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If you’re currently teaching the Common Core ELA Standards, you’re already teaching students to think critically and to look at building their reading and writing skills in new ways. The PARCC ELA assessments are aligned to the Common Core standards you’re already teaching. Those standards just come in the form of intimidating question types such as EBSRs and TECRs. While it may seem like you have to do a lot of teaching to help students figure out all of these question types, you don’t. If you want students to be successful on the PARCC ELA assessments, particularly those that deal with reading comprehension, you simply need to focus on three key areas that you’re probably already focused on anyway.

Three Key Areas for the PARCC ELA Assessment

1. Text Variety

According to its developers, the goal of the PARCC is to include “texts worth reading.” These are authentic texts that come from a variety of sources, not texts written solely for the test. These texts also come in a variety for formats. Students may read an excerpt from a how-to manual, a business e-mail, or a newspaper article. They may have to interpret recipes, bus schedules, and advertisements.

Whether you’re preparing for the PARCC or simply teaching on an ordinary day, it’s time to decrease your reliance on the textbook and other traditional books and start having students read non-traditional texts. They should be reading newspapers, signs, webpages, e-mails, and historical documents. Look for texts that have charts and diagrams and texts that offer different views of the same topic too. This will help students experience the variety of passage they’ll likely find on the test – and in real life.

When it comes to more traditional texts, such as short stories and non-fiction books, students should be perusing digital versions along with the traditional print. Reading a digital version of a passage uses different skills that reading a paper-based version of a passage. Since most students will take the PARCC digitally, they need to have experience reading on a screen.

2. Evidence and Support

One of the main question types students will encounter on the PARCC ELA assessments is the EBSR. This stands for Evidence-Based Selected-Response. It sounds fancy, but all EBSR means is that students will have to answer a question and back up their answer with evidence. (See examples of EBSR questions on our practice PARCC worksheets) This is what students should be doing in the ELA classroom every day.

When students answer a question about a text, do you ask them how they arrived at that answer? That is exactly what the PARCC asks students to do. The only difference is that instead of making them search for the exact answer in the text, it gives them a series of answers to choose from. If students can find the support in the text on their own, they shouldn’t have any trouble choosing the correct answer on the PARCC.

If you’re not already encouraging students to provide support when they answer questions about a text, there are a few simple ways to help them. On a paper-based version of a text, have students regularly highlight or use sticky notes to mark the support for a particular answer. When a student answers a question in class regularly ask “why?” or “how do you know?” For students who struggle with finding support for their answers, spend some time modeling your thinking for students as you do a close reading of the text.

3. Organizing Thoughts and Information

Perhaps the most intimidating part of the PARCC is the new type of question – the dreaded TECR or Technology-Enhanced Constructed Response. While this format is new to the standardized assessment world, it’s very familiar in most ELA classrooms. A TECR is simply a glorified graphic organizer, something you likely use in your classroom every day. On TECR questions students may be asked to match a sentence from a text with a statement, compare and contrast two ideas, put events into a sequence, identify a problem and solution, or show their understanding of a cause/effect relationship.

Help Teaching has a large selection of graphic organizers for you to use with students. The key is to introduce students to many different types of graphic organizers so they become used to analyzing a text in many different ways. For example, you don’t always want to use a Venn diagram to have students compare/contrast. You could also use a T-chart or another type of organizer.

The reality is, you don’t have to spend hours worrying about how you’re going to prepare students for the PARCC ELA assessments. If you’re already teaching the Common Core standards as they’re meant to be taught, you’re helping students build the skills they’ll need to be successful on the test. Continue to provide students with a variety of texts, encourage them to support their answers, and help them organize their thinking with graphic organizers. Then build their confidence by telling them they have the skills they need to ace the test.

Reference

Lots of apps claim to align with the Common Core, but many fail to live up to the level of the standards. Rather than testing out Common Core aligned apps on your own, we’ve found some of the top apps for you to try out in the classroom or at home. In order to make our list, apps had to encourage kids to think critically and work creatively to master the standards.

If you’re just looking for a way to keep track of all of the standards, a few apps stand out:

MasteryConnect takes the Common Core standards and organizes them by state. It also includes state standards for science and social studies. Find your state, download the free app, and always have your standards at your fingertips.
Common Core State Standards from Customizabooks provides a handy reference for the Common Core, along with the ability to add student rosters and take notes related to the standards.
Apps for Common Core helps you find more apps aligned to specific Common Core standards. Users add and help align apps, so the more people who use it, the more content it will contain.

English Language Arts

For English/Language Arts, apps should allow kids to think critically, analyze texts, and writing in a variety of ways. These apps help encourage high-quality ELA instruction based on the Common Core.

Question Builder teachers kids to make inferences and think critically while answering questions. Designed for younger kids, it uses simple pictures and questions to help kids start to learn about the question and answer procedure. It also works well for kids with special needs.
News-O-Matic brings informational texts into the classroom through daily news. Kids will learn about current events that interest them through articles that have been written just for them.
Toontastic, while pricey, is a high-quality app. Kids can create their own cartoons, allowing them to express themselves creatively and think critically when writing. Lesson plans and worksheets also help teachers align the content to the standards.

For English/Language Arts, apps should allow kids to think critically, analyze texts, and writing in a variety of ways.

Shake-a-Phrase builds kids grammar and writing skills in a fun way. Rather than using boring old sentences, the app uses silly sentences to help kids learn their parts of speech. It also suggests zany writing prompts to get them to think beyond the norm when writing.
World’s Worst Pet – Vocabulary combines an engaging story with vocabulary practice. Kids will see words in multiple contexts, explore synonyms and antonyms, and read kid-friendly definitions as they play the fun games.
Subtext gives teachers a way to share a variety of online texts with students. Since the Common Core standards involve reading a variety of texts, teachers can find relevant articles or websites and add notes or assignments to help guide students as they read.

Math

Common Core math apps should go beyond basic problem-solving. They should help kids look at problems from different angles and provide them with real-life problems to solve.

Virtual Manipulatives helps kids interact with fractions through virtual fraction bars. This free app gives kids and teachers a chance to write their own problems on a virtual whiteboard using the bars, rather than providing problems for them to use.
Splash Math offers Common Core –aligned math apps for each grade-level from kindergarten through 5^th grade. These apps incorporate a variety of mini games that kids play as they build up their basic math skills. While not incredibly unique, the games are a lot of fun for kids and the app also offers progress-tracking.
Bugs and Buttons is designed for younger kids and focuses on teaching basic math skills. Kids will learn to think creatively as they play the fun games. They’ll also subtly learn about numbers, patterns, shapes, and other basic math concepts at the same time.

Common Core math apps should go beyond basic problem-solving. They should help kids look at problems from different angles and provide them with real-life problems to solve..

DragonBox Algebra 5+ bills itself as the game that secretly teaches algebra. As kids solve the puzzles, they learn the basics of addition, subtraction, and multiplication. The game teaches critical thinking and creative problem-solving. DragonBox Alegebra 12+ uses the same system as DragonBox Algebra 5+, but includes more advanced math skills to help kids in middle and high school build their skills.
Crackers and Goo provides kids with a unique and fun way to learn about math patterns. The game is designed to be played by kids in kindergarten through fifth grade and beyond, with different levels in the game corresponding with different grade levels. The game builds critical thinking and mental math skills.
MathBoard gives kids a way to solve math problems by actually writing out the answer rather than just having them select the correct answer. The app is also designed to teach, outlining the steps they need to take to solve a particular problem. Student profiles allow parents and teacher to track progress of multiple users.

These apps offer creative ways to help you incorporate the Common Core State Standards in your classroom. Do you have any favorite Common Core apps? If so, share them in the comments so other teachers and parents can check them out!

When you’re done reading, don’t forget to browse our library of pre-made tests and lessons for math and English Common Core codes!

Spring has sprung and with it comes testing season. Over the next few months, students across multiple states will be taking on the new, two-part PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers). Although PARCC’s computer-based administration and question styling may look different from previous tests, it still aligns to the Common Core State Standards, the learning goals for the majority of U.S. classrooms.

Below we’ve highlighted a sampling of PARCC-style items to help you familiarize students with the types of math tasks they will encounter this spring. Find more PARCC-style worksheets and questions at HelpTeaching.com and be sure to visit Test Room to administer computer-based practice tests.

Multi-Select, Multiple-Choice Problems

Many of us grew up answering multiple-choice items that involved selecting one correct answer from four options. Today’s students will see multiple-choice questions that require selecting two or three correct answers from five or six options. For example, try your hand at this fourth grade PARCC style problem:

Students at this level should be able to compare fractions with different numerators and denominators. Multi-select questions assess student reasoning and allow for a more thorough evaluation of a student’s conceptual understanding. When it comes to solving these problems, encourage students to:

• read each question carefully
• determine the number of required answers
• eliminate incorrect answer choices

Incorrect Reasoning Problems

Simply being able to calculate answers correctly no longer makes the grade. Students must now show mastery of concepts by explaining why mathematical reasoning is flawed, and then correcting that reasoning. Give this third grade PARCC style problem a try:

In order to receive full credit, the student must provide a valid explanation as to why the statement is incorrect; once she justifies her reasoning, she must then calculate the correct answer. This challenges students to delve beyond procedural fluency and demonstrate understanding of both the how and the why behind mathematical reasoning. To help students solve this type of problem:

• encourage to them to write narrative justifications of their math work throughout the year
• ask students to practice justifying a problem aloud in front of the class

Multiple Part Problems

Multiple part problems present two or three questions based on a real-world situation that require students to show reasoning through modeling, critical thinking, and application of integrated standards. All three are core components of the PARCC assessment. Go ahead and try this fifth grade item:

At first glance, this problem may seem intimidating, but at its foundation, the item asks students to solve a basic length times width area problem. Beyond that, students must understand how to develop and solve expressions and equations, but within a real-world context. To help students solve this type of problem:

• scaffold lessons and practice opportunities to work up to this type of task
• challenge students to write modeling problems for their classmates to solve
• encourage creativity when developing and solving math problems

You will amazed by the quality of work your students are capable of!

Using these strategies to familiarize students with the style of questions they may face on the PARCC exam will help alleviate test anxiety. More importantly, reassuring your children that they have the knowledge to do well, encouraging them to just do their best, promoting a good night’s sleep, and eating a healthy breakfast will ensure they are ready to tackle the PARCC with confidence. After all, this is only a test.

Standardized tests have become a hotly contested topic in the world of education. With many teachers and parents arguing that students spend too much time taking tests and not enough time learning, it may seem insane to suggest that teachers test their students even more. However, that’s exactly what we’re doing.

While standardized tests and other more formal summative assessments may not always be the best for students, quizzes actually have the potential to improve student learning. These low-stakes, more formative assessments encourage students to learn and retain knowledge, while helping teachers better structure instruction in the classroom.

Quizzes Reduce Test Anxiety

How could having students take more quizzes possibly reduce their anxiety? It’s simple. Standardized tests and other summative assessments come with high stakes. Quizzes, on the other hand, come with much lower stakes. They’re less formal and designed to test a smaller set of skills. The more quizzes you give, the less doing poorly on a single quiz will have a negative effect on a student’s grade, lowering the stakes even more. If you give quizzes regularly, eventually students will become so used to taking quizzes that their nervousness will fade. This will also transfer to bigger tests, making students less likely to face anxiety when it comes time to take those high-stakes standardized tests at the end of a unit or the end of the school year.

