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A while back, a colleague of mine asked me to make some
posters for the fifth grade Common Core Standards. She wanted something that would be kid-friendly and look nice hanging on the walls. Even though I teach high school - or "the big ones," as they are called - the project was a good fit for me because I teach both English and Digital Art.
I completed the posters in about a week and they are currently hanging on my colleague's wall. But I wanted to do more. The posters I had created were lacking one thing that bugged me throughout the project. They didn't
show what each standard was about. They were simplified, in a nice typeface, and framed attractively, but they were not
illustrated.
As a teacher, I live by the mantra,
"show me don't tell me." I try to never just tell the kids something. I always show it in as many ways as possible.
So I set out to try to illustrate each standard, to show what it was about. It took more blood, sweat, and tears than the previous Common Core Standards posters project, but the results are, I think, quite nice.
(As of this date, the
Illustrated Common Core Standards Posters for ELA are complete. The posters for the Fifth Grade Common Core Math Standards are in progress and will be finished early November.)
I would love any and all feedback regarding this project. If there is any particular standard you would like to have illustrated, leave a comment to let me know. If you have any requests or insight regarding size, orientation (portrait or landscape) clipart, colors, or illustrative style, I'd love to hear about that, too.
When I finish the grade five Common Core Standards posters, I plan to take on the Grade Four standards. The process should go a little faster since I will have the routines down.
P.S.
Simplifying the verbiage of the math standards was a challenge, to say the least. Kudos to all math teachers who teach those challenging topics on a daily basis. And double-kudos to all elementary teachers who teach both the English and the math standards!