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Hey,

Look over there to the left. You might need to scroll down a little. See that widget that says, "Followers"? Well if you click on the link there that says, "Follow this blog," you can get an email notice that lets you know when I write a new entry. Keep up with all the latest at the Curriculum Corner!!!

CLICK THAT LINK!!!!!

Playlist

This is from Choice Literacy:

This recommendation comes from the teenage kids of Choice Literacy staff, who turned us on to a website with an amazing amount of free music. Our first thought was teens + free music on the web = something totally illegal, but we were pleasantly surprised to discover this site is legit. Playlist scours the web for legal music (from artists' official sites, promotions, and approved blogs), and allows users to create mixes for streaming of favorites. If you have web access at your school and can stream music, you can create a playlist of festive tunes for background music at study groups, end and start of year gatherings, and literacy celebrations of any kind. We've found all kinds of obscure tracks from favorite artists here:

http://www.playlist.com/

Holiday Gift Ideas

The blog, MotherReader.com, suggests 21 ideas for paired gifts. What is a paired gift? It's a book and a gift with the same basic theme: A Bob the Builder book with a tool kit for example.

Hope this helps with your shopping!

The Luxury of Extra Reading Time Over the Holidays

An article from Choice Literacy:

The Luxury of Extra Reading Time Over the Holiday

I love thinking ahead to holiday reading. The books seem to pile up all fall with hopes that over vacation, I'll find long periods of time to read and to catch up a bit. Sometimes I find the time and other times we are busy with traveling and family. When readers have extra time coming up, it is natural for us to think ahead to what we might read.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Ads on Tests Add Up for Teacher!

Wow! Makes me appreciate my school district!!!

Click here to read article in USA Today

Differentiation Toolbox

This is a resource that might be of interest to those who are implementing Differentiated Instruction.

http://people.virginia.edu/~mws6u/diff/

Commentary: How Social Media Shared Pain and Rage of Mumbai

MUMBAI, India (CNN) -- I celebrated my 42nd birthday on November 26. We were thinking of stepping out for a coffee at the Taj hotel that night when a friend called to say there was a terrorist attack in town.

My first reaction was to switch on the TV and simultaneously go online to Twitter.
There was a lot of confusion, anger and sadness as we witnessed together parts of our city go up in flames -- icons and symbols that stand for the Bombay I grew up in. I live about 8 kilometers from the scenes of the attacks.

Many of us didn't sleep much that night. Some of us have worked together during disasters like the tsunamis and Hurricane Katrina, and we used our influence and experience to get the word out. Our updates and conversations on Twitter kept us connected.

Twitter is a social tool where social networking meets blogging. Many have referred to it as microblogging, as each post -- or "tweet" -- you make is restricted to 140 characters.
We didn't feel alone anymore or scared. Fellow tweeters worldwide were experiencing and sharing in our pain and our anger during the prolonged siege.

Read more: www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/02/mehta.mumbai/index.html

Using Challenging Concepts To Learn Promotes Understanding Of New Material

ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2008) — It’s a question that confronts parents and teachers everywhere- what is the best method of teaching kids new skills? Is it better for children to learn gradually, starting with easy examples and slowly progressing to more challenging problems?

Or is it more effective to just dive-in head first with difficult problems, and then move on to easier examples? Although conventional wisdom suggests that the best way to learn a difficult skill is to progress from easier problems to more difficult ones, research examining this issue has resulted in mixed outcomes.

Read the article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081201105702.htm

Geography Awareness Week

Celebrate Geography Awareness Week
Geography Awareness Week (November 16-22) is just around the corner. Celebrate by taking your students on a virtual whirlwind tour of the world with the Geography Awareness Week Web site. Dive into a range of geo-activities all designed to engage kids in exploring their world while they become more informed global citizens. Take a virtual geo-tour of global hotspots including the Arctic, coral reefs, and the Amazon rain forest. Explore Earth's marine ecosystems as you pilot an underwater vehicle. Hear from young people living and working around the world. Download free activities for your classrooms and communities. Celebrate Geography Awareness Week and see the world in new ways!

