When a clear, easily
understood rubric is
presented prior to a task,
students have a concrete
idea of the expectations for
success.
There are a variety of
rubrics that can meet the
needs of a given assignment.
For more information, click
on the link below:
Rubrics
As you start off your new
school year, take time to re-
evaluate your current
assessment system. Are you
getting a clear picture of
your students’ learning?
If you feel you might want to
make some changes, this is
the perfect time to try
something new.
Standards-based
Reporting
Ideally, SBR is a district
initiative, but many teachers
feel it is a worthy system and
elect to make the move
within their, grade, subject
or even classroom.
Standards-reporting focuses
learning on specific goals and
assesses those results.
For more information on
SBG check out our website:
Illinois Standards-based
Reporting
Rubrics
Rubrics can be a huge help in
driving learning as well as in
speeding up assessment.
Kicking Off Your Assessment Year
Our Newsletter’s Year Long Theme
Problem solving in the real
world doesn’t occur in
separate academic areas. It is
necessary to combine
different intelligences to
achieve the quality results.
To address this practical
learning, The Teacher’s
Newsletter from Illinois
Classrooms in Action is
having a year long theme of
integrating subjects to better
meet the needs of student
learning.
Each issue will focus on a
specific aspect of the
educational arena, with each
page addressing ways to
appropriately integrate
various topics and subjects
at each grade level bands.
We hope you will find this
approach useful to your
classroom lessons. Please do
not hesitate to share your
applications from our
publication or to suggest
ideas that you have found
successful.
August 2018 Volume 7 Issue 1
The Teachers’ Newsletter
from Illinois Classrooms in Action Grade band lessons, ideas and information
Focus: Back to School
Inside this issue:
ELA 2
Math 3
Science 4
Social Studies 5
Learning Support 6
Published monthly by
ISBE
Content Specialists
Kin
derg
arten
thro
ugh
Seco
nd
Gra
de
If you know
what you want,
you are more
likely to get it
NLP adage
If what you're
doing isn't
working, try
something else
NLP adage
Integration embraces not just
the interweaving
of subjects (e.g., science and
social studies) but of
any curriculum elements (e.g.,
skills and content) that might
be taught more effectively in
relation to each other than
separately. In order for
young students to develop
content knowledge, academic
language must be fostered
through a variety of methods
such as read alouds, fluency
practice, and vocabulary
development.
Some strategies to support
academic language are:
1. Provide repeated
encounters with a word
in various authentic
contexts to help
students internalize the
definition.
2. Help students diagram
similarities and
differences: When
students generate a list
of similarities and
differences between
words and complete a
Venn diagram, such as
one that compares and
contrasts moths and
butterflies,
3. Have students complete
scripts of academic
routines by providing
sentence frames like
these examples: “The
topic of my presentation
is ______.”�or “In the
first part, I give a basic
definition. In the next
section, I will explain
______. Practice and
model regularly!
complex texts (i.e.,
science or social science
materials), are mastered.
2. Read up on what
integration means and
the different
methodologies.
Understanding Integrated
Curriculum promotes
planning practices that
Integration requires extensive
planning. The following
resources may provide
support as teachers embark
on this journey:
1. Text Set Project: using a
variety of texts around
the same topic helps
build knowledge and
vocabulary as more
support the teacher and
students.
3. Understanding By Design
(UbD) by Grant Wiggins
and Jay McTighe offer a
framework for planning
that supports integration.
Click here for an
overview and related
items.
Using Academic Language to Promote Integration
Planning Integration
Education is the
passport to the
future, for
tomorrow belongs
to those who
prepare for it
today.
~Malcolm X
Page 2 ELA
Grades K-2
Using Read Alouds to Foster Integration
As stated in the above article,
integration opportunities
abound in all subject matters.
Using read alouds is just one
strategy that can support
content knowledge prior to
engaging in experiments,
artistic endeavors, or social
justice activities. When
reading aloud, students do
not need to read whole texts
to appreciate or engage in
skill practice. Teachers
determine the skills needed
to access each text related to
content area. For example,
students might practice
specific skills to run an
experiment but might have to
decide if an artist has a special
message in art.
The background knowledge
that a teacher builds for
students and the knowledge
that they already possess
influence which details they
find relevant
(Anderson, 2013). Allowing
for questions during read
alouds, fosters inquiry and
motivation to find answers.
