July, 2012

The Guaranteed and Viable CurriculumProject is a continuous work in progress. As California transitions to thenewly adopted Common Core California Standards (CCCS), SBUSD guarantees asmooth integration of new standards, as well as professional learning to beprepared to teach to the levels of rigor and depth required by CCSS. Teacherlead groups meet throughout the year to discuss and determine adjustments tothe curriculum, and to align instructional resources to meet the needs ofdiverse learners. Common Core State Standards have been identified in boldprint.  Common Core strands are:RL=Reading Literature; RI=Reading Informational Text; RF=Reading FoundationalSkills; W=Writing; SL=Speaking and Listening; and L=Language.

The following summarizes theoverall essential information for the 2012 – 2013 school year:

•  Common assessments play a critical role in monitoring student achievement across our system.
•  Based on teacher feedback, the GVC Benchmark Assessments will change this year.  Students will take 3 Benchmark  Assessments this year:

• #1 will be a Baseline assessment within the first three weeks of school (scan by 8/17)
• #2 will be a mid-year check in December (scan by 12/21)
• #3 will be a pre-CST check in March (scan by 3/15)
• The Benchmark Assessment will be the EXACT SAME TEST all three times, to show student growth towards achieving grade level standards throughout the year.
• Essential Standards are still divided into six terms for all grade levels, Kindergarten through Sixth grade, as a recommended pacing guide for teachers.  Specific instructional decisions will be made by teachers based on Assessment #1’s Baseline data.
• Benchmark data will not be reported on the report card.  Teachers will communicate student progress to parents through conferences and on-going communication.
• A complete list of each grade level’s Common Core California Standards have been included at the end of each grade level section for your reference.
• A list of instructional resources, an ELA Coding Key, Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards for Reading and Writing, and sample questions have been added to the beginning of this handbook for teacher reference.

• Houghton Mifflin themes have been deleted from the Assessment Alignment Table to allow teachers to plan curriculum around standards’ focus and student need. Students will read a true balance of informational and literary texts. Elementary school classrooms are places where students access the world – science, social studies, the arts and literature – through text.
• At least 50% of what students read will be informational text. Science and Social Studies texts will be used as part of the informational text.
• Writing genres are assessed in Terms 2, 4, and 6. Students are expected to practice the writing genres in Terms 1, 3, and 5.  These writing types are assessed through the processed writing format (pre-writing, drafting, editing, revising, and final draft). Teachers should pace the instruction to ensure the writing scores are entered into Data Director in a timely manner to appear on Report Cards (scan by 11/9, 3/8, 5/24).   Final drafts are scored using the writing rubrics.      
• A Writing Protocol for teachers as well as writing rubrics aligned to the 3 basic common core genres (Informative, Opinion, and Narrative) are included at the end of each grade level section.
• Student anchor writing papers have been posted on our district website as a resource for teachers.
• The Language Arts matrices have also been included at the end of each grade level section for your reference.
• Comprehension Toolkit lessons, Discovery Education videos, and sample assessment questions have been included in the matrices.

Thefollowing changes and/or additions have been made for the 2012- 2013 school year to better meet the instructionalneeds, ensure success, and increased academic achievement for all students, asthey access College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading andWriting. 

Kindergarten:Common Core standards that have been added include identifying the mainideas and details of an informational text, comparing and contrastingadventures and characters in familiar stories, distinguishing between short andlong vowel sounds, and capitalizing the first word in a sentence and thepronoun I.  

1^st Grade:Common Core standards that have been added include comparing and contrastingtwo informational texts on the same subject, and comparing and contrastingplots, setting and characters of two stories. Both of these standards will be assessed as performance-based, in whichstudents are expected to write compare and contrast paragraphs.  Students will also need to clarify themeaning of unknown words, and multiple-meaning words and phrases using sentencelevel context as a clue to determine the meaning of the word.  Students will use this skill throughout theyear.

2^nd Grade: Common Core standards that have been added include recountingstories & determining the central message, lesson or moral, as well assummarizing stories and informational texts. Both of these standards will be assessed as performance-based, in whichstudents are expected to write summaries. Students will practice this skill throughoutthe year. Students will also use correct capitalization of holidays, productnames and geographic names, and use an apostrophe correctly.

3^rd Grade: Common Core standards that have been added include that studentswill be expected to recount stories and informational texts, determine thecentral message or lesson, and explain how the details in a story orinformational texts support the message or main idea. This standard will beassessed as performance-based, in which students are expected to writesummaries.  Students will also usecorrect capitalization in titles, form and use possessives and punctuatedialogue correctly. Additional, students are expected to use higher-levelcomprehension skills, and to determine logical connection of and betweenparagraphs.  Students will practice theseskills throughout the year.

4^th Grade: Common Core standards that have been added include that studentswill determine the main idea, and explain how it is supported by key details,as well as summarize passages. This standard will be assessed asperformance-based, in which students are expected to write summaries. Studentswill also use commas and quotations correctly, and frequently confused words(e.g., to, too, two; there, their, they’re). Additional, students are expected to use higher-level comprehensionskills. Students will practice these skills throughout the year.

5^th Grade: Slight revisions were made. Students will need to determine fact andopinion, recognize implied or stated themes of texts, and summarize text inwriting throughout the year. Students are also expected to use higher-levelcomprehension skills and provide evidence for their thinking.   

Kindergarten and First Grade Only:

1. Uses a combination of RESULTS and GVC.
2. Writing genres (now Common Core Standards) are required for Kindergarten students beginning with Term 3, and first grade beginning in Term 2.
3. The new assessment protocol for K and 1^st will not be identical to 2^nd- 6^th grade.