Designing Curriculum and Instruction in Elementary Grades and Special Education

We plan the curriculumand instruction for a whole year or semester like this:
1. Decide what subjects/knowledge systems you will teach, and the main kinds of knowledge (strands) within each subject. Make a curriculum map of what subjects you will teach, when, each day. Think of how what is taught earlier in the day can be applied, generalized, integrated later in the day. The state curriculum, curriculum materials you have to use, experts, research, and your own knowledge help you to identify these.

2. Look even more closely at each subject. For example, the counting strand in the arithmetic knowledge system. What KINDS of counting do you need to teach? Again, the state curriculum, curriculum materials that you have to use, experts, research, and your own knowledge help you to identify these: rote counting to ten, rote counting from a number to higher numbers, rote counting by 3s, by 2s; rational counting of objects up to 3, 4, 5, etc.; group counting of objects—from small to larger. Divide these into units: Unit 1: Rote counting; Unit 2: Rational Counting; Unit 3; Group Counting; Unit 4. Addition

Note: the sequence must be a logical progression. Teach pre-skillelements before you teach anything that USES these elements.

Now make a scope and sequence chart.

3. Now make objectives for the whole curriculum and each unit. What will students DO (performance) and HOW will they do it, that reveals what they learned. This final performance assessmentcould consist of reviewitems.

4. Now examine your curriculum materials. Do they enable you to teach everything called or by the objectives? No? Then get supplements. Also, prepare powerpoints, etc.

5. Now plan lessons for each day---all the way down to wording for each task.

Let’s look at these one at a time.

1. Curriculum map. Decide what subjects/knowledge systems you will teach, and the main kinds of knowledge (strands) within each subject. The state curriculum, curriculum materials you have to use, experts, research, and your own knowledge help you to identify these. A curriculum map shows all of the (1) knowledge systems(subjects) in your curriculum; and (2) the strands within (things you’ll teach within) each knowledge system. Think of how what students learn earlier in the day can (as knowledge elements) be integrated into larger wholes (e.g., applications) later in the day, and later in the curriculum.Make a curriculum map of what subjects you will teach, and when, each day.

The state curriculum, curriculum materials you have to use, experts, research, and your own knowledge help you to identify these.

Let’s look at our state curriculum.

Copy and paste relevant chunks here.

Paste Standards, Objectives here / Translate into clear and concrete objectives

Look at research.

Florida Center for Reading Research. Assesses lots of programs!

Mathematically Correct. Tells you how to teach math correctly. Tells you what to use and what NOT to use.


(reviews of materials)

Do these resources suggest additional strands and/or more specific knowledge to teach? Paste in here.

Look at materials.

GET THESE. Elementary

GET THESE. Secondary.


Especially Language for Learning and Language for Thinking. Reach System [!!!]

Especially Reading Mastery, Corrective Reading (grade three and up), DISTAR Arithmetic

Language!

DISTAR Arithmetic.

GET THIS BOOK!!!

Look up these.

Do these materials suggest additional strands and/or more specific knowledge to teach? Paste in here.

Here’s a sample curriculum map that could have been made from the state curriculum, curriculum materials that you have to use, research, expert opinion, and your own knowledge. Items IN each lesson/subject are listed from top to bottom---teach earlier in the strand---teach later.

Curriculum Map of what knowledge to be taught in lessons, and thelogically progressive sequence(top to bottom) in which the knowledge will be taught, so that pre-skill elements are taught BEFORE knowledge that NEEDS these elements.

