies Unit 6: World Wars. This unit includes World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II.

My resources for World War II are much more in depth. You can access that unit by clicking the link or the picture.

Normally, for convenience, I would post the entire text of the unit here so that you don't have to go clicking through my blog. My unit pages were organized the way they are for my own purposes more than anything else. However, in the case of this unit, there are many links, and a few Youtube clips embedded, so it's faster in terms of loading time to just click over to that page.

Time to Start Another Year Again

My first contract day back at work is only 16 days away, and yes, I'm counting. Every summer seems to go by faster than the one before, and this one has been no exception. The excitement of starting another year is slightly dampened by the end of a lazy, carefree time, a much needed time.

As I re-enter my classroom, which I did this past week, I started to get a feel for the small changes I would make. There are two ways that, as a teacher, you'll start a year. You'll either be in a new room, or the same room. Staying in the same room is much preferred for me. I'm in the room that I love the most, it's off on the corner, it has carpet (not all the rooms in my school do), and I student taught in that very room eight years ago, so it has a sense of nostalgia and coming full circle to it. I've been in that room for going on three years, and have worked to make it my own space.

It's nice getting to be in the same room, because my walls and bulletin boards need less work. I already know where I want my furniture to go, and I've already set up my technology (including tossing some wires up in the false ceiling to extend the reach of the internet for my computers).

It looks like I'll have six computers this year, and have gained an extra group table space. I'm very excited for the changes that come with a new school year, but at the same time I mourn the end of summer, the extra time with my wife and kids, the extra time to do what I want, when I want. But, that's the job. You get your breaks, then you go back to work. It's almost time!

My 5th Grade Unit on Westward Expansion

In my subject specific static pages within this blog, I have posted resources and plans for teaching a unit on Westward Expansion (the frontier, California Gold Rush, the many trails that brought pioneers out West, etc.).

You can access that unit on my blog, it's titled Unit 5: Westward Expansion. It is my hope that there are links here that are useful to other teachers, most of this stuff is appropriate for grades 2-7 with adaptations. There are many links for kids, and teachers, including lots of print ready pdf documents. Everything is free, so that's always a plus!

I have also taken the exact page and removed all teacher resources from it. When my students begin research in this unit, they will use the page Social Studies Unit 5: Westward Expansion Student Links Only.

My 5th Grade Unit on The American Revolution

In my subject pages, I have completed a page with resources for the unit I teach on The American Revolution.

This unit includes information on life under British rule for the colonists, the growing tensions between the colonists and England, the war itself, and some bits on the reconstruction afterwards. The page is titled Social Studies Unit 3: Revolution. There are dozens of links to sites, documents, lessons, and videos.

Subject Specific Pages / Units / Lessons on my blog

My overall vision for this blog has been to create a resource file that I can use in my daily classroom, but done in a format that will be useful to other teachers. So in addition to the regular blog posts, I have created subject specific pages (you can see the links on the right sidebar). Each subject specific page will itself contain links to unit specific pages, with more specifics on lessons. I hope this will be useful to teachers out there viewing this blog. Here are the links to those subject specific pages:

• Math
• Reading
• Writing
• Science
• Social Studies