Friday, October 26, 2012

Common Core in parent-friendly language.

Our district has switched to online, narrative report cards this year.  I could write an entire post about that but will move right along to this little gem that it inspired.  ;)  I didn't plan on sharing this but thanks to a few of my Facebook friends {who like getting free stuff as a trade-off for their feedback} they've convinced me you'd want it as well!

The bonus of complicated & confusing report cards is that it forced me to create a fab handout for my parents to take away from our conference.  I basically translated the Common Core standards into activities and wording that any parent would be able to understand.  Now when parents say to you, what's phonological awareness?!  You can say, don't worry, that's just teacherese for letter sounds! and hand them this sheet with activities they can do at home.
{click the link - $2 at TpT}
I printed one for each of my kids & highlighted the areas they are struggling with.  I'm also sending home sight word flashcards, number cards, tracing paper and anything else that might help.  But you could send this on it's own as well!  {just depends on your kids & your available resources}

If you end up using it I'd love to hear the feedback you get from your parents.  Is it helpful?  Does it help them to better understand our teacher-talk of phoneme segmentation, high frequency words, tangrams and collaboration??

I think a lot of parents want to help their children at home, they just don't know how.  So why not teach them too!  ;)
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4 comments:

  1. Unknown9:25 PM

    This is awesome! Thank you so much for creating this!!
    ~Andi

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  2. Kristin Young8:40 AM

    You're welcome! I'm happy that a solution to my problem ended up being something that would help other teachers too! :)

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  3. Angie Johnson5:00 PM

    Where do you go to create your own worksheets? I am really struggling with this. Our previous administration threw out all of our teaching materials and teaching manuals? I am now teaching kindergarten inclusion for my second year on my second year of common core with no materials that fit my needs. There has to be an easier way to create thngs I need instead of copying, cutting, and pasting everything. Help you are so creative do you have any tips.

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    Replies
    1. Kristin Young5:49 PM

      Hi Angie! That sounds terrible. It's definitely good to purge sometimes but everything?! Yikes. I make all of my printables in Microsoft Word then save them as PDF files when they're finished. {saving as a PDF ensures that your cute fonts will print correctly and that your graphics are protected}

      I've bought some graphics and downloaded a bunch of free fonts and just use those to create whatever I need. {Click on the pictures under "Blogspiration" on the left of my page to check out some of my favorites.}

      There is some copying, cutting & pasting involved but maybe not as much as you're talking. Are you looking to make something specific? Send me an email if there's something specific you're trying to make and I'll see if I can help create it!

      LittleMissGlamourGoesToK@gmail.com

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Thanks for the comments! {like virtual hugs}