The success of peer critique

depends on a lot on some

basic ground rules to ensure

both the presenter and the

person giving feedback are on

the same page and getting

something out of the

experience.

GROUND RULES

Pick work that

matters

Be kind.

Be helpful.

Be specific.

Keep it moving

Hold everyone

accountable

For the complete

article, click here.

This is an excerpt from an article

published on Mind/Shift.

By Katrina Schwartz

NOTE: While this was done with

older students, many of the

techniques are applicable to

Kindergarten - Second graders.

Training kids to give effective

critique is one of those

teaching strategies that takes

some time on the front

end, but can save a lot

of time once students

get good at it.

It’s common for

students to give

unhelpful, general or

unkind feedback that

doesn’t do much to

advance a peer’s goals

for the work, but the

teacher found when she

carefully trained students on

some conversational

“commandments” and

attitudes around peer critique,

students could give feedback

as well as any adult.

Even better, when kids got

feedback from peers, she

found they internalized it

more.

Developing Students’ Ability to Give and Take Effective Feedback

Take Time to Reflect on the First Half of the Year

As you wrap up the first half

of the school year, take time

to look back on the past few

months.

• What activities generated

the most learning?

• Which assessments gave

you the most accurate

feedback?

• Was there a formative

assessment strategy you

found especially

successful?

• How will you change up

things for the second

semester to keep it fresh

for you and your

students?

• In what ways are you

taking care of yourself ?

Look back on all your

successes, acknowledge all the

hard work you have put in for

your students and enjoy a

little time off. Thank you for

all that you do

December 2017/ January 2018 Volume 6 Issue IV

Capture the Core

Inside this issue:

ELA 2

Math 3

Science 4

Social Studies 5

Learning Support 6

A Publication of the

Illinois State Board

of

Education Statewide

System of Support

Content Specialists

Kin

derg

arten

thro

ugh

2n

d g

rad

e

As the weather outside gets

colder, we know the temp is

dropping! It means we are

almost half way through the

year and it’s a great time to

take a pulse check to find out

what skills have been mastered

by students.

A few key items to remember:

1) What skills have you

continually presented for

practice and mastery?

2) What formative

assessments have you used to

check understanding?

3) How do they align to

summative exams that will be

used for your grade level?

Last month’s issue shared

some assessment items that

PARCC created to assist with

benchmarks for K-2. We

encourage teachers to also

view the Evidence Statements

for K-2. Evidence statements

provide educators with

valuable alignment information

when creating practice tasks.

These tasks can provide a

gauge of the skills that

students have mastered. The

following tables can be

accessed here:

• Grade K: Reading and

Writing

• Grade 1: Reading and

Writing

• Grade 2: Reading and

Writing

insert a picture, either by

taking a photo with a tablet

or webcam, type how they

think the words are written

and then the "adult" type the

correct spelling under the

child’s type. Students can also

record themselves saying the

words on each page.

Storybird allows students to

create stories/books using

artwork/graphics provided by

When students don’t have

access to outside play time due

to freezing temperatures, give

them the next best thing they

might be interested in:

technology! Listed here are

some of the most interactive

apps that can jolt anyone out

of the winter time blues.

WriteReader is an ebook

creator for students that are in

early elementary. Students

artists curated from Storybird.

Books can either be simple

"picture" books or poetry. A

cost is associated if students

choose to print.

Scholastic Story Starters

Students select from

adventure, fantasy, sci-fi or

have the computer choose a

"scrambler". The machine then

spins four sections of the story

sentence to create the starter.

What’s the Temperature?

Winter Writing Apps

Sleigh bells ring,

are you listening

In the lane, snow is

glistening

A beautiful sight,

we're happy tonight

Walking in a winter

wonderland …

Bing Crosby

Page 2 ELA

Grades K – 2

Fiction and Non-fiction Resources for Winter

What better way is there to

warm up than finding those

great sites and resources that

really ignite your students’ love

for learning? The following

sites provide a few fun places

we have recently found to

encourage literacy activities

this winter.

Weather Wiz Kids is run by

Meteorologist Crystal Wicker

who designed the site for

children, teachers and parents

so they can learn more about

the world of weather. It

provides adults with the right

tools to explain the different

types of weather to children.

To assist with content and

lesson plans, Readworks has

guidance and integrated tools

to support classroom.

