• At Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School No. 9, we integrate social studies, science, and literacy to support our youngsters' ability to learn facts, information. To support the implementation of our social studies and science programs, we use the following resources; the Comprehension Toolkit,  StrataLogica, and, most importantly, STEM to guide daily classroom work. Our content literacy focus is a configuration of our vision, mission, values, and goals.  Our expectations for classrooms are as follow:
    Science in the park
    Classroom
    •    Flexible seating – desks in small groups
    •    Organized Classroom Libraries (genre/level) & writing supplies
    •    Common meeting area
    •    Content Notebooks/Folders/Bins
    •    Anchor Charts (mini-lessons, student thinking, facts, & content)
    •    Content Study Logs
    •    Content Word Walls                                                                                                          
    •    Assessment Notebooks                                                                                 
    Students
    •    Work and follow-on tasks independently
    •    Work in groups and independently
    •    Read nonfiction text, historical fiction, magazines, web pages, etc.
    •    Talk/debate about rich content issues, information, and new concepts in a  
          variety of contexts     to discuss and support their viewpoints
    •    Use rubrics to track and keep records of their progress
    •    Track and keep records of their thinking
    •    Write expository essays, summaries, informational reports, persuasive essays, and 
          Type I, II, II, and IV writing responses
    •    Use graphic organizers                                             
    •    Develop content-specific vocabulary and word knowledge
    •    Use technology to support their thinking
    Teachers
    •    Construct anchor charts
    •    Model/demonstrate reading/writing strategies, text structures, and skills
    •    Utilize flexible groups to differentiate instruction
    •    Use thinking aloud
    •    Ask open-ended questions
    •    Maintain assessment notebook
    •    Confer with students
    •    Collaborate with colleagues to plan units of study
    •    Integrate of content areas & technology
    •    Develop knowledge/schema to increase background information
    •    Connect fact learning with information processing
    •    Guide children to negotiate information and evaluate information sources
    •    Build disciplinary knowledge - mental model of history, biology, etc

     Standard-Based Student Work
    •    Content Area Notebooks                                                                                 
    •    Journal Responses/Reflections
    •    Poster Charts
    •    Graphic Organizers
    •    Readers’ Notebooks/Writing Notebooks/Writing Portfolios
    •    Charts, Videos, Powerpoints, Photo Stories & Content Story Maps
    •    Illustrations of Thinking
    •    Post-It Notes – Thinking Squares