What to do While Waiting for a New Adoption

Is your school one of the schools that still has a previous Language Arts adoption in place? Do you, as a teacher, have very little in the way of curricular materials that match the new standards?

You’re not alone.

So what do you do to ensure that standards are taught to mastery while you wait for a new adoption? How do you balance the strands to ensure that students have had sufficient exposure to heavily weighted standards?

So many questions and not enough answers…but we’re here to help!

Your starting point should be an analysis of your current adoption to help you target:

• Literature and Informational Text
  • Some examples of key words to look for:
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Expository text
    • Reading strategies
    • Comprehension
    • Information & study skills

• Opinion, Informative-Explanatory, and Narrative Writing
  • Some examples of key words to look for:
    • Writing
    • Expository writing
    • Story writing
    • Writing process
    • Writing strategies

• Specific Vocabulary Strategies
  • Some examples of key words to look for:
    • Multiple meaning words
    • Figures of speech
    • Vocabulary
    • Word structure

• Grade Level Grammar & Usage and Conventions
  • Some examples of key words to look for:
    • Capitalization
    • Punctuation
    • Spelling
    • Grammar
    • Usage
    • Mechanics

• Reading Foundational Skills
  • Some examples of key words to look for:
    • Fluency
    • Prosody
    • Phonics
    • Listening/speaking/viewing
    • High frequency words
    • Word attack skills

Once you’ve analyzed your current adoption and determined where it’s lacking, you need to find instructional materials to fill those holes.

So where do you go?

The publisher of your current material?   Wait…they already ‘aligned’ the material you’re using right now to Common Core, didn’t they? And it’s not really Common Core, right?

The internet? Well, as Abraham Lincoln is often quoted saying: “You can’t believe everything you read on the internet.” Not every lesson plan you find online that says it is Common Core, really is Common Core.

There are several reputable places to find Common Core lessons to fill the gaps you have identified in your current adoption.  

• First, check with other teachers who have taught those concepts and skills at their grade levels previously. They may have lesson plans and activities that they would love to pass along to you!
• Standards Plus
• readwritethink
• Achieve the Core
• Standards Plus Free Resources