by Mathew Needleman Let’s begin our week of unit opener planning by making sure we’re all on the same page and share a common rationale and understanding of what an effective unit opener is. What is a Unit Opener? A unit opener is the Open Court Reading name for what is commonly known as an …
Category: Newsletters
Newsletter #6: Back to School
The Open Court Resources.com Newsletter Monthly Newsletter #6—August 28, 2007: The Back to School Issue Dear Friends and Colleagues, I hope you have enjoyed a restful and relaxing summer. This has been a busy summer for Open Court Resources. Many pages have been redesigned to make it easier to quickly locate activities. Additional resources such …
The Concept Question Board Part 2: Questions
While the first step, Part One: Soliciting Artifacts may not be easy at first, it can be a piece of cake compared to soliciting meaningful questions from students about the unit theme. This month I hope to provide some assistance on how to elicit meaningful higher level thinking questions from your students. 1. Activate Prior …
The Concept Question Board: Part 1
The Open Court Resources.com Newsletter The Concept Question Board Introduction Many teachers, myself included, have struggled with integrating the Concept Question Board meaningfully into the Open Court Curriculum. Even those who have beautiful looking Concept Question Boards often put it up on the first day of the unit and leave it there as the best …
Integrating Technology Part 1: Powerpoint
Introduction Open Court Resources.com features literally hundreds of powerpoints for every unit and nearly every story of the Open Court Reading Program. These are all available free for download though they may not redistributed on the internet without permission. What innovative ways can teachers use these powerpoints with OCR? Teachers can use powerpoints to assist …
Top Ten Possibly Overlooked Features of Open Court Resources.com
#10 The Discussion Board On the discussion board, teachers enjoy posting ideas and questions they have about teaching the Open Court Reading program. They share successes and challenges in a safe environment populated by teachers and coaches teaching the program. It takes a minute to join the discussion board and it’s well worth it. Of …
Chants! Everything You Always Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask
WHAT ARE CHANTS? Chants are rhythmic poems you can recite with students to teach unit concepts and reinforce key vocabulary. HOW DO YOU WRITE A CHANT TO CORRESPOND TO AN OPEN COURT STORY OR UNIT? Decide on key concepts you want to teach for a particular unit. For example, for the first grade folktale unit …