Lesson Planning Grids, and Checklists!
The day has come. You cannot put it off any longer. Sticking your head in the sand isn't going to make it go away. Common Core is here (has been for a while now!) and you cannot put it off any longer. It is time to get organized and begin to tailor your teaching and lesson planning around these standards.
Don't despair. If you are a science teacher that has been doing what a science teacher is supposed to do (experimentation, problem solving, critical thinking, etc.) then you probably will not have to make major changes to your teaching style or curriculum.
For example, in looking at the standards for the Science and Technical Subjects, the third standard for the various grade levels says:
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.3 Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks."
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.3 Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks, attending to special cases or exceptions defined in the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.3 Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks; analyze the specific results based on explanations in the text.
I have already been doing this in my classes, and I bet you have many activities and teaching lessons that would cover this standard, too. So, for me, I first needed to get familiar with the standards for the Science and Technical Subjects, and then get organized to insure I was covering them in my daily planning and teaching.
For organizational purposes, I developed a set of lesson planning grids and checklists. I am a meticulous and careful planner, as most teachers are apt to be. I needed to be able to prove to myself (and to my admin) that I was addressing the CCSS standards in my classroom.
Lesson Planning Grids:
These
Lesson Planning Grids will save you time and will help you become
better organized in your daily planning of the Common Core Science &
Technical Subjects. I included one page for each of the 10 standards. This is an easy way to keep
track of the standards you have covered and when you covered them. Use them to record plans for the entire class, or to provide an individualized
plan for a special-needs student.
Student Checklists: Four Different Versions.
At my school, teachers belong to small groups called PLC's (Professional Learning Community). At various points during the school year our PLC must provide evidence of our CCSS planning and teaching. These student checklists are a
great record-keeping method. You can record each time a standard is introduced,
reinforced, or practiced for mastery. The checklists allow you
to provide evidence of your teaching of the CCSS Science & Technology standards, and they can be organized for class
progress or for
individual student progress.
Checklist #1: All
10 Science & Technical Standards are listed on one page.
Checklist #2: This three-page
document for each individual student allows you to monitor individual student progress, how the standard was assessed and the outcome of the assessment.
Checklist #3: This class record allows you to monitor one standard at a time for the entire class.
Checklist #4: This class record allows you to see at a glance which students have mastered the standards, and which students have not.
In my lesson planning grids and student checklists, I have focused on the standards for only the Science and Technical Subjects. As science teachers, we are going to be expected to cover many of the ELA standards on informational text. As the new school year quickly approaches for many of us, I wish you good luck in your teaching and in your implementation of the Common Core standards.
Links to a few of my Common Core products:
I wish this was available for grade 4!
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