One of the greatest unanswered questions about Common Core remains. How do I cover the Common Core Standards and meet the needs of high-ability students at the same time?
The Common Core Standards are relatively silent on this issue, but the concern is very real for many educators. As an instructional coach that works with below, on-level, and advanced students, this is my world and the reason why I make so many differentiated products - I really need them!
One resource is the standards themselves. The general layout of the standards does make differentiating instruction much easier. The standards provide information about skills that should be covered at each grade level. Hot Dog With Everything On It is a freebie on the right side of this screen. It can be used for elaborating about ideas. This is definitely one way to challenge gifted or advanced students. They can elaborate in greater detail than the rest of the students in class by providing one or two more details than everyone else.
Below are links to additional products that should make your life soooo much easier.
Resources That Can Help
Differentiated Math Task Cards: (The link is at the bottom of this post)
- Two levels are in one document! Level A covers the specific grade level standard. Level B covers the same topic with greater complexity and covers skills taught at a higher grade level that extend the topic further.
- It is great preparation for COGAT, AIMS, NWEA, and other school assessments. This provides the exposure to higher grade level topics plus math complexity that is often required on these tests to receive a higher score.
- The cards take the guesswork out of differentiation. Often, it can be challenging and time consuming to find ways to extended a math lesson for higher-ability students. (Literacy and Math Ideas' background includes elementary and college math extending up to Calculus 3, Discrete Mathematics, Trigonometry, etc. We actually enjoy finding the connections between elementary math and higher level algebra and geometry concepts.)
Features of the Differentiated Reading Task Cards(The link is at the bottom of this post)
- Two levels are in one document! Level A covers the specific grade level standard. Level B is written at a greater complexity level. This is to help teach the same skill but at the appropriate readability level.
- Convenient resource to teach the same Common Core standard for different ability levels in one location. Great time saver.
- It also takes the guesswork out of differentiation. Students cover the appropriate skill that they need but in a way that meets their own individual reading needs.
Differentiated Resources
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