My school is implementing Common Core school-wide this year, but we still have our 2008 reading adoption of Houghton Mifflin Reading. It actually hasn’t been that hard aligning it to CCSS. I’m required to create a curriculum planner each quarter and state which standards I’ll be teaching. I feel like it’s been a good exercise for me to go through the curriculum and decide which standards each lesson hits upon. Then I can see which areas I need to supplement with reading centers and our reading interactive journals. It’s been nice to be able to use the basal as my base and build up from there!
Here is how I labeled my books – I used highlighter tape! I highlighted the name of the lesson and wrote the CCSS standard right on the tape. That way, if I changed my mind about a standard, I can change it if I need to. Also, this way I’m not defacing school property 🙂
- They require no copying.
- The kids are engaged in real reading, even if it is controlled text.
- The plans are straight-forward and easy for an aide or a sub to follow.
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I also like to use the Practice Book pages for morning work and “What to Do When You Are Finished” work. I like to staple them into a weekly packet that kids can pull out easily and work on. I’ve made cute packet covers for 2nd grade Themes 1-3. As I complete the other themes, I will add them to this file.
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Are you able to make a basal series work for you? Maybe you also have this series – do you have any tips for me?