Basketball and Benchmark

Snow days can do crazy things to an administrator’s mind. Tomorrow will be our 3^rd snow day, bookending a weekend.  So, actually I am on day 5 of limited access to friends, colleagues, and school.  When this happens it leads to an opportunity to reflect and make connections. 

My reflection came this weekend doing something I have loved since I was a child.  As a little girl growing up in Northwest Arkansas, my dad took me to the Razorback Basketball Games.  This was a tradition, and something I now share my family.  Yesterday, while enjoying the game with my oldest daughter and my husband, I reflected on how the school year is much like a basketball game. 

Have you ever noticed how the momentum builds gradually over the course of the game?  Players obviously want to win, but I don’t necessarily see them play with the same intensity the entire game.  You see, in Razorback Country we call it the “fastest 40 minutes of basketball”.  The inference is that when you play the Razorbacks the pace will be intense the entire game.  Well, there are times of intensity.  Yet, usually when the game starts everyone is mellow.  As fans we sit back and take most of initial game action with a lackadaisical attitude.  Oh, we clap, cheer, and sing the school songs during time outs, but we are not highly engaged.  Yet, in the last few minutes of the half, or, especially, the last few minutes of the game, we are highly engaged and excited, as are the players.   

As educators, we tend to do the same during the course of our game . . . our school year.  We start off the year strong, but with a lower intensity.  Again, we celebrate successes and plan for success, but not always preparing with intensity for the final outcome (state test).  Certain times during the year (conferences, nine weeks, semester), we also increase our intensity.  Yet, you can really see everyone get engaged, focused, and intense during the few weeks leading up the to the state accountability assessment (Arkansas = Benchmark).  Why don’t we all (players, administrators, teachers, students) play/prepare with same fervor the entire game/school year? 

Yes, there are other similarities:

• Players watch the game tape to reflect and make adjustments, while teachers reflect on their lessons and student data to plan for future instruction.
• Players and teachers have that final goal where they are evaluated in the public eye, leading to being ranked. (game score & test scores)

And differences:

• Teachers teach every child that enters our school doors; coaches recruit and pick players – even to the point of who plays at what time.
• In a basketball game there will be a winning/losing team.  Yet, in education, all the students can win with a strong education.

Yet, I want to make sure that I encourage everyone to have the same intensity all year.  I want my school (teachers, students, and parents) to approach each day, week, month with the same fervor that occurs in the last few minutes of the game.  If we played with the highest engagement, focus and fervor, what would happen in our games?  what would happen in our schools?  Just imagine . . .  

Word Up! Vocabulary Instruction for the 21st Century at Sonora Elementary

As promised in my last blog, we are moving forward with a vengeance this year regarding our relentless focus to get all children reading on grade level!  Last year we focused on our analysis (running records and Developmental Reading Assessment) and instruction (providing both instructional and stretch levels of reading daily).  So, why are we adding vocabulary to our recipe for student achievement success?
 
Well, after reviewing data from several resources, we noticed that vocabulary was an area of concern for the majority of our students.  We believe there are several reasons for this.  First, we have about 40% English Language Learners who are acquiring English.  Second, we serve a population where 85% of our students receive free or reduced lunch.  Not all, but many of these students need a focus on vocabulary acquisition to move forward with reading success.  Ultimately, we know that reading research shows that vocabulary knowledge is the strongest predictor of reading success across content areas. So, we needed to create a systemic building-wide system for increasing vocabulary.  Again, a dear friend helped us get started, Mrs. Jennifer Jones.  If you don't already, you need to follow her blog which is a dynamite source of professional development!
 
Jennifer came to Sonora Elemetnary on July 1st and 2nd to do professional development in 21st Century Vocabulary instruction.  We called it Word Up!
 
What a change in our teaching of vocabulary! First, we are working on all three tiers of vocabulary instruction:  tier 1 words are basic words used in our everyday speech, tier 2 words are used across several content areas, tier 3  words are not frequently used except in specific content areas; yet, they are key to building knowledge and conceptual understanding within the various academic domains and should be integral to instruction of content. 

At Sonora we are focusing on all three.  Tier one words are being taught beginning in kindergarten with sight words or high frequency words that children will encounter daily.  Some examples are at, from, and, to, etc.  Tier 2 words are being taught through daily instruction in all content areas.  These words are also on class word walls. 

