“What Every Arkansas Educator Needs to Know About Common Core State Standards”, affectionately referred to

as the “Lucy” document, has been updated and additional resources have been added.  You can access both excel

and pdf versions of the document on the Common Core page of this wiki.  

The Library of Congress (LOC) has created draft versions of 3 U.S. History module blueprints based on CC and the

Literacy Standards for History/Social Studies, Science , and Technical Subjects.   

These modules are aligned to CC reading and writing in grades 5, 8, and 9-10.  Since they are US history/Civil War

in content these module blueprints would align with AR standards for grades 5, 6, and 11. 

Please contact me if you are interested in piloting one of these module/blueprints. 

The compelling questions for these modules are as follows:

•    Elementary – (gr 5) Did Charles Sumner deserve it?
•    Middle – (gr 8) Is freedom free?
•    High School – (gr 9-10) Did Abraham Lincoln really want to free the slaves?

Five (5) Big Ideas

From Common Core Standards to Curriculum_ Five Big Ideas.docx  

My Voice National Student Mock Election Fall 2012

Pearson Foundation, in partnership with the National Student-Parent Mock Election, announces

the My Voice National Student Mock Election.

National Mock Election Week kicks off Thursday, October 25, and

culminates on National Mock Election Day 2012, Thursday, November 1. 

Register your district, school, or classroom and receive updated information about customized

mock election projects in AR after registering. 

11^th Annual National Mix It Up at Lunch Day Teaching Tolerance Opens Registration

Mix It Up, sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project, encourages students across the nation to recognize

and cross these boundaries by sitting with someone new in the cafeteria for just one day.

More than 1 million students across the nation took part in Mix It Up last year.

Schools participating in the event can register at www.tolerance.org/mix-it-up/map.

The map shows the location of all registered schools taking part in this year’s activities.

The Teaching Tolerance website also offers an array of free online resources to help school groups and classroom teachers

explore the issue of social boundaries and plan their event.

National Youth Summit on the Dust Bowl 

Start time: Wednesday, October 17th, 2012 @ 1:00 pm EDT

In the 1930s drought and intensive farming in the Great Plains brought about dust storms, crop failure, and human misery in one of the worst

ecological disasters in America’s history. The 2012 National Youth Summit will unpack this story and connect it with current issues of drought, agricultural

sustainability, and national and global food security. The Summit will feature segments from award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’s

forthcoming film The Dust Bowl.

Huffington Post science editor Cara Santa Maria will moderate a discussion with: Ken Burns, United States Department of Agriculture ecologist Debra Peters,

and Glenn Roberts, farmer and owner of Anson Mills. Panelists will take questions from students participating in the Summit, and offer their own

perspectives on what history can teach us about our relationship with the environment.

Presented in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Humanities, WETA television, and Smithsonian Affiliations.