1. Elementary Planning Process
ITL: “This morning we heard about Language Arts and Mathematics Common Core Standards and began learning about STEM. As you know, this year the county will be focusing on the Common Core Writing Standards in Language Arts, the Mathematical practices and STEM education.
The Common Core Standards should be integrated with the content areas. This can be naturally done through writing and the use of informational text. This afternoon, the Elementary Office has provided us with an opportunity to see how writing can be easily integrated into content instruction. In order to do this, it is important to take a look at the big picture of our year long instructional plan. Realizing that elementary teachers have a lot on their plate, the curriculum office wanted to provide a tool to aid in this planning. We will be taking the next 90 minutes to participate in a planning activity with our team. This power point presentation will guide us through the process.”
Elementary Curriculum

2. System-wide Outcomes for Professional Development Day
Grades 1-5 teams will review Common Core writing standards in order to integrate writing into content disciplines (science, social studies, health) as they create a year-long or quarterly instructional plan.
“This is the HCPSS outcome for our Professional Development day, for teams in Grades 1-5.”
Please remember to include the appropriate support teachers during today’s session i.e., Reading Specialist, ESOL, Title 1, Special Education, Reading Recovery, Paraeducators, and Reading Support Teachers.

3. Rationale
In order to long range plan, you need to use the grade-level curriculum and list the skills and concepts that you plan to teach each month of the year. This process will familiarize you with what you are required to teach and give you the whole picture so the rhythm of the year is clear to you.
ITL: “We will be focusing the next 90 minutes on long range planning. Let’s look at the rationale.”
“Today, we are encouraged to work together to long range plan (either yearly or quarterly) for this year. Using the ppt for a guide, we will be completing a plan for the year/quarter. Links are embedded on each screen so that documents can be accessed easily.”
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4. Taking a Closer Look at the Writing Standards
The Elementary Office has put together a folder of electronic resources to guide you with today’s session. All of these documents are available through each content intranet page, however, we have downloaded them into the electronic folder entitled, Elementary Long Range Planning PD– Aug. 23 ’11, for your convenience today. The content of the electronic folder sent to your school’s conference includes:
*Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts,
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
Maryland Common Core State Curriculum Framework for Writing Grades Pre-Kindergarten
Maryland Common Core State Curriculum Framework for Writing Grades Kindergarten-2
Maryland Common Core State Curriculum Framework for Writing Grades 3-5
HCPSS Writing Matrix
HCPSS Writing Instructional Model
HCPSS Writing Checklists Grades K-5
3 Planning Grids Grades 1-5
Blank Planning Template
Long Range Template Grades 1-5
Quarterly Template Grades 1-5
If you do not already have this folder on your laptop, you may download it from your school conference or see your administrator to download it from a DVD copy in case your internet is down.
Begin by taking a few minutes to look at the Writing Standards in the Common Core Framework for our grade level. The Language Arts office has worked to integrate the standards into the writing instructional model and genre study matrix. Let’s take the next few minutes to look at the matrix, writing intranet page, and Common Core standards. Discuss what you notice. “How does teaching the genre studies and using the instructional model ensure that students are taught the writing standards?”
Hint: The Common Core writing standards are embedded in each instructional model, genre study matrix, and in the writing checklist of expectations.

5. Support is Available….
As you progress through this professional development activity, support is available by calling the Elementary Curriculum offices.
Mathematics – x6836
Language Arts – x6625
Science – x6836
Social Studies – x5693
Health – x7026
ITL: “ We can contact the elementary curriculum offices if we have any questions during this process. They will be available for phone calls all afternoon.”
Mathematics – x Kay Sammons, John SanGiovanni
Language Arts – x Fran Clay, Sandy Keaton, Stephanie Milligan
Science – x Karen Learmouth, Amy Reese
Social Studies – x Kim Loisel, Michelle Ranker
Health – x Dulcy Sullivan
Marie DeAngelis-x6614
Image take from bcsd.org

6. Sample of Yearly Long Range Plan
When planning for the school year, especially with new curriculum, it is important to have the big picture so that instruction is seamless. This ensures that all essential curriculum is completed before the end of the school year.
The Elementary Curriculum office created the example of a yearly long range plan (linked below) to help you see our vision of how the curriculum fits within a school year.
“The Elementary Curriculum offices created this yearly plan to demonstrate how all curriculum standards can be taught within the school year. This model provides integration OPPORTUNITIES between content and literacy. It also provides continuous instruction in science, social studies and health so that there is uninterrupted learning time for students to master a concept. This particular template is but one example. It was designed around a model that homeroom teachers provide instruction for all content areas. Let’s take about 5 minutes to look over the template.”

7. Reflecting on the Sample Yearly Long Range Plan…..
What did you notice about the yearly plan provided? In what ways might this template guide us as a team when we plan our units?
Does this yearly plan support our instructional program?
If not, how would you change this yearly plan?
How can we make sure that the model of planning we use will support student mastery?
Evaluate the feasibility of using the yearly model provided by the curriculum office. Discuss the questions with your team and determine how this plan can be used to guide quarterly planning. If the suggested model does not support your instructional needs then a different yearly plan can be developed by your team at this time. For example, if half the team is teaching science for a 4-week period due to limited science kits, then the other teachers may be teaching social studies at the same time. This yearly plan may need to be modified to demonstrate this flexibility, based on your team’s needs. Discuss with your team why having uninterrupted time to focus on content learning is best for students and how having an alternate schedule (e.g., Monday, Wednesday- Science, Tuesday, Thursday-Social Studies, Friday- Health) may interfere with student mastery.
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8. Choose Your Path for Planning
Yearly Planning
Quarterly Planning
Before moving on to the next slides, you and your team will need to determine if you want to use the yearly plan provided by the Curriculum office, modify it, or design your own yearly plan.
**If you choose to design your own yearly plan then slide 9 will walk you through this process, this slide contains a link to directions for yearly planning.
**If you choose to use the yearly plan provided, then your team will begin planning for quarter 1. Please skip to slide 10 and continue with the PowerPoint.
Long Range Planning

9. Create a Yearly Plan
In order to long range plan teachers need to use the grade- level curriculum and list the skills and concepts that they plan to teach each month of the year. This process will familiarize you with what you are required to teach and give you the whole picture so the rhythm of the year isn't a mystery to you.
Step 1: Choose a Format and Collect Your Materials
Step 2: Mark Your Calendar
Step 3: Focus on Content
Step 4: Integrate Language Arts and Math 
Step 5: Step Back and Evaluate.
Directions Adapted from the New Teacher's Complete Source book: Grades K–4 by Bonnie P. Murray, © 2002, published by Scholastic
Click here for explicit directions for planning
To create a new yearly plan, please click on the link at the top of the page. This link will provide explicit directions for this planning. There are blank templates available on the DR. You can access this templates by clicking the link on the blue folder.
Once you have completed your yearly planning please move to slide 16 and continue through the PowerPoint.
If your team decides to create your own yearly plan, you will NOT have time in today’s session to plan for the first quarter.
TEMPLATE FOLDER

10. Planning Quarter 1 **Use a yearly plan to guide this process**
Team may use the attached pre-populated template to begin planning for Quarter 1.
If you choose to use the yearly plan provided, then you can use this template to begin planning for quarter 1 (it is aligned with the units on the yearly long range template). This quarter 1 planning template is in the electronic resources folder, and also linked here in the PowerPoint.

11. Collect Your Materials
Begin the planning process by thinking about reading and writing connections to the content for this quarter. Teams can adjust the content lessons to meet their individual needs.
The Intranet pages contain curriculum documents, instructional guides and other instructional documents to guide your planning. The following 4 slides have direct links to each curriculum page.
All teachers have downloaded the electronic resources folder. The following slides have links to the content intranet pages, for additional support as needed.

12. Language Arts Resources
Click image to access LA page
Click on the picture to access the intranet page:
“From this link, it may be helpful to look at the writing instructional models for Quarter 1 genre studies, the essential curriculum and content integration links at the bottom of the main Language Arts page.”

13. Click image to access Science Resources
Click on the picture to access the intranet page
“From this link, it may be helpful to look at the Quarter 1 eGuide, the Science Trade Books IN Schools link, and the Literacy Links and Resources link.”

14. Social Studies Resources
Click on the picture to access the intranet page
“This summer curriculum writers added reading and writing integration into Social Studies lessons in all grade levels.
From this link it may be helpful to look at Quarter 1 to see the changes.”
Click image to access Social Studies Resources

15. Health Resources Click image to access Health Resources
Click picture to access Health resources on the DR.
“From this link, it may be helpful to look at Quarter 1 units-at-a-glance.”
Click image to access Health Resources

16. Integrate Reading and Writing
Once your content has been determined for the quarter, you can begin integrating literacy. You may want to record any student materials available in your school (e.g., literature sets, Big Books, textbooks, supplementary materials), and search for the basic skills that might be pulled out of the materials for teaching them in context.

17. Step Back and Evaluate
Now take a look at your completed plan. You may need to make a few adjustments after your review.
As you get ready to create your weekly instructional plans, review your yearly and quarterly long-range plans. These plans will help you stay on target throughout the year so you don't get stuck on one topic. As you progress through the year, make notes about how the timing worked during this year.
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Please be sure that whomever records it electronically sends a copy to each team member involved in your grade level instruction (e.g., ESOL, Sp Ed, Title I, Reading Specialist, Reading Support Teacher, Reading Recovery etc.).

18. Looking Ahead: Planning for Remainder of the Year
Continue the planning process by thinking about reading and writing connections to the content for the remaining quarters. Teams can adjust the content lessons to meet their individual needs. This will require you to use the yearly plan to layout which content lessons to teach each week.
Once quarterly plans have been completed you have a reference for weekly and daily plans, as a team and individually.

19. Reflecting on The Process Please respond to the following questions on the google survey and submit your answers as a team.
Did your team complete a year long or a quarterly plan?
As you were planning, what strong connections between content lessons/units and writing instruction did you find?
How does implementation of the Common Core Standards impact our long and short range planning?
What further supports do we need to optimize long and short range planning?
Remind your team that the Principal will be collecting the Long Range Plans and the Quarterly Plans. Remember there will be a Reading Support Teacher providing Language Arts support five times during the school year.
Please guide your team in completing the Google survey. It should be submitted as a team. Thank you!!!!