Great Resources from NHPTV

KNOW IT ALL
November 7 from 5:15-5:30 a.m. and November 8 from 3:30-5:30 a.m.KNOW IT ALL helps students develop research skills by providing real-life issues and problems that students might encounter in their daily lives. In the series teachers, media specialists, administrators and others collaborate to help students use a basic four-step process to deal with these issues and problems by asking the questions: What Do I Want to Know?; Where Can I Find It?; How Can I Use It?; and How Did I Do? Each lesson focuses on only one step in the process, using various information processing skills in conjunction with different curriculum areas.

INTO THE BOOK
November 5 from 5:00-5:30 a.m. and November 7 from 3:30-5:15 a.m. Join a group of ordinary students using powerful learning strategies to enter the world of the story. Each episode shows students how they can use these strategies when reading fiction, nonfiction, or everyday text. Each episode focuses on a specific reading strategy and shows several different ways that learners use the strategy to increase their enjoyment and understanding of the text. Viewers even get into a student’s imagination for a clever insight into the strategy at work. A complete curriculum resource including interactive online components, teacher’s guide, and printable graphics are also available at the INTO THE BOOK website.

Thanksgiving lessons

Learn the truth about the "First Thanksgiving." This is a great web site developed by Plimouth Plantation.

http://www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html

There's a great teacher's guide too. http://www.plimoth.org/education/olc/hpteachg.html


Myth and Truth: The “First Thanksgiving”

Overview
Did the Wampanoag bring the pilgrims popcorn on the first Thanksgiving, as some versions of the story would suggest? Or is that just a myth? Behind every myth are many possible truths allowing us to discover who we were as peoples and who we are today. By exploring myths surrounding the Wampanoag, the pilgrims, and the "first Thanksgiving," this lesson asks students to think critically about commonly believed myths regarding the Wampanoag Indians in colonial America.
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=65

This one fits with our students need to learn to interpret charts.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/dailylp/dailylp/dailylp025.shtml

On School One Book

I really enjoyed the One School, One Book choice, Touching Spirit Bear. The book made me think about so many things with which our students may struggle. So many books are written from the point of view of the child who is bullied. This was in interesting perspective from the bully.

The recurring theme of fear, being afraid and making others afraid, was very interesting. Both of the boys featured in the book had many fears and I wonder how many of our students are holding fear in their hearts. How do we help students overcome fears that we don't even know?

I hope our students enjoy this book as much as I did!

New test coming our way?

Below is a quote from Business Week about plans to create a national technology literacy assessment. What do you think?

Click on this link, http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/10/1028_tech_test_quiz/index.htm, to take Business Week's technology quiz. I got 10/11. How tech savvy are you?


"In a bid to make technology literacy more widespread, the National Assessment Governing Board this month announced plans to develop the first nationwide assessment of technological learning in U.S. schools. NAGB, a government-commissioned independent council, awarded nonprofit WestEd, a 40-year-old educational research and service group, a $1.86 million contract to work with educators, school officials, the business community, and the public on constructing the test, set to hit schools in 2012."

Quizlet

Here's a web site where your students can practice those rote memorization skills like math facts and vocabulary words. You can use the "flash cards" on the site or create your own.

http://quizlet.com/

K-

Web Site You Can Use

Wordle is a fun tool for word study - you copy and paste in any text, and it makes "clouds" of key words. You can choose from a variety of colorful options for displaying the words. This would be an interesting tool for use in content studies to display key words in a nonfiction text, and talk through main ideas or concepts:

http://wordle.net/

Let's get political!!!

This is a link to an Ed Week article about Senator McCain's education positions. Check it out. What do you think?

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/09/05/03gop.html

Kathleen

Let's get POLITICAL!!!!

No, not liberal v conservative, not democrat v republican. Let's educate ourselves about the one political issue we all think is important, education. Let's find out what national, state and local candidates are saying about our professional and lifelong passion so we can make informed decisions. Comment on this post and add links to articles that may be of interest to educators.

