Common to the Core....Not hardly!

This year we have begun the transition to Common Core standards and I must admit the task at first seemed daunting and I had no idea where to begin. However, I believe in taking things one step at a time and not overwhelming myself. If you appear stressed, your students will feel that. The challenge was that we had become so accustomed to using our standard textbooks to teach, that we couldn't wrap our heads around anything else. To us, Common Core was not music to our ears, but a note gone flat!

However, the first unit in reading for first graders is "The Wizard of Oz" and I couldn't imagine what to do with this text. Of course I was familiar with it, and I love the adaption by Quincy Jones "The Whiz," I just didn't see how to use the prewritten unit in my classroom. Well my worries were for naught. After looking through the unit and planning day by day, I have enjoyed reading the illustrated text with my students and we have done wonderful things. In fact, our discussions and activities surrounding this text are more advanced then I would have ever had in previous years this soon. After only six days of school we have done character webs, talked about synonyms, illustrated settings, discussed the problems, characters, and plot details. Now, I am not saying it has been easy. The fact that the new standards are our "new standard" has meant more planning and has taken away the ease of just pulling out my folder from last year. However, I must admit I am enjoying where this journey is taking me.

Do not be alarmed also, along with this story study, we are still going to include the phonics foundational skills, grammar practice, and routine writing activities. However, I can see how taking a text apart and really delving right into from the start is giving my students more of stronger starting point in understanding text, then what we were doing in the basal in years past.

Are you a teacher who has started Common Core standards this year? Please share what you are doing and how it is going!