My first attempt at the common core was accomplished with a unit about the Summer Olympics. I have very mixed emotions about the unit. It definitely wasn't the best teaching I've ever done but also not the worst. I will say, however, the students seemed to enjoy it and learned a lot about it. All but 2 passed the final test so they learned and that is a goal met.
The standards I focused on were Main Idea/Details, Summary, Compare/Contrast, and Homophones. Here and there I threw in some "unimportant" standards in a center just so they can start seeing it and knowing what it means.
Here is the bulletin board I did for it. The picture is a little cloudy because I had my lights out. It was taken at the beginning of the year when it was 200 degrees in the classrooms.
The black paper hanging from the ceiling is what I did for my groups. Each group was a color of the olympic rings. Hopefully my next board will be a clearer picture.
Tuesday starts my next unit. I normally have the entire first half of the year organized and planned. I'm glad I didnt do that this year though because I need to change a lot of things I saw didn't work with my Olympic unit.
