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July 2020
Literacy News You Can Use
Midwest Regional Educational Laboratory offers a new video addressing how to implement research-based literacy practices from the What Works Clearinghouse through play-based learning.
In the video, preschool and kindergarten teachers use play-based learning in their classrooms to teach phonics, reading comprehension, and more. They also address common barriers to implementing play-based learning.
The free video for professional learning includes an overview of play-based learning; a discussion of the benefits of play-based learning; and interviews with teachers, researcher Sarah Caverly, Ph.D., and literacy expert Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.
REL includes a video viewing guide "Integrating Play Into Literacy Instruction: Strategies for Your Classroom."
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Pivot Learning and UnboundEd offered a free professional learning webinar "Finishing the Unfinished: Tools to Create an Equitable Learning Recovery Plan" on May 13, 2020. Pivot Learning and UnboundEd strive to help districts ensure educational equity for all students. Pivot partners with educators to design and implement solutions for achieving educational justice. UnboundEd offers training and tools to empower educators to center equity in their instructional practices.
Educators can watch the on-demand webinar by accessing the link, download the slide deck, and download the Equitable Learning Recovery Toolkit. The toolkit will download as a zip file. Unzip the file to access the full toolkit PDF as well as the teacher, student, parent/guardian, and coach/student leader surveys.
Are you looking for self-paced online professional learning opportunities this summer?
Access an informational document for free professional learning around the English language arts/literacy standards for educators in our state. Individuals can choose to complete the modules as a course for one license renewal credit.
Direct Links
Read Iowa History offers free and downloadable lessons for K-5 educators that provide easy-to-follow instruction to integrate Primary Source Sets and the Iowa Core Standards for Social Studies and Literacy.
The Read Iowa History lessons were developed by the State Historical Society of Iowa and created with a Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) grant from the Library of Congress.
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MetaMetrics provides free resources and online tools to support summer learning initiatives in reading and mathematics.
Find a Book is a search tool that connects students with books based on their reading level and interests. Educators, parents, and students can build a custom bookshelf, discover challenging vocabulary in books, and check on book availability at the local library or on Amazon.
Click here to access free Resources for Reading, including a Summer Book Flyer, Summer Reading Log, Summer Reading Certificate, and Find a Book banner.
Kerrie Willis, an instructional coach with Washington Community Schools, attended a professional learning opportunity nationally with Student Achievement Partners. After attending the event, she brought back new learning and ideas to share with her colleagues. One example is the juicy sentence strategy.
Dr. Lily Wong Fillmore developed the juicy sentence strategy to address the needs of English language learners and assist in accessing complex text. Kerrie shared the strategy and examples from the event with others in her network.
It is a tool that is useful for helping all students learn to deconstruct and reconstruct sentences, and to understand how different language features contribute to meaning.
Click here to access further information available to educators for free by Student Achievement Partners.
Standards Institute also provides open access to PDF versions of the slides from each session. Educators can learn more about juicy sentences and apply the Juicy Sentence protocol to scaffold student understanding of the text (see slide 25).
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What are you doing to align instructional practice and implement the Iowa Academic Standards?
Are you utilizing tools to design instruction, assess learning, or create professional development that supports all students meeting Iowa Core expectations in literacy?
Share your work and celebrations via the Spotlight Literacy Google Form.
Also, feel free to nominate another educator to spotlight his or her work. A literacy spotlight will be chosen each month!
Let's build bridges together and improve instructional practice.
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Leigh Bellville
Literacy Consultant
Bureau of Leading, Teaching, Learning Services
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
400 E 14th St
Des Moines, IA 50319
515-689-3717
leigh.bellville@iowa.gov
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