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Curriculum Developments

5/13/2019 1 Comment

resource recommendations from the school culture survey

by John Beisner and BITE staff
In the School Culture Survey, many respondents shared the resources that they use in their classroom. Click through to investigate the resources below, and if you want to add a resource, share in the comments!
LEXIA
KHAN ACADEMY
MATH-AIDS
SHMOOP
NETFLIX DOCUMENTARIES
TED TALKS
DUOLINGO
MEMRISE
NEWSELA
PURDUE WRITING
BBC DOCUMENTARIES
TED X
ROSETTA STONE
DICTIONARY.COM
READWORKS
RUTGERS-CAMDEN LEARNING CENTER
PBS
QUIZLET
GED.COM
ZOOM
COMMONLIT
CNN10
GOOGLE SUITE
HARVARDX
ITESLJ
KET FAST FORWARD
READTHEORY
PHOTOMATH
PUMA ROSA
NOREDINK
LEARNING CHOCOLATE
ICIVICS
1 Comment

4/3/2019 0 Comments

Visual art curriculum supplement: art style challenge

by BITE Staff 
What's your style? In the "Art Style Challenge", a supplemental art activity created by NorCal teacher Matt Milton, students create a drawing in their own style and then create a second drawing referencing the style of another artist. 

Once the students complete both drawings the last step is to write an essay reflecting on the style in the drawings and how they chose to draw the reference piece the way they did. 

This assignment includes a rubric for easy grading, and should take 1-2 hours for students to complete depending on their familiarity with drawing and writing an essay. 
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To view this assignment, click here. Do you have a different way that you bring art into your class? Share in the comments below!
0 Comments

10/25/2018 1 Comment

Teaching Students to be Digital Citizens

by Ashlen Fierros
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Working at a youth site, I see how much time my students spend online. Teaching economics online, I have gotten a chance to interact with many of them in a online setting as well and while I was impressed with their willingness to try something new, I immediately recognized that they needed help being “online students”. I honestly didn’t know what that would like look as far as lessons went.

It wasn’t until I took a class with Dr. Tim Green at California State University, Fullerton that I realized my students were missing the fundamentals of how to be a digital citizen. Up until that point, I had no idea that was even an official thing. It was such a light bulb moment for me and I immediately started making notes of the lessons I wanted to do with my own class.

That is how I eventually came to create a unit on digital citizenship and information literacy. The idea behind this is that we should be teaching students how to conduct themselves online; What information should be sensitive, how we can protect ourselves online, and why we should consider the digital “tattoo” we leave behind. The unit I created touches on all of these things, as well as why it is important to be able to recognize credible sources. This is really just the tip of the iceberg though. There is so much more information out there that teaches these concepts and so many websites with ready to use lessons!

If this is a course that you think your students could benefit from, I encourage you to use this as a starting point and do you own digging as well! This could easily be a larger lesson taught over a few weeks or something small taught in a day or two, depending on how in depth the teacher would like to go. Not only is it valuable, real world information for our students but it is also pretty interesting and usually a lot of fun to cover in class!

To view the unit, click here. ​

more digital citizenship resources

CYBER WISE DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP HUB 
​http://www.cyberwise.org/digital-citizenship-hub
COMMON SENSE DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP 
​https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship
CENTER FOR MEDIA LITERACY 
​http://www.medialit.org/educator-resources
1 Comment

4/6/2018 1 Comment

Mathemagical strategies from pdc, cj5 and mscc

4/5 Mathematicians Agree!  You + These tip/tricks = Amazingness

A big thank you to  the Math teachers at Pitchess Detention Center (Kimberly VanScoyk, Jamie Roach, and Lynne Winner),
County Jail 5 (Cynthia Wolley), and Maple Street Correctional Center (Anna Flores).

Goooo Math team!!! 

Do nows 

Can you solve it? 

Write or project a problem on the board chosen to help build algebraic thinking through discussion.  
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Math Term of the day

Project a Math Vocabulary word on the screen for discussion. Students make an entry into their Math Dictionary, writing down the word and its definition, and then using it in a sentence. Then, try showing a short video or play a song/rap about the term.
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PEMDAS EXPRESSION OF THE DAY

Simplify an expression, using the rules for order of operations, that results in the date. Use lots of roots, exponents, parentheses, fractions, etc.  For example,  if the date is the 26th write 3^2 (that means to the 2nd power) + 4^2 + 1^2.

war games

Use a deck of cards to practice whatever math skill is desired following the same rules as the classic game War.  For example, each student plays a card; if practicing multiplication, the first student to multiply the numbers on the cards correctly gets both cards!  You can make up extra special challenges for the face cards, such as Jack=Times Ten, Queen=Divide by Two, King=Squared, etc. Great for increasing Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division skills!
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METAPHORS AND CATCH PHRASES

use quarters and clocks

When the students are working with 25s... have them think of quarters.  When the students are working with 5s... have them think of clocks. 
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the bop bop rule! 

