Planning Guides

I thought I would share today about my planning guide-which helps me when I do my weekly planning.

I've already talked about how I do my long-term mapping for ELA and Math, this will be how I do it on a daily basis.

Last year, I made a guide to help me with my process.

The left is this year's, and on the right is last year's.

I had a basic monthly map for ELA,

As well as Writing Expectations,

A Math pacing guide,

and of course, a set of Common Core State Standards for 4th grade.

Those I got from Mandy's Tips for Teachers-I liked her Facebook page and got them for free (although I don't know if she stills has them-it was a few years ago!).

I also added some things throughout the year-you can see my Science map and thinking routines taped onto some covers.

This year, I refined and added in some things, to make it more accessible for me.

I also added a table of contents for I can easily see what each section is (and I'll be adding tabs to it for easy flippage :)

I spent some time refining my ELA map,

 

A little more detailed, plus some CCSS added in!

as well as completely redoing my Math map (it was basically just a pacing guide before, know it has the skills taught in each lesson, as well as common core alignment as I saw it reflected in the lessons.)

I also redid my writing expectations, shifting some things around, and adding some things here and there (and putting into a horizontal format to fit the rest of the guide.)

I made sure to add in the science map and thinking routines section this year :)

I did retype the CCSS-again, to keep it in the horizontal format, I added in the Next Gen Science Standards, because while my district (and state) hasn't necessarily adopted them YET, I know they are definitely coming, and I want to keep this one for a few years :)

When I go to do my planning, I grab this guide, and am pretty much able to plan away. I don't need to lug my ginormous math teacher editions, or search through all my resources, because I have it in this handy-dandy guide.

I had it bound at Staples for under $4, and printed everything at home (I printed the covers on cardstock, and laminated them at school).

That's my planning guide! It may be a lot of initial outlay of time, to organize it all, but it saves me an equal amount of time throughout the school year (which is a much needed necessity!)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Curriculum Mapping ~ Math Style

I recently(ish) blogged about how I map out my ELA curriculum for the year.

I thought I would share how I am going to do my Math curriculum-which is different from how I handle my ELA.

The first thing you should know is that I do follow the math program (although I do supplement, I follow the order of the lessons).

I follow it because this was our first year with it (and we spent a lot of money on it!), and I'm not as comfortable yet pulling away from it as I was with ELA (although I should note that it did take me three years to get frustrated with the order of the ELA program before I ripped it apart and reorganized it).

The things I recommend in my ELA post, I also recommend here.

The first thing I did was to sit down with the math book, and sheets of paper.

Since we had testing for TWO weeks, I used that time to work on this.

I started by going through each chapter/lesson and writing down the skills that it focused on (not just what the book says it focuses on) and write down the CCSS it covers.

This way, I could clearly see the skills that are being covered, as well as the standards.

Now, having said that ever since we looked at this program that it is not CCSS aligned (and there have been articles to proven I was right-it often goes above and beyond, or just mentions a standard here and there in a problem-which is not the same as teaching it), I also went through and added 5th grade CCSS where applicable (mostly in our fraction unit).

I also added the number of 'recommended' days to teach each lesson.

Now all the chapters are planned out, with skills and standards.

Then, since we had ANOTHER three days of testing for science (and we still have MAPS to take....sigh), I brought in my computer to start transferring it over.

I sat down with the chapter maps I had created, the book, and iPad (turned to CCSS standards so I could write them down) to plot it out (I pretty much use PowerPoint for everything now-it just gives me so much more versatility).

I talk about this app here and here

I started going through each chapter again, and noting down the skills in more detail on the computer.

Sorry for the glare...my desk is right under the fluorescent lights

I'll also be adding the big idea in.

Now (when I finish), I'll have all the chapters and skills at a glance, and can fill in and supplement as needed. :)

Since I'm doing this one by chapter, and not necessarily by week like my ELA maps, I'll be able to use it for years to come.

