Common Core State Standards
3-5
Reading Coaches’ Meeting
January 2012
Purpose of Common Standards
 To improve U.S. educational attainment by
focusing schools on higher learning goals
 To standardize educational opportunity
 To focus attention on fewer, higher, better
standards (more on outcomes than on
processes)
What Makes These Standards Special?
 Independent analysis indicates that they are




more rigorous/demanding than the
standards of 37 States
Internationally benchmarked
Include all grades (K-12) and emphasize
disciplinary literacy
Increased stress on expository text, critical
reading, and use of technology
Recognizes importance of text difficulty and
the value of canonical text
Backmapping: Reading Key Ideas
 Quote from literary and informational texts to support





statements about the text (5)
Draw on details and examples from text to support statements
about the literary and informational texts (4)
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding,
explicitly using the text (literary and informational) as the
basis for answers (3)
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when
why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key
details/information and events in literature and informational
text (2)
Ask and answer questions about key details/information and
events in literature and informational text (1)
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about
details/information and events in literature and informational
text (K)
What Do You Notice About the
Progression?
 There is an emphasis on informational text
from the earliest grades and classical literature,
myths, and stories from around the world
 The skills become more specific and demanding
 Recognition of details as a support to broader
interpretation of text
 The strong stress on using information as
evidence
 Due to the vocabulary, content, and structure of
the text, more rigorous instruction is required
Let’s Explore The Common Core!
STRANDS
Literature
Informational
Text
Foundational
Skills
Writing
Speaking and
Listening
Language
How are the
Strands
Divided?
Similarities &
Differences to
NGSSS
What ‘s New?
How will it impact
your instruction?
Jigsaw of CCSS
• Count off to be assigned an Expert
Group.
• As a team, each group will complete the
chart for their strand (grades 3-5) and
post their findings on chart paper.
•Each Expert Group will present their
findings. Share hints for highlighting as
well as AHAs!
•Each group will be given 15 minutes to
prepare and 71/2 minutes to present!
Text complexity is defined by:



1.
Qualitative measures –
levels of meaning, structure,
language conventionality and
clarity, and knowledge demands
often best measured by an attentive
human reader.
2. Quantitative measures –
readability and other scores of text
complexity often best measured by
computer software.
3. Reader and Task
considerations – background
knowledge of reader, motivation,
interests, and complexity generated
by tasks assigned often best made
by educators employing their
professional judgment.
 A Four-step
Process:
1. Determine the
quantitative measures of
the text.
2. Analyze the qualitative
measures of the text.
3. Reflect upon the reader
and task considerations.
4. Recommend placement
in the appropriate text
complexity band.
8
Public Domain
 Works in the public domain:
a. generally between 50-75 years old
b. the copyright has expired
c. the intellectual property rights are forfeited
d. if they are not covered or protected by intellectual property laws
Examples include: English language, Formulae of Newton’s Physics, the
works of Shakespeare and Beethoven
 The term is not normally applied to situations when the creator of a
work retains residual rights in the work, in which case the use of the
work is used with the words “under license” or “with permission”
 Selections from the public domain should be published from a wide
variety of sources that are not likely to be familiar to students
 These will be utilized on tests as they were published or as closely and
reasonably as can be accomplished
My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to growNot at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.
He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed
Exemplar Texts
 Text samples provided to demonstrate the
level of complexity and quality the CCSS
require (Appendix B)
 Choices serve as guideposts in helping
teachers select similar complexity, quality
and range for their own classrooms
 They are not a partial or complete reading
list.
Sample Performance Tasks for 3rd Grade
Stories /Poetry
Informational Text
Poppleton in
Winter by
Cynthia
Rylant;
Illustrated by
Mark Teague
Students explain how Mark
Teague’s illustrations
contribute to what is
conveyed in Cynthia Rylant’s
Poppleton in Winter to create
the mood and emphasize
aspects of characters and
setting in the story.RL.3.7
Lincoln: A
Charlotte’s
Webb by E. B.
