Resolution Helpers Day 4 & Giveaway

Welcome to Day 4 of Resolution Helpers Week!

Each day, I will be sharing a classroom-themed resolution and a product that I have found will help keep that resolution the whole year and beyond. Some of these helpers are from my store, some of them are from publishers, and some are actual objects, but all have helped me in the past and will hopefully help start your new year off right in you classroom!

Classroom Resolution #4: 

I will help my students self-monitor their learning with the CCSS in mind!

This was our first year implementing CCSS and there were a lot of bumps in the road! One of the things I constantly wanted to check was where my students were in their learning. Because the pacing and content was different than in years past, I wanted to always be sure my students were charting their progress as we worked toward our learning goals and that those goals were CCSS-aligned and also kid-friendly.

That was a big order!

To start, we used my Mountain Climbers Packet and this year, it was updated to include numbers next to each of the levels.

Click to see this *updated* packet in my TpT Store & download the Preview!

This helped in many ways, and one of my favorite Quick Checks was to have my kids hold up with fingers the level they felt they were on with the concept we were covering. At the beginning of the year, I would have them cover their eyes so they could be honest with themselves, but after a while (and with repeating this so much and tracking their learning), kids got used to the system and didn't worry about others as much as themselves.

To read more about how I use Mountain Climbers in my classroom, click HERE.

Another part of this tall order included quick and easy activities so my kids could have instant feedback on where they felt they were in the CCSS standards. Carson-Dellosa's Common Core Connections fit the bill perfectly!

These are full of simple ways to address each of your grade-level Common Core State Standards in a way that is engaging and meaningful to your students and their learning.

For example, take a look at the inside of both the ELA and Math books:

You'll see the CCSS is marked on the top-right corner of each page, making progress monitoring easy-peasy for you to keep track of.

On the bottom of each page, there is also a quick CCSS-based Student Check (in kid-friendly language!) so students can either checkmark each square, or put their level inside (1-4) based on the posters.... up to you!

The math pages are just one page with a helpful teaching point on top, followed by practice, then the student check. The ELA pages have a grade-level story on the left and both comprehension and grammar/language questions on the right. In the example, you'll also see the bolded text that helps reinforce understanding when it comes time to check for comprehension.

If you're interested in these Common Core Connections from Carson-Dellosa, they are available in both Math and ELA for grades K-5! Check them all out HERE! They are available in both hardcopy and e-book format, too!