Writing consists of R.I.C.E short responses (Restate, Infer, Cited Evidence followed by Explanations). At times, text connections are added to templates to extend students' thinking about how responses require their unique  perspectives or ability to identify similarities or significant applications to everyday life or other literary works (please see examples under Presentations).  Templates are usually labeled to help students complete all writing components thoughtfully and with a choice of sentence starters when necessary. 2-point rubrics follow which grade grammar in addition to the validity and relevance of evidence and explanations. 

During the first of these two years, 5th and 6th grades followed the same curriculum- ILC Illustrative Math but were then assigned different curriculums during the second year. This change could have proved overwhelming at first but was successfully managed because of knowledgeable and dedicated paraprofessional staff that mostly worked with the 5th grade as I was trained and help roll out iReady Math for 6th grade. Models, strategies, manipulatives and overall materials were updated and shared among staff to allow for this effective collaboration within the classroom.

Math lessons usually finished with a ILC Cool Down worksheet or iReady exit ticket, printed from the lesson slides. Reading comprehension was an important factor when understanding the steps  to tale to solve questions. Lessons increasingly released students to work out their choice of models and strategies based on prior lessons/knowledge/exposure. Students were encouraged to productively struggle and take chances when solving and computing. Lessons began with a 3 Readsrotocol, followed by annotation, independent tiime to solve and then student share outs where approaches were compared and discussed before misconceptions were addressed and answers confirmed. Lesson plans basically followed this format. Please see an example in this set of images.