Civics Resources

 Civics Time!

Many quality sources provide curricular materials that help teachers bring civics alive. This multi-disciplinary subject is more than the particulars of government: it also encompasses geography, economics, history, international relations, participatory skills, community interaction and involvement.

What So Proudly We Hail is a new, free website created by two teachers who use literature to teach civic skills, through questions such as “What does it mean to be an American?” and “For what are we willing to fight and to sacrifice?” Through primary and secondary sources, songs, art, videos, and question-based curriculum, the site has a range of ideas for teachers of all grade levels. 

DPI Social Studies consultant Kris McDaniel maintains a webpage on Wisconsin Resources such as the Wisconsin Digital Archives, the state government portal, the Wisconsin Blue Book, the State Cartographer, and more. She has also tagged websites as “civics” in her Diigo library.

Using primary sources in civics education is the topic of a 2005 article by Lee Ann Potter of the National Archives. Similar resources from the Library of Congress include Ten Tips for Facilitating an Effective Primary Source Analysis and the Primary Source Analysis Tool. McDaniel created a Wisconsin-specific Primary Source Toolkit, too.

Students who play the challenging civics-based games at http://www.iCivics.org earn points which can be used to help choose which real, community projects will receive quarterly $1,000 grants from the site. Envisioned by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as a broadly encompassing civics learning platform, iCivics.org lets teachers set up an online classroom to gauge what and how students are learning. 

Making Transitions Smooth with Music

Using music in the classroom is a great way to help students transition without always having to direct them with your words.  Here are some tools you might consider this year. Kathy

Upper Elementary Music

Pintrest Options

Make your own classroom alarm "bell" clock with music - procedures for your computer

Music for Management

Reflection..........Can we use Bloom's Taxonomy?

I found this interesting article on educator reflection and Bloom's Taxonomy.  It is worth thinking about.
Thanks Peter Pappas!

Conscious Classroom Management - Some Nuggets to Share

Taking some time today to read another Classroom Management book, Conscious Classroom Management by Rick Smith.  It is a book that is being used with the New Teacher Orientation.  It is good to review some golden nuggets in successful teaching as we move into the new year:

• Content, procedures and behavior are the functional trinity of the classroom, and students want to learn them all.
• Every professional has good days and not so good days. We are all human.
• Knowing when our own resources need a boost is a sign of great strength. Being open to receiving the boost is key.
• Effective teachers sometimes make mistakes, feel overwhelmed, stressed and under-appreciated.
• Counter isolation - getting out and connecting positively with others is a proactive step that teachers need to do purposefully. Working together is an essential element for teachers to survive and flourish.
• Teaching is not just hard work, it's 'heart' work. - Eleise Buxton
• The more we build in choices for our students, the more likely they are to feel energized as participants in their learning process.
• An effective teacher prepares systematically for the start of a successful school year by thinking through how they will connect with students, manage behaviors and begin to orchestrate content in a highly successful learning environment.

Reading this book made me reflect on all of the many components that come together for effective teachers. It is why being in classrooms and seeing this work first hand is such a joy. Kathy

E-books: free for elementary students

WOW - check out this list of free websites that offer e-book reading suitable for elementary students. 

• Children's Storybooks Online

• Mighty Book

• Starfall

• We Give Books

• Woodlands Interactive Stories

Do you have any similar resources to add to my list?  Please comment with your suggestions. Kathy

CCSS: The Shifts in Instruction are Key to Understand

If you have not had time to study the "key shifts in the CCSS" this is important information.

Digging into these key shifts grade level by grade level. Check these out.  

If you prefer videos for learning and/or reviewing CCSS information check these out.

SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT- resources for educators

Resources for Educators and Administrators:

·         “From the Page to the Classroom: Implementing the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Literacy” and “From the Page to the Classroom: Implementing the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics”

These professional development videos were developed by the Council of Great City Schools for central office and school-based staff and teachers as an introduction to the instructional shifts required by the CCSS. The videos feature some of the content writers speaking about the CCSS at professional development conferences hosted by the Council.

·         Share My Lesson 
Developed by the American Federation of Teachers and TES Connect, Share My Lesson’s Common Core Information Center offers facts, figures, and tips about the CCSS and high-quality resources aligned to the standards across all subjects.

·         Teaching Channel
Teaching Channel offers a free library of high-quality videos featuring real teachers demonstrating their best educational practices. The large library of CCSS videos includes tags that specify the exact standards to which a lesson is aligned.

·         Common Core in Practice: Great Teachers Demonstrate Moving to Deeper Learning
America Achieves developed a series of videos demonstrating effective instruction aligned to the Common Core. These five videos show how teachers are putting the new standards into practice in their classrooms and how enthusiastically their students are responding.