Curriculum Changes for 2020-2021
In an effort to create a more cohesive experience for our students district wide, new curriculum will be implemented in the Fall of 2020 for grades 6-8. All DMPS elementary schools began Implementing EL Materials in the Fall of 2019, creating a full ELA scope and sequence K-8!

Why EL? Why Now?
  • EL Education, formerly Expeditionary Learning,  provides comprehensive curriculum K-8 that aligns Common Core Standards with engaging, relevant, and cross-curricular performance assessments that will engage every student in grade-level complex texts.
  • Common guiding questions and anchor texts will create a cohesive student experience that will better serve our feeder patterns and mobile student population as well as cross-curricular opportunities to build content knowledge.
  • Vertical articulation will more clearly outline the nuances in how the standards develop over the student’s K-12 educational experience.
  • The materials provide ready-to-use resources and connections for students needing language supports or for Gifted and Talented.

What will you be provided from the District?
  • Scales have been redesigned to better serve the reporting of the new units and the Shifts in the Core. (linked below)
  • Required texts will be purchased for every classroom in classroom sets. These materials will not need to be returned to Central Stores.
  • Access to audio files and ebooks will be provided in partnership with the AEA. (passwords and access instructions coming soon)
  • Printed teacher manuals will be available mid-summer 2020. 
  • Teacher LearnZillion accounts will also be active mid-summer. 
  • Printed student work books will be delivered by module to each building based on certified enrollment. This printing is a part of my overall budget expense for the adoption.

What will you need to create or locate yourself or in your building?
  • Optional or Supporting texts will be available for purchase by buildings in service of extension and content knowledge development.
  • Anchor charts, word walls, sentence strips for Language Dives and other classroom based instructional materials will need to be created and cultivated by individual teachers. 
  • High-use supplies you may want to purchase: (for anchor charts, The Painted Essay, close reading, and more)
    • Multi-colored sticky notes
    • Multi-colored note-cards
    • Large chart paper
    • Colored pencils, highlighters, or markers (know that there is a nation-wide shortage here. Students will not be able to share communal supplies as we have in the past. We will need to rethink how we ask students to interact with color-coding).



Access to DMPS Demo Account
Username: dmpsteacher@example.com
Password: teacher
We will be syncing student and teacher accounts through our SSO or Clever. That integration will be similar to No Red Ink. Once that occurs, you will have full access to your own virtual classroom. 

Want to read about some of the features of the platform? Select HELP in teh upper right hand corner and explore the resource library.
Reading Plus/Focused Reading
 
Reading Plus: A specific rostered course for students with significant reading needs that are tailored to an individual education plan or MTSS identified need. This course is in addition to regular core ELA instruction and supports increasing language acquisition and literacy.
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Focused Reading: This larger class-wide intervention is tailored to various reading levels. This course is in addition to regular core ELA instruction and supports deepening or extending content knowledge and grade level reading/writing skills.
 
This course is graded Pass/No Pass.

All attempts should be made to utilize content from grade level EL curriculum to support deepening content knowledge and acquiring needed vocabulary.
Archived Curriculum Guides
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