Carol Here: I haven’t done it all but it sure feels like it sometimes. I’ve taught every elementary grade and have loved them all but my favorite is 6th grade. Luckily that is where I will plant my flag this year. Hooray! Since I haven’t done 6th grade in a few years and with the new Common Core standards coming on line it is time to put together a plan for this year. My dad always told me to never waste time re-inventing the wheel so when it came time to plan, instead of spending hours and hours figuring it out myself, I was fortunate enough to work with one of our instructional specialists and together we put some ideas together in a new way that I hadn’t done before. Here’s what we came up with (it’s a little rough around the edges but it will work!):
The headings are a bit hard to see so here they are: “Timeline and Resources” “Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions” “Social Studies Connections” “Science Connections” “Writing” “ELA” “Math”
Taking butcher paper and Common Cores Standards printed in different colored paper, we cut them apart and laid them out into the paper based on the trimester we planned to teach them, we did this for all subjects, glued them down, and created enduring understandings, essential questions, and writing prompts for all of the different writing genres. It’s a great way to concisely see the full year in a meaningful way, enabling you to then plan each thematic unit.
A whole year on a piece of butcher paper. Not very fancy, but it sure did simplify things for me!
Happy Planning
Carol