General Information

New CTAE Middle School Instructional Resources

The Middle School Career, Technical and Agricultural Education Instructional Resources are the first phase of many updates to be posted of new units and revisions. The middle school resource units include a variety of activities and teaching strategies to accommodate all learners. Early in the planning process for this project, math was identified as an area of need to be integrated with CTAE concepts or principles. Teacher teams worked hard to ensure that relevant math activities were included. Every unit has embedded math activities that that reinforce math GPS through application alongside CTAE program content.

The lesson plans are designed in a simple, straight-forward, step-by-step manner with callouts for supplementary files. The units and lessons can easily be adapted to other formats as desired by the teacher or as may be required by the local school system. Units were identified and sequenced by the teacher development teams. Units of instruction are made up of several components including: an annotation, teaching times, GPS, enduring understandings, essential questions, knowledge and skill objectives, vocabulary, and 1-10 lesson plans. The instructional resources development project is an on-going, resource sharing process.  Acess the CTAE middle school instructional resources.

Lexile Framework for Reading in Action

The Lexile Framework for Reading in Action is intended to assist Georgia educators in their efforts to apply the Lexile Framework for Reading as a tool to differentiate instruction in the classroom. There is a two-fold purpose to this approach.

First, the attempt is to draw an explicit connection between the Lexile Framework for Reading and specific, real strategies and practices that can be used in most classrooms. To that end, a significant number of well-established strategies and task suggestions are presented and described. The strategies and tasks presented here are long-standing, well-established strategies and practices that have been developed and refined over a long period of time. These strategies and task suggestions complement the instructional use of the Lexile Framework for Reading across the major content areas. Second, and perhaps most importantly, is the aim to link strategies and tasks to Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) and to preview possible task suggestions that can be further implemented using the Lexile Framework for Reading in conjunction with multiple web resources.

National Arbor Day is on April 30, 2010.  Why not celebrate Arbor Day in your classroom with Georgia's First Lady, Mary Perdue?  How you ask?  Well, this month GSO to GO is featuring the Georgia Read More video with Ms. Perdue reading the book, Miss Twiggley's Tree.  Miss Twiggley, who lives in a tree, is shy and afraid of the world around her.  She manages to put aside her fears by providing shelter and aid to her neighbors who confront a flood. The theme of thinking of others in a time of an emergency is also addressed in this book that is written and illustrated by Dorothea Warren Fox.  With this resource, you can lead a class discussion in the importance of caring for a willow tree or each other.

> Watch Miss Twiggley’s Tree Video read by Mary Perdue

Math Resource for Parents

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is offering a free and fully downloadable signature publication for parents of school-age children through Illuminations.  Illuminations is designed to provide standards-based resources and provide materials that support the vision for school mathematics set forth in Principles and Standards for School Mathematics.  A Family's Guide: Fostering Your Child's Success in School Mathematics is a great download that you can share with the parents of your students.  There is also a supplement titled Families Ask that goes along with the Family Guide.  On page 10 of the Family Guide, there are twenty questions and comments that parents can use to support math homework.  Illuminations is part of Verizon Thinkfinity.

Continuing Education

Using US Documents in the Classroom - Summer Workshops 2010

The National Archives and Records Administration preserves and makes available to the public the permanently valuable records of the United States Government.  Millions of records can be accessed in the formats such as documents, maps, drawings, photographs, films and sound recordings that have captured the American experience of government since 1774.  Starting in June 2010, Summer Workshops for Educators on Using Historical Documents in the Classroom will allow teachers to be immersed in the study of government records such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights at various summer workshops for educators.  The staff of the National Archives and Records Administration will show teachers how to use historical documents in the classroom.  Participants will learn how to do research in historical records, create classroom material from records, and present documents in ways that sharpen students' skills and enthusiasm for history, social studies, and the humanities. Workshops are offered in many US cities. Workshop overview, location details and how to apply can be accessed from this page.

Learning Celebrations and Teaching Ideas

April in Georgia History

April is a month full of history for Georgia and The New Georgia Encyclopedia has many articles celebrating these important events.

April EDSITEment Calendar of Special Events

The April calendar from EDSITEment has holidays, special events, lesson plans and websites for teachers.

School Library Media Month

School library media centers have much to celebrate in April 2010. School Library Media Month, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and National Library Week (April 11-17) both occur this month. The American Association of School Libraries even has public service announcements that you can use as part of your school’s broadcast system during the month of April. The recordings are of award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson.  She is this year’s School Library Month Spokesperson. The PSAs are available as audio (mp3) and video (mp4) in durations of 15, 20, 25, 30 and 60 seconds. The Public Service Announcements are available in general, parent and 25th anniversary focuses.  There’s also a wonderful video posted on YouTube titled What Does a Teacher Librarian Really Do? Ask a TL! that gives everyone a glimpse at what media/library specialists do every day.  And don’t forget to celebrate Georgia's Virtual Library's 15th birthday at the GALILEO Scrapbook.

Earth Day 2010

April 22 marks the day that millions of people and governments in 175 nations observe Earth Day.  Are your students curious on how this worldly event came to be? Visit History Highlights at Envirolink, an environmental organization tracking environmental information since 1991.  Also, check with Education World to see what Earth Day classroom activities you can do with your students. Last but not least, EarthDay.net has useful environmental fact sheets for teachers to use as a handy reference with students for Earth Day.  And if you ever wanted to measure your students' environmental footprint, then the Zerofootprint KidsCalculator will come in handy.

April is Math Education Month

The American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics announce that the theme for Mathematics Awareness Month, April 2010, is Mathematics and Sports.  Georgia teachers can start by visit the math standards and frameworks pages on GeorgiaStandards.Org for the official source of the Georgia Performance Standards and curriculum. The Georgia Department of Education has a few professional learning videos to go along with the Mathematics and Sports theme.  In the high school course Mathematics I teachers can reference the Just Jogging Learning Task video from day 2, sessions 8 from the Mathematics I: Algebra/Geometry/Statistics series.  Mathematics I teachers can also watch the Just Jogging Learning Task taught by Emily Willis of Star’s Mill High School to students.  Eighth grade math teachers can watch the Inequalities, Basketball, and Sales webcast that is presented by professor Judy O’Neal of North Georgia College & State University.
You can also prepare your students for everything math with creative lesson ideas, activities and printables by pointing your browser to TeacherVision Math.  There are also many math teaching and learning links available through Federal Resources for Educational Excellence to keep your students computing.  Math teachers can make April official by downloading a Mathematics and Sports poster for their classroom.

GSO to GO Downloads and Links

> April 2010 Calendar Word Template (DOC)