White
When discussing E. B. White’s
book Charlotte’s Web,
students distinguish their own
point of view regarding Wilbur
the Pig from that of Fern
Arable as well as from that of
the narrator. RL.3.6
The Story of
Ruby Bridges
by Robert Cole
Students read Robert Coles’ retelling
of a series of historical events in The
Story of Ruby Bridges. Using their
knowledge of how cause and effect
gives order to events, they use
specific language to describe the
sequence of events that leads to
Ruby desegregating her school.
RI.3.3
Fireflies
by Paul
Fleischman
Students read Paul
Fleischman’s poem “Fireflies,”
determining the meaning of
words and phrases in the
poem, particularly focusing
on identifying his use of
nonliteral language (e.g.,
“light is the ink we use”) and
talking about how it suggests
Ah, Music! by
Aliki
Students use text features, such as
the table of contents and headers,
found in Aliki’s text Ah, Music! to
identify relevant sections and locate
information relevant to a given topic
(e.g., rhythm, instruments,
harmony) quickly and efficiently.
RI.3.5
Photobiography
by Russell
Freedman
Students explain how the main idea
that Lincoln had “many faces” in
Russell Freedman’s Lincoln: A
Photobiography is supported by key
details in the text. RI.3.2
Sample Performance Tasks for 4th Grade
Stories /Poetry
Informational Text
Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland by
Lewis Carroll
Students make connections between the visual
presentation of John Tenniel’s illustrations in
Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland and the text of the story to
identify how the pictures of Alice reflect
specific descriptions of her in the text. RL.4.7
Discovering
Mars: The
Amazing Story
of the Red
Planet by
Melvin Berger
Students explain how Melvin Berger uses reasons
and evidence in his book Discovering Mars: The
Amazing Story of the Red Planet to support
particular points regarding the topology of the
planet. RI.4.8
The Secret
Garden by
Frances Hodgson
Burnett
Students explain the selfish behavior by
Mary and make inferences regarding
the impact of the cholera outbreak in
Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret
Garden by explicitly referring to details
and examples from the text. RL.4.1
The Kid’s Guide
to Money:
Earning It,
Saving It,
Spending It,
Growing It,
Sharing It by
Steve Otfinoski’s
Students interpret the visual chart that
accompanies Steve Otfinoski’s The Kid’s Guide to
Money: Earning It, Saving It, Spending It, Growing
It, Sharing It and explain how the information
found within it contributes to an understanding of
how to create a budget. RI.4.7
Tuck Everlasting by
Natalie Babbitt
Students read Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting
and describe in depth the idyllic setting of the
story, drawing on specific details in the text,
from the color of the sky to the sounds of the
pond, to describe the scene. RL.4.3
Volcanoes by
Seymour Simon
Students determine the meaning of domainspecific words or phrases, such as crust, mantle,
magma, and lava, and important general academic
words and phrases that appear in Seymour Simon’s
Volcanoes. RI.4.4
“Casey at the Bat”
by Ernest Lawrence
Students refer to the structural elements (e.g.,
verse, rhythm, meter) of Ernest Lawrence
Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat” when analyzing the
poem and contrasting the impact and
differences of those elements to a prose
summary of the poem. RL.4.5
We Are the
Ships: The Story
of Negro
League Baseball
by Kadir Nelson
Students compare and contrast a firsthand account
of African American ballplayers in Negro Leagues
to a secondhand account of their treatment found
in books such as Kadir Nelson’s We Are the Ships:
The Story of Negro League Baseball, attending to
the focus of each account and the information
provided by each.
“Telescopes” by
Colin A. Ronan
Students determine the main idea of Colin A.
