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Rationale :
We are a team of sixth grade teachers who try to integrate our various subjects whenever possible. This year, we would like to take advantage of the occurrence of the Winter Olympic Games and capitalize on the once-every-four-years novelty. Students are already fascinated by the athletes, the sports and the venue of the Olympics, and we would like to build on that interest to create lessons. Many of the sports that are events in the Winter Olympics are sports that students are find compelling, and they may even participate in some themselves (e.g., snowboarding, skating, hockey, skiing). Other events hold an interest because of the high risk (luge, bobsled) or their unique nature (curling). The lessons of this unit are attempts to tie in the Olympics theme with the core concepts in Math, Science and Language Arts that we address in our content areas and which are the objectives of the Illinois Learning Standards. Using the Olympics as a springboard to the activities in these lessons, we believe, will lead to greater student engagement and greater understanding of the concepts.

The Illinois Learning Standards we are addressing are highlighted in each of the individual lesson descriptors on the pages linked in the menu bar on the left side of this page.

Please use the menu bar to the left to navigate between the lessons, the assessments, the rubrics, and the list of resources.

You are teaching in a middle school classroom (any subject that would be part of the core curriculum including music and art). Your job is to create a differentiated unit to address the needs of your students. Your classroom includes __high level gifted students__, __students who have special reading and writing challenges;__ they could also be your gifted kids, kids who are __designated special needs because of other learning disabilities and challenges__, and finally a small group of __students who are often challenging because of behavior problems.__ Your team should pick a topic and design a unit of study. Your unit will include **12 lessons**. Include in your lessons how you will be meeting the needs of your learners given the diversity within the classroom. How will you differentiate? How will you evaluate and assess? Keep in mind what you have read and learned from Tomlinson, Wormeli and others about differentiation (Content, Process, and Product). There are numerous other articles in the files and on the net. Refer to the link in the files on Differentiation and recall your study of brain development and learning styles from MLE500. __Your plans for each day (40 minute class period) should include__:
 * Assignment Descriptor: Team Work –MLE502 **
 * Differentiated Unit of Study** – 30 points
 * an objective,
 * how you will teach the lesson (procedure),
 * the materials you will use,
 * assessments if any,
 * and other support materials that you will use such as videos, graphic organizers, music, etc.

__You must include the following__:
 * 1) Titile of the Unit and rationale for teaching it. You can include state standards as well.
 * 2) 12 to 15 lesson plans with several homework assignments that are relevant to the work done in the lesson and will serve as a bridge to the next lesson
 * 3) 2 to 3 Formative assessment
 * 4) 1 Summative assessment
 * 5) Grading Rubrics
 * 6) Complete list of all your resources
 * 7) Bibliographic information when it applies
 * 8) Raft assignment that will be used as part of the final assessment or culminating project
 * 9) Discuss any accommodations you will be making if any on class work, assessments, assignments etc.