Tier 3 words are a work in progress building-wide.  Each 9 weeks our staff gets together to identify 9 grade level Tier 3 words in a given content area.  We began with math in August.  Click here to access Sonora's Tier 3 math vocabulary words by grade level.  Our teachers recognized quickly that we needed to also confirm the student friendly definitions.  So, we created these by grade leve, too.  Click here to see our definitions, vocabulary, and student friendly definitions.  A great resource to us during this process was a new publication by Marzano and Simms called,  Vocabulary for the Common Core.

We will be following this same process in reading, science, and social studies.  The process involves a set of criteria recommended by Marzano. 

We have purchased composition notebooks for every K - 5th grade student at our building.  This allows for our systemic building-wide focus on vocabulary.  In addition, we do a Scholarly Word of the Week each week based on Tier 2 words.  The first word this year was scholar.  Our mascot is Sonny and Scholar.  Isn't he cute?  Yet, we wondered if our students truly knew what a "scholar" means.  Hence, it was our first Scholary Word of the Week.

 

 

We announce the Scholarly Word of the Week each week with a little music.  Each day we ask the students to do something different with the word.  We begin with a student friendly definition.  We progress to synonyms/antonyms, a sentence, and a picture.  See some samples below of our work in our first week as we modeled for our students, as well as one recent.
 

 Mrs. Reed's 1st Grade Class

 

 

 

                                                          Mrs. Sandy's 2nd Grade Class

The following are examples of Tier 2 charts the classes develop as they (purposefully) encouter words in their daily instruction.

 

 

Below are examples of student vocabulary notebooks:

 

 

In the classrooms you will find word walls.  Below you will see just a sample of one classroom.  Yet, Mrs. Hennarichs has also created a school-wide word wall that encompasses words form all grade levels.

 

 

 

Scholary Word Wall (located in Cafeteria) 

 

 

 We are also rewarding children when they are "Caught Using Scholarly Vocabulary".  We use a school-wide template.  The students bring their cards to the office to put in a vocabulary word box.  Then, each month at our Hoot n' Holler Assemblies we try to recognize 20 to 30 students randomly from the tickets in the box.

We recently held a We Are Common Core Vocabulary Night where we taught the parents how they can support our work to increase their child's vocabulary.  We had a phenomenal turn-out!   During our time with parents, we provided them a composition notebook and a template for how to do 4 sqaure vocabulary with their child at home.  We encouraged the parents to support the scholarly word of the week, as well as help students learn words they encounter in conversations at home and in their environment.  Here is a sample from the internet:

 

 

In the classroom, teachers save copy cost significantly by having the students fold the paper into 1/4ths to create a four square.  Also, not specified by the example above, the vocabulary word is written/entered in the center circle.

 

While all this is going on, we are finding unique ways to engage students in their vocabulary learning.  On October 31st we are having a school-wide vocabulary parade.  We are working with our parents, again to try to increase the awareness of vocabulary in our lives.  Every child in the building will be participating; if students are not able to create a vocabulary costume at home, teachers will be working with the students to help identify a word in the current curriculum to "be" at our parade.  I promise we will post pictures to our Facebook page, as well as I will try to add a new blog here.

 

I will continue to highlight our vocabulary instruction as we go throughout the year.  We are currently tracking vocabulary data as collected on Northwest Evaluation Association's Measuring Academic Progress.  We hope to share our success with student's increasing vocabulary, and consequently their increased reading achievement.  Stay tuned!

 



Reflection on Sonora's Literacy Focus

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A Year in Reflection

 

The Sonora Elementary School Team welcomes everyone to the 2013-2014 school year!

 

We are off to an "owlsome" year at Sonora. 

Yet before beginning a new school year, we took some time to reflect on our building-wide literacy focus from last school year.  Last year we focused on increasing text complexity at Sonora by aligning our use of running records and Developmental Reading Assessments.  We increased use of non-fiction text, while we ensured that every child was instructed in a reading group or a literacy group daily. 

My professional reading over the 2012 summer included Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement by Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman.  While reading I began to take notes and areas to highlight for our staff professional development.  During the summer I took some time to write down the high points that we had control over.  We don't have control over what happens when a child gets in the car or on the bus and rides away, but we do have control over a purposely planned day.  So, I shared these throughts:

1.  Ensure that children move up levels of text complexity by providing them with lots of just-right high-interest texts and the time to read them. 