Quizzes Get Students to Pay Attention in Class

“Is that going to be on the test?” is a question commonly heard in the classroom. While teachers want to encourage a love of learning, many students only focus on learning what they know they’ll be tested on. By regularly bringing quizzes into the classroom, teachers encourage students to pay attention to all of the material in class. Whether you have a regular quiz schedule or randomly give students pop quizzes, they’ll come to realize that all of the material has the potential to make it on to a quiz in the near future.

Quizzes Encourage Students to Study Regularly

When students are only tested on what they know at the end of a unit, during midterms, or finals, they often put off studying until the days before the test. Studies, such as this 2012 UCLA study, have shown that cramming for big tests doesn’t work and could actually have a negative effect. By quizzing students regularly, teachers can eliminate the need for cramming and encourage students to study the material on a regular basis.

Quizzes Help Teachers Focus the Learning

Also when teachers quiz students regularly, students won’t be overwhelmed by the amount of material they need to learn and they won’t have to wonder what they need to study. Instead, teachers can focus the learning on a few key concepts at a time. This will help students maximize their regular studying and give them a chance to build a thorough understanding of each part of a unit.

Quizzes Allow Students to Build Knowledge Gradually

Rather than only testing students on the big picture, quizzes give teachers a chance to test students on the smaller pieces. For example, you can quiz students on individual chapters of a novel to help build understanding of the text chapter by chapter; or while teaching the periodic table, you can quiz students on individual groups of elements or sections of the table rather than requiring them to learn about the whole table at once. This scaffolding of learning and quizzing students at each step helps make sure they have mastered understanding of one part before moving on to the next part.

Quizzes Allow Teachers to Modify and Adjust Instruction

To be most successful, quizzes should be used as a type of formative assessment. This means they’re used to inform teachers and students and help monitor understanding. So if a quiz shows students haven’t mastered a part of a lesson or are having a difficult time with a particular concept, teachers can modify and adjust their instruction to help cover that concept before it’s too late.

Quizzes Can Be Completed and Graded Quickly

Giving students a quiz doesn’t have to take a long time, nor does it require a lot of grading. With online assessment platforms such as Help Teaching’s new Test Room feature teachers can quickly put together an online quiz and schedule a time for students to take it.  Once students take the quiz, teachers can see statistics on student results, allowing them to quickly modify and adjust their instruction or share the results with students.

Quizzes Offer More Immediate Feedback

One of the reasons people criticize standardized tests and other larger summative assessments is that the results don’t really help students. By the time students receive the results from the test, they’ve moved on to the next unit or the next class and have already dumped a lot of the information they learned. Quizzes, on the other hand, give students a chance to gain more immediate feedback. Even if a teacher doesn’t adjust instruction based on student performance, individual students know what skills and concepts they had trouble with and can work on improving their understanding before it comes time for the final assessment.

Quizzes Help with Long-Term Retention

Perhaps one of the greatest reasons to give quizzes comes from Dr. Henry L. Roediger, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Roediger argues that it’s not studying and reviewing materials that helps students remember material, it’s actually quizzing them regularly on the material. In a study by Roediger, three different groups were asked to study a series of pictures. One group studied the pictures the entire time. The second group studied the pictures and were quizzed on them once. The third group was quizzed on the pictures every 20 minutes. A week later, the third group still remembered 32 of the 60 original pictures, while the first group only remembered 16.

Quizzes Keep Students’ Minds Sharp

Aristotle once wrote, “exercise in repeatedly recalling a thing strengthens the memory” and that’s exactly what Roediger argues when he encourages teachers to quiz students more. When students study they simply look to a textbook, notes, or other resources for the answers, but when they take quizzes they must retrieve the information from their own brains. This retrieval process helps the information stick in the brain more, keeping students’ minds sharp and improving their long-term memory. This fits with the “if you don’t use it, you lose it” idea that many people have experienced. Quizzing students also helps improve their brain plasticity, keeping their minds sharp and allowing them to regularly create new systems and connections in the brain.

While Roediger and his colleagues who promote Test Enhanced Learning in Classroom (TELC) say that the best quizzes to give students are those with short answer and short essay questions, even multiple-choice, matching, and true/false questions incorporated into quizzes on a regular basis can have a positive effect on students’ learning. The key is that the quizzes are given regularly and that immediate feedback is offered to students.

Want to see if regular quizzing can help your students? Check out Help Teaching’s Test Maker and Test Room options to create and quickly administer quizzes.  Then share your results in the comments.

Happy quizzing!

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences changed the world of education. Before Gardner proposed that a student could have an affinity towards more than one intelligence, a student was usually put into one category that would define him for the rest of his life. The thought that “Johnny is good at math” or “Susie is good at music” grouped kids into categories that, while likely accurate, implied they were weak in all other areas.

Gardner realized children have the potential for eight different intelligences.  These aren’t to be confused with learning styles, but rather Gardner simply meant that we all have different areas in which we excel. As teachers, we should find out each student’s capabilities and individualize our teaching as much as possible.

During the first week of school, have your students take a multiple intelligence test at the literacynet.org website or the bgfl.org website to find their strengths. From there, use the data to help incorporate new ways of expression in the classrooms.

Once you know where students’ intelligences lie, you can help them build their strengths and find their weaknesses by giving them choices on how to present an assignment, project, or test, instead of using the same kind of assessment for every subject. Giving students control over their assignments can create a strong sense of pride and ownership.

The following are descriptions of the individual intelligences to help you, as teachers, recognize these in your students, and ideas to help encourage and use them to assess understanding in the classroom.

