January 30

Website Worth Sharing: CommonLit

I’ve found yet another free online tool that gives teachers access to a variety of texts,  reinforces reading strategies and provides teachers a record of student progress. CommonLit www.commonlit.org was developed by a non-profit and is free of charge for teachers. It is recommended for 5th -12th grades. Teachers create accounts, set up classes and have students join the class by entering a unique course code and creating an account (no email required).  Teachers can search for and assign articles and stories based on themes, text sets or their own search terms. The nice advantage of this site vs others is that there is a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Teachers can search by lexile or grade level and text is organized by themes. There are also paired texts, related media (mostly YouTube Videos), Teacher Guides and Parent Guides for most articles. Teachers can assign texts to whole classes or individuals (for differentiation). When assigning the text, teachers have the option to apply a “Guided Reading” setting that asks students to answer questions for each paragraph before they can advance to the next section. They can also print out pdf copies of the text and questions if computer access is an issue.

 

On the student end, there is a toolbar that allows students to adjust the size of the text, look up words, have the text read aloud to them, translate into several different languages (the default is Spanish, but you can change it in the settings), and highlight text. Once students are done reading, it takes them through a comprehension assignment which includes both short answer and multiple choice questions. Unlike other tools that limit students to assigned readings, CommonLit also allows students to browse for and find their own readings. The questions are available, but not submittable unless the texts are assigned by teachers.

Once students are done with the online readings/assignments, teachers can grade the short answers and view student progress. Teachers also have access to student accounts and can reset passwords if needed (and it probably will be J).  The questions are aligned to the Common Core standards.

Social Studies Teachers- There are a lot of readings that relate to your content so I included you in this. Check out the Themes.

World Language Teachers- You can have students translate an article into the language you teach so they can practice reading texts in that language.

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May 6

Website Worth Sharing: OpenEd

open ed logoIf you are looking to provide online lessons, resources, and assessments for your students, you might want to investigate https://www.opened.io/

This “mostly free” website contains thousands of K-12 Common Core aligned teaching materials and assessments. Once you create a free account, you can add your students, assign materials and view the results. This is a great way to differentiate instruction.

opened ss

Even if you don’t want to create a classroom and assign resources, just browsing for resources by Common Core standard can be useful. They have curated and catalogued resources from a variety of websites that you can use for your instruction. Here is a result from one of my searches.

While they do have a premium option that contains test banks from Pearson and Houghton-Mifflin, the free, teacher created resource are still very valuable.

To learn more, watch this introductory video:

 

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April 23

Website Worth Sharing: Math Open Reference

CaptureIn reviewing websites linked to the Common Core, I came across this Math Reference Website http://www.mathopenref.com/index.html   that appears to be a pretty rich resource, especially for those who teach Geometry. The interactive “try this” modules that are located on the definition pages are great visual enhancements to the written explanations. Here is the review off of the Graphite website:

“Math Open Reference is a free interactive math reference covering high-school geometry, functions, and calculus. Five organizing topics cover plane, coordinate, and solid geometry, plus trigonometry and calculus. Four function explorers and a general online scientific calculator arm kids with awesome tools that really help them visualize what all these numbers and formulas actually mean.

Most entries open with a definition, follow with concise explanations of relevant concepts, then end with links to other relevant topics. Embedded “Try This” activities invite kids to interact with dynamic diagrams by moving intersecting points, lines, or vertices and watching the results. Sections within entries do not follow a formula but are appropriate to the topic: for central angle theorem, it’s simply “Exception.” About 40 entries are actually constructions: step by step animations showing kids exactly how to find the “center of a circle using any right-handed object,” for example.”

Here are their topics aligned to the Common Core: http://www.mathopenref.com/common-core.html

One warning- the ads are pretty distracting on this page and might even seem like part of the website. Warn your students to stay in the middle of the page and ignore what is happening on the sides.

How you can use this? Display on your projector and/or Smartboard when explaining an idea. You can also post a link on your eBoard or classroom website as a homework resource for your students.

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April 17

Khan Academy and Common Core

khanMany of you are aware of Khan Academy instructional videos, and I know several of you are using the Khan Academy classroom/”coach” option that allows you to create and monitor student accounts, but have you checked out their Common Core resources? If not, check out the links below. This is a powerful tool for differentiated learning and individualized instruction. If you’d like to learn more about setting up your class(es) for using Khan Academy, check out their K-12 information page: https://www.khanacademy.org/coach-res/k12-classrooms

Find Common Core math resources

Your students can work their way through all grade level standards by selecting one of the grade-level “missions” that adapt to their individual needs, e.g. 6th grade math.