When you are subtracting a negative integer (4 - -2) you can "bop bop" it, making each of the negatives into a positive every time you say "bop". If there's a parent (number) in between the two numbers then you can't use the rule.  ​
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the butterly for multiplying fractions

Students can draw a butterly to help them remember what operations happen where when multiplying two fractions. 
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Algebra scales

Picture balancing an algebra equation like balancing a scale. 
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down and dash! 

To practice adding negative integers, turn a normal subtraction problem (subtracting a positive or "normal" number) into addition of a negative integer by turning the subtraction into an addition and the positive into a negative!  Make sense?  No?  Look at the picture!
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library books to explain why -- = +

Imagine you take out 4 books from the library.  Now you owe 4 books.  You now OWE 4 books, or in integer terms we could you you have NEGATIVE 4 books, or (-4).  You read 1 of them and return it.  You've SUBTRACTED a NEGATIVE book, so you've gone from -4 to -3.  Then one day the librarian calls you and tells you that they don't want those books back, you can keep them!  You LOST the NEGATIVE, meaning that now you have POSITIVE 4 books!"
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it takes a family to divide! 

Try out this one to help students remember all the steps! 
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projects inspiration! 

recognizing patterns activity! 

Check out this cool activity worksheet about multi-step word problems and recognizing patterns! 
Worksheet
Key

graph a mystery picture! 

Lots of websites have free graphing mystery sheets! ​

Check out mathaids.com or this pdf! 
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math + science  pbl at pdc! 

​In this cool multi-day project at PDC the students built bridges  for math and physics credit. They used popsicles and glue and then on the final day had a competition to see which bridge could hold the most books! 
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    tell us what you think: "Most popular packet" award

Submit
1 Comment

1/24/2018 6 Comments

Science Videos with matt milton

Videos are an awesome tool to get students engaged in the Science Curriculum. They help them visualize and make the material seem real and relevant rather than abstract and rote. Check out these awesome videos, grouped by subject. 
Physics videos
Waves - introduction
WHAT IS THE DOPPLER EFFECT? 
doppler's effect demonstration
THE DOPPLER EFFECT: WHAT DOES MOTION DO TO WAVES? 
light: crash course astronomy
HUYGEN's Principle​
PARTICULATE NATURE OF MATTER AND CHANGES OF STATE
bill nye - phases of matter
PHYSICS OF HEAT, PRESSURE AND STATES OF MATTER​
theory of relativity explained in 7 minutes
SPECIAL RELATIVITY AND THE TWIN PARADOX
special relativity: crash course physics
RELATIVITY AND THE TWIN PARADOX
HEALTH Videos
how the heart actually pumps blood
oxygen's SURPRISINGLY complex journey through your body
what do the lungs do? 
OXYGEN TRANSPORT FROM LUNGS TO CELLS
WHAT DOES THE LIVER DO? 
WHAT DOES THE PANCREAS DO? 
movements of the human intestine
PERISTALTIC WAVE IN THE GASTRIC ANTRUM
SMALL INTESTINE
​STRUCTURE OF VILLI
how your digestive system works
what is a spleen and what does it do? 
how the body works: the spleen 
how your kidneys work 
Can't use videos? Another great idea is to have students draw or verbally explain concepts and processes! Try to be as creative and relevant as you can -- it's a lot easier to visualize something you've seen before than try to imagine something new :) 
6 Comments

11/16/2017 2 Comments

November Updates

Welcome to the first monthly installment of "off the PAGE" 
Standout ESL with Kara Valle 

Welcome! Ever worry about how to bring Standout alive? We all know that for ESL we need to get our students not only reading and writing, but also listening and speaking -- but how? Here are seven quick and easy mini-lessons to get students speaking, listening, and most importantly, actively participating, while using the Standout ESL Curriculum. 
Before we get started, a good, first step is to check that you have all the materials. Download a materials list at the right: 
standout_material_checklist_-_google_docs.pdf
File Size: 34 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