1. Musical

Those with musical intelligence are more inclined to play an instrument or sing. They are able to understand, hear, and respond with understanding to rhythm, pitch, meter, melody, and other elements of music. Composers, arrangers, and professional musicians share this trait. Music centers can include CD’s, books on composers, blank composition paper and pencils to create their own music, or music software. Teachers can also present a song at the beginning of class that would go well with the lesson, for example “We Will Rock You” for a Geology lesson (the lyrics may not have much to do with it, but the students’ excitement will be at a high level).

Assessment options:

• Finding music to go with a story or lesson in class
• Creating or rapping a song about a lesson
• Help Teaching’s  music worksheets available

2. Spatial

Those high in this intelligence are able to mentally and physically understand, manipulate, rotate, and transform 3D shapes. This intelligence is associated with architects, engineers, and physicists. Strengthening spatial intelligence is important for all students and can be done by practicing with graphs, spatial rotation exercises, and maps.

Assessment options:

• Creating a montage
• Designing a sculpture
• Creating a 3D puzzle
• Making a map of a lesson or concept
• Hands-on net printables at HelpTeaching.com

3. Bodily-Kinesthetic

Students with bodily – kinesthetic intelligence use their bodies to create or solve problems. Those that like to touch and feel different textures, are physically coordinated, enjoy dance, sports, and/or other types of movement are strong in this intelligence. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is associated with dancers, sculptors, and actors. Teachers can help build this intelligence in the classroom by having students work with their hands, create letters with their bodies, or dance and find rhythms with their feet.

Assessment options:

• Making models
• Acting out or miming a lesson or concept
• Creating a dance
• Building something related to the lesson
• Our performing arts and dance worksheets

4. Interpersonal

These students are comfortable with others, like to interact with people, and are sensitive to others’ moods and feelings. They tend to be peacemakers in the classroom, are empathetic, and what others would call “a natural born leader”. This intelligence is associated with psychologists, counselors, and politicians. These students benefit from group projects, mentoring, and being around others.

Assessment options:

• Oral explanations
• Role playing of a lesson or concept
• Work with another student to solve a problem and work out the steps together
• Worksheets on Peer Relationships and Social Skills available at HelpTeaching.com.

5. Logical-mathematical

Students with logical-mathematical intelligence are rational, logical thinkers and have the ability to reason. They can see the logical relationships between actions and also the relationship between symbols. This intelligence is associated with accountants, engineers, and scientists.  Those with this type of intelligence enjoy solving mysteries and puzzles, working on experiments, working with math problems, and principles of science.

Assessment options:

• Flow charts
• Outlines
• Experiments
• Creating puzzles
• Solving mysteries
• Incorporate our worksheets for Logic Statements and Science Lab Reports as well as graphic organizers

6. Linguistic

Those with a higher linguistic intelligence have strong verbal skills, a larger and advanced vocabulary, and like to order, play, and understand the meaning of words. They are also sensitive to meter, rhythm, and inflection of rhymes and poetry.  They are also good at entertaining and persuading with their words. This intelligence is associated with writers, poets, politicians, actors, comedians, and journalists. Linguistic intelligence can be strengthened through crossword puzzles with vocabulary words, playing Scrabble or Boggle, giving speeches, and having debates in the classroom.

Assessment options:

• Essays
• Writing a poem about the lesson
• Journals
• Write a newspaper article
• Explain the lesson to the class in story form
• Allowing a student to teach a lesson

7. Intrapersonal

Those with intrapersonal intelligence are very aware and in touch with their own feelings, and often need to be alone to process their thoughts, study, and plan.  Philosophers, theorists, and writers are associated with intrapersonal intelligence. This should be cultivated as much as possible in every student, as introspection and self-reflection will help them make better decisions for themselves in life. Teachers can use a quiet, reflective time in the classroom for students to write down thoughts and feelings, autobiographies, goals for the year, or journal writing with specific topics to get the students to think inward.

Assessment options:

• Essays written from the perspective of a literary or historical figure
• Scrapbook reflecting what they have learned from a lesson
• Questionnaire designed for higher order thinking

8. Naturalistic

Students with a naturalistic intelligence are good at spotting differences in plants, flowers, clouds, rocks, and other items that exist in nature. They are usually interested in the environment and may be told they have a “green thumb”. Archaeologists, landscapers, fisherman, animal trainers, and forest rangers are associated with this intelligence. Students can learn to care for a class pet or plant, classify and sort objects in nature, and visit pet stores and zoos to cultivate this intelligence. We have a multitude of  Environmental Science printables that can aid in the classroom on Help Teaching’s Earth Science Worksheets page.

Assessment options:

• Reports from the perspective of an object in nature (the life of a rock)
• Growing a plant from seed
• Making a photo scrapbook of different animal habitats
• Allowing them to teach a lesson

There is no “one size fits all” assessment for students, and teachers should make the effort to allow their students to excel in areas in which they have a high intelligence. Strengthening and fortifying their weaknesses will help them be well rounded individuals, and may allow a student to find an area they are strong in they never knew existed.

Bringing the Common Core State Standards for ELA into the classroom may seem like a challenge. With the new shifts in ELA instruction and a wealth of standards, it’s hard to know where to begin. While they look intimidating, the Common Core ELA standards simply promote a comprehensive approach to ELA, focusing on the skills students need to be ready for college and their future careers. Keeping this focus in mind and incorporating a few key elements can make teaching the Common Core ELA standards much easier.

#1 Introduce Informational Texts

One of the biggest elements of the Common Core ELA standards is the focus on informational texts. While literature still plays a key role, kids need to learn to read texts with more technical vocabulary, analyze arguments, and pay attention to key text features such as charts and tables. When reading these informational texts, kids can also focus on key reading strategies, such as analyzing cause and effect relationships, finding the main idea, and comparing and contrasting ideas within and between texts.

