LearnZillion Releases Hundreds of Free Common Core-Aligned Lesson Plans; Gives Teachers a Head Start on Planning

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- LearnZillion, a digital curriculum and professional learning platform valued by over 450,000 educators, announces the addition of more than 750 free, standards-aligned lesson plans in math and English language arts (ELA). This expansion is just in time to meet the needs of teachers across the country, over half of whom feel inadequately prepared to teach the new standards according to a recent paper released by the Education Week Research Center.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140821/138765

The new lesson plans were created by LearnZillion's Dream Team of top teachers recruited from 42 states. Built directly from the Common Core State Standards, the lesson plans solve a major problem for teachers – how to understand and effectively teach the new standards. Lesson plans are designed for use on any Web-connected device, and feature a digital display mode that can save on printing and copying costs, while also being compatible with paper-based classrooms.

"I spent more than eight weeks developing my 7th grade lessons on triangles," said middle school math teacher and 2014 Dream Team Teacher Shana Lindeman of Grand Forks, N.D. "It was enlightening to be able to spend so much time figuring out just one standard, but very few teachers have the luxury of planning that way. I'm so glad my lessons will help other teachers get a leg up on planning, and I think they'll really like how they can personalize these new lesson plans for their class."

While individual teachers have access to thousands of LearnZillion's free resources, schools and districts can access LearnZillion's complete curricular resource library and proven professional learning products with a subscription to LearnZillion Premium. This offering includes:

• Complete task-based lesson plans for math grades 2-12 to engage students with the problem-solving, perseverance and vocabulary mastery required by new standards. Math lessons come with three levels of practice, formative assessment, relevant intervention and extension suggestions.
• Close reading modules for grades 2-12 to develop confident readers and precise writers. These lessons come with downloadable texts and include four days of scaffolded test-dependent questions and formative writing tasks, culminating in an extended written response.
• Interactive WriteAlong writing intervention videos for grades 3-8 to support the revision and editing phases in the writing process.
• Job-embedded professional learning that meet a school or district's instructional development needs. These collaborative, content-focused modules can work in a variety of settings, and include professional learning community (PLC) facilitator guides to better equip principals and other instructional leaders for success.

"Teachers need high-quality, standards-aligned resources that will be immediately useful in the classroom," said Eric Westendorf, LearnZillion CEO and former principal and teacher. "Too much valuable planning time is lost because teachers have to start from scratch. We're excited to provide a wealth of free, standards-aligned resources that will support teachers right now.  We're also excited to work with schools and districts to build system-level instructional capacity in the years ahead."

About LearnZillion
LearnZillion champions teachers and provides schools and districts with an effective bridge to the Common Core. LearnZillion Premium's math curricular resources and close reading/writing program are built by a Dream Team of top educators directly from the standards to unlock the instructional potential of teachers and prepare every student for the rigorous new assessments. A flexible learning platform allows schools and districts to develop teacher leaders as they customize a high-quality curriculum for every building. Over 450,000 teachers now use the LearnZillion platform. Customers include District of Columbia Public Schools, Syracuse City Public Schools, the Delaware Department of Education, the Connecticut State Department of Education and hundreds of individual schools throughout the United States. Founded in 2011 by two former teachers, LearnZillion is on Fast Company's World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Education and a recipient of eSchool News' 2014-15 Readers Choice Award. Connect online at @LearnZillion and www.LearnZillion.com.

SOURCE LearnZillion