8:00-8:30
Lesson / 8:40-9:20
Lesson / 9:30-10 / 10:05-10:40
Lesson / 10:45-11:15
Lesson / 11:15-11:45
Lesson / 11:50-12:30 / 12:40-1:20
Lesson / 1:25-2:00
Lesson / 2:05-2:30
Lesson
Common Knowledge and Language
Full sentences with proper grammar.
Names of persons, places.
Colors, shapes, prepositions:concepts
Days of the week; times of day; months; seasons.
Materials (wood, stone, paper, etc.) and qualities / Reading 1
Saying words fast (blending sounds) and saying words slowly
(segmenting).
Letter-sound correspondences
(sounds that go with letters).
Sounding out words and saying them fast.
Comprehension (retelling) and vocabulary.
Reading sentences and longer text.
/ Snack
Rules and routines for setting table, passing food, cleaning up. / Science
Plants:
Kinds
Life
cycle
Ecosystems
Astronomy:
Solar systems:
sun, planets, orbits, moons.
Galaxies
Light years
Galaxies / Math
Many routines.
Rote counting
(“one, two, three…”)
Rational counting.
“One, two, three blocks.”
Group counting. “Three red blocks and 2 blue blocks.”
Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication. / Reading 2
Continue from Reading 1. / Lunch
Rules and routines for setting table, passing food, cleaning up. / Story
Vocabulary/concepts
Retell and predict, using proper grammar and syntax. / Applications/
Integration
Teach
Real-world activities to generalize and applyknowledge:
Find shapes, colors
Draw stories
Garden
Make mobiles of solar system
Invent ecosystem / Daily Review
Note weak knowledge to firm or reteach now and to review the next day.
See phases of instruction.

Now make our own curriculum map.

8:00-8:30
Lesson / 8:40-9:20
Lesson / 9:30-10 / 10:05-10:40
Lesson / 10:45-11:15
Lesson / 11:15-11:45
Lesson / 11:50-12:30 / 12:40-1:20
Lesson / 1:25-2:00
Lesson / 2:05-2:30
Lesson
Ecosystems

2. Sequence WITHIN each subject curriculum. Look even more closely at each subject. For example, the counting strand in the arithmetic knowledge system. What KINDS of counting do you need to teach? Again, the state curriculum, curriculum materials that you have to use, experts, research, and your own knowledge help you to identify these: rote counting to ten, rote counting from a number to higher numbers, rote counting by 3s, by 2s; rational counting of objects up to 3, 4, 5, etc.; group counting of objects—from small to larger. Divide these into units: Unit 1: Rote counting; Unit 2: Rational Counting; Unit 3; Group Counting; Unit 4. Addition

Note: the sequence must be a logical progression. Teach pre-skill elements before you teach anything that USES these elements.

Here are examples of other sequences of units.
a. The first Unit) 10 lessons in a beginning reading curriculum might be phonemic awareness (segmenting and blending speech), letter-sound correspondence), sounding out words (segmenting written words) and saying words fast (blending written words---fluency with decoding). Unit 2 might be 30 lessons that teach sentences, paragraphs, fluency, and comprehension. Unit 3 might be new words, but mostly vocabulary and text comprehension.

b. The units in the science curriculum might be plants, ecology (which integrates plants and knowledge of systems), and then astronomy.

A scope and sequence chart shows the subjects and the sequence of units-lessons in each subject. It shows (1) strands (main subjects) and substrands; and (2) when instruction on each strand starts and stops. Draw a vertical line through a lesson and you see everything worked on that lesson. Notice how knowledge elements (e.g., letter-sound correspondence) are taught before more complex skills that CONTAIN the elements (sounding out words). Draw a vertical line down from a lesson/day, and you can see what to work on in EACH LESSON for EACH SUBJECT/STRAND.

Scope and Sequence Chart

Lessons/Days
11015202540 ….. 60……90……120…….

Strands/
subjects
Common
knowledge
and language
Full sentences ______
Grammar ______
Names ______
Colors ______
Shapes ______
Prepositions ______
Days/time
Days and Weeks______
Clock time ______
Reading [Unit 1………………………..][Unit 2……………………………………………….][Unit 3………………..]
Blending ______
Segmenting ______
Letter-sound ______
Sounding out ______
Vocabulary ______
[goes with
language
strand]
Comprehension ___[hear story]______[read story]______
Sentences and
longer text ______
Science [Unit 1………………………………….][Unit 2………………………………………………………..][Unit 3……………………………]
Plants ______[Overlap: talking about connection between one subject and the next.]
Ecosystems ______
Astronomy ______

Math [Unit 1……………………………………………………….][Unit 2…………………………][Unit 3……………………………….]
Rote counting ______[Overlaps are for review and firming pre-skills for the next unit]
Rational counting ______
Group counting ______
Addition ______
Subtraction ______
Multiplication ______
Story ______

Applications/
integration ______

We can use the scope and sequence chart to display EACH DAY’S LESSONS. See below.

