Common Core Interactive Journals: The Middle Ages Part 2

I love using lots of color during note taking.  This is especially helpful when students take notes in their Common Core Interactive Reading journals.  The goal of the note taking today was Common Core Standard RI.1 which  wants students to cite evidence from the text and infer and Standard RI.2 which involved determining the main idea of the text.  After students took notes, I asked them questions to assess comprehension.

During our unit, students "created their own books".  As I explained different aspects about daily life, customs during the Middle Ages, etc., students wrote down what they heard and included diagrams, charts, and other illustrations.  By creating their own books through organized note taking, students are able to apply higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and learn about the Common Core Standards at an even deeper level.

During this activity, students learned about how difficult life was for the peasants.  I found a bucket years ago at a craft store and drilled holes in the sides of it.  The paper represents water.  The peasants paid rent to live on the land of the nobles, and the peasants had to do daily work for them too.  Unfair but true, the peasants had to pay the nobles a fee for EVERYTHING including the ability to get water from the well.  As a result the peasants rationed out their water-at the expense of bathing too!

We acted out this process of water rationing like the peasants.  

This is real wool.  Peasants knitted to create sweaters and made their own cloth from it.  They also made their own cheese.  Students were able to handle these artifacts to make the Common Core thematic unit feel as realistic as possible.

Common Core Interactive Journals: The Middle Ages

For the past month, my students have been learning about life during the Middle Ages.  This is a great way to integrate the Common Core informational text standards into reading.  Honestly, I think that I have been having just as much fun as the students.  

On this day (picture that is above), we learned about the different parts of a manor where the nobles and peasants lived.  Students took colorful notes and created their own diagrams.  This integrated Common Core Standard RI.5 that deals with text features and text organization.  Throughout the unit, students applied what they learned about text features with their own notetaking.

Most of our unit focused on the daily life of peasants.  They worked on the land of the nobles and lived a very difficult life.  Most of the time, kings and queens are the object of attention during units about the Middle Ages and not people in the lower classes of society. Peasants made up 90% of the population during this time period.  Students did role playing and acted out the daily life of peasants by threshing wheat.  Each student was given wheat to thresh (beat) against the desk until grains popped out.  Just like during the Middle Ages, students had to give the noble (me) the pieces of wheat that was collected so that it could be handed to the miller (wheat grinder).

The students were able to see replicas of coins and an authentic coin that would have been used at that time.  The authentic coin is on the far left.

More coming soon....

Grade 5 Common Core Reading Games and Activity Cards

We are about one year away from the Common Core Standards.  My personal goal is to have fun as I transition to these new standards.  As an instructional coach, I work with multiple grade levels.  The resources that I have here have been a HUGE help with my fifth graders.  To access these resources, click a link below.Click Here to Access This Bundle

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Text Organization Formats

Right now, we are learning about informational text.  In addition to looking at text features, we are also discussing the format that authors use to organize information.

Understanding text organization is helpful when it comes to interpreting informational text.  I have some fun pictures to share soon.  Stay tuned...

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Common Core Writing

Common Core writing shares many similarities with writing that has been required in the past.  One of the major differences in the inclusion of something called opinion writing.  At the lower grades this is what this type of writing is called.  At the middle school grade levels and higher, it is called argument writing.

How is opinion/argument writing different?  Rather than only stating an opinion, students are expected to provide the contrasting viewpoint about a topic (this requirement is at the upper grade levels). The was included in the standards because it reflects the type of writing that is done on the SAT test and in many college level classes.

My students have been practicing all three of these types of writing.  Check back soon because I will post examples of student writing and give tips for including all three in your daily instruction.

Tips for Answering Short-Response Questions

Short-response questions can be tricky.  This type of question asks students to answer a question and explain their thinking.  

Common Core writing will involve short-response tasks for most of the assessments.  The final test of the year will contain multiple-choice questions.  Although there are not any requirements that state how many details a student must give in a response, more is always best.

