Focus! Charting the Course for School Year 2013-2014

What will be your focus during school year 2013-2014?

What will you choose with regard to student learning, collegial collaboration, system-wide efforts, and professional learning?

Already, two requests have come my way--tempting endeavor, but not related to my main focus for the year. I declined.

I really want 2013-2014 to be a year centered on classroom efforts and learning design--I want to effect a positive, productive, engaging program for all children. That means I had to make the time to outline the curriculum map with care so that I know exactly which units I need to focus on in order to embed standards, add meaningful learning experiences, and include efficient, student-centered assessments and measurements.

Below, I've added our yearly map. Grade-level colleagues, coaches, and leaders worked together on the maps in the spring. Now it's time to add the details, plan the units, and refine objectives.

To do good work, we must focus on a few essential elements, and to protect yourself from saying "yes" to too many extraneous efforts, it's a good idea to chart the course sooner than later.

Curriculum Map: 2013-2014

Subject / Month	Reading	Writing	Math	PBL/Special Events
September	Establish RW structure and routine Review all Comp. Strategies Review Story Elements Reading Response Intro	Establish WW structure and routines Create Writers’ Books: online and off. Opinion: Class Community	Measurement Line Plots Add/Subtract Place Value Estimation	“I AM” Poems - Collaborative Class Map: Google Maps US Tour Starts Landforms trip
October	Review Strategies: Schema Monitor for Meaning Summarizing Sensory Imagining Reading Response	Opinion/Essay	Factors, Multiples Multiplication Facts	Culture Project Writing paragraphs about culture. Creating culture posters Culture Museum.
November	Strategies: Asking Questions Determining Importance Reading Response Genre: Informational Text	Opinion/Essay	Area/Perimeter Multiplication w/large numbers	Culture Project (cont.) NA Culture Trip Promised Lands Immigration Present.
December	Strategies: Inferring Reading Response Genre: Poetry	Poetry Writing	Patterns/Algebra Long Division	Gifts of Poetry “Self Portrait Poetry Anthology”?”
January	Strategies: Inferring Reading Response Genre: Realistic Fiction Focus on Character	Personal Narrative	Fractions/Decimals Computation Review Problem Solving	Digital Story
February	Strategies: Determining Importance MCAS Prep Examples across genre Reading Response	Fictional Narrative MCAS Prep for Writing genre review each week independent test trial	Fractions/Decimals Computation Review Problem Solving	Digital Story
March	Reading Strategy: Synthesizing Determining Importance	Informational Text Project/Research: ES Drama/script as part of study/ presentation	Fractions/Decimals Computation Review Problem Solving Geometry Open Response Problem Solving Computation Review	Biomes Animal Adaptation Animal Adaptation Presentation
April	Reading Strategy: Synthesizing Determining Importance		Geometry Open Response Problem Solving Computation Review MCAS Prep	ES Research
May	Reading Strategy: Synthesizing Determining Importance	Explain it: writing matched w/math, science study	Open Response Problem Solving Computation Review MCAS Prep STEAM	zoo trip Multimedia ES presentations Plate Tectonics with Dr. Sheffels (6 lessons)
June	Genre Study: review  genre through summer reading emphases.	Writing Across Genre Summer journal start w/genre writing -online or off.	STEAM Continued Computation and Problem Solving Review	Wolf Hollow STEAM Share

Details:
Math Scope and Sequence