I should add that I usually follow the 'flow'-chapter 2 follows chapter 1, etc., although I did put in geometry, angles and area and perimeter in between the fraction chapter and the decimals chapter-mostly because we were testing and I wanted something more fun. I also think it gives the kids a break from the heavy computation math.

Ideally, I would put the 'fun stuff' in between division and fractions-but we'll see for next year :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Curriculum Mapping ~ ELA Style

Teaching with a Mountain View posted a really interesting question on her Facebook page the other day about creating a scope and sequence (April 20th if you want to go look for it! :)

One of my favorite things to do is to play with curriculum, so I was watching it to see what others had said. In fact, if I could go back and redo my Master's, I would choose Curriculum! As it is, I'm looking for a CAGS or half-master's program in it-haven't found one yet, but I'm looking!

Then I got to thinking (always dangerous! ;)-why don't I share how I map it out?

This is what works for me-something different may work for you. And if so, can I direct you to Teaching Maddeness (who is currently running a planning series!), Ashleigh's Education Journey, What I Have Learned, and Scholastic?

First, pick one topic to concentrate on. Don't try to do the whole year for every subject at the same time. Small steps. Small.

Then, gather all the materials you need. I'm going to show you how I did my ELA map (which I started last summer-so I did have some 'pre-planning' done). This summer I'm going to focus more on math,

Lay out your months, then divide them into weeks. For this, I used to bottom half of my morning message chart paper-it gave me more room to work.

 Divide each month into weeks (or unit into days)

 And by how many subject areas you want to cover.

Some suggestions for things you need:
       

Since I did all of ELA, I divided my paper into sections-for each of the sections I will teach

Then, I started plotting out my year.

I first started with my Mentor Sentences. This gives me a mentor text, plus focuses on grammar skills.

 Then, I moved onto grammar.

Last year, I reorganized the sequence for our series-putting the parts of speech into what I thought was a logical order, instead of skipping all around. I allotted about a month for each part of speech-knowing I wouldn't be able to cover it everyday, but it gave me a guide of how long it took.

After grammar, I hit up writing.

Using what I have learned (here, and here), plus some advice from a colleague (who's an excellent writing teacher) who recommended some books, I started to plan it out.

I'm definitely heavier on the description in the beginning of the year vs. the end of the year-there are more 'smaller projects' we need to do before we can do longer pieces. Plus, I want to make sure that they have the basics and are clear on the expectations before I move forward.

Then I moved onto the biggies-the CCSS I'll be covering, as well the other skills that come along with reading.

This is where my previous experience came into the most play.

I took what I did this year, and moved things around a little, using the experience, plotted out (to me) a logical sequence that builds upon one another.

This is also where I pulled in my basal.

*Tangent* Unless you are absolutely required to teach lesson A on day 1 and lesson B on day 2, I would highly recommend  using your basal as a resource. You don't have to do everything they have in there! Pull out the best parts-and supplement the rest! You know your kids-and what works best.

I pulled out the comprehension focus for each of the units, as well as one or two stories that 'fit' with the focus. Some of these comprehension skills are 'implied' in the common core, and they are still important to teach.

Then, I went back, and using a checklist of the CCSS, I checked off what I had already written down. (I did this on my iPad using an Evernote checklist during SBA testing-but paper and pencil work too! ;)

When I got towards the end, any standards left over went into the months of April, May and June. This way, I've made sure that I've covered all the standards by the end of the year.

Now, I have a broad overview of things to cover and when, helping to keep me on track when I lesson plan. It also reminds me not to skip anything, and I know that I'll have covered all the skills they need when I'm done. 

My next step is to take my half charts and type them up. I'll print them out and have everything bound at Staples for $5-this way I have a easy, portable map that I can use to help me daily plan.

Isn't it pretty-it doesn't have to be boring!

I hope you found that helpful! It's a step by step process, and working at it little by little, you can get your whole year planned out. My goal this summer is to focus on math, and nail that down better.

Good luck!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn