Sunday, October 23, 2011

Common Core & WMELS


Common Core talk began last October in our district when we first heard of the Common Core State Standards and were encouraged to read through them for our grade levels.  http://corestandards.org 
In March 2011 we had an all day inservice training on the common core standards.
In April 2011, our Curriculum Director created a blog on the Common Core standards that a few of us began to follow. 
This school year started with an inservice to start looking at what you are teaching and matching Essential learning outcomes or learning targets to the standards.  This was just an introduction to this process with additional inservice times scheduled throughout the year.  We are expected to work with your grade level
or content area teams over the course of the year and not just on inservice days.   At the inservice we received a template to work off of via google docs.  (For many staff members, that was the first time ever using Google Docs.)   Many spent that day copying and pasting the standards into that document matching activities they do in their grade levels to meet those standards.    We began by looking at the Reading/Language Arts standards.  Content area teachers at the middle/high school brought their ELO's and
saw where the skills taught in a particular course matched up to the common core standards.

Since then, September 2011, we’ve had one four hour inservice to continue working on matching activities to the standards.  I was absent from school that day, so I have not done anymore with them. 
I originally had an alignment from the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS) to the Wisconsin Common Core Standards to go by.  The WMELS address expectations for young children from birth to first grade. The Wisconsin Common Core State Standards address what students should know and be able to do from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Since the WMELS and the Wisconsin Common Core State Standards both address the kindergarten level, it is suggested that local school districts use both documents to guide curriculum, instruction and assessment decisions. For more information follow this link: Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards Alignment with Wisconsin Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics

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