What’s included in our Spanish language arts curriculum
Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is available in both English and Spanish. Amplify Caminos al Conocimiento Esencial, our robust Spanish language arts companion for grades K–5, supports multiple teaching models, including dual language immersion and transitional classrooms.
Year at a glance
The program’s intentional Knowledge Sequence from K–5 connects knowledge and vocabulary within a grade level and across grade levels, for deeper reading comprehension and preparation for college, career, and life. Instead of “activating prior knowledge,” Amplify Caminos helps you build it in the classroom from day one, for every child, expanding each student’s knowledge base long before they transition to reading to learn.
Units & domains at a glance
Each Knowledge Domain in grades K–2 and Unit in grades 3–5 varies in the number of days based on instructional purpose. Just as with our top-rated Amplify CKLA program, the Amplify Caminos materials engage and delight young learners with resources that are both appealing and original.
Domain
Nursery Rhymes and Fables/Rimas y fábulas infantiles
Start learning about literature with these classic Mother Goose rhymes.
Domain
The Five Senses/Los cinco sentidos
Learning about the body starts with learning about how we experience the world.
Domain
Stories/Cuentos
Learn about the parts of a book and some of the stories that go in one.
Domain
Plants/Plantas
Discover the lifecycle of plants and the history of George Washington Carver.
Domain
Farms/Granjas
Now we know how plants make their food… but what about animals?
Domain
Native Americans/Los nativos americanos
Who were the first people in America? A look at the Lenape, Wampanoag, and Lakota Sioux.
Domain
Kings and Queens/Reyes y reinas
To understand fairy tales, it’s best to first understand royalty.
Domain
Seasons and Weather/Las estaciones y el tiempo
The study of natural cycles continues with the weather and why it happens.
Domain
Columbus and the Pilgrims/Colón y los peregrinos
A look at the first contact between Europe and the Americas, and some of its results.
Domain
Colonial Towns and Townspeople/Las colonias y sus habitantes
Before the War for Independence, how did the town and country depend on one another?
Domain
Taking Care of the Earth/Cuidar el planeta Tierra
We only have one Earth—here are some ways to help care for it.
Domain
Presidents and American Symbols/Presidentes y símbolos de los Estados Unidos
Start learning about government through the lives of five presidents.
Domain
Fables and Stories/Fábulas y cuentos
Learn some of the key elements of a story through classic fables.
Domain
The Human Body/El cuerpo humano
What are germs? What are the organs? And what does it all have to do with health?
Domain
Different Lands, Similar Stories/Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares
A world tour of storytelling, and the stories that stay the same across the world.
Domain
Early World Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones del mundo
Rivers, farming, writing, and laws: just what does it take to build a civilization?
Domain
Early American Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones de América
What will we find in the great temples of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations?
Domain
Astronomy/Astronomía
How the Earth relates to the moon, the sun, and the rest of the planets.
Domain
The History of the Earth/La historia de la Tierra
Just what lies beneath the Earth’s surface, and what can it teach us about the past?
Domain
Animals and Habitats/Los animales y sus hábitats
A look at the connection between how animals live and where they make their homes.
Domain
Fairy Tales/Cuentos de hadas
What do fairy tales have to teach us about how stories are told?
Domain
A New Nation: American Independence/Una nueva nación: la independencia de los Estados Unidos
The story of the birth of the United States out of the 13 Colonies.
Domain
Frontier Explorers/Exploradores de la Frontera
The story of the journey west from the newborn U.S.A. to find the Pacific Ocean.
Domain
Fairy Tales and Tall Tales/Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados
Learn about exaggeration and characterization on the frontier.
Domain
Early Asian Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones de Asia
Tour the world of classical civilization, starting with India and China.
Domain
Ancient Greek Civilization/La civilización griega antigua
The tour continues with the philosophy and politics of Greece.
Domain
Greek Myths/Mitos griegos
Dive deep into the characters and storytelling of classic myths.
Domain
The War of 1812/La guerra de 1812
Learn about America’s “Second War for Independence.”
Domain
Cycles in Nature/Los ciclos de la naturaleza
Introducing the natural cycles that make our lives possible.
Domain
Westward Expansion/La expansión hacia el oeste
Why did pioneers go west? What happened to the people who were there?
Domain
Insects/Los insectos
Lay the grounds for animal classification by looking at solitary and social insects.
Domain
The U.S. Civil War/La Guerra Civil de los Estados Unidos
Begin to grapple with U.S. history’s central crisis over slavery.
Domain
Human Body: Building Blocks and Nutrition/El cuerpo humano: componentes básicos y nutrición
A deeper dive into the digestive system and the nutrition process.
Domain
Immigration/La inmigración
Why did people immigrate to the United States, and what did they find here?
Domain
Fighting for a Cause/Luchar por una causa
How people can do extraordinary things to make the world better for everyone.
Unit 1
Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows/Cuentos Clásicos: El viento en los sauces
A deep dive into character, theme, and POV in classic stories from around the world.
Unit 2
Animal Classification/La clasificación de los animales
How do we classify different animals by their appearance and behavior?
Unit 3
The Human Body: Systems and Senses/El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
Let’s take a closer look at how the skeleton, muscles, and nervous system all work.
Unit 4
The Ancient Roman Civilization/La civilización romana antigua
What is Rome’s greatest cultural contribution? In this unit, your students decide.
Unit 5
Light and Sound/La luz y el sonido
The science behind all the ways we see and hear the world.
Unit 6
The Viking Age/La era vikinga
An immersive narrative experience about what life was like in Viking communities.
Unit 7
Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond/Astronomía: nuestro sistema solar y más allá
More about our universe, including a writing project about daily life on a space station.
Unit 8
Native Americans: Regions and Cultures/Los nativos americanos: regiones y culturas
How did Native American nations change their way of life in different parts of the world?
Unit 9
Early Explorations of North America/La exploración europea de América del Norte
What was it like to sail to North America with the early European explorers?
Unit 10
Colonial America/La época colonial en los Estados Unidos
A study of the very different ways of life in the different pre-U.S. colonies.
Unit 11
Ecology/Ecología
Students keep ecologist’s journals to learn about our world and how best to protect it.
Unit 1
Personal Narratives/Narrativas personales
Read stories of personal experience… and learn to reflect on your own.
Unit 2
Empires in the Middle Ages/Los imperios en la Edad Media, parte 1 & Los imperios en la Edad Media, parte 2
Explore the medieval history of Europe and the Middle East.
Unit 3
Poetry/Poesía
Study the poetry of many nations using licensed text anthologies, and begin to write your own.
Unit 4
Eureka! Student Inventor/¡Eureka! Estudiante inventor
Transform the class into a lab for students to build and present inventions.
Unit 5
Geology/Geología
Plate tectonics, volcanoes, erosion: all the forces that shape the Earth.
Unit 6
Contemporary Fiction with excerpts from The House on Mango Street/Ficción Contemporánea con Fragmentos de La Casa en Mango Street
Explore The House on Mango Street… and write a book while doing it.
Unit 7
American Revolution/La Revolución estadounidense
Why did America seek independence? Let’s investigate the causes and effects.
Unit 8
Treasure Island/La Isla del Tesoro
How dSeek the treasure of plot in this detailed study of a classic fiction adventure.