I don't hear ANY of the presidential candidates talking about education but I think they should. Let's make sure we are informed voters so we can ask the candidates good questions.

Kathleen

Test Taking Strategies

Test Taking Strategies

Why should you strive to do your best on the NECAP? It is one of many representations of you, and it helps the teachers determine what you know and with what you need help.

Know: Strategies employed to successfully take the NECAP (or any test)

Understanding: Test taking requires skill and strategies that we all can learn

Do: Employ the techniques below

1. Throughout the Test

· If you don’t know an answer, skip it and go back to it later
· Check to see that you answered all of the questions
· Use all of your time to go back and check your answers
· If you absolutely have to, guess so that every question is answered
· You may underline, highlight, or mark in your Student Booklet, but not on your answer

booklet
· You must answer in the space that your answer booklet gives you, don’t go outside the space.
· Be aware of your time so that you get to every question
· With each section check to make sure you are putting the answer in the correct space

2. Mutiple Choice Questions

· Read the title
· Read the question for understanding (if you don’t understand the question read the possible answers and then go back and read the question again for understanding)
· Read all possible answers before answering the question.
· When guessing always eliminate to two choices so you have a 50/50 chance. Eliminate two answers that you know are wrong first (for example-eliminate answers that are wordy, have questionable punctuation and capitalization)
· Look for the best answer, there may be other answers that are close to correct, just okay, or correct. You must find the best!
· In math, compute the answer before looking at your options. If none of the options match your answer, recalculate
· Read all the titles, headings, categories… of graphs and diagrams
· Read the think bubbles they provide information to solve problems
· If you see a picture of an envelope use your envelop to help you solve a problem


3. Paragraph Questions (Short answer)

Don’t skip lines!
Read the question for understanding (if you don’t understand the question read the possible answers and then go back and read the question again for understanding)
Don’t do a rough draft because of time, but you can jot down key points on scrap paper to help you organize if you need to
Include the question in your answer as your topic sentence
Include details to support your answer
Include a summary sentence
Write in complete sentences (talk in complete sentences to get ready for the test)
Reread your paragraph to make sure you answered the question and to make changes
Write or print neatly! (no points for paragraphs that can’t be read)

4. Extended Response Questions

Extended Response Planner
It is worth points, you must do it
Don’t need complete sentences/ Can write phrases/words. Think of it as your outline/place to organize thoughts
Can be completed before or after you have written your answer.

· Write or print neatly!
· Do a rough draft by writing on every other line on scrap paper (that way you can edit easily and avoid yet another draft)
· Your final piece should fit in the space given in the Test Booklet
· If you have room, write on every other line (you want to please the evaluator and make it easy to read)
· Reread to make sure you answered the question by “almost reading it aloud” to yourself (move your lips without sound, enunciate each word in your head, read slowly to yourself)
· Include the question in your response
· Include details in each of your paragraphs (you need several detail paragraphs)
· Include a summary sentence
· Think- introduction paragraph, at least three detail paragraphs, a paragraph of conclusion
· Write in complete sentences
· Fill up the space as much as you can (at least ½ of the total space given), but don’t go outside the space

5. Explanations
Explanations are an important part of the NECAP testing:
What is an explanation?
A piece of writing that tells how something works or to explains a phenomenon.
Framework
1. Definition: What is being explained
2. Components/Parts: Listing of parts
3. Operations: Describes how parts and how they work together.
4. Applications: So what? When and where it works and when and where it is applied.****This is the most important part of the explanation!!!
5. Interesting Comments/Special Features/Evaluation: Conclusion

6. Reading Passage Questions

Order for reading
1. Read the title
2. Read the questions for understanding
3. Then read the passage

Go back and reread parts of the passage if you don’t know an answer
Eliminate two of the answers that can’t be correct and choose the BEST answer
(There may be more than one possible answer you must find the BEST)


7. Teacher’s Need To…

Encourage your students to do well on the test. Comments such as, “We can get back to the fun stuff after the test is over,” do not encourage your students.

Writing is a major portion of EVERY test. Be sure your students are writing in all subject areas every day!

