In June 2019, the Ohio Board of Education adopted the Social and Emotional Learning Standards which were developed by Ohio teachers, school counselors, and educational personnel. The Ohio Department of Education encourages the integration of these standards into regular classroom activities. They will not be assessed, and schools are able to choose the best approaches for teaching and monitoring for mastery. INFOhio partnered with Ohio Department of Education through the advisory and development process of the Social and Emotional Learning Standards. We believe that our resources and digital content can support the growth of Ohio students not only academically, but also mentally and emotionally. This blog series will highlight the resources available from INFOhio which can be used to support the Ohio Social and Emotional Learning Standards for Ohio schools. 

It's autumn—cooler temperatures, shorter days, crisper air, and yes, runnier noses. It's a great time to teach your little learners about the change of seasons and how they affect the world around them. Check out these resources and tips from INFOhio to help teach your PreK-3 students about autumn.

Teach more than one standard with this lesson idea. Use science content and apply reading standards for a lesson that will get 7th grade students set up for success.

This post is part of the Teach With INFOhio series "Here's How #INFOhioWorks." In this series, you'll find specific examples of how INFOhio works for other Ohio educators. Learn some strategies you can try in your own classroom. Then share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #INFOhioWorks!

Using digital text and tools is a way to engage readers in text, as well as empower them with one of the most critical needs for their future—digital literacy. INFOhio is dedicated to providing high-quality digital content, resources, and tools for students and teachers in Ohio that will develop the necessary skills for early literacy, inquiry, and college and career readiness. 

Do you use Scholastic News in your classroom? What about Scholastic Scope or Scholastic Science? These subscriptions are a popular teaching tool in many schools. Full of informational text and critical thinking activities, Scholastic's classroom magazines offer teachers a wealth of resources that feature popular topics and engaging graphics. You can learn more about these resources, their grade levels, and content at Scholastic's Classroom Magazines site. Additional features are available through a Scholastic school subscription.

Using graphics to support learning is a strategy proven to have maximum results for student learning in classrooms. According to the National Council for Teacher Quality in a recent study, Learning about Learning, "Young or old, all of us receive information through two primary pathways - auditory (for the spoken word) and visual (for the written and graphic or pictorial representation). Student learning increases when teachers convey new material through both." Not only should teachers pair words with graphics, they should also provide concrete and tangible examples for abstract ideas. These are two strategies identified as, "proven practices that improve learning for all students." Using PDFs from INFOhio's Explora database is one way to integrate images and concrete examples into your classroom.

Ohio's Anchor Standards for College and Career Readiness require students to 

• Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
• Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
• Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

Close reading and analysis of text require higher level thinking, patience and focus.