Unit 1
Personal Narratives/Narrativas personales
Through writing and sharing their writing, students begin to identify themselves as writers.
Unit 2
Early American Civilizations/Las primeras civilizaciones americanas
Students craft a codex to explain the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca people.
Unit 3
Poetry/Poesía
Students close read many forms of poetry… and learn to write them.
Unit 4
Adventures of Don Quixote/Las Aventuras de Don Quijote
Was Don Quixote right to fight the windmill? In this full-length novel study, students decide.
Unit 5
The Renaissance/El Renacimiento
Exploring the art and literature of the Renaissance through the works of its masters.
Unit 6
The Reformation/La Reforma
How did the printing press transform the religion and society of Europe?
Unit 7
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream/Sueño de Una Noche de Verano de William Shakespeare
Students enter the world of Shakespeare by reading, designing, and acting out his work.
Unit 8
Native Americans/Los nativos americanos
How did the policies of the U.S. government impact Native American culture and lives?
Unit 9
Chemical Matter/Química
Students use knowledge of chemistry to solve a mystery.
Print & digital components
The program includes instructional guidance and student materials for a year of instruction, with lessons and activities that keep students engaged every day.
Component
FORMAT
Knowledge (Conocimientos) Teacher Guides (K–2)
Knowledge Strand Teacher Guides contain Amplify CKLA’s cross-curricular read-alouds and application activities, all of which are standards-based to build mastery of content knowledge and literacy skills. There is one Teacher Guide per Knowledge Domain.
Print and digital
Knowledge Image Cards (K–2)
Amplify Caminos includes Image Cards for each Knowledge Domain to bring each topic to life through vivid visuals.
Print and digital
Knowledge Flip Books (K–2)
Projectable Flip Books are provided to accompany the read-alouds in each Knowledge Domain.
Digital
Teacher Guides (3–5)
Teacher Guides for grades 3–5 units are based on content-rich topics and incorporate reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in the context of background knowledge. There is one Teacher Guide per unit.
Print or digital
Teacher Resource Site (K–5)
The program includes a one-stop-shop website for lesson projections, digital versions of all Amplify Caminos materials, lesson planning resources, multimedia (such as eBooks), and more.
Digital
Professional Learning Site (K–5)
The Professional Learning site includes training materials, best practices, and other resources to develop program expertise. Access professional development anywhere, anytime.
Digital
Component
FORMAT
Knowledge (Conocimiento) Activity Books (K–2)
Activity Books provide students with the opportunity to deepen world and word knowledge by responding to text in a diversity of ways.
Student Readers (3–5)
Student Readers serve as content-rich anchor texts for each unit. Units such as Poetry and Contemporary Fiction feature authentic texts originally written in Spanish.
Activity Books (3–5)
Activity Books in grades 3–5 provide daily opportunities for students to hone reading and writing skills within the context of each unit.
Print and digital
Explore more programs
Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.
Amplify and SFUSD Partnership
We recognize and respect the unique differences of each of our partnering districts—and that includes San Francisco USD.
Out of the box, Amplify Caminos offers districts a rich, comprehensive, research-based SELA experience. That said, no two districts are exactly alike. To that end, we are committed to working with San Francisco USD to ensure that Amplify Caminos addresses the needs of your community. This includes providing implementation guidance and support, as well as collaborating with your staff to determine which domains need to be modified or exchanged.
What is Amplify Caminos?
Amplify Caminos is a core Spanish language arts program for grades TK–5 that delivers:
- Authentic instruction built from the ground up for the Spanish language.
- A unique research-based approach truly built on the Science of Reading.
- A combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.
- Embedded support and differentiation that gets all students reading grade-level texts together.
- Opportunities for students to see the strengths and experiences that all people share while also celebrating each others’ unique identities and experiences.
Watch the video below to learn more about Amplify Caminos for Grades K–2.
Watch the video below to learn more about Amplify Caminos for Grades 3–5.
How does Amplify Caminos work?
Amplify Caminos is built on the science of how kids learn to read—in Spanish.
Amplify Caminos is all about helping you teach students how to read, all while giving them authentic and engaging reasons to read. That’s why Amplify Caminos develops foundational skills and builds knowledge in tandem.
- Knowledge: Through complex and authentic Spanish read-alouds with an emphasis on classroom interactivity, oral comprehension, and contextual vocabulary, students start to build their awareness of the world around them—and the way the reading skills they’re building give them access to it.
- Skills: Starting with the sounds at the core of the Spanish
language, students practice their phonemic awareness, handwriting skills, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. Through daily practice, students become aware of the connection between reading and writing, building confidence as they go.
Respecting the development differences between grade ranges, Amplify Caminos teaches foundational skills and background knowledge as two distinct strands in grades K–2, and combines them into one integrated strand in grades 3–5.
Grades K–2:
Every day, students in grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Amplify Caminos Conocimiento strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.
Grades 3–5:
In grades 3–5, the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura and Conocimiento strands are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.
What do Amplify Caminos students explore?
Amplify Caminos builds students’ knowledge about the world.
In addition to teaching all students to crack the written code (which is vital for equity), the Amplify Caminos program helps students see the strengths and experiences we all share while celebrating their own unique identities and experiences.
This is accomplished through the exploration of topics and text that feature people who resemble students and familiar situations or experiences while also exposing them to people whose appearances, lives, beliefs, and backgrounds differ from their own.
Engaging domains
Amplify Caminos builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.
Throughout the program, students use their skills to explore domains that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world as seen through the eyes of many different groups.
Carefully selected to build from year-to-year, our grade-appropriate topics help students make and deepen connections while also reading, writing, and thinking creatively and for themselves.
New Knowledge Research Units for Grades K–5
Our brand-new Knowledge Research units carry forward Amplify Caminos’ powerful and proven instructional approach while also:
- Adding more diversity. The rich topics and highly visual components featured in these units provide students with even more “windows and mirrors” and perspectives as they work to build knowledge.
- Adding more authentic literature. Each new research unit revolves around a collection of high-interest authentic trade books that will spark more curiosity and inspire more inquiry.
- Adding more flexibility. Units can be implemented for extended core instruction during flex periods, district-designated Pausing Points, or enrichment periods.
Units cover a variety of rich and relevant topics:
With these new units, students will soar to new heights with Dr. Ellen Ochoa, Amelia Earhart, and the Tuskegee Airmen. They’ll feel the rhythm as they learn about Jazz legends Miles Davis, Tito Puente, and Duke Ellington. And they’ll explore the far reaches of the world with Jacques Cousteau, Matthew Henson, and Eugenie Clark.
- Grade K: El arte y el mundo que nos rodea
- Grade 1: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Grade 2: ¡A volar! La era de la aviación
- Grade 3: Jazz y más
- Grade 4: Energía: pasado, presente y futuro
- Grade 5: Más allá de Juneteenth: de 1865 al presente
Units will be made available in English and Spanish, and will include the following components:
Why we added this unit:
“Every child is an artist,” said Picasso, meaning that every child uses art to explore and understand the world around them. El arte y el mundo que nos rodea honors that truth by introducing Kindergarten students to some of the ways in which artists have explored and understood the world around them.