Ronan’s “Telescopes” and create a summary by
explaining how key details support his distinctions
regarding different types of telescopes. RI.4.2
Sample Performance Tasks for 5th Grade
Stories /Poetry
Informational Text
The Black
Stallion
by Walter Farley
Students describe how the narrator’s
point of view in The Black Stallion
influences how events are described and
how the reader perceives the character
of Alexander Ramsay, Jr. RL.5.6
Horses
by Seymour
Simon
Hurricanes:
Earth’s
Mightiest
Storms
By Patricia
Lauber
Students identify the overall structure of
ideas, concepts, and information in
Seymour Simon’s Horses (based on factors
such as their speed and color) and compare
and contrast that scheme to the one
employed by Patricia Lauber in her book
Hurricanes: Earth’s Mightiest Storms. RI.5.5
The Little Prince
by Antoine de
Saint-Exupery
Students summarize the plot of Antoine
de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince and
then reflect of the challenges facing the
characters in the story while employing
those and other details in the text to
discuss the value of inquisitiveness and
exploration as a theme of the story. RL.5.2
About Time:
A First Look
at Time and
Clocks
by Bruce
Koscieiniak
Students explain the relationship between
time and clocks using specific information
drawn from Bruce Koscieiniak’s About Time:
A First Look at Time and Clocks. RI.5.3
Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher
Paul Curtis
Students compare and contrast comingof-age stories by Christopher Paul Curtis
(Bud, Not Buddy) Louise Erdrich (The
Birchbark House) by identifying similar
themes and examining the stories’
approach to the topic of growing up.
“Seeing Eye
to Eye”
by Leslie Hall
Students quote accurately and explicitly
from Leslie Hall’s “Seeing Eye to Eye” to
explain statements they make and ideas
they infer regarding sight and light. RI.5.1
The Birchbark
House
by Louise Erdrich
“Fog”
by Carl Sandburg
“The Echoing
Green”
by William Blake
RL.5.9
Students determine the meaning of the
metaphor of a cat in Carl Sandburg’s
poem “Fog” and contrast that figurative
language to the meaning of the simile in
William Blake’s “The Echoing Green.”
RL.5.4
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Students explain the selfish behavior by Mary and make inferences regarding the
impact of the cholera outbreak in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden by
explicitly referring to details and examples from the text. RL.4.1
The Secret Garden
Excerpt from “There’s No One Left”
Literary Text
•
LA4.2.1.2 Character Development
(RL4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what
a text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RL4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story of
drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s
thoughts, words, or actions).
• LA.4.2.2.1 Text Features
(RL4.7 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what
a text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.)
Flashback – Descriptive then Chronological Order
Text Coding
Author’s Toolbox for Bringing a Character to Life
What happened that formed and shaped Mary’s
personality?
How has the cholera outbreak affected Mary?
Tyrannical
gay, stammered, cross, fretful , governess, Manor,
veranda, muttering, amuse, heaps
pleasant
ruling
unjustly
pleasing
tyrannical
U.S.
President
terrorizing
irrationally
insisting on
complete
obedience
enjoyable
dictator
cruel or
harsh
T-Rex
Love Bird
bullying
voting
Character Development/Point of View
Character Development/Point of View
Other ways to say…
describe character bother feels
change attitude opinion
Understanding how the character is developed
by the writer helps the reader understand the
19
events of a text.
Students explain the
selfish behavior by
Mary and make
inferences regarding
the impact of the
cholera outbreak in
Frances Hodgson
Burnett’s The Secret
Garden by explicitly
referring to details
and examples from
the text. RL.4.1
Text Coding/ Selective Highlighting
 Helps to understand the importance of major concepts within a




piece of text
Extends text discussion
Dictated by the essential question and/or the theme to help to set
the purpose for reading
Some markings may stand alone
Other markings may overlap
P - What happened that formed and
shaped Mary’s personality?
C - How has the cholera outbreak
affected Mary?
P
C
Performance Task/Essential Question
Students explain the selfish behavior by Mary and make inferences
regarding the impact of the cholera outbreak in Frances Hodgson
Burnett’s The Secret Garden by explicitly referring to details and
examples from the text.
How does the author reveal Mary’s selfish behavior?
A.
B.
C.
D.
By comparing Mary to other children in the village.
By explaining Mary’s relationship with her mother.
By explaining how Mary was raised by her Ayah.
By describing Mary as sickly, fretful and ugly.
How did the cholera outbreak impact Mary’s life?
A.
B.
C.
D.
She lost the only person she every cared about.
Her mom gave her up to escape the disease.
The English governess came to teach her.
She lost her beloved hibiscus garden.
Questions?