• How much actual eyes-on-print time (independent reading) do students have in which to read?
• In order for students to make necessary progress, students need at least 45 minutes in school and more time at home to read books that they can read with 96% accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.
• Chances are great that students who are not making optimal progress as readers do not have time in school each day for 45 minutes of eyes-on-print reading – not talking about reading or writing about books – actual reading.
• In Outliers,  by Malcolm Gladwell (also the author of Tipping Point), a study of the conditions that lead to extraordinary success talks about the theory that expertise requires an investment of ten thousand hours.  Hours of practice.  Hours and hours.
• Readers, too, become great when they have many hours of practice.
• The “engine that motors” reader’s development is the time spent in engaged reading and in talking and writing about that reading. 
• Organize the school day so that students have long blocks of time for reading. 
• Students in the classrooms of more effective teachers read ten times as much as students in classrooms of less effective teachers (Allington and Johnston 2002).
• Allington’s research recommends 90 minutes in a school day for actual reading.

2.  Conduct running records of students’ work with texts at a gradient of text levels, ascertaining the level of text complexity that the students can handle, and to track students’ progress up the ladder of text complexity. 

• Make sure every teacher has been trained to use running records to assess readers.
• Assess students as readers with running records.
• Make sure teachers know how to analyze running records (MSV – it!)
• Tim Rasinski notes that fluency is one of the strongest indicators of comprehension.
• To accelerate your students’ progress up the ladder of text complexity, research strongly supports that you conduct running records to determine level of text complexity a student can handle with 95% accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.
• Then, match students to appropriate text.
• Teach in ways that keep readers progressing toward texts that are just one notch beyond those they can read with ease.

Why was I so passionate about literacy and getting this specific information to our teachers.  Well, a review of Developmental Reading Assessment Data at the end of our first year showed that approximately 50% of children were being promoted to the next grade level without being on grade level.  We knew we had to make a concerted and systematic focus on literacy instruction, so we started with SMART Goals. 

We will increase student text complexity levels (measured through DRA)

through the use and analysis of running records to increase the number of children reading on grade level at the end of the 2013-2014 school year:
                  Kindergarten . . .                       75% at level 4 or above   
                  First Grade . . .                          75% at level 18 or above 
                  Second Grade . . .                      75% at level 28 or above 
                  Third Grade . . .                         80% at level 38 or above
                  Fourth Grade . . .                       80% at level 50 or above
                  Fifth Grade . . .                          80% at level 60 or above
Steps to attain the goal:
     o Train (retrain) staff on Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) and Running Records
        (administration and analysis).
     o Create a folder for each student’s movement of text complexity with Growth Line Chart.
     o Complete and analyze a running record on every child:

• below grade level weekly.
• on grade level bi-monthly.     

What we didn't take into consideration was the use of growth trajectories or individual reading growth charts, which was something I borrowed from Hello Literacy Blogspot.  The premise is to make sure every child continues to grow one year in reading - even those alrady on grade level.  Most importantly, we wanted to ensure that those below grade level increased 1.5 years in reading during their 9 months of school instruction.  The overall goal is that children who were with us throughout their school career would leave 5th grade reading on grade level.

From my continued reading and use of social media, I befriended Jennifer Jones, of http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/ .   Jennifer has become a true friend of Sonora.  She became a partner with us in this literacy venture, which still continues today.  Mrs. Jones came to Sonora in January to help us get a better grasp on Common Core.  She used a powerful PowerPoint from a presentation she has presented in numerous settings called The 50 Shades of the Common Core.  As powerful as the PowerPoint is in content the learning would not have been the same without her presentation.  She also wrote about her visit in her blog - check it out!

Teachers in kindergarten through 5th grade filled out a growth chart on every child in our building.   Quarterly these charts will turned in to me with the report cards.  At the end of the year we had evidence that reading achievement was improving:

•       Kindergarten . . .    90% on grade level
•       First Grade . . .       67%  on grade level and 2% on the growth trajectory (69%)
•       Second Grade . . .  68% on grade level and 5% on the growth trajectory   (73%)
•       Third Grade . . .     61% on grade level and 17% on the growth trajectory (78%)
•       Fourth Grade . . .   59% on grade level and 12% on the growth trajectory (71%)
•       Fifth Grade . . .      66% on grade level and 14% on the growth trajectory (80%)

 *growth trajectory means a child grew 1.5 years in reading during one school year of 9 months!

