We use a collaborative and systematic model of curriculum development that uses the Understanding by Design (UbD) approach to unit creation. This means that teachers, administrators, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) Team (Liz and Kathy) and the ICL Team (Sherry- Director of Technology, Elizabeth- Teacher Librarian, David- Instructional Technologist) all meet together in summer meetings and ongoing get togethers during the school year to review current units and to develop new ones.
Here is an article which describes this process as used by another school. We are moving to adapt the provided model in the article to meet our needs at ACDS.
The main preparation you can do is to learn more about Understanding by Design (UbD) if you are not familiar with it. We use UbD in our curriculum review meetings to create units of study which are housed in Google Documents. Here are resource links to help you begin your understanding of UbD. The developers of Understanding by Design, Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins, have several excellent books to provide more information.
Curriculum Review & Development System at ACDS Presentation (Presented June 12)
UbD in a Nutshell Prezi (good place to start in your understanding)
UbD in a Nutshell Overview from Grant Wiggins (Co-author of UbD)
Backwards Design 101
Sample Science Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions (PDF)
Examples of UbD'd Units (PDF download)
UbD Information from an ICL Perspective (Google Doc of information)
A Copy of Our Unit Planning Template
Two of the 5th Grade Units: Sun, Solar System and Solar Energy || Ancient Egypt
Note: The following two resources on concept-based instruction and the making mean to application approach to lesson design connect nicely to the Understanding by Design system.