Successfully implement learning centers in early childhood classrooms! This easy-to-use professional resource uses current research to help teachers create, implement, and manage learning centers. Each center has suggestions for ways to differentiate implementation or instruction in order to meet the needs of all students. This resource aligns with College and Career Readiness standards and supports developmentally-appropriate standards-based instruction.

Successfully implement learning centers in early childhood classrooms! This easy-to-use professional resource uses current research to help teachers create, implement, and manage learning centers. Each center has suggestions for ways to differentiate implementation or instruction in order to meet the needs of all students. This resource aligns with College and Career Readiness standards and supports developmentally-appropriate standards-based instruction.

This book presents innovative, engaging, and fun ideas to target the AASL National School Library Standards and content-area standards.

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

Get to know which practices related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment are essential to make learning the goal for every student! You’ll learn how to Create learning targets that are scalable and transferable within and across units Develop instructional scales for each learning target Design non-scored practice activities and assessments Introduce and model skills that will be assessed and design tasks that allow students to use these skills Differentiate instruction and activities based on data from various types of assessments Maintain a gradebook that tracks summative achievement of learning targets, and score assessments accordingly Communicate progress clearly and efficiently with students and families

This book provides a roadmap for the journey which begins when a traditional school decides to end its isolation from its community. Community Learning Centers provide teachers, administrators, parents, and community leaders with the tools they need to achieve important educational goals which include: high level student performance, after school programs which support student learning and provide enrichment activities in a safe environment, the acquisition of essential technological skills by both students and members of the community, expanding leadership opportunities for teachers, students and the community, and unlocking the storehouse of resources in the community to support the education of our youth.

"Ehly′s book is vital for any novice early childhood teacher. Her straightforward writing style helps teachers understand developmentally appropriate practices, and the book gives concrete examples on how to implement them in today′s accountability-driven educational climate." —Melissa Dubick, ESL Prekindergarten Teacher Austin Independent School District, TX Promote learning every day by aligning your practice with standards-based expectations! Today′s kindergarten teachers are expected to provide learning experiences that support the development of the whole child and also be accountable for guiding their students toward mastery of the academic skills and content included in state standards. This valuable new resource shows preservice, novice, and experienced kindergarten teachers how to improve their practices to meet the new expectations and prepare children for success beyond kindergarten. This practical guide brings together the established knowledge base on child development, the current research on standards-based best practices in elementary school settings, and the newest findings on learning. Offering 10 keys to success, such as developing behavioral expectations and establishing partnerships with students and families, this classroom-friendly reference guide includes: Practical tips for implementing the 10 key strategies Lesson plans, templates, forms, glossaries, and other helpful resources Real-world classroom vignettes of master teachers in action Checklists at the end of each chapter The Learning-Centered Kindergarten helps all early childhood educators enhance their classroom practice and foster students′ future success.

Ever wonder what the rest of your class should be doing while you are working with a small reading group? Debbie Diller offers practical suggestions in Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work for over a dozen literacy work stations that link to classroom instruction and make preparation and management easy for teachers. Learn how to set up work stations, how to manage them, and how to keep them going throughout the year. Each chapter includes: How to introduce each station Which materials to include at which station What to model the station as How to solve problems and differentiate How to assess while keeping students accountable Reflection questions for professional development Materials in both English and Spanish are provided in the extensive resource section. Throughout the book the author has included photos of literacy workstations from a variety of classrooms in which she has worked to illustrate the methods discussed in the text. Literacy Work Stations is a go-to classroom resource that will help you keep all students engaged while you focus in on small groups.

Learn how to overcome the knowing-doing gap in standards-based learning systems, and move toward unpacking the standards and learning targets your students need.