Benchmark Ready

It's that time of year when we begin to reflect on this past year, and think about all of things we'll do differently next year! It will be an adjustment going to 140 minute Language Arts block. Hopefully, with a good plan in place, we can start next year off prepared!

Here's what a 140 minute Benchmark lesson plan template might look like:

Link to lesson plan template:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9XTG-oKj33jX0d3VU5DVldMTGc/edit?usp=sharing

Another way to keep organized is to use a calendar for keeping track of small group meetings:

Courtesy Mrs. Mason, Promise Road Elementary
Link to My Reader's Workshop Plan:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jz74i0ftvb2lk3q/Reader%27s%20Workshop%20Plan.docx

Another change in our curriculum will be the addition of The Article of the Week.This will rotate being taught one week by the Language Arts teachers, one week by the science teachers, and one week by the social studies teachers. 

You can find more information from the creators on the Vale Middle School website.

NCTM Pinterest Board

Did you know that the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) has a Pinterest board for Middle School Math lessons? Neither did I, until today. Here is the link.

Best Practices

Here is a link to a post on Laura Swain's blog I found worth sharing. It has a 2-page document that summarizes this book...

Summaries are great, as we don't always have the time to read everything. And Best Practices will give us the best results! I hope you find this worth your time!

Resources

Denise Harvey found this one...

Click here to go to the site!

And this one was found by Natalie Ramsey...

Click Here to go to Coloring Squared

Thanks for sharing, Ladies!

Formative Assessment PD

Here is

Link to powerpoint.

Link to blank template (Excel sheet for keeping student data)

Link to West Virginia DOE (Examples of Formative Assessment)

Link to Scholastic (Article and examples of Formative Assessment)

Link: A Sampling of Types of Formative Assessment (PDF)

Link: Tools for Formative Assessment (PDF)

Link: Formative (Informal) Assessment Strategies (PDF)

Link to NWEA site (Article and examples)

Resource

Another interesting resource

http://www.peterpappas.com/

Interesting Resource

ditchthattextbook.com

The name says it all.

QR Codes

You can create your own QR (Quick Response) Codes. These codes have many uses, one of which is the ability to quickly link to websites.

Here is the QR Code for this blog...

It was created here.

Article of the Week

Article of the Week is a reading initiative that is already being implemented at Anderson High School, and will be at Highland Middle School for the 2014-2015 school year.

Here is a link to the Powerpoint.

Here is a link to the Vale Middle School "Article of the Week" site. Anchor papers and articles can be found here.

Teaching Reading to Dyslexic Students

Here is a link that Laura Swain provided. Thought it might be good to post here for those who might want to reference it in the future.