#2 Introduce New Formats

Along with introducing informational texts, teachers should introduce new text formats. This includes showing kids the movie version of a book they’re reading or even using movies as a teaching tool. It also includes incorporating newspapers, advertisements, and other text types to help kids learn in different ways. Websites such as LearnZillion provide videos to help students learn and teachers can also search for interactive websites on the subjects they want to teach to help students see the information in new ways.

#3 Bring in Modern Texts

While teachers need to bring in new text formats, they also need to move to teaching more modern texts. The Common Core has a place for teaching traditional literature, but kids also need to see how writing has changed over time and read texts that deal with more current issues. This includes some of the latest children’s books and young adult literature. To find books, teachers can look to resources such YALSA’s book awards and selected book lists and the latest Caldecott and Newberry Medal winners.

#4 Compare Texts

As students read a variety of texts, teachers should encourage kids to read texts with similar themes or topics, both literary and informational texts. They can then compare and contrast how those texts deal with their specific themes and topics. At lower grade levels, teachers can take a traditional fairy tale and have kids compare and contrast different versions. At higher grade levels, teachers can introduce two passages on the same topic and have kids compare and contrast the point of view or author’s approach to the topic.

#5 Connect to Other Subjects

In the ELA classroom, teachers should also pay attention to what kids are learning in other areas. By connecting other subjects to ELA, kids can start to see the importance reading and writing play in nearly all subject areas. They can also start to develop the skills to help them read and analyze subject-specific texts, thereby improving their performance. Many of Help Teaching’s reading strategy worksheets focus on subjects such as science and social studies, but teachers should not limit themselves to traditional reading passages or worksheets. They can also bring in charts and tables and take the time to review them with kids or even solve a set of math word problems, focusing on helping kids recognize the vocabulary they’ll find in traditional problems.

#6 Focus on Vocabulary

In fact, the Common Core ELA standards place a greater emphasis on vocabulary, especially domain-specific vocabulary than most previous ELA standards. While teachers may still want to incorporate spelling and vocabulary tests into the curriculum, the words they choose should tie directly to the texts kids are reading or the subjects they are talking about. Teachers can find a wealth of vocabulary words related to science, social studies, math, and other key subjects in Help Teaching’s collection of vocabulary questions and use those questions to create their own vocabulary worksheets for students or get started with some of Help Teaching’s subject-specific free vocabulary worksheets.

#7 Change the Way You Teach Grammar

The way teachers teach grammar also has to change. Instead of simply diagramming sentences and filling in the blank, kids should move to analyzing how certain elements of grammar are used within a text and to actually putting those elements of grammar to use in their own writing. At the younger grade levels, this will still include a lot of simple grammar activities, but at higher grade levels, grammar instruction should be more complex. For example, instead of simply identifying adjectives, kids can analyze the degrees of meaning in adjectives and determine whether the correct word was used.

#8 Encourage Analysis

In everything they do, teachers should encourage analysis. This includes analyzing the author’s word choice and determining how the words help shape the meaning of a texts. It includes comparing and contrasting within texts, making inferences and drawing conclusions as they read texts, and determining the main idea and theme of a text. Instead of simply saying “what does this say?” kids should be asking “how does it say it?” “why does it say it that way?” and “how does this compare to or differ from other things I’ve read and heard?”

#9 Conduct Research

As kids start to analyze and ask questions about texts, they start to come up with ideas for mini research projects. Instead of providing kids with the answers, teachers should encourage kids to look the answers up themselves. As they conduct research, kids will learn to read a variety of different texts and learn to make meaning from those texts.

#10 Get Kids to Write

After conducting research, kids can write about what they’ve learned. They can also write essays, short stories, poems, and other traditional texts. However, the Common Core ELA standards encourage kids to write more than just the traditional types of texts. They should write in journals and write as they answer open-ended questions on exams. They should write letters, speeches, advertisements, experiment summaries, and a wide variety of texts that help them get used to different types of writing and express their thinking using the written word.

When teachers incorporate these 10 different elements, the Common Core ELA Standards will become less intimidating for both kids and teachers. Kids will also get the opportunity to think more critically about what they’re reading and gain skills to help them in college and their future careers. Many of Help Teaching’s ELA worksheets support the Common Core State Standards, but we know there are other resources out there as well. What are some of your favorite resources or strategies to help bring some of the elements above into the classroom?

The social studies curriculum keeps getting bigger, but the amount of class time allotted to actually teach content keeps getting smaller. Teachers are responsible to present large quantities of information and students are being asked to do more with that information than ever before. How do we accomplish so many tasks, achieve so many goals, and meet so many standards in such a small amount of time?

Graphic organizers have been helping teachers condense information forever, and they have become more of a necessity in the 21^st century classroom. Organizers help students to chunk information into smaller doses, making it easier to retain and understand. More importantly, the students are asked to determine which pieces of information are most important and pertinent to the task at hand. This requires students to use advanced skills such as critical thinking, reading comprehension, evaluation, compare, and contrast, among many others.

Graphic organizers are also a precursor to what students will be asked to achieve in higher education. Note cards and categorizing research sources are an integral part of research papers, and simple graphic organizers in the primary and secondary grades lead to a logical progression in complexity in college.

There are graphic organizers for almost any activity. Webs, the most commonly used organizer, are available in every conceivable design. There are subject specific organizers, or generic ones that can be used across disciplines. They are all, however, adaptable for any use or course that you teach.

Help Teaching has an extensive library of graphic organizers that can improve any lesson and accomplish many learning objectives. Check out the list below, each with suggestions for the social studies classroom.