 

We only met our goal in reading in kindergarten, but we were saw evidence of improvement at every grade level.  Remember, the year before about 50% at each grade were not on grade level!  Additional data from the Literacy Benchmark Exam (Arkansas' Accountability Exam given in 3rd - 5th grades show that the goal of 80% was achieved:

• 82% of 3rd grade students were proficient* or advanced
• 80% of 4th grade students were proficient or advanced
• 82% of 5th grade students were proficient or advanced.

*Proficient = grade level performance

 

We are not there yet!  As we venture into our 3rd year at Sonora we are continuing our focus on literacy, with an emphasis this year on building-wide vocabulary instruction specifically in Tier 2 and 3.  Research shows that vocabulary knowledge is the strongest predictor of reading success across content areas. So, my next blog . . . what IS Sonora Elementary School doing this year to help students know more words?

 

Quick highlight

 

Our EAST Students are working on a Sonora Elementary App.  Be watching for more details.  See below for a story on this upcoming application.

Springdale School's First App by Sonora EAST

                  

Top 8 Things Parents Need to Know about Common Core State Standards

If you are a parent of a child in PK - 12th grade you have probably heard the term, "Common Core State Standards" once, if not multiple times.  Yet, ultimately, as a parent you need to know what those words mean for your child, their education, their future.  At Sonora (and in Springdale) our teachers have been implementing Common Core Standards over the last 2 years.  Throughout this process there have been changes in how we approach instructional practices, what your child is expected to do, and what we expect of children.  In order for us to work together to best meet the needs of your children, our teachers came up with 8 things you (the parent) need to know. 

1.  Educate yourself on the Common Core State Standards.
Forty-five states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted the Common Core State Standards.  The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. Our children will be growing up and working in a world community where they have to compete globally.  Therefore, the CCSS provide coherent standards to fully prepareour children for college or career to compete successfully in the global economy.  Many of the jobs our children will be expected to do have not even been invented yet!
Parent tip:
Go to the Common Core webiste and review the English Language Arts and Mathematics Standards.  Also, work with your child's Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to make sure that all parents in your school and community are knowledgeable about the changes and expectations.  Working together we can be advocates for all the children in our community.


2.  It's OK, even good, for students to struggle
As CCSS are implemented, students will be expected to read more difficult text sooner, and discuss- not retell - what they read at a more complex level. Instead of focusing on individual text elements (characters, plot, and setting) students will be reading or listening to various stories, comparing stories using their understanding of text elements.


photo courtesy of Jennifer Jones @ http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/

Parent tip: While reading with your child each night, ask  why and how questions that encourage your child to analyze and synthesize texts. For example, read three different versions of the Cinderella and ask your child to compare and contrast them as you read. Also, as you build your child’s library, see use the list of  text exemplars  from the Appendix B of Common Core for book ideas.

3. We are asking our students to do more . . . own their learning
As parents we want to make sure that we protect and support our children.  Yet, when it comes to their academics, we need to make sure that work completed is your child's work.  That is the only way the teacher can know with certainty the skills your child struggles with in each content area.  Educators are striving to have students take pride and ownership of their learning. 
Parent tip:
When your child asks for help with homework, ask them to take some time and try again.  Many times children immediately shut down when work gets hard.  We need to teach them how to persevere.  If you continue to see your child struggling with the same subject (i.e. math, reading) be sure to contact the teacher. 

4.  Requiring students to read for homework is serious business.
When you are learning a skill, what do you do to get better?  You practice, right?  Well, that is why our students need to read, read, read!  During the school day we try to provide students time to read independently, but they need more time to read.  Therefore, having your student read each night is the best homework time you can provide, especially in the elementary years.  Look at the following chart shared with me by Mrs. Spurlock, 4th grade.  It really is the key to academic success, that impacts every other academic area:  math, science, social studies, etc. 

Parent tip: 
Ask you child's teacher for book suggestions that your child can read independently.  Then, work with your child's school librarian to make sure your child is selecting "just right books" to bring home.  Make sure they have books to read on the weekend and each night.  If you have books suggestions and your child's reading level, you can also work with the public library or local book store to ensure your child always has easy access to books he/she can read independently.  This includes summer reading!  Another key factor to increase your child's reading is interest level.  Work closely with your child's teacher.  What topic motivates and excites your child?  Make sure their teacher knows this information so they can guide them to books of high interest.   Finally, support your child's literacy growth by giving books as gifts for holidays and birthdays.

