common core writing book

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A Common Core Writing Book That Understands Teacher Needs

by MiddleWeb · Published 05/14/2014 · Updated 11/25/2019

The Common Core Writing Book: Lessons for a Range of Tasks, Purposes, and Audiences By Gretchen Owocki (Heinemann, 2013 – Learn more )

The shelves of professional libraries are sagging with resources on the Common Core Standards , but there are few that meet the standard set by Gretchen Owocki’s new book, The Common Core Writing Book: Lessons for a Range of Tasks, Purposes, and Audiences . Her book has practical strategies for each of the standards, as well as strategies for ELL students and students who need reinforcement.

“…we are teaching in an era in which research evidence has confirmed that the teaching – not the program – is the most important variable affecting student achievement (Cunningham and Allington 2011).” (p. xvi)

Owocki’s book does not take umbrage at the new Common Core Standards, but shows how the standards can bring out the best in our students. “As we shape the new system and work within it, we must take care to not lose sight of meaningful teaching and learning.” (Owocki, p. xvi)

Well organized and easy to use

This fantastic spiral bound book is organized into ten sections, one for each anchor standard.   Embedded in each section is the “Decision Tree”, a graphic organizer divided into three sections: Mini-lessons, Collaborative Engagement, and Independent Application. The “Decision Tree” provides a quick view into how to differentiate the lessons to meet the needs of the students. (Click to see larger image.)

I was able to use and apply Ms. Owocki’s strategies during a recent reading unit of study, Nonfiction Writing with a Lens on Science. Each section, strategy and “words of wisdom” helped my teaching become more powerful and meaningful for my students. A concise K-5 grid of Anchor 2 Standard (Writing informative/explanatory texts), helped to guide my teaching of the unit.

As an upper elementary teacher (grade 4), I was able to analyze the scaffolding of the standard to see how it fit in the continuum of learning. Her book is unlike other writing resources. The graphic organizers and material are easily adaptable to a district’s curriculum. At the same time, this is not a scripted manual but a manual that recognizes effective teaching and teachers.  

So Many Timesavers!

What do teachers have a lack of? Time! This book is full of timesavers to use immediately. As educators, we know how critical it is to observe and collect data to improve and fine tune our teaching practices. Ms. Owocki makes this task easier for the teacher by providing a standards-based, class record-keeping guide, specific to each grade level. At a glance, you are able to formatively assess your students and determine their needs (great for differentiating instruction or for table conferences).

Searching for mentor texts to model lessons can also be time consuming. The author saves the teacher from being lost in the myriad of Internet links, trying to decide which mentor texts to use, by providing a sample list of mentor texts for each grade level with a short summary of each text.

Release of Responsibility that Really Works

As I skimmed the book for strategies to use with future genres, I felt as if each page was a birthday present. Each idea seemed to be written “just for me.” Each chart seemed to be written “just for me.” Each mini-lesson seemed to be written “just for me.” I admired the author for making sure that the gradual release of responsibility was provided in each lesson and that the rigor that is present is valid and valuable.  Students are expected to take charge of their own learning, “Children can be very capable and responsible responders to their peers’ writing, especially when they are given some starting expectations for the conversations.” (p.149)

A warning label should come with The Common Core Writing Book: “Be careful. Reading and using this book can be addicting to you and good for your students.” If you want a book that will reaffirm your thoughts about teaching writing, this book is for you. If you want a book that you can use tomorrow, this book is for you. If you want a book that will guide you through the new Common Core Standards without anxiety and trepidation, this book is for you. If you want a book that will help raise the rigor of your teaching, this book is for you. 

This book will be traveling with me to and from school (or maybe I might get an extra copy to keep at home).

Linda Biondi  is a fourth grade teacher at  Pond Road Middle  School in Robbinsville, NJ, and a recipient of several educational grants that infuse a literacy enriched curriculum with an understanding of individual learning styles to help students understand bias and patterns of discrimination. She is a Teacher Consultant with the National Writing Project and a participant on the NJ Department of Education Teacher Advisory Panel.

