Standards Vocabulary
Anchor
papers :
a set of standard setting benchmark pieces that show performance
expectations.
Author Study: an author study is an in-depth study of
an author's work, style, technique, and genre. Students are taught
to compare and contrast different elements, such as style, language,
dialogue, and artwork, in multiple books baby one author. Grade
level appropriate author studies might feature Eric Carle in
kindergarten, Mem Fox in first grade, Eve Bunting in second
grade, and Patricia Polacco in third grade. This strategy helps
students see and understand the connection between reading an
writing processes.
Book of the Month: books chosen monthly by the principal for the purpose of
building community and is ready by or to everyone at the school.
The Book of the Month gives the learning community a shared
language, conveys a given message and focuses on one or more
character traits the school wants to instill in its students.
Classroom Libraries: collections of leveled books for the
purpose of providing students with a variety of texts at various
levels. Libraries should be arranged by levels, genre, authors,
and/or themes.
Common Core Curriculum: provides a framework for teachers to
understand the connection between standards and instruction which
defines the major themes, content, and big ideas within subject
areas at a particular grade level. It is designed to allow for
uniformity/equity from teacher-to-teacher and school-to-school.
Common Formative/Summative Assessments: measurements used to
determine student progress toward standards throughout the course
(formative) and upon course completion (summative). These
measurements are to be the same, teacher-to-teacher and school-to
school.
Content Standard: defines what a child is supposed to know.
For example, a child needs to know multiplication facts by fourth
grade.
Commentary: written teacher analysis of student work compared
to the standard.
Differentiated Instruction: Teachers are asked to provide different instruction, assignments, and assessment to match the varied needs of their learners. This is accomplished by doing Diagnostic Assessment to determine individual strengths and weaknesses.
Focused
Walk:
a group that walks the school with a specific purpose as defined by
the leadership team to find evidence of implementation.
Inquiry-based teaching and learning: refers to an inductive
approach to teaching and learning of major skills and concepts in
which students interact in groups with hands-on activities and
projects incorporating higher level cognitive processes.
In School Professional Development: diagnostic and
prescriptive instruction administered by grade level coaches as
determined by both teachers and student needs.
Math Workshop: an hour of math instruction that includes an
opening meeting, mini-lesson, work time and closing meeting for
review and assessment. Math investigation materials are use dot
develop math skills.
Monitoring: an ongoing process of analyzing student standards
based implementation components and student work.
Model Classrooms: classes that are set up to represent best
practices in a particular discipline. These classrooms will serve
as demonstration models to build capacity within the school.
New Standards Performance Standards: nationally benchmarked
performance standards for English/Language Arts, Mathematics,
Science and Applied learning.
Performance Standard: defines what a child is supposed to
know and how good is good enough. Students are required to apply
their basic knowledge to application questions. Students are taught
to explain what they are learning and why. They are given specific
criteria to self assess how good their wok is and if it is good
enough to meet the standard.
Performance Task: the description of the student task that
leads to student performance.
Portfolio System: one type of assessment that measures a
collection of student work compared to standards.
Professional Learning Communities: a group of educators who
learn, share, and interact together to improve their professional
practices and to increase student achievement.
Readers Workshop: a block of time (approximately one and one
half hours) with specific rituals, routines and artifacts. This
strategy develops string reading skills through the use of
mini-lessons, reading aloud, conferencing, a Reader's Chair. small
group instruction, formal and informal assessments, student work
(independent reading, shared reading, making words, listening
centers, response groups, book talks, etc.) related to reading.
Rituals and Routines: rituals are what the culture of the
school dictates. Routines are the way we accomplish those rituals.
Safety Nets: on-going assistance and/or opportunities for
select students to work to meet standards.
Stakeholders: any person (students, parents, community
members, principals,. etc.) that has a vested interest in the
school.
Standards Based Bulletin Board: a standards based bulletin
board is a way of posting student work featuring the standard, task,
the scoring system and teacher commentary. Posting student work
helps students, parents, and teachers celebrate achieving the
standard and gives students models from which to learn. Performance
standards are posted by all work to help the observer understand
what the work demonstrate. As the work develops, teacher commentary
is added to explain specifically how the work meets the standard.
Standards Based Media Center: the media center is to be
focused on supporting the literacy initiative by conducting author
studies, providing book sets for literature circles, displaying Book
of the Month reflections, promoting the 25 Book Campaign and
Standard and encouraging selection of just right books for students.
Student Work that is good enough: work that meets the
standard.
Study Group: a group with a given structure for learning
together through examination or written materials. A study group
increases the knowledge base of educators, encourages dialogue among
professionals, builds trust, and improves staff morale. It also
gives educators a sense of empowerment over their own learning and
helps to produce a real shared vision of the school. A study group
is a tool for establishing a professional learning community.
Technology Integration: incorporation of technology into the
delivery of instruction and learning to improve performance.
Writers Workshop: is a strategy of developing skilled
writers. It begins with a piece of literature that sparks ideas and
evolves into a written product. In kindergarten we begin with
pictures and letters to tell a story and move to whole sentences and
paragraphs with a defined structure by fourth and fifth grade. The
lesson begins with a 10-15 minute mini-lesson followed by student
writing time and finally a chance to share from the Author's Chair.
The student audience is taught to give their peers feedback to
improve their writing using listeners comments and compliments.
IMPORTANT
DATES
Early Release
December 7th
Spelling Bee
December 6th
Spaghetti Dinner
December 13th
Winter Break
Dec. 19 - Jan 2