This domain introduces students to artists from different time periods, countries, and cultures. Throughout the unit, students learn about different kinds of art and how artists use the world around them as they make art. They also connect this to what they have already learned about the earth, plants, and animals in other Caminos domains: Granjas, Plantas, and Cuidar el planeta Tierra. In addition, students connect this to what they have learned about sculptors in the Presidentes y símbolos de los Estados Unidos domain. As they explore different artists and artistic traditions, they develop their ideas about how humans are connected to each other and to the world around them.
As you read the texts in this unit, students may observe ways in which the characters or subjects are both similar to and different from students. This is a good opportunity to teach students awareness and sensitivity, building on the idea that all people share some things in common, even as they have other things that make them unique. This unit also offers an excellent opportunity to collaborate with your school’s art teacher, as many lessons have suggested activities to help students understand the kind of art they are studying.
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:
- Use details to describe art.
- Identify three ways to create art.
- Identify characteristics of cave art.
- Sequence the steps of making pottery.
- Describe how artists can create work connected to the world around them.
- Describe what makes Kehinde Wiley’s portraits unique.
- Explain how the texture of a surface can affect artwork created on it.
- Explain what a sculpture is.
- Describe what makes James Turrell’s artwork about the sky unique.
- Explain what a museum is and what kinds of things you can see or do there.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Georgia O’Keeffe por Erica Salcedo
- Yayoi Kusama: De aquí al infinito por Sarah Suzuki
- Tejedora del arcoíris por Linda Elovitz Marshall
- Las tijeras de Matisse por Jeanette Winter
- El museo por Susan Verde
- Quizás algo hermoso: Cómo el arte transformó un barrio por F. Isabel Campoy
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
This domain introduces students to adventure stories set around the world and challenges students to dig into the adventures through research. By listening to the Read-Alouds and trade books, students increase their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, learn valuable lessons about perseverance and teamwork, and become familiar with gathering information for research.
In this unit, students study the careers of real-world explorers Dr. Eugenie Clark and Sophia Danenberg, marvel at the inventions of Jacques Cousteau, think critically about how teamwork and collaboration can make greater adventures possible, learn about the science and technology that enable adventures, and research some of the ways humans have confronted challenges at the edges of the world, from the oceans below to space above.
Each lesson in the domain builds students’ research skills as they ask questions, gather information, and write a paragraph about their findings. Students share what they have learned about adventures in an Adventure Gallery Walkthrough. By taking on the persona of one of the adventurers they meet in the Read-Alouds and trade books, students deliver their final paragraphs as if they are a “speaking portrait” of that person. Students are invited to dress up as that adventurer if they desire.
In addition, teachers can set aside time outside the instructional block to create the picture frames students will hold as they present to the Adventure Gallery Walk guests. Frames can be made from shirt boxes, cardboard, construction paper, or any art supplies that are on hand. This might be an opportunity to collaborate with the school’s art department if resources are available. Another option is to ask students to make their frames at home with their caregivers. On the day of the Adventure Gallery Walk, students will be the hosts and take on specific jobs, such as welcoming the guests, describing their work throughout the unit, and pointing out the areas of study on the domain bulletin board. You can find a complete list of student jobs in Lesson 13.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in the previous grade.
- Rimas y fábulas infantiles (Kindergarten)
- Cuentos (Kindergarten)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- My Name Is Gabito/Me llamo Gabito por Monica Brown
- Galápagos Girl/Galapagueña por Marsha Diane Arnold
- My Name Is Gabriela/Me llamo Gabriela por Monica Brown
- El viaje de Kalak por María Quintana Silva y Marie-Noëlle Hébert
- Señorita Mariposa por Ben Gundersheimer
- Sharuko, el arqueólogo peruano/Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello por Monica Brown
- Abuelita fue al mercado por Stella Blackstone
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
- Guía del maestro: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Cuaderno de actividades: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Tarjetas de imágenes: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Componentes digitales: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
Why we added this unit:
With this domain, students head up, up, and away with an introduction to the soaring history of aviation. Students learn the stories of early aviators, such as the Montgolfier brothers, the Wright brothers, Aida de Acosta, and Amelia Earhart.
During the unit, students study the science of flight, including the physics concept of lift, and research the social impacts of the world of flight. Finally, students let their research skills take flight as they explore key figures from the world of aviation.
The lessons in this domain build on earlier Grade 2 Caminos domains about the westward expansion, early Greek civilizations, and Greek myths, and lay the foundation for learning about other periods of world history in future grades.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered earlier in the year.
- La civilización griega antigua (Grade 2)
- Mitos griegos (Grade 2)
- La expansión hacia el oeste (Grade 2)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in ¡A volar! La era de la aviación. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- ¡A volar! Todo sobre aviones por Jennifer Prior
- Amelia sabe volar por Mara dal Corso
- Héroes de la aviación que cambiaron el mundo por Dan Green
- El niño que alcanzó las estrellas por José M. Hernández
- La niña que aprendió a volar por Sylvia Acevedo
- Buenas Noches Capitán Mamá por Graciela Tiscareño-Sato
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
This domain teaches students about the vibrant music, poetry, and culture of the Jazz Age in the United States. Students learn about famous writers and musicians like Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Melba Liston, Tito Puente, and Miles Davis. They study how the jazz art form took root in the South, then spread to the North to become the sound of the Harlem Renaissance, eventually connecting people around the world in musical expression.
During this unit, students perform guided research to further explore both the history of jazz and what jazz is today. They develop research skills and then use those skills to find deeper connections between the stories and music of the Jazz Age and music today. As students learn about the world of jazz, they collaborate and share ideas with their classmates. They also practice sharing feedback focused on their written work, and, at the end of the unit, students present their research to the group.
The lessons give students opportunities to dive into the rhythms and stories of jazz, utilizing the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively generate research questions about jazz, jazz musicians, contemporary musicians from the state where they live or have lived, and the evolution of jazz music.
- Utilize Read-Alouds, independent reading, and partner reading to learn about the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, jazz music, and biographies of celebrated jazz musicians and writers.
- Research the answers to their generated questions, gather information, write a short research essay about a famous jazz musician, write a short essay about a contemporary musician from the state where they live or have lived, and give a presentation about their research.
How this unit builds knowledge:
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:
- Ask relevant questions and make pertinent comments
- Identify details in texts
- Determine key ideas of texts by evaluating details
- Make text-based inferences
- Generate questions based on prior knowledge and gathered information
- Synthesize details across texts to demonstrate comprehension
- Discuss and explain an author’s purpose
- Identify and cite reliable primary and secondary sources of information
- Compose a well-organized and focused informative essay
- Make connections between topics
- Present information using appropriate media
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- ¡Esquivel! Un artista del sonido de la era espacial por Susan Wood
- Ray Charles por Sharon Bell Mathis
- Tito Puente, el Rey del Mambo por Monica Brown
- Me llamo Celia, la vida de Celia Cruz por Monica Brown
- ¡Azúcar! por Ivar Da Coll
In this unit, students also read the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. (Available for free through the Academy of American Poets website and the Poetry Foundation website, with recorded audio available through the website for John Hancock College Preparatory High School.)
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
With this domain, students become tomorrow’s problem solvers in this study of energy in the United States. Analytical reading skills are developed by examining the challenges of early energy innovators. Students then read about current energy practices and young energy change-makers across the world.
