This resource is meant to be used in parallel with Instruction Partner Curriculum Support Guide.  The guidance is the 4K High Quality Instructional Materials includes additional questions and considerations to guide teams in the process of selection high quality instructional materials for 4K students.  The guide includes learning and evidence based resources to allow district and building leadership teams have the tools necessary to lead their teams in adopting resources that include best practices for 4K math instruction. 

With the understanding that instructional materials matter, a team of ELA teachers from the Sheboygan Area School District set out to develop a process that would enable us to determine if the materials being used or materials we plan to use in the future are considered to be high-quality resources and will lead to equitable instruction.

The resources supplied were developed as a result of research and investigation into the work of EdReport.org, Achievethecore.org and various other resources that support the work of equity.

The process that we outline is intended to help teams evaluate resources that support major shifts in the Common Core State Standards specific to writing instruction. The tools linked in the process are adaptable to various grade levels and subject areas providing the team has unpacked the subject/grade level standards and share a common understanding of the skills and expectations in those standards.

Selected resources provide three web-based activities to complement science lessons in an issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The free, online magazine for Grades K-5 teachers explores the essential principles of climate literacy.

The ability to ask and answer questions while reading is essential to comprehension. This article discusses instructional strategies used to teach questioning and provides many online resources. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which explores the seven essential principles of the climate sciences for teachers in k-grade 5 classrooms.

This issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, highlights resources that help elementary teachers learn about climate change and teach their students important foundational concepts.

This article from the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle provides appropriate science lessons for Grades K-5. The focus is on acquainting young learners with climate-change concepts that are not too complex for their grade level and will not frighten them. In each issue, the magazine develops articles around one of the seven essential principles of climate science. The author believes early lessons about water availability and extreme weather events will prepare students for complex climate concepts they will encounter in later grades.

The concepts that underlie the fourth essential principle of climate literacy ("Climate varies over space and time through both natural and man-made processes.") are too complex for students in early and upper-level elementary school, but the foundational knowledge can be taught within existing curriculums and standards. This foundational knowledge will lead to understanding in later years. The author shows the correlation to the national science education standards, identifies misconceptions among elementary school students, suggests formative assessment probes, and identifies lessons and activities to make curriculum connections. The free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is based on the seven essential principles of the climate sciences.

This article provides an overview of Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center that provides educators with free resources around the areas of equity, justice, and tolerance.

This list of carefully selected books for grades K-5 highlights nonfiction about climate proxies, those preserved physical characteristics, such as fossils, that scientists use to reconstruct past climates. Also highlighted are a few books that provide information about two past climatic events -- the last ice age and the Dust Bowl. In each issue of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, the virtual bookshelf recommends books that accurately portray the theme drawn from the principles of climate sciences.

In this lesson, students first create factor posters for a variety of different numbers that will be displayed in the classroom to be utilized as a resource throughout the school year. They make discoveries about factors using color tiles, represent their discoveries using graph paper, and display their information on poster board as find factors of an assigned number. The plan includes a list of materials, questions, assessment options, and extensions.

In a column devoted to interactive resoures for the K-5 classroom, this article features Recycle City, an EPA-produced, student-friendly web site designed to teach students about actions that create a sustainable community. Students will learn about recycling, reducing waste, and using less energy. The column regularly appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the essential principles of climate literacy.

Three types of climate proxies -- tree rings, fossils, and ice cores -- are the subjects of lessons that will help K-5 students understand that Earth's climate has been different in the past and that scientists can reveal its history. This article is from the science lessons column of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The magazine is structured around the seven essential principles of climate literacy and identifies age-appropriate resources for young learners.

In this unit of 8 lessons, students make groups of zero to 10 objects, learn number names for the groups, compose and decompose numbers, and practice writing numerals to record the size of a group. Each lesson includes visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities and supporting materials, questions to facilitate student thinking and teacher reflection, assessment suggestions, and a link to online applets that support the unit.

With two simple classroom experiments and easy-to-read text, this original story is designed to introduce young learners to the greenhouse effect. The author provides different versions of the story for grades K-2 and 3-5, as well as different formats for differentiated instruction. The free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle focuses on principles of climate literacy that are appropriate for young learners.

This article examines the reading comprehension strategy known as making connections. It involves linking what is being read (the text) to what is already known (schema, or background knowledge). The author provides links to four online resources that will help readers use the strategy in K-5 science and literacy classrooms. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which integrates science and literacy instruction.

The reading strategy known as making connections can greatly enhance students' understanding of any text. This article offers resources that teachers can use to instruct K-5 students in using the strategy. The free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle integrates science and literacy instruction. Each issue contains lessons and activities that combine literacy and science experiences.

The Project Management Toolkit for Youth and accompanying curriculum is targeted toward secondary school students and was selected to teach key fundamental project management areas and 21st century skills with emphasis on organizing, planning and scheduling work and provides the information needed to organize and structure the work on a project.

Students will learn how projects are initiated from the onset and how to plan a project in detail. Students will develop a project scope statement and schedule of activities for their project. This knowledge will assist students to deal with real life projects and manage project execution. The key to a successful program is a strong working relationship between the school district, local PMI chapter or organization, the instructor and planning.

School librarian Marcia Mardis describes what the library can offer to teachers and students who want to produce a focused, engaging, and effective science fair. This article appears in the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which explores the seven essential principles of the climate sciences for K-grade 5 classrooms.

Science and education experts caution that climate-change topics can overwhelm and frighten young children. Science lessons chosen for this article focus on general environmental issues, such as the effects of litter, air pollution, and water pollution. The lessons also include actions and solutions to environmental issues. The free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle focuses on integrating age-appropriate science learning with literacy experiences.

This regular column, called Take Action, in the magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle suggests actions K-5 teachers can take to incorporate the guiding principle for informed climate decisions in the classroom. The principle, which appears in the document Climate Literacy, states that humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts.