Monday Made It - 06.12.2017

Hello Friends!

I am very excited to be joining up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made series. I am a little behind this week but that seems to be the story of my life lately.

I don't have any physical "made its" this week. All of mine are digital. I have been working hard to make things for my 3rd grade classroom for next school year. The upside is that I put them in my store at Teachers Pay Teachers for anyone else who might need them.

So without any further delay, let me begin my showing.

I don't know about you but I found last year that I really needed to have some activities that could be versatile. You know the type of activities that could be done in groups, pairs or even individually. That is where this idea came from. Here is the first in a series that I am creating for Solve the Room. This one is addition and is with and without regrouping.

I know what you are thinking....these are just flash cards. But are they. I am providing several suggestions for use with these problems cards and they can customized to work with your theme. All you have to do is make that request. I am also providing black & white copies in the package for those that prefer to save on ink....ie..not have to use all the color ink.

My second Monday Made It is a sibling to the my first one. You guessed it, another Solve the Room. This one is the subtraction also with and without regrouping.

I am working on the multiplication at the present time and have in mind to also have elapsed time, money, geometry and fractions. Maybe I should think about doing a big bundle.

My next creation was a new logo for my TpT store. I realized this week that I have been selling on TpT since 2012 and I never created a logo for my store. Well here it is.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Just because you read to the end.....I have a little freebie for you. I am giving you this Main Idea & Detail activity that can be used with any passage or book. You can download this item from my TpT store. Enjoy.

Until next time.....Aloha!! (No I'm not in Hawaii....but that doesn't mean that I don't want to be.  :)

Whoa!!! Almost a Year!

Hello and how is everyone doing today?

I know....don't pass out because I'm actually posting again,

Switching back to 3rd grade after teaching gifted for 8 years was really a HUGE shift. I was super busy all year....first trying to keep my head above water just learning all the new things I haven't had to deal with. You know CCSS, RtI, TST....etc.etc. I also moved several hours south and was learning the ins and outs of a new school district.

But....hey....I made it. My 3rd Grade team is the best. We all worked together to encourage and assist our kiddos to show great growth during their 3rd grade year. I was so proud of my kiddos....they all passed the Mississippi GATE test!! Yay!!! They will all be in 4th grade next year.

Since school ended I have been working on some things to use in my classroom for next year. Of course when I get them finished they will go in my Teachers Pay Teachers store....Teaching at the Beach.

BTW....I decided this morning to make a logo for my store. Here it is...Tell me what you think.

 

I just love the summer time. One reason is the BEACH of course....but I also love that Tara over at Fourth Grade Frolics has her Monday Made It. I really do love going over there and seeing what everyone has made. I also love to participate. So off I go now to see what I can create so I will have something to share. 

Talk to you later!!

Dee

Using Common Core State Standards with Gifted and Advanced Learners - Part II

Using the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts with Gifted and Advanced Learners by Joyce L. VanTassel-Baska
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The main goal of this book as stated in the first lines of the introduction is to provide classroom teachers and administrators with some examples and strategies to implement the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts for advanced learners at all stages of development in K-12 schools.

The Common Core State Standards illustrate the curriculum emphases that are needed for students to develop the skills and concepts required for the 21st Century. There are currently 45 states that have adopted the CCSS and this gave cause for gifted education as a field to reflect on supporting gifted and advanced learners appropriately in all of the content areas. Some people feel that gifted education is not needed now because these new standards are already at such a high level. However, although these standards are strong, they will not be sufficient to accommodate the needs of many gifted learners. There will be students that have completed all of the CCSS standards prior to reaching the end of high and this will require educators to provide advanced content for them.

The 21st Century skills that receive major emphasis in this book are: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Problem Solving, Technology literacy, Information media literacy, and Cross-Cultural skills.

Differentiation is the key to unlock the potential of the gifted and advanced learners within the CCSS. The book lays out four major strategies for accomplishing this. We must, (1) provide pathways to accelerate the CCSS for gifted learners;(2)provide examples of differentiated tasks to address specific standards; (3) create interdisciplinary products/units to increase the learning for gifted students and to efficiently address multiple standards at once; and (4) create different assessments to demonstrate authentic learning has taken place.

The booklet has provided us with quite a few different specific standards with examples of how to differentiate for gifted and advanced learners. In order to sufficiently address the curricular needs of gifted and advanced learners, teachers will need to differentiate curriculum by posing progressively more complex issues, using texts according to each student's reading level and interest, modification of mathematical processes according to what has previously been mastered, and the pace of instruction.

The contributors to this booklet also gave a chapter devoted to resources to use when implementing the CCSS with gifted and advanced learners.

This is a book that I purchased to help integrate the CCSS into my own classroom while continuing to challenge my gifted students at a level that will help them grow and be ready for college and the workplace.

I am looking forward to digging much deeper and finding out just how challenging these standards can be made for those students that are highly gifted or advanced.


Here is an example of one of the standards with differentiation for gifted learners. This is for:

Grade 3 CCSS RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.


Typical Learners: Students will ask and answer student-and teacher created questions regarding the plot of Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall, explicitly referring to the text to form the basis of their answers.


Advanced Learners: Advanced students will ask and answer student and teacher created questions regarding what the p lot of Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall says about courage and the life of women in the 19th century, using textual references. They will create a multimedia project that characterizes Sarah as a person of courage.


In my part I post, I stated that many times I feel that I haven't challenged my students as much as I should. After reading this book, I am certain that I have fallen far from the mark on most occasions. However, I will pick myself up and dust myself off and read and study more about CCSS to make sure that my future lessons/units are more in line with where they need to be to challenge my students adequately.


Looks like I know what I will be doing this summer.


If you have any comments, suggestions....please leave a comment. I need feedback on this. I need to know what others are doing....and is it working or not?


Toodles for now!!

 Dee

Using Common Core with Gifted and Advanced Learners - Part I

With all this CCSS flying around everywhere, where does this leave the gifted and talented education? That is a question that has been floating around in my head for a little while now. I went to all the seminars at my state gifted convention to see if I got any answers. All I got was that we have to take the Common Core and stretch it higher for our gifted students. No guidance as to how to do that. At this point, I have to admit that the education I received that has allowed me to teach the Gifted and Talented hasn't really helped. Everything I've learned to do for my students has been hard fought by reading, talking to others, and trial and error. Kind of like the same way I felt when I was a first year teacher in the regular education classroom. Am I the only one that felt that way? I doubt it!

This past week, I was fortunate enough to have a friend attend a leadership meeting and she brought back the names of some books thrown out at the meeting that were good for use with Common Core. One of the books, I had already decided to purchase. So, off to Amazon I went to purchase the book and there right below it is another book, "Using the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts with Gifted and Advanced Learners". I'm thinking....this is what I need. So...I purchased both books. The books arrived yesterday and of course, I read the one for gifted learners, first!!

These are the two books that I purchased:

I am a pretty fast reader, but I don't want to miss anything in these books that might be beneficial for my students. So I am reading and allowing that reading to absorb for further clarification. I really want to do what is right for my gifted and talented students. Even though, I've always felt that I pretty much "flying by the seat of my pants". Oh....I plan and plan quite thoroughly, but I always feel that it wasn't quite enough. I've even voiced these concerns to fellow teachers. They all tell me that is a sign of a good teacher....I hope they are right.

I know that the curriculum that we teach in gifted classes should be qualitatively different from the curriculum that is offered in the regular education classes. The curriculum should be based on the individual students needs in regards to their personal learning rate, depth of content, difficulty of products, and the complexity of their thinking processes. Rarely do I personally feel that I've hit the mark with all of these.

Check back on Tuesday for Part II. I am going to do a book review of sorts on the "Using the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts with Gifted and Advanced Learners". It will not be JUST a book review....I will also be adding some commentary on my thoughts about the book.

Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think about Common Core &/or Gifted education! I love getting and reading the comments.

Toodles for now!!!!

Dee