Race to the Top
Day 3: Understanding the Standards
Elementary Programs
By the end of the meeting, participants will have:
 An understanding of the K-12 vertical progression within the Common Core State and Essential Standards
What
Content Area Exploration
How
Who
Time
(Minutes)
Notes/Questions
Video
K-5 Certified Staff
60
minutes
Facilitator Notes:
 Teachers will divide into small groups for this hour.
 Grade level classroom teachers will split across
content areas (For example, one 5th grade teacher
will take math, one will take language arts, one will
take science, and one will take social studies).
 Intervention and special education teachers, media
staff, AIG, ESL, and other certified non-classroom
based staff will choose a content area most relevant
to their work.
 Each of the content areas with representatives from
K-5 will break off into separate rooms (For example,
one room will be the science room with teachers from
K-5).
 Each teacher can record notes and reflections on the
Elementary Note-taking Sheet.
 Specialists (Healthful Living, World Languages, Arts)
will complete an activity independently.

*Special Note: If you have fewer than 4 teachers per
grade level, you may:
o Assign each teacher on a given track a
different content area to explore.
Science:
Social Studies:
English Language Arts:
Math:
Specialists:
Grade Level Discussion
Jigsaw
Discuss
Share
Reflect
K-5 Certified Staff
60
minutes
Facilitator Notes:
 Teachers will return to grade level groups.
 Specialists will continue working independently
during this hour.
 Each content area representative will have 10
minutes to share new learning from the content area
exploration.
 Teachers will debrief and reflect on commonalities
observed K-12. Information can be recorded on the
Elementary Note-taking Sheet.

*Special Note: If you have fewer than 4 teachers per
grade level, you may:
o Have teachers jigsaw across grade levels.