Many students have large

breaks from school during

the winter months. In order

to keep literacy skills active,

visit Storyline Online. The

Screen Actors Guild

Foundation’s award-winning

children’s literacy website

streams videos featuring

celebrated actors reading

children’s books alongside

creatively produced

illustrations. Read alouds just

went to a new level with Chris

Pine , Betty White, and Viola

Davis.

Spice up your winter lesson

plans with these engaging

activities from Illuminations.

Illuminations, published by

NCTM, offers the following

resources:

• Lesson Plans—

hundreds of ready-to-

use, searchable by

standard, assessment

options, discussion

questions, extensions

for students, reflection for

teachers

• Brain Teasers—puzzles

and rich problems to

engage and challenge

students

• Web Interactives—

virtual manipulatives for

use on student devices

or the classroom smart

board

• Mobile Apps—free to

download to any device

on to adding and

subtracting two-digit

numbers.

Aliens and cows? It

doesn’t get much more

fun than that!

Find this interactive and

many more at http://

illuminations.nctm.org.

In this interactive,

students help the alien

spaceship move cows

into corrals by counting,

adding, and subtracting.

This activity helps

children learn grouping,

tally marks, and place

value. As they master

counting, they can move

Illuminations by NCTM

Many Sets of Buttons—an Illuminations Lesson Plan

Venn diagram without

disclosing the sorting

rule. Students then

attempt to sort buttons

according to the

unspoken rule while the

teacher silently corrects

misplaced buttons. Finally,

students make

hypotheses as to what

the sorting rule could be.

Find this lesson and many

more at http://

illuminations.nctm.org.

In this hands-on lesson,

students classify buttons

and make disjoint and

overlapping Venn

diagrams. This is the

second lesson in an 8-

lesson unit. The lesson

culminates with an

activity led by the teacher

who sorts buttons on a

There should be

no such thing as

boring

mathematics. –

Edsger Dijkstra

Mathematics Page 3 Volume 6 Issue IV

Grades K-2

Grouping and Grazing—an Illuminations Interactive

This two lesson set from

BetterLessons is part of a

larger unit that explores

performance expectation K-

ESS2-1. Student explore

blizzards and learn about why

no two snowflakes are

similar, a great way to end

the fall semester. Find out

more at:

https://betterlesson.com/

lesson/636967/severe-

weather-blizzards-let-it-snow

Project Wild to better meet

the needs of our students and

get them thinking about how

animals use the energy they

take in. This lesson and the

associated materials will be

posted for download soon at

www.scienceteachersinaction.org

The ISBE Science Content

Specialists just wrapped up

their most recent pilot

project, an eight week Lesson

Study, where they worked

alongside six teachers to

develop an NGSS aligned

lesson. Our teacher delivering

the lesson was starting a unit

about trophic levels, so we

chose HS-LS2-4 as our focus,

modifying an activity from

Blizzards and Snowflakes Drive Science Learning

NGSS Aligned Lesson Created at Science Teachers in Action

Use Gallery Walks to Get Students Moving

information from other

students. In particular,

students can use gallery walks

to show initial or revised

models of phenomena, share

out data collected from

experiments or compare

design solutions to a problem.

For more information on the

gallery walk protocol, visit

https://www.bie.org/

Are your students feeling

cooped up now that cold

weather has hit? Let them

stretch their legs while using

science practices from the

NGSS. Gallery Walks are a

great way to let students

share their thinking publicly,

and meet SEP Obtaining,

Communicating and Evaluating

Information as they walk

around the classroom to see

"Equipped with

his five senses,

man explores the

universe around

him and calls the

adventure

Science."

Edwin Powell

Hubble

Page 4 Science

Grades K-2

ThemeSpark™ is a free web-based teacher tool that was designed by a former teacher David Hunter.

Garrett Podgorski, Curriculum Specialist & Instructional Coach for the RSSP of South Cook ISC/Regional Office of

Education 7 states, “I have been using ThemeSpark for creating rubrics that have some complexity level in order to help teachers create a way to assess. Specifically it can be used as a source in

introducing the Social Science Standards and measuring 21st century skills. I believe this is a great tool compared to other rubric programs for classes that give the flexibility of creating differentiated products while following the standards.”

