Saturday, February 11, 2012

Standards and Curriculum

Lesson Plan for One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab

November 3rd, 2011

I’m speaking at the Indiana state conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics on Sunday and Monday. Here’s a lesson plan created by educator Margaret Goldsmith, who is co-presenting with me. She’ll cover the lesson plan at the end of my session talk.

Click here to download the lesson plan: One Is A Snail.

Thank you to Margaret for sharing. We met because she was teaching workshops on the book. She’s so creative as an educator. I’m her fan and it’s because of her math enthusiasm that I attended my first NCTM conference earlier this year. Love the vibe of the math education world. Just zaps my brain cells and makes me think, smile, and create.

Books for Autistic Students

February 2nd, 2010

ALA librarians called on collective wisdom to assemble a list of books great for use with autistic students, in this case, 7th graders. The list included Ant, Ant, Ant: An Insect Chant (illus by Park) ; Trout, Trout, Trout: a Fish Chant (illus by Park) , and Bird, Bird, Bird: a Chirping Chant (illus by Locke).   The list is here:  http://connect.ala.org/node/93738

Author Visit Grant and Paperwork Help: Curriculum Standards

August 6th, 2009

Do you need to write a grant, justify author visit costs, or explain the value of my visit to an administrator?Below is a list of the standards that most schools apply during studies of my books in preparation for a visit, the actual talks I give to students, and follow-up work that flows naturally from my visits.

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Bumblebee Poetry and Nonfiction Writing at Midway Elem

March 29th, 2009

Read The Bumblebee Queen. Pull out the chewiest, most evocative vocabulary and put it on sticky notes. Then move around the words to make a poem of your own.

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Analyzing and Honoring Writing at Sandhills Elem in Swansea, SC

March 11th, 2009

See how the teachers at Sandhills Elementary honor writing and analyze books.

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The Dynamic Nonfiction Classroom: a Visit to Indian Hill Elementary in Ohio

February 18th, 2009

It is going to take me quite a while to process all the great teaching techniques I witnessed at Indian Hill Elementary and Indian Hill Primary, two schools in Cincinnati. Just look at what Mrs. Bauer and her class were doing with nonfiction. This is a classroom full of words. You can see their process on the walls.

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Secrets of Sound Science Standards

December 11th, 2008

Educational Standards, Science

Secrets of Sounds: Studying the Calls and Songs of Whales, Elephants, and Birds

Science Standards:

Grade 4

4.1.1 Observe and describe that scientific investigations generally work the same way in different places.

4.1.3 Explain that clear communication is an essential part of doing science since it enables scientists to inform others about their work, to expose their ideas to evaluation by other scientists, and to allow scientists to stay informed about scientific discoveries around the world.

4.1.4 Describe how people all over the world have taken part in scientific investigation for many centuries.

4.1.5 Demonstrate how measuring instruments, such as microscopes, telescopes, and cameras, can be used to gather accurate information for making scientific comparisons of objects and events. Note that measuring instruments, such as rulers, can also be used for designing and constructing things that will work properly.

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Standards for Hush, Little Puppy

November 7th, 2008

Hush, Little Puppy

English/Language Arts Standards

Kindergarten

K.1.1 Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.

K.1.2 Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom on the printed page.

K.1.3 Understand that printed materials provide information.

K.1.4 Recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words.

K.1.5 Distinguish letters from words.

K.1.6 Recognize and name all capital and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

K.1.10 Say rhyming words in response to an oral prompt.

K.1.22 Listen to stories read aloud and use the vocabulary in those stories in oral language.

K.2.1 Locate the title and the name of the author of a book.

K.2.2 Use pictures and context to aid comprehension and to draw conclusions or make predictions about story content.

K.2.3 Generate and respond to questions (who, what, where).

Grade 1

1.1.1 Match oral words to printed words.

1.1.2 Identify letters, words, and sentences.

1.1.3 Recognize that sentences start with capital letters and end with punctuation, such as periods, question marks, and exclamation points.

1.1.7 Create and state a series of rhyming words.

1.2.1 Identify the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents of a reading selection.

Grade 2

2.3.4 Identify the use of rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration (using words with repeating consonant sounds) in poetry or fiction.

Grade 3

3.3.1 Recognize different common genres (types) of literature, such as poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.

Grade 4

4.2.2 Use appropriate strategies when reading for different purposes.

 

Understanding Standards

In the case of English/Language Arts, the National Standards consist of 12 standards. Each state takes those twelve standards and develops their own objectives to indicate how they intend for those standards to be taught. And then each school district takes their state’s standards and sometimes defines them even slightly more or determines in which order those standards and objectives will be taught. 

 

Therefore, the first number is the grade level, the second number is the national standard and the third number is the state objective. For example: 5.1.3 stands for 5th Grade, National Standard #1, and the state’s 3rd objective.

 

These are keyed to national standards and Indiana’s standards. As you can see from the explanation above, it should be simple to plug in your state’s standards, as needed.  

 

Here is a website where the National Standards are listed.

http://www.education-world.com/standards/national/index.shtml

Standards for Vulture View

November 7th, 2008

 

Vulture View

English/Language Arts Standards

Kindergarten

K.1.1 Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.

K.1.2 Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom on the printed page.

K.1.3 Understand that printed materials provide information.

K.1.4 Recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words.

Read more »

About Me
April Sayre

April Pulley Sayre is an award-winning children’s book author of over 55 natural history books for children and adults. Her read-aloud nonfiction books, known for their lyricism and scientific precision, have been translated into French, Dutch, Japanese, and Korean. She is best known for pioneering literary ways to immerse young readers in natural events via creative storytelling and unusual perspectives.

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