When my students are faced with a short-response question, I encourage them to do the following things:

• Answer the question.  Next, give several details to support your thinking.  I often make the analogy that if they want to convince their parents to do something, they usually give multiple reasons why in order to be more persuasive.
• Be very specific.  Instead of stating "she went somewhere", state "Heather went to the store".  Specific information is always valued much higher than vague answers.
• Explain the connection between the details that have been provided and your answer.  Instead of listing details , explain the connection between ideas.  For example," The text states the fact that Heather looked down and frowned.  This detail supports my idea that Heather was upset.  I know this because this is the way that people usually act when they feel this way."

Although these are tips that are extremely helpful when it comes to answering questions in class and on current assessments, these strategies will help students provide stronger answers on the Common Core assessments.

Grade 4 Common Core Resources

Grade 4 Common Core reading resources at your fingertips! Having resources that are specially aligned to the fourth grade Common Core reading standards has been a huge help in my classroom.  During small group instruction, I have the resources that I need for quick and fun review.  Plus, since each one includes a printable box, I can send home a box of students with students for review.  If you would like more information, click a link below.

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Grade 5 Daily Morning Common Core Practice

Daily Common Core practice in just five minutes a day!  If you have ever used morning bell work when students enter the classroom, then you know how helpful it can be.  This daily morning practice can be completed in just five minutes a day and reviews many standards.  Click the link below for more information.

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Common Core Aligned Activity Cards---Each One Includes a Printable Box

Word Meaning Click Here 

Text Structure Click Here

Topical Common Core Practice for Grade 5

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Grade 3 Common Core Resources

Grade 3 Common Core activity cards and games for review.  These are great resources for reviewing the Common Core Standards and have made my life as a teacher so much easier.

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Strategies For Teaching Common Core Standard 3 (Informational Text): Cause and Effect

Hopefully you have had a fantastic day already!  This blog post is devoted to Common Core Standard RI.3 which deals with informational text. The main purpose of this standard is to help students understand causal reasoning. In other words, it means to look deeply at the causes of events and their effects.  

The social studies aspect of this standard involves using something called historical reasoning skills.  This means to think of events in history from the viewpoint of what life was like during that period, from the point of view of people living within that time frame, and to think about how one event in history caused another event to happen.(Tip #1 Provides an Example of This)

Helpful Tips for Teaching This Standard

TIP #1

Example:  This is a picture of two sad irons.  They were heated on coal stoves in order to iron clothes during the 1800s.  

Question:

Why was the discovery of electricity important?  

How did it affect the lives of people living during this time?  

Answer:

The discovery of electricity made life easier for people.  During this time period, people used coal stoves for energy or even wood.  When electricity was discovered, it meant that no one had to purchase coal or chop down wood to iron their clothes.  Irons made after electricity was discovered could be connected to an outlet.  This would have saved time from chopping wood and would have gotten rid of the need to have coal.

Tip #2

The Common Core Standards encourages teaching topics in thematic units.  I have found that it really does make teaching the standards much easier.  

For Common Core resources, access a link below.

Common Core Rubrics

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Strategies for Teaching Common Core Standard 10: Text Complexity

The Common Core Standards are just around the corner.  If you worried, please don't be.  There are several things that can be done to make the transition even easier.  

As a K-8th grade instructional coach my job is to fully understand the Common Core Standards.  But my life mission is to make it fun too!  This post will focus on Common Core Standard 10 and tips that you can use to address this standard.

Common Core Standard 10 for both literature and informational texts involves text complexity.  The goal is that students are reading at a much higher level by the end of the school year.  The general expectation is one year's growth.  Below are classroom-tested strategies that have helped my students make over a years growth in just six months.

Strategies

• At the intermediate grade levels (4th-5th), incorporate five minutes of read-alouds each day that are at a higher reading level.  For example, read part of an article from Smithsonian magazine or National Geographic together with the students.  The readability levels are high with these magazines.  Many of the topics in these magazines can be connected to social studies or science current events.
• Read slightly higher level books as read-alouds with primary grade level students.  Hoot is a great book.  The constant exposure to vocabulary is a great vocabulary booster.
• Carefully monitor the book levels of the books that students are reading.  Ensure students are gradually reading books at a higher reading level as the school year progresses.

Differentiated Common Core Aligned Resources

Theme Task Cards

Differentiated Inference Task Cards

Common Core Rubrics