Digital Citizenship/Literacy Curriculum

I came across a resource on Digital Citizenship and Literacy that correlates with the ELA common core standards. Towards the end of this school year we will be adjusting our curriculum maps. We need to keep in mind the need to integrate multiple literacies with content curriculum. Integration of speaking and listening skills and dance, music, visual arts, and computer technologies are crucial in our Reading and Writing curriculum. This is free and offers lessons for all grade levels with a standard alignment table to display where the lesson fits in your grade level content. The link that I am providing will take you to a page where you can select your grade level and browse lessons. On the right of the page you will see "related resources" which will provide an overview of the curriculum, assessment tools and alignment to the standards.
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/classroom-curriculum/alignment

This site is designed for students to think critically and make informed choices on how to create, communicate and treat others in a digital world. Units include: Safety and Security, Digital Life, Privacy and Digital Footprints, Connected Culture, Respecting Creative Work, Research and Information Literacy (Searching and Research and Evaluations). Lots of parent resources are available along with videos and formative assessments to correspond with lessons.

Revised Testing Information

New charts have been issued by KDE that updates the time allowed for each section of the K-Prep Assessment. If a student does not complete parts B and C in the expected time, they may use an additional twenty minutes for all content areas except writing. KDE will study the completion times after this assessment and it will be reviewed for its use in the future. Below is the link to the updated testing times.
http://www.education.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/C6732D1E-BBD2-4CFB-8925-5889EF02F4CE/0/2012KPREPTestingFormatItemsandTimes20120312.pdf

Also, you may want to discuss with your students the way the answers will be ordered. For example, student choices will be arranged in the following order:

A. Answer Choice         C. Answer Choice
B. Answer Choice         D. Answer Choice

Students will also be working out of two books this year instead of one. So they will be transferring answers from one booklet to another!
Let me know if you have any questions! As I find out new things I will send them your way!

Problem Solving K-2

Mrs. Karen has shared some information from the KCM Conference that has some great information and tools for students that are beginning to learn addition and subtraction. The PowerPoint is a little long but has some powerful information!

PowerPoint Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fibRvSlIF_jD4jqtMa00a834R1ghfD13dDnAu8R0RoQ/present?ueb=true#slide=id.p17

I will be sending you an email with the resources that are attached to the presentation!! If you have any questions let us know! This is a great resource for K-2 teachers.

Testing Updates

New materials for the K-PREP Assessment have recently been released. Some of the new materials include:

• Student Response Booklet Demographic page
• Permitted Calculator Use Policy
• Writer’s Reference Sheets
• Math Reference Sheet
• Extended-Response (ER) General Scoring Guides
• Short-Answer (SA) General Scoring Guides
• Student Response Spaces for ER and SA

http://www.education.ky.gov/KDE/Administrative+Resources/Testing+and+Reporting+/District+Support/K-PREP+Assessments/K-PREP+Administration+Materials.htm

New samplers for reading and mathematics K-PREP items have been posted to the Sample Assessment Items for K-PREP page. They include items and student response space for grades 3 through 8.

http://www.education.ky.gov/KDE/Administrative+Resources/Testing+and+Reporting+/District+Support/Link+to+Released+Items/Sample+Assessment+Items+for+K-PREP.htm

ACCOMMODATION CHANGES DELAYED UNTIL 2012-2013 SCHOOLYEAR

In preparation for the 2012 spring assessments, please continue to use the existing 703 KAR 5:070 Inclusion of Special Populations regulation, dated February 12, 2009. The new accommodation changes will be effective for the 2012-13 academic year. We need to continue planning for the revised accommodation procedures for the new school year, particularly how we will ensure students become independent readers and are able to perform the required math computations without the aid of a calculator. If you want more information, I have attached an article from Kentucky Teacher that goes into more detail!

http://www.kentuckyteacher.org/features/2012/02/board-moves-forward-with-implementation-of-testing-accommodation-restrictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+KentuckyTeacher+%28Kentucky+Teacher%29

Common Core Curriculum Maps for ELA

Look at the free curriculum maps for ELA when working on your pacing guide. The second edition is already out and will be available to you soon. Ms. Amy has lots of the books referenced for each grade level!!
http://www.commoncore.org/free/

Mastery Connect

Please go to the following site and watch the video about the mastery connect system. I highly recommend joining the free online community. You can look at other assessments from teachers in the area and upload your own. Our ipods will work great with this system because there are free apps that can be used by the students that correspond to this site. Please let me know what you think about it. You can either comment to this entry or send me an email. Hope you can use this!!

http://www.masteryconnect.com/

Program Reviews Questions and Answers

I am including a link from Kentucky Teacher that addresses many questions about Program Reviews and what will be coming up within the next school year! We will discuss many of these questions in our meeting tomorrow.
http://www.kentuckyteacher.org/features/2012/01/assessment-system-looks-to-%e2%80%98develop-well-rounded-kids%e2%80%99/