This in turn, fosters
engagement with content and
other students through
discussion.
As you prepare your
classroom for the upcoming
school year, consider
adorning you walls with
these free printables from
youcubed.org that promote
a growth mindset in your
students,
www.youcubed.org/
resource/posters/.
topics suggested by you.
Our first meeting o of the
2018-2019 school year
will be August 16 at 3:30.
For information about
topics and registration
#ILMathCom:
Join us on the first and
third Thursday of ever
month for a virtual
meeting of math
educators focused on
check
here,
www.mathteachersinactio
n.org/ilmathcom.html.
Classroom Décor that Promotes Learning
#ILMathCom
Kick the Year Off With a Week of Inspirational Math
on the power of growth
mindset, bust some of the
prolific myths that only a
select few people have
what it takes to be good
at math, and address
some of the common
struggles that many
students experience in
math.
By starting the year with
the Week of Inspirational
Math, you will be laying
the foundation for a
classroom climate and
culture that allows
students to reach their
full potential—a
classroom where
mistakes are celebrated,
students who embrace a
growth mindset, and
lessons that engage all
levels of learners in high
level mathematics. Find
lessons for Kindergarten
through Grade 12 here,
www.youcubed.org/week
-inspirational-math/.
Jo Boaler and her team at
Stanford have compiled
week long units for the
first week of school
titled, Week of
Inspirational Math on
their website
youcubed.org. Each
lesson is comprised of a
math activity and a
mindset video. The
activities are designed to
be open, creative, and
visual—to allow students
to experience the beauty
of mathematics. The
videos educate students
Math(s) is a
subject of
beautiful
connections, it is
not a long list of
disconnected
topics.
~Jo Boaler
Mathematics Page 3 Volume 7 Issue 1
Grades K-2
When interpreting the
Framework for K-12 Science
Education as the Next
Generation Science
Standards, the writers were
careful to connect the
standards to Common Core
ELA and Math. Beneath the
SEP/DCI/CCC boxes are
direct, grade-appropriate
links . Read more at: https://
www.nextgenscience.org/
search-standards
students to drive learning
through experimentation. For
example, standard 2MD.D10
asks students to represent
data, an integral part of
making sense of the
outcomes of scientific
experiments. Making
connections between math
and science strengthens
student understanding of
both contents!
A common pitfall in linking
science and math standards
when planning instruction is
simply assuming any math is
appropriate as long as it
meets the needs of the
science. Luckily the
Measurement and Data
standards provide an
opportune way to connect
science and math in a
meaningful way while allowing
Look to NGSS Documentation for Ties to ELA and Math
Measurement and Data in Science Instruction
Reading Informational Text Standards in Science
distinguish between
information provided by
pictures and those in the
words of the text. By simply
asking students whether a
written interpretation of a
graph is correct, you are
meeting some of the ELA
standards, and this process is
more powerful when the data
is collected by students!
Did you know that you can
meet some of the Common
Core ELA Standards in your
science instruction? One easy
way is through the use of the
RI standards. In science, we
always want to compare
interpretations and
arguments for what an
experiment means against the
actual data. This aligns well
with RI 1.6, where students
"Every kid starts
out as a natural-
born scientist,
and then we beat
it out of them. A
few trickle
through the
system with their
wonder and
enthusiasm for
science intact “
Carl Sagan
Page 4 Science
Grades K-2
Inquiry is an ongoing cycle of
learning to use knowledge at
increasingly complex levels as
a way to integrate content.
Through the inquiry process,
students (individually and or
collaboratively) identify
issues, pose questions,
investigate answers, pose
more questions, weigh the
evidence, come to
conclusions, and take action
on their learning.
In the Social Science
Standards, inquiry skills are
used by students while
applying the disciplinary
concepts to construct
essential and supporting
questions and determine
helpful sources to conduct
investigations and take
informed action.
Illinois has created inquiry
graphics that illustrate the
stages of the inquiry process
and guides the process for
incorporating the Illinois
Learning Standards for Social
Science, particularly the
Inquiry Skills portion of the
standards. The statements
contained in the graphic are
suggested steps for each stage
of the process. The intention
is to support teachers with
the goal of engaging students
in the inquiry process. Click
here to access templates for
each grade level.
