Jan. 18, 2016

Reminders about Cornerstone Tasks & Unit Math Assessments

Cornerstone Tasks (All grades)

Upload Cornerstone Tasks Here:

Cornerstone Task Link

Teacher responsible for uploading each task link

Each unit in the Social Studies curriculum has its own cornerstone as an assessment piece. As your students are completing their Cornerstone Tasks, please do not forget to snap a picture of one to upload to the Cornerstone slideshow. Humanities is still working this year to gather samples of the tasks to share across the district as well as update and combine tasks. It's a great way to gather ideas into one location and also to share our practice with others in the district. Next year the Cornerstone Tasks will drive our Humanities curriculum and it will be so great to be able to look at all the samples.

If you have trouble uploading your sample, please let me know and I'll be happy to help you.

Math Unit Assessments (All Grades)

As you are completing the units in Math, don't forget to complete the Unit Assessment. This year all grade levels have Math Unit Assessments for each unit. Unit Assessments can be printed from the following file: DMAC Elementary Test Key List. The results of the assessment are to be scanned into DMAC so I am happy to show you how to print your student bubble sheets and scan them for you when you are done.

October 6, 2014

PLCs

According to an article from Educational Leadership the purpose of a PLC is:

·               Big Idea #1: Ensuring That Students Learn

·               Big Idea #2: A Culture of Collaboration

·               Big Idea #3: A Focus on Results

This past week, this exact process happened naturally in the fourth grade PLC.  I would like to point out that 2 of the members of that team are new to GCISD.  The short version of this planning process happened as they planned their first TEAM PBL. 

The thought process was to link...

Social Studies

1.     Native Americans in Texas developed different ways of life based upon the geographic regions in which they lived

2.      The size, history, and geography of Texas shaped its growth and diversity.

Science

1.     Properties of soil,

2.     Changes to the earth’s surface

3.     Renewable and nonrenewable resources

Basically, if I could have taped this PLC-I would have!!!  The cornerstone task from the first unit of social studies will be used to reflect upon and even “add to or change if needed” to begin the look at the lives of different Native Americans tribes. 

Some of you may already be saying, “Yes, Lisa, we always uses prior knowledge to drive our learning.”  But in this instance, they are using the STUDENTS’ assessment piece (the cornerstone task) to a new and deeper level.  The students will have the opportunity to change/add to their initial learning.  The fact that the cornerstone task is a usable piece of a PBL joined with science is incredible.  I am a nerd at heart and the fact that a cornerstone task is truly not “just one more thing to do” and is a viable piece to drive instruction just makes me smileJ Kudos to Erin and Alejandra!!

If you would like to read this article on PLCs please access it at http://goo.gl/gb9ebm