Speak in complete sentences throughout the classroom time to reinforce complete sentences. September is Speak in Complete Sentences Month!

Model metacognitive test taking skills to your children (talk through how you think when you complete an item)

Thoughts on a new school year

WOW! It seems like we never left but here we are, the 2008-2009 school year.

I was in Inter-Lakes Elementary School and Sandwich Central School today. In both schools I could feel a very positive energy. I think we did a good job moving on the 5-8 SINI plan. Using the literacy audit and data from standardized testing we were able to make some decisions to improve PK-12 instruction in the district. A refocus on First Steps reading, the new Fountas and Pinnell Phonics/Word Study program, and the Marzano method for teaching vocabulary will help us to develop systemic and systematic instructional practices.

In the next couple weeks let me know how the Marzano or the Fountas and Pinnell are working for you.

K-3 teachers note: There will be additional professional development in Fountas and Pinnell.


Boy, those kindergarten kids look so tiny.

Things I am picking up from the November Learning online web literacy course:

Noodletools offers a wide selection of search tools specific to certain needs and prompts users to focus a research problem. Prompts such as “I need to see relationships among ideas,” or “I need a subject hub prepared by an expert” help direct students to the right place and get them thinking critically about they are trying to achieve.
http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/


For kid-centric databases, try browsing through the lists of databases compiled by Tekmom. Tekmom is both a teacher and mom, and has assembled a good assortment of search tools and databases. At Ivy’s resource centre for kids you will find an even larger selection of resources. This is a great site for students because there are so many search tools available on one page.
http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html
http://www.tekmom.com/search/

You may have heard of blogs or weblogs. If you haven’t you will soon. A blog is an interactive Web page where individuals can post entries, articles, links, and pictures, and ask others to join into conversations. For educators, they are a way to expand the boundaries of learning. Teachers can post entries for students, parents, and for professional development purposes. Students can engage with others in their community or around the world and post their work to an authentic audience.

Blogs are relatively simple to use and very popular. To find out what is going on in the world of blogs, there are new search engines dedicated to searching the Web in real time. The biggest of the bunch is currently Technorati.

Please note that searching through blogs is not a wise choice for students looking for academic information. Blogs are largely personal accounts and subject to bias. Plus there are many that have inappropriate content. If there is a blog you would like your students to see, we recommend that you find it first. Ideas for searching for blogs for educational use might be
to find other teachers in your subject area and/or level that have one. This is a great way to find resources you might want to use – or establish a blog connection between classes
Find scholars or authors in a particular field
http://www.technorati.com/




A three step search plan
When guiding children through the process of researching information on the Internet, one of the best things they can learn to do is make a 3 step research plan.

Step 1 - Define the research problem
Have students think critically about the research problem and break it down. Questions to consider:
Is it a relatively simple question?
Is it a fact-finding mission?
Is the research question complex with a series of questions or relationships I need to explore?

Step 2 - Know what sort of information you are looking for
Once students have a thorough understanding of what they need to find, they might want to consider the best source of information. Questions to consider:
Am I looking for text, video or pictures?
Do I need biographical information?
Is the information I need historic or current in content?
Should I be asking an expert in the field?

Step 3 Select the right search tools
Make key decisions about the best place to find information. Will the information most likely be found from….
A subject-specific database, such as the Sea World Animal Information Database?
An historic primary document from the deep Web?
A regular search engine? (but which one!)
Here are two great sites that can help with all these questions. NoodleTools can help with the selecting of the right tools. The questions provided on these sites prompt students to consider what types of information they are looking for and then suggest search tools best suited to their needs.
NoodleTools--Choose the best search for your information need (http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html)

NoodleQuest Search Strategies Wizard - interactive version. (http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/)
Selecting keywords
Selecting keywords is probably one of the most useful things students can do to get good search results. It is something of an art. A search engine cannot think. The art is trying to think like a search engine.

Remember! The more specific instructions and keywords provided when searching for information, the better your results will be.

