"Dear Arizona Educator,   In an effort to foster the successful transition to Arizona's Common Core Standards and the PARCC assessment, the Arizona Department of Education is providing the following information regarding the Spring 2013 and 2014 AIMS assessments and the changes that are necessary to effectively transition to the PARCC assessment.   Changes to the Spring 2013 and 2014 AIMS Assessments Although the AIMS assessment will remain the same concerning the blueprints and format, the passages and items will have several changes as outlined below.  The focus of the AIMS test will be to move closer to the expectations of the PARCC assessment. --------------------- Passages In order to prepare for the expected rigor of the PARCC passages, the AIMS passages will contain an increase in text complexity as well as higher Lexile levels.  The language used will have sophisticated text, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Items Many of the AIMS items are written at the Concept level, allowing for multiple Performance Objectives within a Concept to be addressed in a single item.  The item's complexity will be raised through selecting items at the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels of 2 and 3. Please note the attachment - Webb's Depth of Knowledge Levels (Table 1) and Hess' Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Table 2). To further support the transition from the AIMS assessment to the PARCC assessment, the test items have been aligned to the 2003 (Reading), 2004 (Writing), and 2008 (Mathematics) Standards as well as to Arizona's Common Core Standards for Mathematics and Language Arts. -----------------------   Transitioning to Arizona's Common Core Standards and the PARCC Assessment Since Arizona's Common Core Standards are the building blocks of the PARCC assessment, the following documents are provided to help make the transition a little smoother from the old standards/AIMS assessment to the new Common Core Standards/PARCC assessment.  The English Languag

Pick an activity or topic in science, and find real world application and projects to join.

While teachers are wondering where to get non-fiction connections, I say look to free resources like these. Wow!

There are challenges for internet searching that has culture, geography, history, or science as the theme.

by grade

The curriculum map starts on page 17

great pdf to download to explain it

Educators can upgrade their accounts here

Register for free lexile reader account

You can scan your text (or type it in) to see the complexity of what you've written (or text in any website).

You can look up a book's lexile by title, author, keyword, or ISBN...

I haven't tried it, but wanted to bookmark and share ...

Free PD by Buck Institute (BIE)! Sign up through Edmodo. PBL aligned with Common Core.

"As you work to integrate Common Core standards into your classroom, it may help to look at sample lessons. In this set, you can see lessons, presentations, and assessments working with informational text (grades 3-5). Remember that you can search the site by grade level and common core standard and that other subject areas besides Common Core are included on the site." --Vicki Davis