Throughout the unit, students conduct research into different sources of energy and present a proposal, putting them in the shoes of future energy innovators. They also use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively analyze texts to identify cause-effect and problem-solution relationships.
- Generate questions and conduct research about energy.
- Write an opinion essay making their case for a fuel of the future.
- Create energy proposals using primary and secondary resources.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in previous grades as well as earlier in the year.
- Plantas (Grade K)
- La historia de la Tierra (Grade 1)
- ¡Eureka! Estudiante inventor (Grade 4)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Energía: pasado, presente y futuro. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- La historia de los combustibles fósiles por William B. Rice
- El niño que domó el viento por William Kamkwamba y Bryan Mealer
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
Within this domain, Students learn about General Granger’s announcement in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, a day marked in history as Juneteenth. Texts and multimedia sources will support foundational knowledge-building about the end of slavery in the United States. A review of the first freedom announcement, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, provides students with background knowledge to further emphasize the significance of Juneteenth in American history.
This unit also takes students on a journey beyond Juneteenth, as they study specific contributions of African Americans from 1865 to the present day. Students participate in a virtual field trip to Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas and use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively generate research questions about Juneteenth, The Great Migration, innovators and inventors, education, the humanities, activists, and allies.
- Use Read-Alouds, independent, and partner reading to learn about African American contributions from 1865 to the present.
- Research to find answers to their generated questions, gather information, and write a four-chapter Beyond Juneteenth book.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in previous grades.
- Los nativos americanos (Grade K)
- Una nueva nación: la independencia de los Estados Unidos (Grade 1)
- La Guerra Civil de los Estaods Unidos (Grade 2)
- La inmigración (Grade 2)
- Los nativos americanos (Grade 5)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Más allá de Juneteenth: de 1865 al presente
. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad escrito por Emma Otheguy
- ¡Celebremos Juneteenth! escrito por Carole Boston Weatherford
- Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/La Historia de Dolores Huerta y César Chávez escrito por Monica Brown
- Canto de alabanza para el día: Poema para la ceremonia inaugural del mandato de Barack Obama escrito por Elizabeth Alexander, traducido por Rodrigo Rojas
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Diverse texts
Amplify Caminos puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day.
Amplify Caminos includes both transadaptations and authentic texts written by Latin American and Spanish authors. In addition to featuring a diverse range of authors and topics, our texts represent individuals and characters with a broad range of identity factors, including socioeconomic status, age, ability, race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, and more.
Amplify Caminos texts include:
- Authentic literature: Authentic literature exposes students to a variety of text types and perspectives to deepen their knowledge of fascinating topics in social studies, science, literature, and the arts. Authentic texts support text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text connections for readers.
- Decodable Student Readers: Amplify Caminos is built on the conviction that equitable instruction is vital to an effective program. Decodable Student Readers at grades K–2 are newly re-designed to celebrate students’ diverse experiences and feature individuals with a broad range of identity factors, including socioeconomic status, age, ability, race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, and more.
- ReadWorks® texts: Amplify and ReadWorks have partnered to deliver high-quality texts curated to support the Amplify Caminos Knowledge Sequence and to extend student learning. Texts include high-interest nonfiction articles in topics in social studies, science, literature, and the arts. These texts are accompanied by vocabulary supports and standards-aligned formative assessment opportunities. Teachers can monitor their students’ progress using the ReadWorks reporting features.
Amplify Caminos Trade Book Collection Guide
Each book in our authentic literature collection was selected specifically to support and enhance the content of the K-2 Conocimiento Strand. These anchor texts are intended for use as an introduction to each domain—engaging students, piquing their curiosity, and building initial background knowledge—before diving into the deeper content of the domain Read-Alouds.
Every trade book has an instructional guide that includes the following:
- Author and illustrator
- Book summary
- The Essential Question of the Knowledge domain, connecting the book to the domain
- Key Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary words found in the book
- A group activity to reinforce and extend students’ knowledge and understanding
- A performance task to help gauge students’ comprehension of concepts in the text
- Writing prompts to expand understanding and critical thinking
- Text complexity ratings and descriptors for quantitative, qualitative, and reader/task categories
Download the Amplify Caminos Trade Book Collection Guide for Grades K–2.
Detailed information about text complexity ratings and descriptors; additional uses for the books before, during, and after domain instruction; and the complete list of domains and books for each grade level can be found in the More About the Books section of this guide.
What makes Amplify Caminos different?
Built on the Science of Reading
Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify Caminos delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.
Explicit systematic skills instruction
The skills instruction in Amplify Caminos was distinctly developed with the Spanish language in mind. Its foundational lessons are specific to the language, rather than a direct translation from Amplify CKLA’s English skills instruction.
Reading instruction begins with the vowels first, then the most common consonants, and finally the least common consonants. Students will blend and segment sounds to form syllables, and syllables to form words.
Although Spanish has a highly predictable orthography, there are a few silent letters (h is always silent, u is silent after g or q), as well as letters that can make different sounds, depending on the letters that follow them. For that reason, syllables with these letters are taught somewhat later in the progression. The same is true for syllables with infrequently occurring consonants, such as z, k, x, and w.
Coherent knowledge instruction
While students are learning how to read, the Conocimiento strand gives them authentic and engaging reasons to read.
Amplify Caminos uses spiral learning to reinforce every student’s ability to develop skills like reading, writing, speaking, and listening in Spanish that can be transferred to English. As students engage with their lessons, they explore the similarities and differences in grammar, vocabulary, writing, and language use between Spanish and English. This bridge helps students learning two languages to strengthen their knowledge in both.
Through cross-curricular content, students explore units that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world in a holistic and thoughtful way. With these units, you’ll bring the world to your students, showing them how reading can become an exciting, rewarding, and useful part of their lives.
Embedded differentiation for all learners
Amplify Caminos provides built-in differentiation strategies and supports in every lesson.
- Apoyo a la enseñanza y desafío: Support and Challenge suggestions in every lesson provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson.
- Notas culturales: These point-of-use notes provide additional information about the traditions, foods, holidays, word variations, and more from across the Spanish-speaking world.
- Apoyo adicional: Every lesson in the Lectoescritura (Skills) Strand provides additional support activities suggested to reinforce foundational skills instruction. These activities can be given to any student who requires extra help, including students with special needs.
Systematic and cohesive writing instruction
Writing instruction in Amplify Caminos builds systematically and cohesively within and across grades.
In Grades K-2, writing mechanics—including handwriting and spelling—are taught in the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura strand. Starting in Grade 1, instruction includes four steps in the writing process: planning, drafting, editing, and publishing and features lessons that have modeling, collaboration, and sharing. As students gain skills and confidence, they are able to take on more of these steps independently. Students learn to use planning techniques, including brainstorming and graphic organizers.
Beginning in Grade 4, the Amplify Caminos writing process expands to also include sharing and evaluating. In Grades 4 and 5, the writing process is no longer conceptualized as a series of scaffolded, linear steps (an important change from the Grade 3 writing process). Rather, students move between components of the writing process in a flexible manner, similar to the process mature and experienced writers follow naturally.
Amplify Caminos’ writing instruction provides a clear progression through the text types in each grade.
Because Amplify Caminos has two strands of lessons in Grades K-2, Lectoescritura and Conocimiento, students are exposed to both narrative and informational texts throughout the year. In Grades 3-5, the integrated units feature study in literary, informational, or a mix of both types of texts, depending on the content of the unit.
