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common core standards

These 9 apps help every student hit Common Core Standards

Scaffold Common Core standards for students with these educator-picked apps

As schools everywhere shift to the Common Core, teachers are now realizing that they must now be able to determine the both the factors within a given text where students will need scaffolding as well as the type of scaffolding appropriate for the activity. Fortunately, there are a number of free apps that can help.

The Common Core app organizes the Common Core standards by subject area (math traditional, math integrated, language arts, history/Social Studies, and science and technology) and grade level. This app also includes the Common Core appendices from the Common Core website. The organization within the app places the information in one single location for ease of use.

Apps for Common Core provides the common core standards and shares apps by grade level and standard. This particular app seems to include more resources for the primary grades and contains more extensive mathematics than English Language Arts resources.…Read More

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CommonCore.com offers help in teaching to the standards

New website includes a growing collection of interactive clinics, videos, lesson plans, and white papers for helping to integrate the Common Core standards into instruction

common-core-standardsTriumph Learning, a publisher of instructional materials and literacy programs aligned with state standards, has introduced a new website—CommonCore.com—that offers free resources to support teachers as they implement the Common Core standards.

The interactive clinics, videos, lesson plans, blogs, and white papers featured on the site provide educators and parents with best practices and practical information on the new, more rigorous learning goals.

“At Triumph Learning, we are committed to ensuring that teachers have access to high-quality resources that will help them navigate the Common Core Standards and position their students for success,” said CEO Rick Noble. “Our growing collection of free resources on CommonCore.com puts the information, advice, and tools for successfully implementing the standards right at their fingertips.”…Read More

How the ‘four Cs’ fit with the Common Core

The ‘four Cs’ are an integral part of the Common Core standards; here are free resources for helping to teach these important skills

four-cs
Connecting students is a great opportunity to teach digital literacy and citizenship.

The 21st-century skills of communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking, often referred to as the “four Cs,” are an integral part of the Common Core standards.

Fortunately, there are an abundance of free resources and digital tools that empower teachers to lead by example and integrate these “four Cs” in meaningful and effective ways.

Communication…Read More

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Common Core practice tests now available online

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, one of two collections of states that are designing online tests aligned with the Common Core standards, has released online practice tests in both ELA and math for students in grades 3-8 and 11.

The tests will help schools prepare for implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System in the 2014-15 school year, the organization says.

The practice tests allow teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders to experience the features of online testing and gain insight into how Smarter Balanced will assess students’ mastery of the Common Core. However, they don’t encompass the full range of content that students will encounter on the spring 2014 Field Test and should not be used to guide instructional decisions, the consortium warns.…Read More

Editorial: Make the Common Core standards work before making them count

The fact that the changes are being made nationwide without anything close to adequate preparation is a failure of leadership, Weingarten says.

[Editor’s note: This is an edited version of remarks made by Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, at the Association for a Better New York on April 30.]

Our obligation as a nation, and my obligation as an educator, is to help children achieve their potential, participate in our democracy, and propel our economy forward. In today’s world, that means our students must be prepared to compete—not on the basis of their test-taking skills, but on their ability to solve problems, analyze and apply knowledge, and work with others.

So, what if I told you there is a way to transform the very DNA of teaching and learning to move away from rote memorization and endless test-prep, and toward problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork—things I know many of you have been advocating for years? And what if I told you there is a way to do that not a generation from now, but for students today, who will be the employees you’ll hire tomorrow?…Read More

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New website unpacks the Common Core standards for educators, parents

Scholastic has launched a new website, “Common Sense for the Common Core,” that aims to help teachers, school leaders, and parents understand the standards, and provides instructional programs to implement them.

Built in consultation with Common Core experts, the website answers questions about the standards and points parents and teachers toward resources to help them understand what is changing and what is not.

“Common Sense for the Common Core” includes:…Read More

Some states preserve penmanship despite tech gains

Some states have added a cursive writing requirement to the Common Core standards, while most others have left it as optional for school districts.

The pen might not be as mighty as the keyboard these days, but California and a handful of states are not giving up on handwriting entirely.

Bucking a growing trend of eliminating cursive writing from elementary school curriculums or making it optional, California is among the states keeping longhand as a third-grade staple.

The state’s posture on penmanship is not likely to undercut its place at the leading edge of technology, but it has teachers and students divided over the value of learning flowing script and looping signatures in an age of touch pads and mobile devices.…Read More

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