3. Now make objectives for the whole curriculum and each unit. What will students DO (performance) and HOW will they do it, that reveals what they learned? This final performance assessment could consist of review items. So, what would be the final performance and objectives at the end of the reading strand, and at the end of Units 1, 2, 3? When you plan lessons (later), you can think of lesson objectives that provide knowledge to achieve unit objectives

Write strands here. Add objectives

4. Now examine your curriculum materials. Do they enable you to teach everything called or by the objectives? No? Then get supplements. LINKS Also, prepare powerpoints, etc.

5. Now plan lessons for each day---all the way down to wording for each task.

Be mindful of features, general lesson organizationhereand here, explicit vs. more discussion and inquiry here,what to look for here (what to look for), big ideashereand here, all forms of knowledge here, conceptshere, routines here, factshere,here, phases of learning (acquisition, generalization, fluency, integration, retentionhere.

Prepare guided notesand other advance organizers .

Here is day 20. We constructed it from the scope and sequence chart.

8:00-8:30 / 8:40-9:20 / 9:30-10 / 10:05-10:40 / 10:45-11:15 / 11:15-11:45 / 11:50-12:30 / 12:40-1:20 / 1:25-2:00 / 2:05-2:30
Common Knowledge
Task 1. Review from yesterday, knowledge on which they were weak, as determined by post-lesson 19 review.
Task 2. New, generalization, and fluency.
“Say the days of the week fast!” “If Monday is the first day of the week, and if today is Monday, then what do you know about today?” (deductive generalization).
Task 3. New color. Green
Task 4. New shape. Rectangle. / Reading 1
Task 1. Review sample from lessons 17-19.
Task 2. New letter-sound. n, h.
Task 3. Decoding new words made with new and old sounds
Task 4. New vocabulary taught with synonyms: hem, harm, and using new and old letter-sounds (h)
More? See Reading 2. / Snack
Teach
Rules
Set up
Share
Ask
Clean up / Science
Teach
Plants
kinds
parts
growth
Maps
Astronomy / Math
Task 1. Review
rational
counting
and group counting
Task 2. Continue with more simple addition
Task 3. Generalization test: new addition examples
Task 4. Fluency (speed drills) with acquisition and generalization examples.
Task 5. Review a sample of all. / Reading 2
Teach
Review lesson 1 and new / Lunch / Story
Teach
Generalize, review, and integrate as much as you can from earlier lessons:
Letter-sound
Decode
Compreh
Colors and shapes.
Objects and materials
Grammar and syntax / Application
Teach
Real-world activities to generalize and apply knowledge:
Find shapes, colors
Draw stories
Garden
Count groups
Add groups / Review
All
Note weak knowledge to firm or reteach now and to review the next day.
Seethison correcting errors, firming, and reteaching.

But now, EXACTLY how will be teach these tasks in each lesson? Shall we script it? Use principles of logically perfect communication. LINK

Day 20 Day 21

Look at the strands! What follows day 20? Make sure to review earlier
lessons andintegrateearlier material learned.

8:00-8:30 Subject: Common knowledge
Task 1 Facts knowledgehere
Review: name of city, state, country, school,
principal [retention]
Objective. With error correction and restart, all kids (group and individual turns) are 100% and within 4 seconds.
Procedure:…
Gain attention. Boys and girls. Show me ready…. Yes, you got ready sooooo fast!
Frame. Let’s review our facts. When I ask a question, you answer that question fast.
What’s the name of our school principal? [write word on board and show how to sound it out.]
“Ms. Jennings.”
Question/instruction (because this is review/assessment)
Verification/error correction
“YES. The name of our school principal IS Ms. Jennings.”
[repeat and go fast?]
Next fact….
You are sooo smart.
Task 2
Recite days of the week. Routineknowledge [Acquisition]
Objective. All kids (group and individual turns) say the whole list within 15 seconds.
Procedure
Boys and girls.
Today we’re going to learn the days of the week.
I’ll say the first days…. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Your turn to say the first days of the week….
Yes, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
The next days are Thursday, Friday.
Say those 2 days…
Now say all the days WITH me….
Now say all the days by yourself….
The last two days are Saturday and Sunday.
Say those last two days…
Now, say all the days of the week with me…
Now your turn to say ALL the days of the week…
Yes,….
Task 3
Color green. Sensory concept knowledge [acquisition.] Acquisition set consists of circles, squares, blocks, balls, birds, house, trees. Several nonexamples are the same as examples, but not green. Same relevant features; different irrelevant features.
Objective. After error correction and restart, all kids (group and individual turns) correctly identify all examples and nonexamples 2 seconds.
Procedure.
Boys and girls. Show me ready.
Yes, I looove the way you showed me ready!!!
New color. Green. What’s our new color…
Yes, green.
This is green…. What color?
Yes, green,.
THIS is green….What color is this?
Yes, green.
This is green, too. What color?
Yes, green.
This is NOT green. Is this green?
No.
…
Test all examples and nonexamples in the acquisition set.
Task 4. Review/test all colors: red, blue, yellow, green. To ensure discrimination among different colors.
Objective. All kids (group and individual turns) are 100% after correction and restart.
Procedure

