Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards: English Language Arts, Grades 3-5

This practical, supportive book begins with an overview of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), addressing some frequently asked questions and concerns about them. Then, the heart of the book features vignettes of six grade 3-5 classroom teachers from a diverse range of schools, sharing their innovative lesson ideas and showing how they address the CCSS in concert with the deliberate, student-centred teaching and learning choices they already make.

Focusing on such oft-taught topics as identifying themes, making and supporting inferences, determining main ideas, and summarizing, these teachers consider how to accommodate students’ different learning styles and offer ideas for instruction that crosses multiple disciplinary areas.

Featured texts include Because of Winn-Dixie, D'Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths paired with The Lightning Thief, and a classroom blog in which students share their thinking with their classmates. Throughout, Williams and his colleagues stress the importance of formative assessment based on student needs to guide daily instruction, as well as time-tested principles of good teaching expressed in NCTE guidelines and position statements.

The third section offers further ideas for integrating the CCSS into your individual teaching, collaborating with colleagues, and becoming - or extending your work as - a teacher advocate.