- Grades K–2 introduce and establish the key elements of each text type, allowing students to gain comfort and confidence writing narratives, opinions, and informative texts. This enables students to practice thinking about content in different ways, offering more depth and breadth to their understanding of core content and of the writing text types.
- By Grade 3, students will have gained significant practice in narrative, opinion/argumentative, and informational/explanatory forms of writing and will continue to apply those skills through Grade 5.
How does Amplify Caminos integrate with the other parts of the literacy system?
Amplify Caminos + mCLASS® Lectura
Achieve complete parity between English and Spanish assessments with mCLASS Lectura for K–6. mCLASS Lectura allows teachers to connect with their Spanish-speaking students face-to-face, one-on-one, and in the language most comfortable to them. The result? Valid and reliable student data reports
available in both English and Spanish, enabling teachers to pinpoint where their Spanish-speaking or emergent bilingual students really are in their skill development and what instruction to prioritize.
Amplify Caminos + Amplify Reading
Amplify Reading is an engaging, adaptive digital program that extends the learning in Amplify Caminos. Amplify Reading offers support to a large sub-group of English learners (ELs) through Spanish voice-over. Spanish voiceover instructions are available in vocabulary and sentence-level comprehension games so ELs can build their vocabulary, language, and critical comprehension skills before moving into analyzing complex texts
Demo access and sample materials
Ready to explore on your own? First, watch the videos below to learn about the program’s components and how to navigate the digital platform.
Physical materials walkthrough video
Digital navigation video
Demo access
Next, follow the instructions below to access your demo account.
- Click the CKLA and Caminos Demo button below.
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- To explore as a teacher, enter this username: t1.sfusdreviewer@demo.tryamplify.net
- To explore as a student, enter this username: s1.sfusdreviewer@demo.tryamplify.net
- Enter the password: Amplify1-sfusdreviewer
- Click the Programs and apps menu
- Select CKLA Teacher Resource Site
- Select the desire grade level
- Use the toggle to switch between English (CKLA) and Spanish (Caminos) resources.
Sample materials
Finally, click on the grade levels below to explore your requested sample units.
Each book in our authentic literature collection was selected specifically to support and enhance the content of the K-2 Conocimiento Strand. These anchor texts are intended for use as an introduction to each domain—engaging students, piquing their curiosity, and building initial background knowledge—before diving into the deeper content of the domain Read-Alouds.
Every trade book has an instructional guide that includes the following:
- Author and illustrator
- Book summary
- The Essential Question of the Knowledge domain, connecting the book to the domain
- Key Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary words found in the book
- A group activity to reinforce and extend students’ knowledge and understanding
- A performance task to help gauge students’ comprehension of concepts in the text
- Writing prompts to expand understanding and critical thinking
- Text complexity ratings and descriptors for quantitative, qualitative, and reader/task categories
Download the Amplify Caminos Trade Book Collection Guide for Grades K–2.
Detailed information about text complexity ratings and descriptors; additional uses for the books before, during, and after domain instruction; and the complete list of domains and books for each grade level can be found in the More About the Books section of this guide.
Conocimiento Strand:
- Guía del maestro, Conocimiento 12: Luchar por una causa
- Cuaderno de actividades, Conocimientos 7–12
- Rotafolio de imágenes, Conocimiento 12
- Tarjetas de imágenes, Conocimiento 12
Lectoescritura Strand:
Additional resources
- Caminos Program Guide
- Biliteracy and Science of Reading Principles
- Amplify Caminos Conocimiento Scopes and Sequences
- Grade K Knowledge Strand
- Grade 1 Knowledge Strand
- Grade 2 Knowledge Strand
- Grade 3 Integrated Strand
- Grade 4 Integrated Strand
- Grade 5 Intgrated Strand
Amplify Caminos for SFUSD
Amplify Caminos is an authentic elementary Spanish language arts program. Like its English language counterpart, Amplify CKLA, Amplify Caminos provides explicit, systematic foundational skills instruction sequenced with deep knowledge-building content to foster comprehension. When used with Amplify CKLA, Amplify Caminos provides full parity across English and Spanish that’s suitable for any dual language implementation model.
Amplify and SFUSD Partnership
We recognize and respect the unique differences of each of our partnering districts—and that includes San Francisco USD.
Out of the box, Amplify Caminos offers districts a rich, comprehensive, research-based SELA experience. That said, no two districts are exactly alike. To that end, we are committed to working with San Francisco USD to ensure that Amplify Caminos addresses the needs of your community. This includes providing implementation guidance and support, as well as collaborating with your staff to determine which domains need to be modified or exchanged.
What is Amplify Caminos?
Amplify Caminos is a core Spanish language arts program for grades TK–5 that delivers:
- Authentic instruction built from the ground up for the Spanish language.
- A unique research-based approach truly built on the Science of Reading.
- A combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.
- Embedded support and differentiation that gets all students reading grade-level texts together.
- Opportunities for students to see the strengths and experiences that all people share while also celebrating each others’ unique identities and experiences.
Watch the video below to learn more about Amplify Caminos for Grades K–2.
Watch the video below to learn more about Amplify Caminos for Grades 3–5.
How does Amplify Caminos work?
Amplify Caminos is built on the science of how kids learn to read—in Spanish.
Amplify Caminos is all about helping you teach students how to read, all while giving them authentic and engaging reasons to read. That’s why Amplify Caminos develops foundational skills and builds knowledge in tandem.
- Knowledge: Through complex and authentic Spanish read-alouds with an emphasis on classroom interactivity, oral comprehension, and contextual vocabulary, students start to build their awareness of the world around them—and the way the reading skills they’re building give them access to it.
- Skills: Starting with the sounds at the core of the Spanish
language, students practice their phonemic awareness, handwriting skills, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. Through daily practice, students become aware of the connection between reading and writing, building confidence as they go.
Respecting the development differences between grade ranges, Amplify Caminos teaches foundational skills and background knowledge as two distinct strands in grades K–2, and combines them into one integrated strand in grades 3–5.
Grades K–2:
Every day, students in grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Amplify Caminos Conocimiento strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.
Grades 3–5:
In grades 3–5, the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura and Conocimiento strands are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.
What do Amplify Caminos students explore?
Amplify Caminos builds students’ knowledge about the world.
In addition to teaching all students to crack the written code (which is vital for fairness), the Amplify Caminos program helps students see the strengths and experiences we all share while celebrating their own unique identities and experiences.
This is accomplished through the exploration of topics and text that feature people who resemble students and familiar situations or experiences while also exposing them to people whose appearances, lives, beliefs, and backgrounds differ from their own.
Engaging domains
Amplify Caminos builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.
Throughout the program, students use their skills to explore domains that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world as seen through the eyes of many different groups.
Carefully selected to build from year-to-year, our grade-appropriate topics help students make and deepen connections while also reading, writing, and thinking creatively and for themselves.
New Knowledge Research Units for Grades K–5
Our brand-new Knowledge Research units carry forward Amplify Caminos’ powerful and proven instructional approach while also:
- Adding more content for students from all walks of life. The rich topics and highly visual components featured in these units provide students with even more “windows and mirrors” and perspectives as they work to build knowledge.