Task 5 [throughout]
Say the whole thing. Higher-order concept. “Whole thing” means subject and predicate.”
All kids (group and individual turns) are 100% within 5 seconds, after correction and model.
“This IS green/not green.”
“The principal is Ms. Jennings.”
“I live in the state of North
Carolina.”
“His name is Melvin.”
“I am six years old.”
Procedure.

8:40-9:20 Reading
Task 1.
Phonemic Awareness, Pronunciation (a, m, s)
Rule and motor task. “Say what teacher says.”
Objective: All kids (group and individual turns), after correct and restart, are 100% within 4 seconds.
Procedure
  • Gain Attention: “Boys and girls!”
  • Frame: “Let’s review our sounds. First I’ll say a sounds and then you’ll say that sound”
  • Model: “First sound: aaaaaa”
  • Test: “Now you say that sound” (aaaaaa)
  • Verify: “Yes! Aaaaa!”
  • Correct: “This sound is aaaaa. Say the sound”
  • Model: “Next sound: mmmmmm”
  • Test: “Now you say that sound” (mmmmm)
  • Verify: “Yes! Mmmm!”
  • Correct: “This sound is mmmmm. Say the sound”
  • Model: “Next sound: ssssss”
  • Test: “Now you say that sound” (ssssss)
  • Verify: “Yes! Ssssss!”
  • Correct: “This sound is ssssss. Say the sound”

Task 2. Alphabetic principle. Letter-sound correspondence.
New sound. long e
Objective. All kids (group and individual turn, after correction and repeat, correctly say the sound within 3 seconds when I touch under the letter.
Procedure
  • Gain attention: “Boys and girls!”
  • Frame: “New sound! First I’ll say a sound and then you’ll say that sound!”
  • Model: “New sound: eeeee”
  • Lead: “Now we’ll say the sound. Get ready! Eeeeee.”
  • Test: “Now you’ll say that sound. Get ready!” (eeeeee)
  • Verify: “Yes! Eeeeee!)
Correct: “This sound is eeeeee. What sound?”

Task 3. Phonemic awareness. Blending, or say it fast.
Review/retention: motorboat, ice cream, sister, if, me
Objective. All kids say it fast within 3 seconds, after correction and repeat.
Procedure
  • Gain attention: “Boys and girls!”
  • Frame: “Let’s play say it fast with our old words. First I’ll say a word slowly then I’ll say that word fast.”
  • Model: “Listen. Motor…Boat. Now I’ll say it fast- motorboat.”
  • Test: “Your turn to say it fast. Listen. Motor…Boat. Say it fast!” (motorboat)
  • Verify: Yes, motorboat! You said it fast!”
  • Model: “Listen. Ice...Cream. Now I’ll say it fast- ice cream.”
  • Test: “Your turn to say it fast. Listen. Ice…Cream. Say it fast!” (ice cream)
  • Verify: Yes, ice cream! You said it fast!”
  • Model: “Listen. Sis…ter. Now I’ll say it fast- sister.”
  • Test: “Your turn to say it fast. Listen. Sis…ter. Say it fast!” (sister)
  • Verify: Yes, sister! You said it fast!”
  • Model: “Listen. iiiiifffffff. Now I’ll say it fast- if.”
  • Test: “Your turn to say it fast. Listen. iiiiiffffff. Say it fast!” (if)
  • Verify: Yes, if! You said it fast!”
  • Model: “Listen. mmmmmeeeee. Now I’ll say it fast- me.”
  • Test: “Your turn to say it fast. Listen. mmmmmmeeeee. Say it fast!” (me)
  • Verify: Yes, me! You said it fast!”