Back in October, I hosted a Unit Opener planning week for Open Court units #2. It resulted in some terrific ideas being posted by web site visitors and fellow bloggers and those ideas are now linked to from the unit opener pages of those units. As teachers at different schools have different pacing, editions, and …
Tag: open court
Bill Pinkney’s Back
The Incredible Voyage of Bill Pinkney is now available on DVD. This is a fantastic film which brings the story to life. It’s long. I would not play it in its entirety in one sitting but would play a piece every day as you read the story. Some teachers find it objectionable that …
Trace Lewis and Clark’s Expedition
Thanks to Francie Kugelman for sending this link which may come in handy for the Going West/New Frontiers units in 5th grade. This shows Lewis and Clark’s Expedition in Google Earth.
Third Grade – City Wildlife Unit Openers
My favorite one-stop shop for opening this unit is Cornell University’s Urban Bird Studies web site. All resources are free though they request a donation if they send you materials. This site has films you can watch with your students and asks students to be urban bird watchers in their own community and submit data …
How to Plan a Unit Opener
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 …
Unit Opener Planning Week is Coming 10/15
Please join me on the blog for Unit Opener Planning Week, the week of October 15-20, a week spent planning and reflecting on possible unit opener ideas for the next unit. Here’s the schedule for this blog (entries posted at 7:30 AM PST): Monday 10/15 Best Practices for Unit Openers/Anticipatory Sets Tuesday 10/16 Virtual Guest …
Sorting Assessment (SOAR) Data
Here’s an idea for sorting assessment data (SOAR) using Microsoft Word. submitted by Francie Kugelman >Here’s an idea for sorting SOAR Data using Excel in Microsoft’s Office Suite. submitted by Francie Kugelman This is an idea of entering SOAR data from Open Court tests in a template. Using the Word Table helps me instantly know …
Same Blog—New Name—Renewed Focus
In the nine months that this blog has been in existence it has become one of the most popular sections of Open Court Resources.com second only to the web site’s main page. While this blog will remain the place to go for almost daily tips for teaching the Open Court Reading program, my entries have …
The Trains Run On Time: Have a Schedule
I get asked all the time how I fit in anything “extra” into the Open Court program. I don’t think I’m doing anything “extra.” I just make sure I have time for writing and independent work time/workshop each day. Your writing and IWT times are when you differentiate your instruction in ways which you can’t …
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 …