KEY IDEAS FOR PARENTS
About the Common Core
Supporting The Common Core at Home
The Common Core emphasizes critical thinking. It requires students to analyze more, discuss more, evaluate more, justify more and explain their thinking & understanding deeply, especially in writing.
Take-Away: Really thinking deeply is hard. Let it BE hard, help them talk it out.
The Common Core emphasizes proof & evidence. Long gone are the days of worksheets, fact memorizations and skill & drill. Students are not taught this way and they are not assessed this way.
Take-away: The new tests will require students to explain how they know.
The Common Core emphasizes learning across disciplines (reading with math & social studies standards combined into one task). Students spend more time working together with different settings, structures & tools. Take-Away: Problems & solutions happen everyday in the real world.
1 Ask *why* when children tell you they want something or want to do or not do something.
2 Use the word *because* after “No” or “Not tonight…”
3 Give reasons--you to them and them to you.
4 Encourage questions & explore answers (especially questions whose answers are not yes or no.)
5 Explain & discuss issues or problems in your house, neighborhood, & community. Brainstorm solutions.
6 Compare how things are alike and different-videos, movies, food.
7 Look for patterns
8 Describe & categorize stuff.
9 Tell your children what you value & why.
10 Encourage & celebrate opinions.
CC - 2013, by Jen Jones & Kate Duty
www.helloliteracy.blogpsot.com