- Adding more authentic literature. Each new research unit revolves around a collection of high-interest authentic trade books that will spark more curiosity and inspire more inquiry.
- Adding more flexibility. Units can be implemented for extended core instruction during flex periods, district-designated Pausing Points, or enrichment periods.
Units cover a variety of rich and relevant topics:
With these new units, students will soar to new heights with Dr. Ellen Ochoa, Amelia Earhart, and the Tuskegee Airmen. They’ll feel the rhythm as they learn about Jazz legends Miles Davis, Tito Puente, and Duke Ellington. And they’ll explore the far reaches of the world with Jacques Cousteau, Matthew Henson, and Eugenie Clark.
- Grade K: El arte y el mundo que nos rodea
- Grade 1: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Grade 2: ¡A volar! La era de la aviación
- Grade 3: Jazz y más
- Grade 4: Energía: pasado, presente y futuro
- Grade 5: Más allá de Juneteenth: de 1865 al presente
Units will be made available in English and Spanish, and will include the following components:
- Teacher Guide
- Student Activity Books
- Image Cards
- Trade Book Collection
- Digital Components (for Grades K–3 and Grade 5 only)
Why we added this unit:
“Every child is an artist,” said Picasso, meaning that every child uses art to explore and understand the world around them. El arte y el mundo que nos rodea honors that truth by introducing Kindergarten students to some of the ways in which artists have explored and understood the world around them.
This domain introduces students to artists from different time periods, countries, and cultures. Throughout the unit, students learn about different kinds of art and how artists use the world around them as they make art. They also connect this to what they have already learned about the earth, plants, and animals in other Caminos domains: Granjas, Plantas, and Cuidar el planeta Tierra. In addition, students connect this to what they have learned about sculptors in the Presidentes y símbolos de los Estados Unidos domain. As they explore different artists and artistic traditions, they develop their ideas about how humans are connected to each other and to the world around them.
As you read the texts in this unit, students may observe ways in which the characters or subjects are both similar to and different from students. This is a good opportunity to teach students awareness and sensitivity, building on the idea that all people share some things in common, even as they have other things that make them unique. This unit also offers an excellent opportunity to collaborate with your school’s art teacher, as many lessons have suggested activities to help students understand the kind of art they are studying.
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:
- Use details to describe art.
- Identify three ways to create art.
- Identify characteristics of cave art.
- Sequence the steps of making pottery.
- Describe how artists can create work connected to the world around them.
- Describe what makes Kehinde Wiley’s portraits unique.
- Explain how the texture of a surface can affect artwork created on it.
- Explain what a sculpture is.
- Describe what makes James Turrell’s artwork about the sky unique.
- Explain what a museum is and what kinds of things you can see or do there.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Georgia O’Keeffe por Erica Salcedo
- Yayoi Kusama: De aquí al infinito por Sarah Suzuki
- Tejedora del arcoíris por Linda Elovitz Marshall
- Las tijeras de Matisse por Jeanette Winter
- El museo por Susan Verde
- Quizás algo hermoso: Cómo el arte transformó un barrio por F. Isabel Campoy
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
- Guía del maestro: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Cuaderno de actividades: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Tarjetas de imágenes: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Componentes digitales: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
Why we added this unit:
This domain introduces students to adventure stories set around the world and challenges students to dig into the adventures through research. By listening to the Read-Alouds and trade books, students increase their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, learn valuable lessons about perseverance and teamwork, and become familiar with gathering information for research.
In this unit, students study the careers of real-world explorers Dr. Eugenie Clark and Sophia Danenberg, marvel at the inventions of Jacques Cousteau, think critically about how teamwork and collaboration can make greater adventures possible, learn about the science and technology that enable adventures, and research some of the ways humans have confronted challenges at the edges of the world, from the oceans below to space above.
Each lesson in the domain builds students’ research skills as they ask questions, gather information, and write a paragraph about their findings. Students share what they have learned about adventures in an Adventure Gallery Walkthrough. By taking on the persona of one of the adventurers they meet in the Read-Alouds and trade books, students deliver their final paragraphs as if they are a “speaking portrait” of that person. Students are invited to dress up as that adventurer if they desire.
In addition, teachers can set aside time outside the instructional block to create the picture frames students will hold as they present to the Adventure Gallery Walk guests. Frames can be made from shirt boxes, cardboard, construction paper, or any art supplies that are on hand. This might be an opportunity to collaborate with the school’s art department if resources are available. Another option is to ask students to make their frames at home with their caregivers. On the day of the Adventure Gallery Walk, students will be the hosts and take on specific jobs, such as welcoming the guests, describing their work throughout the unit, and pointing out the areas of study on the domain bulletin board. You can find a complete list of student jobs in Lesson 13.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in the previous grade.
- Rimas y fábulas infantiles (Kindergarten)
- Cuentos (Kindergarten)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- My Name Is Gabito/Me llamo Gabito por Monica Brown
- Galápagos Girl/Galapagueña por Marsha Diane Arnold
- My Name Is Gabriela/Me llamo Gabriela por Monica Brown
- El viaje de Kalak por María Quintana Silva y Marie-Noëlle Hébert
- Señorita Mariposa por Ben Gundersheimer
- Sharuko, el arqueólogo peruano/Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello por Monica Brown
- Abuelita fue al mercado por Stella Blackstone
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
With this domain, students head up, up, and away with an introduction to the soaring history of aviation. Students learn the stories of early aviators, such as the Montgolfier brothers, the Wright brothers, Aida de Acosta, and Amelia Earhart.
During the unit, students study the science of flight, including the physics concept of lift, and research the social impacts of the world of flight. Finally, students let their research skills take flight as they explore key figures from the world of aviation.
The lessons in this domain build on earlier Grade 2 Caminos domains about the westward expansion, early Greek civilizations, and Greek myths, and lay the foundation for learning about other periods of world history in future grades.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered earlier in the year.
- La civilización griega antigua (Grade 2)
- Mitos griegos (Grade 2)
- La expansión hacia el oeste (Grade 2)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in ¡A volar! La era de la aviación. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- ¡A volar! Todo sobre aviones por Jennifer Prior
- Amelia sabe volar por Mara dal Corso
- Héroes de la aviación que cambiaron el mundo por Dan Green
- El niño que alcanzó las estrellas por José M. Hernández
- La niña que aprendió a volar por Sylvia Acevedo
- Buenas Noches Capitán Mamá por Graciela Tiscareño-Sato
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
This domain teaches students about the vibrant music, poetry, and culture of the Jazz Age in the United States. Students learn about famous writers and musicians like Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Melba Liston, Tito Puente, and Miles Davis. They study how the jazz art form took root in the South, then spread to the North to become the sound of the Harlem Renaissance, eventually connecting people around the world in musical expression.
During this unit, students perform guided research to further explore both the history of jazz and what jazz is today. They develop research skills and then use those skills to find deeper connections between the stories and music of the Jazz Age and music today. As students learn about the world of jazz, they collaborate and share ideas with their classmates. They also practice sharing feedback focused on their written work, and, at the end of the unit, students present their research to the group.
The lessons give students opportunities to dive into the rhythms and stories of jazz, utilizing the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively generate research questions about jazz, jazz musicians, contemporary musicians from the state where they live or have lived, and the evolution of jazz music.