For example if you type the keyword, turtle into a search engine, you will receive over one million results. Search engines will not distinguish between a chocolate turtle and a rock band, The Turtles unless you specify.

If you type in the keyword French a search engine will not know if you mean french fries or the French language. This keyword search will access over 17 million results.
The art of searching is to know what to add (or subtract!) around keywords such as turtle and French. (I’ll get more into that in the next lesson.) The trick is to teach students to be creative and dynamic with searches. Have them try various options of search queries and search tools.

A list of keywords
Students may find it helpful to create a list of keywords before they begin their research. It’s a way for them to make key decisions about what they are looking for and how a search engine might categorize the information.

A list of keywords might be put into three categories:
Adapted from: Kajder, S. (2003). The tech-savvy english classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

How to distinguish what goes in each of the three columns? Here are some tips:

I. Keywords that MUST be included in the search
In this column have students select keywords specific to their research problem. These can be single words or phrases. "Keyword phrases" must be used with quotation marks. Quotation marks help ensure you are searching for words in a certain order. Here’s an example that helps illustrate:
If you go to Ask.com and enter the phrase: renewable resources in the search box, here are the results.
This search provides well over 1 million results. If you enter a search for the phrase renewable resources without quotation marks, most search engines will assume you are looking for Web sites that include the keywords renewable AND resources. The words do not necessarily have to be in any certain order on the site.
This search without quotation marks may produce many more results than you need. Putting quotation marks around phrases ensures search results will match the order of words you have specified.
If you enter the phrase "renewable resources" with quotation marks, the results are much different. The number of results is down to just over 300,000.
It's a good idea to include phrases in your list of MUST words. In fact when teaching these concepts to younger students, many find it helpful to first phrase a research problem in the form of a question to ensure all keywords are included. Then students can identify extract words and phrases from their questions. Example:

II. Keywords that MIGHT be included in the search
For this category think of words that MIGHT be included in the search. These would include synonyms, related and variations of words listed in the MUST category. This is an excellent opportunity for students to think creatively about keywords. It is also an opportunity to think more like a search engine.
For example, if you want to know the day Abraham Lincoln was born, a Web page will most likely list the information as Abraham Lincoln’s birth date or date of birth. The word born might not be used. Urge students to think about how the information they are looking for will be presented.
The purpose of compiling a list of MIGHT words is to help if you are having little success searching with MUST words.

III. Keywords that should NOT be included in the search
In this column think of words that might be associated with your topic, but do not interest you. For example, you might be researching horses, but do not want any information about racehorses. You might be researching Shakespeare but you do not want any information about sonnets.

Data Camp Second Day

It's the second day of the Lakes Region Data Institute. I am sitting here with Alesia Parks. Our heads are swimming...little fishes in a big, dark sea of data. The data will be very important with NEASC at the high school and SINI at the middle tier. Administrators and teachers really need to use the data on a variety of levels on an ongoing basis. We need to move from low level data users to using data for planning. Like Bloom's taxonomy we need to understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, synthesize the data.

It's all about student learning!!!

Thanks, Alesia!

Data Camp

I am sitting in a large room at Plymouth State University at the Data Institute sponsored by the Lakes Region Superintendents. The institute is led by Victoria Bernhardt from Education for the Future. She knows A LOT about using data to improve schools. However, it is difficult to absorb and analyze all the data we have. We are data rich and analysis poor. We often talk about how we don't have time to do the work with the data but if we don't use the data how will we know how to increase student learning?

We also need to figure out a way to get the data into a format that will be usable for classroom teachers. Do you use student data to inform your instruction? What do you use? How do you use it? What data do you wish you had?

Good web site!

Hey,
This web site from NCTM provides lessons that tie math, science and literature. Take a look!

http://illuminations.nctm.org/WebResourceList.aspx?Ref=2&Std=4&Grd=0

Reading Strategies

Here is a great sight for reading strategies for older students.

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/reading%20strategies%20index.htm

I like the following strategy because I was always one of those kids who highlighted EVERYTHING while reading so my highlighting turned out to be useless for review. This strategy demonstrates how to highlight key words in order to get at the info you need.
Annolighting A Text

Check it out!