	This organizer helps students to practice listening skills and the ability to determine the important facts while you give a brief interactive lecture. It can also be useful in categorizing important pieces of information, as displayed in this activity using features of geography in the world today.
	This template is a terrific way to prep for a cause and effect essay and showing the direct correlations between different events. I love to use this organizer to summarize a lesson or unit.
	Sometimes the best way to understand something is by breaking it down into its parts. This organizer allows students to see the details of a person or event to better comprehend the larger meaning and context.
	This model gives students help in learning about causation and chronology. Take a look at this activity that asks students to order Cold War events chronologically.
	Tried and true, the Venn still has many uses when comparing and contrasting people, places, events, and more. Check out this mini project using a Venn diagram that asks students to apply their findings.
	Branching out from the center, this web allows a large amount of information to be condensed into a manageable, concise chunk.

There’s no one way to use a graphic organizer. As with any method, it’s always best to adapt it to meet your own needs and the needs of your students. Hopefully Help Teaching’s examples of printables using graphic organizers can set you up for an effective foray into the world of graphic organizers.

Today, experts aren’t the only ones who can create very professional documents. “Content creation” tools have become far more accessible to a much broader audience. This is particularly true when it comes to math documents. By using some of these free, and incredibly useful tools, you’ll find it doesn’t take much to put together and publish quality math documents that you can be proud of.

1. Grapher

One the most indispensable tools is Grapher, which comes preinstalled on Apple computers. I frequently use this program to create most images of graphs that I include in my posts, but you can also use it to prepare graphs for worksheets or to help solve equations.

When you open Grapher, you must first determine the type of graph you’d like to make, with options that include both 2D and 3D versions, along with standard Cartesian, log, or polar graphs. Then, simply type in the formula you want to graph and Grapher does all the work. Once it’s drawn, if you click on the Inspector button, you can then click on your graph to further customize options, such as setting tick spacing on the axes, or changing the colors of your lines. In addition, there is a + button on the lower left which allows you to add additional equations to your graph. This option may be incredibly useful to show how changes to the basic equation causes the plot to shift or stretch.

Additional features of Grapher allow you to evaluate your curve at a specific point, and to even differentiate or integrate your equation. Alternately, you can use Grapher to plot specific points on a graph, and then interpolate a best fit line. Grapher fits my needs perfectly for creating beautiful images of graphs to include in my writings, and also as an advanced calculator to help me solve complex equations. There are many more features that I have not yet explored (e.g. periodic functions, parametric curves…), so you can see how valuable this free software can be! I can’t recommend it enough.

2. Microsoft Mathematics

A similar program to Grapher that’s designed for PC users is called Microsoft Mathematics. Considering the software is free, the feature set that it contains is extremely powerful and well-designed. It provides the same graphing and equation solving functionality found in expensive graphing calculators, plus additional features such as a triangle solver and unit converter. The basic software, with its comprehensive math components (e.g. trigonometry, statistics, calculus, algebra, etc.), targets students and helps them solve math problems. However, Microsoft offer an extra Mathematics Add-In for Word and OneNote, which may help educators embed graphs and equations into other documents, such as exams or worksheets. Considering that it’s free and made by Microsoft, you don’t have many reasons to not try it to see if it’s suitable for you.

3. LaTeX

LaTeX (pronounced “lay-tech”) document markup language is more universal, and should be able to apply to any computer system. With it, you can create consistent, sharp math formulas that look like something you would see printed in a textbook. When you first start using LaTex, you may find it is slightly more complicated than simply typing out a document, but once you get going, you’ll find that it’s fairly self-explanatory and it comes highly recommended.

When you bring up the Online LaTeX Equation Editor, you will immediately see a large white box where you will add in the specifics of the equation you wish to produce. Below, updated in real-time as a properly formatted equation, you’ll see the final result. The gray buttons near the top are the functions you can use to build more advanced equations, although you can simply type the components of simple ones. For example, to generate a nicely formatted basic equation, you could just type in f(x)=2x^3. This will produce a consistently-formatted image representation of your equation, which you can copy and paste into your document. The downside to this method is that if you wish to make changes to your equation, you need to go back to the input rather than directly modifying your image inside your document.

Similar online tools include MathJax, an open source JavaScript program. Help Teaching members may also appreciate the Help Teaching Math Equations Editor which allows you to create your own math equations to add directly to math worksheets.

While a general type of tool, rather than a specific tool, cloud-based apps allow you to work on your documents wherever you happen to be. If you have a Google account, then you can take advantage of Google Drive. Similar to the Microsoft Office suite of software, Google’s version is all online, and much more basic. Similarly, Apple users can take advantage of the new iWork for iCloud apps, which includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to prepare their drafts. I like this option, because it syncs with my iPhone easily and allows me to make changes on the go.

When it comes to generating material for my math blog, these useful tools mentioned above are some of my go-to resources. They don’t cost anything and they help make my site that much more attractive and professional. Give them a try, and see what they can do to help with your math documents. If you use them, I’d love to see the results! Leave me a comment or email me at (thenumerist101 at gmail dot com). Also, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter, @TheNumerist. And if you have some incredibly useful math tools of your own, be sure to share them in the comments below.

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Shaun Klassen has been writing online about math concepts for several years. His newest website project is The Numerist, where he includes a wide variety of quality tutorial pages that help explain mathematical concepts to students, or provide ideas for teachers to apply to their math lessons.

When it comes to reading a novel, many students shrug off the reading and just watch the movie version instead. Well, two can play at that game. Teachers can give students a little of what they want by incorporating the movie versions of books into their discussion and activities, but that’s not the only way movies play a role in the ELA classroom. A movie is just another type of text and it can be analyzed just as easily as a novel, a short story, or a poem.

The Movie Version

The easiest way to incorporate movies in the ELA classroom is simply to have students watch the movie version of the novel or short story they are reading. While many teachers typically show the movie version after students read, others choose to show the movie before they read. This may be particularly helpful when it comes to reading more difficult texts such as Shakespearean plays or ancient texts such as The Iliad and The Odyssey. Watching the movie first provides students with a context and general overview of the book, making it easier to understand and recognize key details as they read.