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MiddleWeb is all about the middle grades, with great 4-8 resources, book reviews, and guest posts by educators who support the success of young adolescents. And be sure to subscribe to MiddleWeb SmartBrief for the latest middle grades news & commentary from around the USA.

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The Common Core Lesson Book, K-5: Working with Increasingly Complex Literature, Informational Text, and Foundation al Reading Skills (Owocki Common Core) 1st Edition

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• a clear description of what it asks from students
• an instructional decision tree that connects assessment to planning
• instructional strategies that gradually release responsibility to students
• techniques for intensifying instruction when readers need more support.

"In implementing the standards,” writes Gretchen, “we want children to deeply engage with multiple forms of reading. I wrote this book to offer encouragement to stay grounded in meaningful instruction, and to offer a set of strategies that emphasize meaningful reading.” Respond to the Common Core with The Common Core Lesson Book―you’ll help students meet the standards, and so much more.

• ISBN-10 0325042934
• ISBN-13 978-0325042930
• Edition 1st
• Publisher HEINEMANN
• Publication date April 12, 2012
• Language English
• Dimensions 10.9 x 8.1 x 1 inches
• Print length 400 pages
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About the author.

Gretchen Owocki powerfully demonstrates the importance of bringing meaningful instruction to not only traditional reading-instruction topics like comprehension, but also to contemporary issues such as Common Core and RTI. In the bestselling titles The Common Core Writing Book, 6-8; The Common Core Reading Book, 6-8; T he Common Core Lesson Book, K-5 ; The Common Core Writing Book, K-5 ; and The RTI Daily Planning Book , she masterfully breaks down instructional issues and strategies into manageable chunks that help teachers differentiate instruction, meet curricular goals, and improve as practitioners.

For more than 15 years, she has helped teachers find researched-based practices that improve learning by letting students experience curriculum as part of their own development. In other Heinemann titles such as Comprehension ; Make Way for Literacy ; and Time for Literacy Centers , she shares teaching that engages students through authentic, meaningful tasks and challenges them to grow as readers and writers. A professor at Saginaw Valley State University, Gretchen is a Heinemann Professional Development Services provider .

» Read Gretchen's article " Setting a Course to Maximize the Potential of CCSS " in the Heinemann PD Journal.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HEINEMANN; 1st edition (April 12, 2012)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Spiral-bound ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0325042934
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0325042930
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 5 - 10 years
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ Kindergarten - 5
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.05 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.9 x 8.1 x 1 inches
• #228 in Common Core
• #568 in Reading & Phonics Teaching Materials
• #819 in Educational Certification & Development

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Gretchen Owocki

Gretchen Owocki powerfully demonstrates the importance of bringing meaningful instruction to not only traditional reading-instruction topics like comprehension, but also to contemporary issues such as Common Core and RTI. In the bestselling titles  The Common Core Writing Book, 6-8;   The Common Core Reading Book, 6-8;   T he Common Core Lesson Book, K-5 ; The Common Core Writing Book, K-5 ; and The RTI Daily Planning Book , she masterfully breaks down instructional issues and strategies into manageable chunks that help teachers differentiate instruction, meet curricular goals, and improve as practitioners.

For more than 15 years, she has helped teachers find researched-based practices that improve learning by letting students experience curriculum as part of their own development. In other Heinemann titles such as Comprehension ; Make Way for Literacy ; and Time for Literacy Centers , she shares teaching that engages students through authentic, meaningful tasks and challenges them to grow as readers and writers. A professor at Saginaw Valley State University, Gretchen is a Heinemann Professional Development Services provider .

» Read Gretchen's article " Setting a Course to Maximize the Potential of CCSS " in the Heinemann PD Journal.

