Another Great Workshop: Problem-Attic

This week PSP Megan Lozier presented a workshop on Problem-Attic, a fantastic resource for developing Common Core aligned materials and building assessments.  If you weren't able to attend, check out the presentation here and stay tuned as she will be announcing another date soon.

Bringing Vocabulary to Tiers!

The workshop yesterday (2/11/2014) explored the different levels of vocabulary and how to introduce students to more challenging words.  Here is the PowerPoint and a great collection of resources provided by Melissa Skellie on Pinterest.  There is also the Paint Chip activity which can be seen here:  http://mrsskellysklass.blogspot.com/2012/09/giveaways-sales-and-fall-oh-my.html

PowerPoint:  Bringing Vocabulary to Tiers

Overdrive E-books at Your Fingertips

Just a reminder that the library has a nifty little resource called Overdrive! Overdrive is a library of ebooks and audiobooks that you can download for free! I’ve also purchased Overdrive Advantage, so that I can purchase ebooks and audiobooks that are available only to CCS students and staff. You might not know it, but most of you already have a username and password. Send me an email if you’re interested, and I’ll send you your login information. Using Overdrive is simple. You can search for titles in a number of ways: 1. You can search the library’s catalog for a title and if it’s in Overdrive the call number will reflect this.

2. You can also put Overdrive in the search box and it will list all our Overdrive titles. 3. You can go directly into the Overdrive catalog and search, but you will need your Overdrive account information to do this. Lending Policy: The lending procedure for a book from the Overdrive catalog works just like borrowing a book from the library. If the book is available you can download it to your device or your computer. If a book is checked out, from the Overdrive catalog, you can reserve the book and an email will be sent to you when the books is available. The book icon/headphone icon is grayed out if the book is checked out. The loan period is for 21 days, but you can return an item early. If you finish the book early please return it, because someone else might be waiting for it.

Follet Shelf: We also have some Follet E-books, that you can find in the library’s catalog or in the Follet Shelf catalog. At this point you don’t have login information for these titles, but I can easily create one for you. You can access Follett Shelf on the Library’s website or via the library’s catalog.

We have how-to guides available in the library and on the library’s website: http://www.cambridgecsd.org/webpages/tbrennan/overdrive.cfm If you have any question, email or stop by the library.

Professional Development on Close Reading

This PowerPoint was presented at the Close Reading workshop on December 10th.  It is available for anyone who is interested but was unable to attend. 
PSP Workshop Close Reading

Building Vocabulary

At yesterday's high school faculty meeting, we did a great exercise to underscore the importance of vocabulary development.  Here is a pdf file of some PowerPoint slides that you can use.  I showed them to my students this fall to emphasize the need to broaden our vocabulary.  It really helped them understand and make the connection.

Building Vocabulary

Connecting the Dots: Scaffolding for Struggling Readers

Yesterday, Professional Support Providers Audrey Brownell and Daryl Leadbetter kicked off an after school work shop series designed to offer teachers strategies around the new demands of the CCLS and classroom.  If you are interested in the topic but were unable to attend, their offering, Scaffolding for Struggling Readers, is available here.

Using the skill of DETERMINING IMPORTANCE in math word problems:

I have had the opportunity to observe several  teachers use a great strategy with word problems in math that is directly linked to a skill that proficient readers use:  DETERMINING IMPORTANCE in a text.  I call it CODING THE QUESTION but I'm sure others call it something else; at any rate it is a useful strategy that is sure to help students understand what they need to do to solve word problems.  This strategy is useful for any grade level but it is a good idea to start them young so they are proficient when the going gets tough!

This simple strategy is as follows:

Before tackling a word problem, students circle the numbers or number words that they will need to solve,
THEN underline the question or key words in the word problem.  Once they've determined and identified  the important info, they can move on the solving the problem!