- Utilize Read-Alouds, independent reading, and partner reading to learn about the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, jazz music, and biographies of celebrated jazz musicians and writers.
- Research the answers to their generated questions, gather information, write a short research essay about a famous jazz musician, write a short essay about a contemporary musician from the state where they live or have lived, and give a presentation about their research.
How this unit builds knowledge:
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:
- Ask relevant questions and make pertinent comments
- Identify details in texts
- Determine key ideas of texts by evaluating details
- Make text-based inferences
- Generate questions based on prior knowledge and gathered information
- Synthesize details across texts to demonstrate comprehension
- Discuss and explain an author’s purpose
- Identify and cite reliable primary and secondary sources of information
- Compose a well-organized and focused informative essay
- Make connections between topics
- Present information using appropriate media
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- ¡Esquivel! Un artista del sonido de la era espacial por Susan Wood
- Ray Charles por Sharon Bell Mathis
- Tito Puente, el Rey del Mambo por Monica Brown
- Me llamo Celia, la vida de Celia Cruz por Monica Brown
- ¡Azúcar! por Ivar Da Coll
In this unit, students also read the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. (Available for free through the Academy of American Poets website and the Poetry Foundation website, with recorded audio available through the website for John Hancock College Preparatory High School.)
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
With this domain, students become tomorrow’s problem solvers in this study of energy in the United States. Analytical reading skills are developed by examining the challenges of early energy innovators. Students then read about current energy practices and young energy change-makers across the world.
Throughout the unit, students conduct research into different sources of energy and present a proposal, putting them in the shoes of future energy innovators. They also use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively analyze texts to identify cause-effect and problem-solution relationships.
- Generate questions and conduct research about energy.
- Write an opinion essay making their case for a fuel of the future.
- Create energy proposals using primary and secondary resources.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in previous grades as well as earlier in the year.
- Plantas (Grade K)
- La historia de la Tierra (Grade 1)
- ¡Eureka! Estudiante inventor (Grade 4)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Energía: pasado, presente y futuro. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- La historia de los combustibles fósiles por William B. Rice
- El niño que domó el viento por William Kamkwamba y Bryan Mealer
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
Within this domain, Students learn about General Granger’s announcement in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, a day marked in history as Juneteenth. Texts and multimedia sources will support foundational knowledge-building about the end of slavery in the United States. A review of the first freedom announcement, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, provides students with background knowledge to further emphasize the significance of Juneteenth in American history.
This unit also takes students on a journey beyond Juneteenth, as they study specific contributions of African Americans from 1865 to the present day. Students participate in a virtual field trip to Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas and use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively generate research questions about Juneteenth, The Great Migration, innovators and inventors, education, the humanities, activists, and allies.
- Use Read-Alouds, independent, and partner reading to learn about African American contributions from 1865 to the present.
- Research to find answers to their generated questions, gather information, and write a four-chapter Beyond Juneteenth book.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in previous grades.
- Los nativos americanos (Grade K)
- Una nueva nación: la independencia de los Estados Unidos (Grade 1)
- La Guerra Civil de los Estaods Unidos (Grade 2)
- La inmigración (Grade 2)
- Los nativos americanos (Grade 5)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Más allá de Juneteenth: de 1865 al presente
. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad escrito por Emma Otheguy
- ¡Celebremos Juneteenth! escrito por Carole Boston Weatherford
- Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/La Historia de Dolores Huerta y César Chávez escrito por Monica Brown
- Canto de alabanza para el día: Poema para la ceremonia inaugural del mandato de Barack Obama escrito por Elizabeth Alexander, traducido por Rodrigo Rojas
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Wide-ranging texts
Amplify Caminos puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day.
Amplify Caminos includes both transadaptations and authentic texts written by Latin American and Spanish authors. Our texts feature a wide variety of authors, topics, individuals and characters representing many different socioeconomic statuses, ages, abilities, races, ethnicities, countries of origin, religions, and more.
Amplify Caminos texts include:
- Authentic literature: Authentic literature exposes students to a variety of text types and perspectives to deepen their knowledge of fascinating topics in social studies, science, literature, and the arts. Authentic texts support text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text connections for readers.
- Decodable Student Readers: Decodable Student Readers at grades K–2 are newly redesigned to include students from all walks of life and educational backgrounds. They feature characters with a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, ages, races, religions, and more.
- ReadWorks® texts: Amplify and ReadWorks have partnered to deliver high-quality texts curated to support the Amplify Caminos Knowledge Sequence and to extend student learning. Texts include high-interest nonfiction articles in topics in social studies, science, literature, and the arts. These texts are accompanied by vocabulary supports and standards-aligned formative assessment opportunities. Teachers can monitor their students’ progress using the ReadWorks reporting features.
Amplify Caminos Trade Book Collection Guide
Each book in our authentic literature collection was selected specifically to support and enhance the content of the K-2 Conocimiento Strand. These anchor texts are intended for use as an introduction to each domain—engaging students, piquing their curiosity, and building initial background knowledge—before diving into the deeper content of the domain Read-Alouds.
Every trade book has an instructional guide that includes the following:
- Author and illustrator
- Book summary
- The Essential Question of the Knowledge domain, connecting the book to the domain
- Key Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary words found in the book
- A group activity to reinforce and extend students’ knowledge and understanding
- A performance task to help gauge students’ comprehension of concepts in the text
- Writing prompts to expand understanding and critical thinking
- Text complexity ratings and descriptors for quantitative, qualitative, and reader/task categories
Download the Amplify Caminos Trade Book Collection Guide for Grades K–2.
Detailed information about text complexity ratings and descriptors; additional uses for the books before, during, and after domain instruction; and the complete list of domains and books for each grade level can be found in the More About the Books section of this guide.
What makes Amplify Caminos different?
Built on the Science of Reading
Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify Caminos delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.
Explicit systematic skills instruction
The skills instruction in Amplify Caminos was distinctly developed with the Spanish language in mind. Its foundational lessons are specific to the language, rather than a direct translation from Amplify CKLA’s English skills instruction.
Reading instruction begins with the vowels first, then the most common consonants, and finally the least common consonants. Students will blend and segment sounds to form syllables, and syllables to form words.
Although Spanish has a highly predictable orthography, there are a few silent letters (h is always silent, u is silent after g or q), as well as letters that can make different sounds, depending on the letters that follow them. For that reason, syllables with these letters are taught somewhat later in the progression. The same is true for syllables with infrequently occurring consonants, such as z, k, x, and w.
Coherent knowledge instruction
While students are learning how to read, the Conocimiento strand gives them authentic and engaging reasons to read.
Amplify Caminos uses spiral learning to reinforce every student’s ability to develop skills like reading, writing, speaking, and listening in Spanish that can be transferred to English. As students engage with their lessons, they explore the similarities and differences in grammar, vocabulary, writing, and language use between Spanish and English. This bridge helps students learning two languages to strengthen their knowledge in both.
Through cross-curricular content, students explore units that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world in a holistic and thoughtful way. With these units, you’ll bring the world to your students, showing them how reading can become an exciting, rewarding, and useful part of their lives.
Embedded differentiation for all learners
Amplify Caminos provides built-in differentiation strategies and supports in every lesson.
- Apoyo a la enseñanza y desafío: Support and Challenge suggestions in every lesson provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson.
