ELA Parent Night

Welcome and thank you for coming!

Objectives

1. To help parents understand the components of the Common Core ELA Curriculum

2. To show parents how their children are being taught reading and writing so that they will be able to be prepared for state assessments, as well as be successful with daily reading and writing tasks in class

3. To give parents ideas of how to help at home

Agenda

5:30-5:50 - whole groupBreak Out Sessions:

6:00 – 6:15 Close Reading/Getting the Gist (122)6:20-6:35 Independent Reading – at home and school (114)6:40-6:55Text Based Evidence (116)

NYS Common Core vs Curriculum

• Common Core is the Standards that our curriculum is based upon

• Modules are the curriculum we have chosen to use as a tool to teach the standards

• State Tests are the assessments the state uses to ensure the standards have been taught

Shifts in ELA/Literacy

5

Shift 1 Balancing Informational & Literary Text

Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts.

Shift 2 Knowledge in the Disciplines Students build knowledge about the world (domains/ content areas) through TEXT rather than the teacher or activities

Shift 3 Staircase of Complexity Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space and support in the curriculum for close reading.

Shift 4 Text-based Answers Students engage in rich and rigorous evidence based conversations about text.

Shift 5 Writing from Sources Writing emphasizes use of evidence from sources to inform or make an argument.

Shift 6 Academic Vocabulary Students constantly build the transferable vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. This can be done effectively by spiraling like content in increasingly complex texts.

Common Core for 3-5 Expeditionary Learning

Close ReadingText DiscussionsCiting Evidence

Writing from SourcesWriting and Reading are Integrated

Sample ELA Test Question

Read the following sentence from the first paragraph:

“The snow lay in waves and glistened like sugar.” The author uses the word sugar to show that

A. the hare was thinking about foodB. the snow looked sparklyC. sugar was on the snowD. the snow tasted sweet

Sample ELA Test Question

Short constructive response for ‘The Poplar Tree’

Why is Iris an important part of the story? Give 2 details to support your answer

Sample ELA Test Question

Extended constructed response for ‘The Poplar Tree’

Describe the way a poplar tree grows its branches. Explain why the tree decides to grow them this way and how the actions of the Old Man, Iris, Zeus, and Mercury lead to his decision. Use details from the story to support your answer.

How does the Common Core help students to be able to access questions like this?

Common Core Standards stresses the importance of

student discovery.

The focus is on the process not just the content.

Please follow the schedule you received when you came in tonight to go to your first session.

We will make an announcement when it is time to move to your next session.

At the end of the evening, please leave your question cards at the front table and we will make sure that your questions get answered.

Thank you for joining us tonight!