5.  It's not the math from your school career.
The math you will see your children doing is completely different from what you experienced in school.  Your children will be asked to solve problems that they might encounter in the real-world.  Many of these problems are multi-step problems.  The focus is not on following a formula, but in how the child encounters, understands, and then solves the problem.  By allowing children to solve problems in this manner, we have seen children as early as K use multiplication.  Students are not just solving to get a number or answer; instead we expect children to justify their answer.  That allows teachers to really see if a child understands the problem. 



photo courtesy of Jennifer Jones @ http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/

Parent tip:
Attend our math family nights where you will get to work through problems with your child in a setting that the teacher, or your child, can explain the process.  Also, ask your child to explain or show how they’re solving problems. Then, have them think of multiple ways to solve a math problem.  You will be amazed by their thinking, as well as their growth over time.  Never hesitate to contact your child's teacher if you have questions.

6.  Focus on Information Text
To prepare students for college-level work and future careers, there will be more of a focus on informational and expository text.  Informational text includes: biographies; autobiographies; books about history, social studies, science, and the arts;  and how-to and procedural books; and literary nonfiction. Students will be reading informational text, including original documents, from the Declaration of Independence to presidential speeches.  The English Language Arts [ELA] Common Core State Standards recommend more reading of informational text with a ratio of literary to informational as follows:

Parent tip: Find a topic that your child is very interested in learning about.  Then, encourage your child to research that topic by using informational texts and original documents. 


7.  Thinking deeper to analyze, evaluate, and create
A main goal of educators today is to teach students the skills they need to be critical thinkers. Instead of simply memorizing facts and ideas, children need to engage in higher levels of thinking to reach their fullest potential.  Your child will experience activities that causes them to think at deeper levels.  At Sonora we have the following signs (see below) posted in every classroom.  This is a reminder to the teachers, as well as the students of ensuring we are thinking critically.  Instead of just expecting your child to just remember, we want them to experience lessons that will cause they to think deeper in order to analys, evaluate, and create - skills that 21st century learners must experience. 



Charts from Jennifer Jones @ http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/
These will be in each classroom this fall at Sonora Elementary.
 

Parent tip:  Ask your child open-ended questions that don’t have one “right” answer.  This will give your child confidence to respond in creative ways without being afraid of being “wrong.” After reading a book together, ask your child questions such as: “If you were that character, how would you have persuaded others to come along?” rather than something like “What was the main character’s name in the book?”  After having these conversations, you can also ask your child to respond to these questions in writing. 

8.  Focus on Practical Skills
The CCSS were designed to prepare students for college or career.  Therefore, students will be working on taking the role of scientists, historians, researchers, and more.
Parent tip: While doing homework, ask your child how someone might use what he’s working on in “real life.” Help connect thinking in school to thinking at work by explaining how you solve problems, or use math every day.

As the common core state standards start to be implemented in schools, there will be some changes. The most important aspect, as always, is to stay in contact with your child’s teacher to find out how you can support your child.  You are your child's first teacher.  It really is a partnership between home and school to provide your child the most beneficial learning experience.

Thank you for partnering with us to impact your child's future!

Finding Treasure at Sonora: QR Code Scavenger Hunt!

One time each year the Springdale School Board visits each school in the district.  This is a great time to showcase the excellent work of our students and our teachers.  Yet, there is never enough time to share everything we want to share.  So, this year we approached the concept in another manner; we had a QR Scavenger Hunt!

Earlier in the year I got the idea from reading an article about a visit James Dasher, author of The Maze Runner Series, made to a local school district from the local newspaper.  After reading the article, I was inspired to have the School Board Meeting this year student planned and led.  Through the use of QR Codes, I wanted the board members to experience the successes Sonora has had in our first 1.5 years.  I wanted to highlight students/teacher blogs, student work posted online (safety features involved), and student created projects in order to model providing a world-wide audience for our students. 

I am always amazed by our students and what they create.  It is "owlways" better than I could have imagined or anticipated.  The students identified to complete this project surveyed myself and a few teachers to identify areas to highlight.  They identified numerous areas:  Sonora's social media outreach, Breakfast in the Classroom, EAST, PE Program, Girls on the Run, National Board Teachers, Community Partnerships, and Art Integration (which won us national recognition in fall '12).