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Common Core Standards for Reading & Writing: What Parents Need to Know

What are the common core state standards (ccss) and how will they affect your children.

With recent changes in academic standards in classrooms across the country, parents are likely hearing a lot about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and wondering: What are they? And how will they affect my children? To date, 46 states and the District of Columbia have adopted these new academic standards, which are already changing the way students are being taught. The standards are designed to ensure college and career readiness in an increasingly competitive and fast-paced world.

There are 3 important ways that the new standards will impact daily classroom instruction of Reading and Writing.

1.  There will be instructional shifts: The Common Core introduced three major shifts in classroom instruction designed to guide critical readers through a range of grade-level, complex texts or reading materials. Classroom instruction will be focused on:

• Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts : In addition to stories and literature, your child will read more informational texts and non-fiction that provide facts and knowledge in areas such as science and social studies.
• Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text : Children will read more challenging texts and be asked more questions that will require them to refer back to what they have read to provide evidence that supports their answers.
• Regular practice with complex texts and its vocabulary : Teachers will emphasize building a strong vocabulary so that students can read and understand challenging material.

2.  There are fewer, clearer standards, that aim higher : Teachers will focus on five standard areas to prepare children to meet grade-level expectations. Your child’s teachers will focus on shifts in the following standards:

• Common Core Learning Standards for Reading Literature
• Common Core Learning Standards for Reading Informational Text
• Common Core Learning Standards for Writing
• Common Core Learning Standards for Speaking and Listening
• Common Core Learning Standards for Language

3.     Types of texts : Across the grades, students will read both literature (fiction) and informational texts (non-fiction) and respond using a range of writing types. The chart below illustrates what percent of teaching time will focus on the necessary reading and writing standards at each grade level from Kindergarten through 8 th Grade.

In the charts below, you will find the Common Core Standards for reading and writing for grades K-8 and an explanation of the skills every child will need to develop and demonstrate within each grade.

Jump directly to Kindergarten ,  1st Grade , 2nd Grade , 3rd Grade , 4th Grade , 5th Grade , 6th Grade , 7th Grade , or 8th Grade .

Kindergarten

Students will read the following percentages of literary (fiction) and informational texts (non-fiction) and write to persuade, explain and convey experience:

Common Core State Standards Initiative

A guide to the common core writing workshop

Intermediate grades, by lucy calkins.

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[This book] represents about six weeks of teaching, and within those six weeks, the unit supports several cycles of drafting, revision, and publication. The units align with the three types of writing specified in the Common Core State Standards -- p. 4.

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[This book offers the] support students' abilities to be strategic, metacognitive writers who use particular processes to achieve particular purpose as writers. Also helps studetns learn to use writing as a tool for learning across the day and throughout their richly literate lives -- p. 4.

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Added to cart, common core practice writing to texts set.

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The series provides rubrics with differentiated instruction to help every student achieve on-grade-level competency in writing. The series contains six grade-specific titles for Grades 1-6 and can be used in mainstream classrooms, resource rooms, pull-out intervention settings, after-school programs, and at home.

There are no other grade-specific teacher resource books that cover Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts with a focus on reading complex texts and responding in writing to those texts.

This requirement is a major change to previous state standard requirements, and teachers, parents, and students will need ample support to achieve on-grade-level success.

Each book in this series has over 120+ pages of differentiated instruction to ensure all students meet CCSS. Included in each book are:

• Instant genre mini-lessons
• Reading passages at 3 levels
• Narrative, informational, and opinion texts
• Text-dependent questions
• Graphic organizers and student writing checklists for each writing type

Newmark Learning�s #1 best-selling, award-winning teacher resource book series addresses Common Core State Standards (CCSS) at each grade level, following a gradual release of responsibility model so that students can progress to on-grade-level competency in mathematics, comprehension, writing, and language. Effective mini-lessons, scaffolded practice, and assessments in each book provide an all-in-one resource to help students meet rigorous new standards.

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