1. Use a quick vocabulary brainstorm before the lesson to get the words flowing. Students can work individually or in pairs, do this activity as a warm up or as a review. Afterwards, you can extend it by having them all present their words to the group or having them call out their words for a whole group brainstorming activity. 
2. Pre-load the important vocabulary by circling some of the words in the lesson you think the students might not know and reviewing their pronunciation and meaning as a group. 
3. Use gestures with the students to cue some of the tricky sounds. This is a great way to incorporate kinesthetic learning and use muscle memory to your advantage! 
4. Use highlighters or shapes to teach a tricky grammar concept. Did you know colors help our memory and brain function? 
5. Make one of the many checklists in to a simple Call and Response activity. This teaches adults implicit grammar and models the type of questions they will experience in everyday life. Make sure the students ask YOU questions too! 

(Bonus! Call and response is one the strategies in Doug Lemov's important book, Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College. You can read more about the technique here.)

6. Use one of the charts to have the students make simple sentences. These can help reinforce grammar and allow the student to be creative. Students can do them in pairs or small groups. 
7. Do a mini-project by having students make a t-chart. This can reinforce vocabulary or grammar that you are already learning. Students can do this individually or in pairs and afterwards, share it with the group! ​​
Thanks for reading! Got another idea for Standout? Post in the comments below!

​Feel free to email me with any questions or comments at karav@fivekeyscharter.org. And stay tuned for next month's installment of "Off the Page" featuring Matthew Milton and the Health Science Curriculum. 

November curriculum highlights 

  • Major revisions to Math For Work Units 2-6, Algebra Units 1-3, Geometry On-Ramp and Units 2-4
  • SAMHSA Anger Management course is now available on the intranet
  • New College & Career Readiness course is now available on the intranet 
  • HiSet interactive practice tests and test prep are accessible through the intranet (see HiSET Info Page)
  • The DMV: Passing the Driver's Test course has been completely updated (2017 Driver's Handbook has replaced the 2014 one and new points have been assigned to all packets)
  • Answer key for Something Noble has been completed and posted to the intranet
  • New Curriculum Order Form for CTE curriculum created 
  • Readers for Health, American Literature, and US History I and II have had page numbers added. This will make it easier for in custody teachers to re-use the readers. 
2 Comments

10/16/2017 1 Comment

October Updates

Top 5 Curriculum Priorities

Thank you to all who participated in our September 2017 curriculum survey. We have reviewed the results and identified the following priorities...
  1. More curriculum to develop students in the 5.0-7.0 TABE range.
  2. Adopt new Geometry curriculum by January 2018
  3. Common Core-aligned Science curriculum
  4. Advanced Math and English
  5. Comprehensive Digital Literacy curriculum
*Technology and culturally responsive instruction will be embedded in all content.

(Priorities were determined based on last month's and previous survey responses, as well and the leadership team's assessment of teacher and student needs. Priorities are subject to change.)

​September 2017 curriculum survey responses 

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common Words and Phrases that appeared in the written responses

We received so many thoughtful responses. Here are some common words and phrases that appeared: 
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Curriculum Development Highlights

  • Major revisions to Math For Work Units 2-6, Algebra Units 1-3, Geometry On-Ramp and Units 2-4
  • SAMHSA Anger Management course is now available on the intranet
  • New College & Career Readiness course is now available on the intranet 
  • HiSet interactive practice tests and test prep are accessible through the intranet (see HiSET Info Page)
  • The DMV: Passing the Driver's Test course has been completely updated (2017 Driver's Handbook has replaced the 2014 one and new points have been assigned to all packets)
  • Answer key for Something Noble has been completed and posted to the intranet
  • New Curriculum Order Form for CTE curriculum created
Curriculum Updates Blog
​

Have a Curriculum Correction or adoption Request? Please Use the forms below:

Curriculum Corrections
Curriculum Adoption
1 Comment
    FRIENDLY REMINDERS
    • To ensure you are distributing the latest versions, always provide coursework to students directly from the Intranet or order through your site's established protocols.
    • Please make sure the coursework you assign is aligned with your student's TABE score.
    CURRICULUM UPDATES BLOG
    Visit the Curriculum Updates Blog on the Intranet (updated weekly) for a detailed list of all curriculum revisions. 
    Curriculum Updates Blog
    HAVE A CURRICULUM CORRECTION REQUEST?
    Please use the Curriculum Correction Form, or email CurriculumDevelopment@fivekeyscharter.org.
    Curriculum Correction Form
    HAVE A CURRICULUM ADOPTION REQUEST?
    Please use the Curriculum Adoption Form:
    Curriculum Adoption Form

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