Category Archives: Common Core State Standards

Close Reading and Poetry Inservice Course

University of Nevada Reno professor Dr. Steven Gerhke will be leading an inservice course on close reading and poetry this fall. Kindergarten through sixth grade teachers can take part in the class and learn more about performing close readings of … Continue reading

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CTP Reflection Video, Edited

The Core Task Project Reflection video has been edited and reposted here.

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New Close Reading Exemplar Added

We completed a close reading exemplar for the poem, “The Story of Fidgety Philip” by Heinrich Hoffman. We have it fitted for the 3rd grade level. Some see the poem, written in 1845, as one of the first documentations of … Continue reading

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Rubric for Interim Assessments

The Council of Chief State School Officers and the Council of Great City Schools released a rubric for interim benchmark assessments for English language arts/literacy. The rubric, written by Student Achievement Partners, is for district and state leaders to review … Continue reading

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Supplements for the Close Reading Exemplar: President’s Message

Cheralyn Faber, a 3rd grade teacher in the Moraga School District, created several supplements to go with the close reading exemplar, The President’s Message. Cheralyn has generously shared the materials and you can find them in the links below. Graphic … Continue reading

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Thinking Common Core Scoop.it! Page

If you haven’t found the Scoop.it! page “Thinking Common Core,” you may want to take a few minutes to visit. Recent links include video on improving discourse in the classroom, updates on the 2014-2015 CCSS assessments, and strategies for successfully … Continue reading

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CTP Inservice Course Offered

If you are interested in participating in the Core Task Project, you can earn one half-credit by taking advantage of a spring version of the course. The inservice CTP takes place over 2 four-hour sessions on May 9th and May … Continue reading

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Classroom Discussions around Text

In the video linked here, Dr. David Pearson describes the value of strong classroom discussions around text. He posits that there are three elements of strong classroom discourse which include 1) Selecting texts worth discussing 2) Planning discussion questions and … Continue reading

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In 77 Seconds: Accessible vs. Dumbed-Down Text

Dr. Freddy Hiebert takes literally 77 seconds to compare accessible and dumbed-down text. She notes that dumbed-down text relies on short sentences, bizarre topics , and phonetically regular words. This is contrasted with assessable text that Hiebert defines as complex … Continue reading

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NASBE Shares ‘Toolkit’ for CCSS Implementation

The National Association of State Boards of Education has released a toolkit for implementing the Common Core State Standards (here).  The toolkit includes an overview of the standards and context for why they were written. The document also outlines the … Continue reading

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