Where Do the Children Play?

This film might be of interest to educators. What do you think? Are our kids lives too structured?

Documentary Film on Modern Childhood Asks `Where Do the Children Play?'
Holderness, NH-A new documentary film, Where Do the Children Play?, examines an issue of growing concern among pediatricians, mental health experts, educators, and environmentalists: more and more children are growing up today with little or no opportunity for unstructured play, especially outdoors.

The film will be shown at a free public screening at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center on Sunday, July 27 at 7:00 p.m. This event is sponsored by the Science Center and the Sandwich Children's Center, with assistance from the U.S. Alliance for Childhood, a nonprofit research and advocacy group that works for the restoration of play in children's lives.

Where Do the Children Play? grew out of Elizabeth Goodenough's work on "secret spaces of childhood" at the University of Michigan. The film was written and directed by Christopher Cook and produced by Michigan Television.

"Children need free time every day to discover their own abilities, desires, and limitations," says Goodenough, who also edited the film's accompanying study guide. "Open-ended exploration and play in woods, fields, vacant lots, or other semi-wild spaces enhances curiosity and confidence throughout life."

A marked decline in children's spontaneous and creative play is a key factor in their increasing mental health problems, according to a recent statement from an international group of educators and children's advocates. They called for "a wide-ranging and informed public dialogue about the intrinsic nature and value of play in children's healthy development."

Their letter echoed a recent warning from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): children have far too little time for unstructured play, which leads to increased stress in their lives. Causes of the demise of play cited by the group include parental fears of "stranger danger" and the explosion of electronic entertainment-to the point of addiction for some-in the lives of today's children. These and other issues are explored in the film.

The lead author of the AAP report, Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, appears in the documentary, along with Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, British "playworker" Penny Wilson, and other experts in child development, psychology, and urban planning.

Most striking, however, are the scenes of children themselves engaged in the rapt state of self-directed play and then talking about the importance of time and opportunity for free play in their increasingly hectic lives.

For more information about this screening of Where Do the Children Play? call the Science Center at 603-968-7194. The film is free to attend, but please call to put your name on the list

New Professional Development Master Plan

The Professional Development Master Plan will be revised this school year and sent to the NH DOE for approval in the summer of 2009. I worked today with the PD committee to begin the revision process. They got a lot done! We have reviewed the guidelines from the state and our current plan and we have started making changes as needed. There are a few big things to tackle but the work will be easily finished by next summer.

Some highlights of the changes are:

• less emphasis on counting clock hours.
• more focus on data.
• more focus on student learning.

If you are interested in what's happening talk to Chuck Yaeger, Laura Bennett, Brent Summers, Melissa LaPan, or Glen Copatch.

Hope you are having a great summer.

NH Conceptual Framwork for 21st Century Literacy

This is from the NH Literacy Action Plan. Click on the image for a clearer and larger view.

NH Literacy Action Plan for the 21st Century

Below is a link to the NH Literacy Action Plan for the 21st Century. This is a great document developed by the NH DOE.

"The intent was to investigate and document strategies that would cross grade levels and content areas so that every teacher, regardless of contentarea, would become a teacher of literacy in that particular discipline."
NH Literacy Action Plan for the 21st Century

This is a valuable document for every teacher and administrator in the state. You can download a copy at http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/doe/organization/curriculum/School%20Improvement/literacy_action_plan.pdf

Article About Technology Integration

This article talks about tech integration...what it is and what it isn't.

http://fno.org/oct04/integrating.html

Article about Teaching Reading

This is a URL for an article about teaching reading. It gives basic information and is a good review of what we should be doing.

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/EducationalPracticesSeriesPdf/prac12e.pdf

New Blog

I have decided to follow Ms. Kennelly's lead and start using technology more. I used tech a lot when I was the teaching principal in Sandwich but I have gotten away form it.

I thought this might be a great place to post ideas for using technology in the classroom. For that matter we can share any ideas for the classroom, not just technology. So, add your ideas and let's share.