If students watch the movie before they read the book, chances are they will notice that the movie version failed to include many details they find in the book and will begin to make comparisons between the two. To ensure students actually read the book, teachers should pay attention to the differences between the book and movie, not only giving students a chance to compare and contrast, but also testing their knowledge on facts and details they know were not included in the movie version. Help Teaching’s Comparing a Book and Movie Worksheet can give you an activity to start with.

Help Teaching also offers worksheets to help you quiz students on popular novels that have been turned into movies. Many of our worksheets can be used with either the book or the movie, particularly those that focus on characters because they can lead to discussions about how well the movie portrayed the characters in the book. Some character worksheets you’ll find on Help Teaching include:

• Characters in Twilight
• Characters in A Christmas Carol
• Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird
• Characters in The Great Gatsby
• Characters in The Hunger Games

If your students get excited about new releases, such as The Hunger Games, incorporate their interests in the classroom with some of our other Hunger Games worksheets:

• The Hunger Games
• The Hunger Games Basics
• The Hunger Games – Catching Fire
• The Hunger Games – Mockingjay

Analyzing a Movie

Instead of watching the movie version of a novel, the movie itself can be the text. After watching a movie, students can still answer many of the same questions they’d be expected to answer after reading a book. In fact, Help Teaching’s General Movie Analysis worksheet has students analyze the theme, characters, and other literary elements found within a movie. The same can be done with the General Documentary Analysis worksheet to help students analyze documentaries and other informational films.

Learning through Movies

Teachers may also choose to use movies to introduce themes or introduce students to various literary concepts. For example, when teaching about the hero’s journey, teachers can have students watch the movie Hercules to familiarize themselves with what the different stages look like before tackling a book such as The Odyssey. Instead of having students read a book about a particular period in history, teachers could have them watch multiple movies that tackle the subject. For example, when studying The Holocaust, instead of reading The Diary of Anne Frank, students could watch Au Revoir Les Enfants, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and a movie version of the popular diary, comparing how they portray that specific event.

Incorporating movies in the curriculum also helps when teaching students about specific elements of literature or writing and teachers don’t always have to show an entire movie to do it. Want to help students understand the importance of public speaking or how to write a great speech? Show them a clip of an actor delivering a truly moving speech during a movie. Having trouble getting students to understand the concept of a flashback? Help them see it done in movie form. Movie clips can be used to teach about characterization, conflict, setting, symbolism, and other key elements of literature.

Teachers who need help getting started incorporating movies in their classroom can find a wealth of ideas through Teach With Movies, which offers lesson plans, and lists of movies and the skills they cover. For more information on how often to include movies in the classroom, also check out How to Use Movies in the Social Studies Classroom. While it is not focused on the English classroom, it may provide English teachers and teachers in other classrooms with ideas about how to get started showing movies in their own classrooms.

Watch Help Teaching’s literature section for more worksheets aligned to movies as they come out.

In the world of education, there’s nothing a teacher loves better than the word FREE and every teacher knows the internet is full of free content to use in the classroom. However, not every teacher knows how to find that content. Whether you teach early elementary school or are trying to keep seniors from checking out, many of these sites have been designed to help you.

Elementary School

Language Arts

1. Funbrain Reading offers games to help students brush up on their grammar and reading skills. Teachers and students will also find digital graphic novels and excerpts from popular children’s books.

2. Scholastic Student Activities feature lesson plans and interactives for multiple grade-levels and subject areas. While the site covers multiple subject areas, many of the lesson plans are text-based, making them ideal for use in a language arts setting, particularly when it comes to introducing students to informational or non-traditional texts.

3. Merriam-Webster Word Central is designed to help kids practice their spelling skills. The site uses games, a build-your-own dictionary feature and lesson plans to help accomplish that purpose.

4. Paragraph Punch helps students learn to write a basic paragraph. This site is ideal for students in upper elementary school.

5. Storyline Online features videos of members of the Screen Actors Guild reading popular children’s stories. It is a great site for getting students to read and also offers a new way to present books to students in the classroom.

Math

6. Math Playground is full of games designed to help kids practice their math skills. Activities feature a range of problem types and many are aligned to the Common Core State Standards.

7. Figure This encourages families to get involved in learning math skills by offering fun challenges for them to complete. Teachers can also adapt many of these challenges for use in the classroom to help students build some real-world math and problem-solving skills.

8. Math Cats offers a fun math fact every day, as well as numerous activities designed to help kids learn and explore more about basic math and problem-solving skills.

9. Funbrain Numbers contains multiple games for students. They can solve math problems while kicking soccer balls, racing cars and playing other arcade-style games.

Science

10. Wonderville helps kids learn about science by answering questions kids may have and exploring unique topics in science. The site also offers a section on “Neat Jobs,” helping kids see some of the ways science is put to use in the real world.

11. Science Kids is full of fun science facts, experiments and other activities designed to help get kids interested in science. Teachers can also find lesson plans, videos and project ideas to bring science into their classrooms.

12. The Electronic Zoo allows kids to take a trip to the zoo without leaving the classroom. The site features information on all types of animals, from invertebrates to primates and many more.

13. Kitchen Chemistry shows kids how they can perform science experiments in their own homes. Teachers can adapt many of the experiments for use in the classroom as well.

Social Studies

14. BBC History provides games and activities to help make history fun for students. Special animations help students see what life was like during certain periods in history and interactive activities allow them to participate in history.

15. Geosense test students’ knowledge of world geography. Kids can play by themselves or compete against each other.

16. Xpedition Hall is an online interactive museum from National Geographic. Students can learn about geography as they explore the museum and teachers can download a special guide to help them use the content in their classrooms.

17. Archiving Early America provides teachers with videos and images to use as they teach students about early American history. Some documents and biographies are also available.

Middle School

Language Arts

18. Essay Punch takes students through a series of exercises designed to help them learn how to write an essay, a crucial skill for all middle school students.

19. Scholastic News helps get upper elementary and middle school students interested in the news by providing them with news stories geared towards their interests and reading levels. This is a great site for finding informational texts for students as well.

20. VocabularySpellingCity gives students a place to practice their spelling and vocabulary words. While the free options on the site are limited, students and teachers can build vocabulary lists and take quizzes to help them learn the words.

21. Sheppard Software’s language arts games help students brush up on their grammar and punctuation skills, as well as learn new vocabulary words and play fun word games.

Math

22. Aplusmath.com features flash cards, games and worksheets designed to help students brush up on their math skills. While the site covers elementary and middle school skills, the way its content is presented is better for middle school students.

23. AAA Math offers math lessons for students at multiple grade-levels. Teachers at the middle school level can find lessons and interactive activities on topics such as measurement, exponents and geometry.

24. CoolMath is not just for elementary students. Middle school students can also brush up on their basic math skills and practice basic algebra and geometry skills through these fun games and interactive lessons.

25. MathMovesU is full of activities, games, information and lesson plans designed to help get middle school students interested in math.

Science

26. Learner.org offers numerous interactives designed to help students understand complex scientific topics. While content is able for all grade-levels, some of most engaging interactives are geared toward students at the middle school level and cover topics such as DNA and divergent boundaries.

27. NASA Quest is focused on helping students learn to think critically and engaging them in scientific inquiry. Many of the activities found on this site are geared toward students in grade 5-9, making it an ideal resource to help students at the middle school level solve real-life scientific problems.

28. Physics Central offers a free comic book series called Spectra to help students learn about physics. The main character is a middle school student.

29. Exploratorium is a science museum that has filled its online site with websites, videos and other resources to help students learn more about science. Students can also view and interact with many of the museum’s exhibits online.

Social Studies

30. Eyewitness to History provides teachers and students with lesson plans and media files designed to help them experience history. Students can access a wide variety of primary source materials to see history as it really was.

31. Teachable Moment helps take current events and use them to teach students valuable lessons. These lessons are especially beneficial in the middle school years when students are learning to think beyond themselves and develop their understanding of how they fit into the world around them.

32. Mr. Donn’s Social Studies Site is full of lesson plans, quizzes, worksheets and other activities related to various countries, cultures and periods of history. Many of the resources are ideal for middle school students and their teachers.

33. Virtual Tourist helps students learn about geography by taking them on a behind-the-scenes tour of many different countries. This is not typical textbook information; instead, it is designed to help students actually see what a visit to these countries would actually be like.

High School

Language Arts

34. Grammar Bytes helps students brush up on their grammar skills by going through sets of interactive activities. Students are then rewarded with off-the-wall virtual prizes.

35. Project Gutenberg features thousands of public domain texts in the form of free eBooks. Teachers can find numerous fiction and non-fiction texts to use with high school students. Students can also find texts to use for book reports or to help them explore specific subject areas.

36. Purdue OWL is the online writing lab for Purdue University, but it also features a lot of information that can be helpful to high school students. This should be their go-to resource when writing papers, citing sources and learning how to avoid plagiarism.

37. A Word a Day provides students with a new vocabulary word each day. Teachers can use this site as an opening activity in the classroom or just to help students build their vocab skills. Archives of previously featured words are available as well.

Math

38. S.O.S. Mathematics offers over 2,000 pages of lessons and worksheets designed to help students improve their skills in high school math. Subjects covered include algebra, trigonometry, complex variables and matrix algebra.

39. Math Bits features tutorials related to high school math and computer programming. Students can also find information on how to operate graphing calculators.

40. Math Planet brings math to students through video lessons. Teachers can use these lessons in the classroom or students can watch them at home to help learn more about complicated math processes.

41. Analyzemath.com contains numerous free questions for math teachers to use in the classroom or students to use to brush up on their skills.

Science

42. PBS LearningMedia features a wealth of videos, audio files and lesson plans related to science. Students can see the scientific principles they are learning about in action. While an account is required to view most of the materials, creating an account is free.

43. ScienceGeek.net was designed by a high school science teacher to benefit his students. Students can find review sheets, worksheets and problems related to high school chemistry, A.P. Chemistry and biology.

44. NSTA: The Science Teacher allows high school science teachers free access to some of the articles from its magazine designed just for them. Some of these articles, such as those about careers in science, can be used with students in the classroom.

45. PhET offers a variety of interactive simulations to use with science students. Simulations are organized by topic and grade-level, making it easy for teachers to find simulations to use to help bring science to life for their students.

Social Studies

46. PowerPoint Palooza contains numerous PowerPoint presentations for teachers to bring directly into the classroom. Topics cover a wide range of history and include collections designed to be used in A.P. European History and A.P. American History courses.

47. Teach with Movies helps engage students, especially high-schoolers by helping teachers find movie clips that relate to core topics. Social studies is only one of the many subjects covered on this site.

48. Econedlink offers free economics lessons for students at all grade-levels, but a majority of the lessons are focused on students in grades 9-12. Many feature interactive handouts and quizzes to help test students’ knowledge of economics.

49. Internet History Sourcebook is full of online texts for teachers to use in the classroom. These texts are geared toward major periods in history and ancient civilizations and get help students get a glimpse of history outside of the textbook.

50. Help Teaching offers a wide variety of free printable worksheets and activities that use unique map images.

Looking for more web-based teaching resources? Read Help Teaching’s articles Ten Social Studies Web Resources and Free Interactive Web Resources for Teaching Science.

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Joe Pizzuto-Pomaco is an educator, writer, and editor who has taught in public and private schools 15 years.