For each showcase area, the students created a QR Code to take the board member to a site (Sonora created YouTube Video, Blog, Social Media Site, or teacher webquest pages).  Then, the students, with Mr. Worthy's watchful eye, created questions for a scavenger hunt to take the board on a tour of our building.  Here is an example of one sites questions and QR Code:

 

Sample of one of the QR Code Scavenger Hunt clues and QR Code Showcase item.

One item not highlighted in the scavenger hunt was our all boy iPad Classroom - the first in the district!  Thank you to Dr. Rollins, our superintendent, for trusting us to move forward with this venture.  When I had the vision last year to have a 1:1 iPad classroom, I approached Mrs. Worthy to see if she would join me on this venture.  Not only was she willing, but she wanted to include a gender-based component.  You can follow Mrs. Worthy's class on their blog.  I wanted to insure we shared the success of this pilot program. 

So, 10 of Mrs. Worthy's boys met the School Board and Springdale District Administration at the doors to Sonora at 11:30 today.  Check out our good-lookin' group of Worthy's Boy Clubhouse:

These boys escorted our visitors to the cafeteria for a choice of lasagna or turkey club.  Then, they brought them to the library to eat.  While our visitors ate, the boys presented projects they have created, as well as apps that they use in the classroom:  Educreations, Edmodo, MineCraft, Stitch (and a multitude of others).  What we have found is that the students work in the higher level of Bloom's when they are creating on the iPad. 

Kelly Hayes listens intently to a student
created iMovie on a Revolutionary

Mrs. McFetridge views a student created project.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Luttrell listen while Mrs. Worthy explains
 the Boys' Clubhouse (i.e. all boys and all iPad Classroom).

Mr. Luttrell views another student created lesson.

Dr. Jones questions a student on the
process to his created project.

Dr. Morledge views a student created project
 on Edmodo.

Mr. Hutchinson engages a student in a conversation
about his use of the iPad for instruction.



Dr. Rollins asks this student to explain his math
thinking as they view his work (through Educreations).

Garage Band was used to create music for the iMovie.
This young student LOVES his music!

I am listening in as this student explains
the process for his creation.

Mr. Jones loves learning!

After our boys presented their projects, the students who have been working on the QR Scavenger Hunt took over.  After explaining to our visitors the process, and defining a QR Code, we divided for the hunt.  What a success!

Dr. Jones outside of  EAST waiting for the
QR code to upload.

Mr. Jones scanning a QR code outside of the
5th grade classes.

Dr. Morledge scans a QR code with
her student helpers.

Our students were so excited that at times they were hard to catch up to in the halls.  So cool to see the students engaged with the adults sharing their excitement for learning!

Upon returning back to the library we were able to have some conversation.  We want to expand our iPad pilot program to all of 4th grade next year.  We are in plans to figure out how to purchase 84 more iPads.    We believe it has 21st Century Learning Potential, as well as a perfect alignment to Common Core. 

If our visitors or you wanted to continue learning and viewing about our programs outside of the school walls.  Mr. Worthy provided a document with all the QR codes from the Scavenger Hunt. 

Thank you for visiting Sonora Elementary. Below is a list of all the QR (Quick Response) codes that you viewed today. Please revisit and share these links in the future. Updates are frequently applied each day. 

  Sonora Elementary FacebookSonora Elementary Twitter

  Sonora EAST Facebook             Sonora EAST YouTube      Dr. Stewman’s Blog                   Mr. Worthy’s Blog: EASTward Bound

  Breakfast in the Classroom        ISTE EAST Video – San Diego, California

    Sonora Elementary PE ProgramGirls on the Run Video

    Sonora Elementary National Board TeachersNob Hill Fire Department Video

    Sonora Elementary in Parenting Magazine

 

Mrs. Worthy's boys completed some work in their classrooms and for homework, too.  Here are the links to see how they can show their thinking through the use of iPads and apps:

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/fractions-day-2/7208922/?s=Xgseyt&ref=link

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/fractions-day-2/7208690/?ref=link

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/mathematics-division/6934705/?s=KqHYqc&ref=link

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/homework-for-april-15-2013/7144995/?ref=link

All in all it was another "owlsome" day at Sonora, where we "innovate to educate" every day!

Be watching for my next blog . . . 10 things that parents need to know about Common Core!