A Brand New Year: Updates for 2013 - 2014August 20, 2013

Report Cards, Portfolios, Data Collection, Math Trailblazers, Read to Achieve, Cursive, Fountas & Pinnell Kits

Updates

Report CardsK-2

• Standards Based• Minor changes• Shading based on

pacing• Second grade will pilot

using report cards with PowerSchool as soon as logistically possible

3-5• Will remain the

same• Committee looking

into Standards-Based

• Yellow Card is no more!• PowerSchool data• Data spreadsheet is no

longer a district requirement• Data sheet/sticker will

be printed for portfolio

Portfolios & Data Collection

In other news…• Third grade will be using Handwriting Without

Tears to teach cursive. For grades 4-12, it is the expectation that students complete at least one assignment in cursive each grading period.

• 3-5 Benchmarks will be through School Net (a part of PowerTeacher). There will only be two benchmarks this year (Nov & March).

• If there is a Fountas and Pinnell kit in your classroom, please don’t discard it. These can be used for students who read at level U or above or for progress monitoring.

Math Formative Instruction and Assessment Tasks

http://maccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Elementaryhttp://www.mymathtrailblazers.com/

Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication21st Century Skills

21st Century Skills Framework

www.p21.org

Elements of 21st Century Learning

21st Century Themes

• Global Awareness• Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial

Literacy• Civic Literacy• Health Literacy• Environmental Literacy

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/97673

• Becoming a more critical thinker is not easy. It takes time and effort.

Growing critical thinkers takes work!

Kindergartener’s are 98% divergent thinkers. By the time they reach

3rd grade, they are 40% divergent thinkers

• Critical thinking occurs when students construct meaning by interpreting, analyzing, and manipulating information in response to a problem or question that requires more than a direct, one-right-answer application of previously learned knowledge

• Adams

What is critical thinking?

• The rubric for our teacher evaluation lists these specific skills:• Think creatively and critically• Develop and test innovative ideas • Synthesize knowledge• Draw conclusions • Exercise and communicate sound reasoning• Understand connections •Make complex choices• Frame, analyze and solve problems

What is critical thinking?

• An essential requirement of critical thinking is the ability to think about thinking, to engage in what is sometimes called "metacognition".

• The art of thinking about your thinking while you're thinking in order to make your thinking better: more clear, more accurate, more fair

Understanding critical thinking:

• Critical thinkers strive to treat similar things similarly and different things differently.

• Uncritical thinkers often don't see significant similarities and differences.

• Things superficially similar are often significantly different.

• Things superficially different are often essentially the same.

• Only through practice can we become sensitized to significant similarities and differences.

Ways to think critically: Compare/Contrast

• Teach important vocabulary• Use thinking maps/graphic organizers•Model (read alouds discussing similarities/differences)• Practice, practice, practice

Teaching Strategies for Compare/Contrast

• Critical thinkers must be creative thinkers as well, generating possible solutions in order to find the best one

• Very often a problem persists, not because we can't tell which available solution is best, but because the best solution has not yet been made available-no one has thought of it yet.

Ways to think critically: Creativity

Sample of the Critical Thinking rubric for grades 3-4.

Pacing Guide and Units

•Development•Focus•Purpose•Sharing

General Information

Acselementary.wikispaces.com

Acselementary.wikispaces.comUnit 1: