The Common Core State Standards

1. The Common Core State Standards Will your child be ready?

2. What are the Common Core Standards? The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn at each grade level, K-12, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them.

3. Will your child be “college and career ready” by the time he or she graduates from high school?

4. College Ready: Students will succeed in first year post-high school courses without remedial courses. • 2-year or 4-year colleges • Trade school • Technical school

5. Career Ready: The student has the knowledge, skills, and learning strategies necessary to have a successful career.

6. “21st Century Skills” are needed to be college and career ready! The 21st century skills are a set of abilities that students need to develop in order to succeed in the information age. • Learning Skills • Literacy Skills • Life Skills

7. Learning Skills • Critical thinking • Collaboration • Communication • Creative thinking

8. Literacy Skills • Information Literacy • Media Literacy • Technology Literacy

9. Life Skills • Flexibility • Initiative • Social Skills • Productivity • Leadership

10. How can you help your young child with 21st Century Skills? When children play together, offer them a collective set of play materials (such as a bin of crayons) rather than individual sets to encourage sharing, turn-taking and social skills. Ask your child to come up with one or two new rules to a familiar game. (Make sure the rules are still fair!)

11. More ideas… Work on hands-on engineering projects together to solve common household problems (such as building a birdhouse) Encourage your child to participate in family decisions and problem solving, and then praise your child’s efforts to reason through different situations.

12. When will the Common Core Standards start? All North Dakota Schools will fully implement the Common Core standards in the fall of 2013.

13. So what subjects will be affected by North Dakota’s shift to the Common Core State Standards? ALL OF THEM!!!

14. Shifts in Reading • At least 50% of what students read is informational; by high school, 70%. • One of the key shifts with the Common Core is its requirement that students cite evidence from the texts they’re reading to make an argument.

15. As the Common Core is implemented, students will be expected to read more difficult text sooner, and discuss what they read at a more complex level. America’s Founding Documents Stories from Around the World Classic Myths Foundational American Literature

16. Shifts in Math The Common Core requires students to learn important math “reasoning” skills in addition to learning their multiplication tables and memorizing formulas.

17. Shifts in Writing The Common Core State Standards emphasize the fundamental link between reading and writing: • Argumentative and informative writing across ALL subject areas • Narratives • Writing about sources

18. The Focus of Writing • By Grade 4 To Persuade--30% To Explain--35% To Convey Experiences--35% • By Grade 8 To Persuade--35% To Explain--35% To Convey Experiences--30% • Grade 12 To Persuade--40% To Explain--40% To Convey Experiences--20%

19. Assessments will be changing! • North Dakota State Assessment will take place at the end of the school year beginning in the spring of 2015 • Testing will be done on computers for grades 3-11 with a possibility of paper/pencil tests for grades 3-5

20. Compared to current achievement tests, common core assessments will likely be more difficult. They won’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking. Let’s take a look at some samples!

37. How can you help your child?

38. Read with your child. As you read with your child, ask in-depth why and how questions. For example, read three different versions of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears and ask your child to compare and contrast them as you read.

39. Talk about books, especially the great ones. The Common Core says that children need to read “books worth reading.” We all know that reading ANYTHING is great for kids, but they should be exposed to great writers and challenging content too. Lead by example!

40. Ask your children questions about what they’re reading. Try asking questions that require your kids to talk about the content of the books they’re reading. For example, have them give reasons why a favorite character was heroic or clever or forgiving.

41. Push your kids to read nonfiction. Does your son or daughter love gross bugs? Get a book about cockroach infestations or “Google” information about them. You might have a future scientist in your house.

42. Encourage your kids to write, write, write. Encourage your children to keep a journal or blog, or write a letter or an e-mail to a favorite author.

43. Talk math with your kids. Try talking to your kids about mathematical practices they use every day. Have them estimate time and distance, compare the value of products in a store, or calculate the tip when you’re out to dinner.

44. Ask your child to explain or show how they’re solving problems. Have them think of multiple ways to solve a math problem, or answer a reading discussion question.

45. And finally… We are ALL making this change together! Working together, parents and teachers will help our students to be successful in the 21st century…in school and beyond.