 

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April 8

Website Worth Sharing: Common Sense Media Reviews of EdTech Tools

The folks at Common Sense Media are committed to providing resources to teachers and families regarding the use of digital media. Use their Reviews and Ratings page to find reviews from teachers on EdTech tools for many platforms. Be sure to check out the privacy reviews. We prefer to avoid tools with sketchy privacy standards: https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/all

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February 11

Website Worth Sharing: Curriculum Corner CCSS Resources and More

ccssThe gals at the “Curriculum Corner” website have posted some Common Core resources that you might want to check out.

This page has links to checklists and kid-friendly “I Can” statements (see sample below) that might help with your implementation of the Common Core Standards.

K3 http://www.thecurriculumcorner.com/thecurriculumcorner123/category/management/common-core/

4-6 http://www.thecurriculumcorner.com/thecurriculumcorner456/category/common-core/.

You might want to look around the site while you’re there. There are lots of ideas, resources, and printables available free of charge.

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January 16

Website Worth Sharing: BetterLesson

There are an abundance of lesson plan websites and many are linked to the Common Core, but if you’re looking for quality lesson plans to help implement the CCSS standards, you’ll want to check out

http://betterlesson.com/. This site has recruited (and PAID) Master Teachers to create Common Core aligned lesson plans for their grade level. The lesson plans are easy to follow and contain downloads of the worksheets, instruction sheets, activities, interactive whiteboard lessons, videos, etc. needed to complete the lesson. The lessons are organized by subject, but if you find a Master Teacher who fits your style, you can see all of his/her lessons at once. You have to create an account to enter the site, but once you do, you can click on Common Core or Master Teachers and browse the lessons. This site is sponsored by NEA (our union dues at work!) and the Gates Foundation so we should expect a quality interface and content.

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December 16

Website Worth Sharing: PowerMyLearning

pmlAs you are looking for activities to support the Common Core standards, you may want to check out the Power My Learning website: http://powermylearning.org  It’s kind of a “one stop shopping” site of online activities. You can search by grade level and subject. The Math and Language Arts sections are aligned to the CCSS. The activities that it brings up are from some of our favorite sites: Scholastic, eLearning for Kids, BBC, Math Playground, etc. You can create playlists and activities if you like, but you can also just launch an activity (many are SMARTboard friendly). The site allows you to create a classroom so that students can enroll with your unique classroom code. This way you can assign activities and monitor student work.

I think this one will definitely be worth the 2 minutes it would take to create an account.

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October 14

Website Worth Sharing: Newsela

newselaSometimes it is hard to find leveled non-fiction text to support Common Core ELA standards. Newsela might be just what you’re looking for: http://www.newsela.com/

This site has lexile leveled non-fiction news articles on a variety of subjects- see the categories in the screenshot below. In order to get full access, you need to register and create a class. They will provide a class code that your students can use to join your class. They create their own username/password and then read an article of their own choice or one that you assigned to the class. Each article has 5 levels of text that they can choose (lexile scored). What a nice way to differentiate.  Some of the articles have quizzes that can be taken. Many of the more current articles do not, but may in the future. The quiz questions are aligned to the Common core standards. You can login as a teacher and see who took the quiz and how they did (click on “Binder” at the top of the page). You can also see who logged in and viewed the assigned article.

If you want to try it out from a student viewpoint, you can go to the website, join my class by clicking on “sign in” in the upper left and using my code “twotw”. Read an article of your choice or the one I assigned and then take the quiz if one is available (not all articles have quizzes-there is an anchor icon on the ones that do). The quizzes remind me of something that would be on the Smarter Balance test. This is a free website and looks pretty slick to me!

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June 6

Website Worth Sharing: Problem Attic

If you like the idea of creating custom assessments from a bank of already created questions, then you might want to create an account at http://www.problem-attic.com/

Once you login, you can create a  test by selecting a question bank of standards (Washington state isn’t represented, but there are several others to choose from.) There are a lot of math options, including some Common Core Standards, but you’ll also find science, social studies, and ELA reading passages. Once you choose standards, you can then select from a variety of multiple choice questions. You can adjust the order and the format of the test once you’re done. Then you can print out your results in multiple choice, flashcard, or overhead (under the document camera) format.

If you select the “Play Area” in the standards window you can access Common Core math standards (3-8) and create a test that can be scored online. The worksheet generates a link to a custom website that looks like a scan sheet. Kids put in their name and click the bubble with their answers. It then scores their assignment and you can access the results in your account.

Much of the content is available for free, but they have more options if you want to pay a fee. Those of you who have clickers could use these with the verbal mode as a formative assessment tool. The questions could also be transferred into a Skyward assessment.

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