Students investigate how a bill
becomes a law and then try
to come up with an idea to
drive change at the school,
local or state level. Click
here additional information.
In addition, Shonda Ronen, a
first-grade teacher in the
There are some great things
going on in social science
education across the state.
Teachers in Illinois are
working hard to engage their
students of all ages in
meaningful inquiry.
Check out Mary Jorn’s
Fourth Grade Civics Inquiry
from Beckemeyer Elementary
School in Hillsboro, Illinois.
same school, chose to have
her students brainstorm
questions about a slightly
edited version of Norman
Rockwell's print The Problem
We All Live With. Students
then take informed action.
Click here for additional
information.
New Resource for Inquiry in the Social Science Standards.
Illinois Teachers Inspire Inquiry
Children’s Literature To Inspire Inquiry
ocean, the American girl
realizes how much children in
Holland are in need. She
organizes people in her
community to send needed
items in care packages.
One Plastic Bag:
Isatou Ceesay
and the Recycling
Women of the
Gambia by Miranda Paul
Isatou Cessay takes action in
her small village in the
Gambia by taking plastic bags
that have littered her villages
and weaves them into purses.
She and a few other women
change the landscape in their
village and make a difference.
Click here for additional
books that can inquire
inquiry.
Children’s literature can be a
great resource for the Inquiry
Standard of taking informed
action. For example:
Boxes for Katje by
Candace Fleming
A family in
America sends
hard-to-find items to a family
in Holland. When two young
girls write letters across the
“All the
world is a
laboratory to
the inquiry
mind.”
Martin H. Fischer
Social Science Page 5 Volume 7 Issue 1
Grades K-2
Local student data (even common student
emotions observed by teachers in math class)
can be an excellent place to start for identifying
student SEL targets. Here are some detailed
steps from a Classrooms in Action ‘front line’
support of integrating social emotional
standards benchmarks at the classroom level
with Dunlap District elementary educators and
school counselors.
Local teacher teams can discuss potential links
between observed student needs within Math
instruction (ongoing emotional or social
student behaviors) and SEL benchmarks. For
effective implementation, team focus on three
to four prioritized benchmarks helps
continually reinforce specific SEL benchmark
targets throughout the year connected to
multiple lessons and classroom behavioral
expectations. With explicit SEL benchmark
goals being continually reinforced, teams can
then begin to brainstorm common strategies in
support of SEL skill practice.
Educators who continue use of this common
language and goal approach, can continue SEL
integration by co-creating a rubric for agreed
upon student performance observation
behaviors or artifacts which supports recording
and tracking student progress.
Early Elementary (Grades K-3) SEL benchmarks
Social Emotional Learning within Math Instruction
Check us out on the web
under Climate and Culture:
Illinois Classrooms in Action
Teacher/Student
Identified Need
SEL related benchmark Strategies for support
Feeling frustrated in
math performance
(Math Practice #1)
SEL 1C.1b - Identify goals for academic success and classroom behavior.
• 3B4T Chart (Brain, Browse, Buddy,
Teacher)
• Beyond ‘I Can’t Do This’ strategies
• Reduction of Math Anxiety
Dialogue with peers
in math work groups
(Math Practice #3)
SEL 2C.1a - Identify ways to work and play well with others.
Supporting student discussions through use of Classroom Collaboration Kit. Order yours or print for use today!
Student
Math Anxiety
SEL 1A.1a* - Recognize and accurately label emotions and how they are linked to behavior.
• 10 tips for Teaching Emotion-al Regulation (& Improving Classroom Behavior at the Same Time)
Image is hyperlinked to this free printable
Additional grade levels available at:
*SEL 1A.4a - Teacher/Student Observation Rubric
1 - Beginning 2 - Emerging 3 - Consistent 4 - Exemplar
Student rarely attempts
to identify feelings and/or
emotional regulation
disrupting math
performance.
Student shows
occasional ability to
identify and regulate
emotions occasionally
impacting math
performance.
Student shows
consistent ability to
identify and regulate
emotions supporting
math performance.
Student shows consistent
ability to help self and
others identify and regulate
emotions supporting math
performance.
Teaching and
Learning
Supports
Elementary