Teachers can quickly build a lesson from a rubric or standard and can choose from 1000s of standards-aligned lesson resources or add their own. Social science

lessons and rubrics are aligned to the C3 Framework, from which the Illinois Social Science Standards were derived. A video is provided to take teachers through the process.

Go to https://themespark.net and sign up (for free). ThemeSpark was listed as a

“District Administrator Top Product for 2015”.

activities can be found on the

official Bicentennial website at

https://illinois200.com/.

The Bicentennial Commission

is also partnering with various

organizations throughout

Illinois to provide a variety of

opportunities to join in on

the celebration. For example,

the Abraham Lincoln

Presidential Library and

The Official Illinois

Bicentennial Celebration

begins December 3rd, 2017

with events in Springfield and

Chicago. The celebration will

continue with programs and

events throughout 2018,

culminating with the

Bicentennial Birthday Party

on December 3rd, 2018 at

the United Center. More

information on events and

Museum will create statewide

historical commemorations and a

new Bicentennial museum exhibit for

2018.

Additionally, educational resources

exploring 200 years of Illinois will be

launched in early 2018 to engage

students of all ages in the

Bicentennial. Be sure to check out

February’s Capture the Core for

more information on these exciting

educational opportunities!

Add a Bit of Spark to the Cold Winter: ThemeSpark

Illinois’ Bicentennial Celebration Has Begun!

Book Power: Helping Social Science Come Alive for, as well as a summary of

the book. Click here for the

list.

Elementary teachers can scan

the site and determine what

books may be infused in their

current Social Science

lessons and units.

In addition, CBC, in

collaboration with the

National Council of the Social

Studies, publishes an annual

reading list of exceptional

books for use in social studies

classrooms, selected by social

studies educators. Click here

to access this resource.

The Children’s Book Council

(CBC) has compiled a list of

books that help readers

discover those who shaped

the world around them.

These titles remind readers

that they too can inspire and

spark change no matter their

age!

The list includes the title,

author, grade level designed

“The only

thing new in

the world is

the history you

do not know.”

― Harry Truman

Social Science Page 5 Volume 6 Issue IV

Grades K-2

GOAL 1 Self - Awareness &

Self-Management

Everything is cooler in the

winter. Students can build

their own ‘cool off’

snowflake.

Provide a list of

cool off options for

students to choose

from. Include more

options with older

students. Cool off

template is available at

the link below.

Allow students to work

in small groups to discuss

their choices.

Attach to ELA/Soc

Science lesson with

character who ‘cools

off’ (or doesn’t).

http://bit.ly/COOLOFF

GOAL 2 Social Awareness &

Relationship Management

Having a ball with SEL!

Each student makes a

snowman.

Each snowman can ‘earn’

an SEL snowball (to put in

their pile) through first

display of that desired

behavior.

Students then ‘earn’ time

to ‘tag’ or move their

snowball to another

student if they’ve seen that student display the same

desired behavior.

Once tagged, students can

‘earn’ time to ‘tag’ another

classmate.

Post a list of 5-6 desired

behaviors using SEL language.

Find guides HERE

GOAL 3 Positive

Decision Making

Marshmallows are essential

for winter survival! Use them

in a fun and experiential way.

http://bit.ly/wintersel3

Buy twice as many large

marshmallows as

student(s) - and a few

extras for self rewards.

Explain the ‘rules’ of this

‘test’… “Here’s the deal,

you each get one

marshmallow on your

desk. You can eat it, or if

you wait (# of minutes),

then you can have a

second marshmallow.

(less time for younger,

up to 15 min for older)

Journal or create art on

how some resisted.

Prompts avail at link.

Have students decorate and

complete a ‘my family is unique’

worksheet. (template HERE)

Provide blank paper and guide

students through creating at least

two snowflakes—through scissor

cuts.

Facilitate write/talk about snowflake

similar/different observations with a

classmate and in small groups.

Facilitate write/talk about family

similar/different observations with a

classmate and in small groups.

Social Emotional Learning Winter Classroom Ideas

Comprehensive System of Learning Supports

Check us out on the web:

Illinois Classrooms in Action

Climate & Culture

Grades K-5

Climate & Culture

Action Network

Family Engagement - Winter Classroom Ideas

EVERY FAMILY IS SPECIAL