- Notas culturales: These point-of-use notes provide additional information about the traditions, foods, holidays, word variations, and more from across the Spanish-speaking world.
- Apoyo adicional: Every lesson in the Lectoescritura (Skills) Strand provides additional support activities suggested to reinforce foundational skills instruction. These activities can be given to any student who requires extra help, including students with special needs.
Systematic and cohesive writing instruction
Writing instruction in Amplify Caminos builds systematically and cohesively within and across grades.
In Grades K-2, writing mechanics—including handwriting and spelling—are taught in the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura strand. Starting in Grade 1, instruction includes four steps in the writing process: planning, drafting, editing, and publishing and features lessons that have modeling, collaboration, and sharing. As students gain skills and confidence, they are able to take on more of these steps independently. Students learn to use planning techniques, including brainstorming and graphic organizers.
Beginning in Grade 4, the Amplify Caminos writing process expands to also include sharing and evaluating. In Grades 4 and 5, the writing process is no longer conceptualized as a series of scaffolded, linear steps (an important change from the Grade 3 writing process). Rather, students move between components of the writing process in a flexible manner, similar to the process mature and experienced writers follow naturally.
Amplify Caminos’ writing instruction provides a clear progression through the text types in each grade.
Because Amplify Caminos has two strands of lessons in Grades K-2, Lectoescritura and Conocimiento, students are exposed to both narrative and informational texts throughout the year. In Grades 3-5, the integrated units feature study in literary, informational, or a mix of both types of texts, depending on the content of the unit.
- Grades K–2 introduce and establish the key elements of each text type, allowing students to gain comfort and confidence writing narratives, opinions, and informative texts. This enables students to practice thinking about content in different ways, offering more depth and breadth to their understanding of core content and of the writing text types.
- By Grade 3, students will have gained significant practice in narrative, opinion/argumentative, and informational/explanatory forms of writing and will continue to apply those skills through Grade 5.
How does Amplify Caminos integrate with the other parts of the literacy system?
Amplify Caminos + mCLASS® Lectura
Achieve complete parity between English and Spanish assessments with mCLASS Lectura for K–6. mCLASS Lectura allows teachers to connect with their Spanish-speaking students face-to-face, one-on-one, and in the language most comfortable to them. The result? Valid and reliable student data reports
available in both English and Spanish, enabling teachers to pinpoint where their Spanish-speaking or emergent bilingual students really are in their skill development and what instruction to prioritize.
Amplify Caminos + Amplify Reading
Amplify Reading is an engaging, adaptive digital program that extends the learning in Amplify Caminos. Amplify Reading offers support to a large sub-group of English learners (ELs) through Spanish voice-over. Spanish voiceover instructions are available in vocabulary and sentence-level comprehension games so ELs can build their vocabulary, language, and critical comprehension skills before moving into analyzing complex texts
Demo access and sample materials
Ready to explore on your own? First, watch the videos below to learn about the program’s components and how to navigate the digital platform.
Physical materials walkthrough video
Digital navigation video
Demo access
Next, follow the instructions below to access your demo account.
- Click the CKLA and Caminos Demo button below.
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- To explore as a teacher, enter this username: t1.sfusdreviewer@demo.tryamplify.net
- To explore as a student, enter this username: s1.sfusdreviewer@demo.tryamplify.net
- Enter the password: Amplify1-sfusdreviewer
- Click the Programs and apps menu
- Select CKLA Teacher Resource Site
- Select the desire grade level
- Use the toggle to switch between English (CKLA) and Spanish (Caminos) resources.
Sample materials
Finally, click on the grade levels below to explore your requested sample units.
Conocimiento Strand:
- Guía del maestro, Conocimiento 12: Luchar por una causa
- Cuaderno de actividades, Conocimientos 7–12
- Rotafolio de imágenes, Conocimiento 12
- Tarjetas de imágenes, Conocimiento 12
Lectoescritura Strand:
Additional resources
- Caminos Program Guide
- Biliteracy and Science of Reading Principles
- Amplify Caminos Conocimiento Scopes and Sequences
- Grade K Knowledge Strand
- Grade 1 Knowledge Strand
- Grade 2 Knowledge Strand
- Grade 3 Integrated Strand
- Grade 4 Integrated Strand
- Grade 5 Intgrated Strand
CKLA – Knowledge Research Units for K–5
Amplify CKLA Review for Alabama
From talk to text: How language skills shape reading success, with Charles Hulme, D.Phil., and MaryKate DeSantis
Transcripts and additional resources:
Meet Our Guest(s):
Charles Hulme, D.Phil.
Charles Hulme is emeritus professor of psychology and education at the University of Oxford. He has broad research interests in reading, language, and memory processes and their development; and is an expert on randomized controlled trials in education. He has published widely and is in the top 2% for citations of all researchers in the field of education. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Oslo (2014) and is a member of Academia Europea and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He was also elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2017.
MaryKate DeSantis
MaryKate DeSantis is the founder of Left Side Strong LLC. Her experience working in a large urban school district as a special education teacher, reading specialist, and district-wide literacy coach has fueled her passion for translational research to ensure that all children receive evidence-based instruction. Her background in teaching reading sparked an interest in researching language, literacy, and developmental trajectories. She is a full-time faculty member in the Speech and Language Literacy Lab at MGH Institute of Health Professions, and is also an ongoing-research collaborator with the BRIDGES Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
She has also served as a clinician in the Neurology Department at Boston Children’s Hospital, is an adjunct professor at the Boston College Lynch School of Human Development, and is a Ph.D. student in educational psychology at the University of Connecticut.
Meet our host, Susan Lambert
Susan Lambert is chief academic officer of literacy at Amplify and host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Lambert is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.
As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Lambert explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. A former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, she’s dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.
Quotes
“Reading comprehension is the process of taking the meaning from printed symbols on a page and translating them into a linguistic and cognitive code. It's making contact with the processes of language comprehension.”
“Language comprehension is really what leads us to reading comprehension.”
“We've got to start from the premise that reading is language. Without language, there would be no reading. Reading is a process that involves taking language in its written form and translating it back into its original form, which is spoken language.”
“If we go back in development, language skills appear to form the foundation for the ability to decode print, as well as the foundation for the ability to understand what is decoded.”
“Language skills are unconstrained, meaning the sky's the limit. As long as you continue to engage in any sort of way, your language skills can continue to develop throughout your lifetime.”
“We talk about learning to read, but we also need to talk about reading to learn. A lot of what we learn in our lives is through reading, and reading is certainly a powerful driver of vocabulary and language development.”
“Focusing on language is worth the time. … When we treat it as foundational, that's when we will give more students access to success.”
“If we want better readers, we have to grow better language users.”
What’s included in our Spanish language arts curriculum
Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is available in both English and Spanish. Amplify Caminos al Conocimiento Esencial, our robust Spanish language arts companion for grades K–5, supports multiple teaching models, including dual language immersion and transitional classrooms.
Year at a glance
The program’s intentional Knowledge Sequence from K–5 connects knowledge and vocabulary within a grade level and across grade levels, for deeper reading comprehension and preparation for college, career, and life. Instead of “activating prior knowledge,” Amplify Caminos helps you build it in the classroom from day one, for every child, expanding each student’s knowledge base long before they transition to reading to learn.
Units & domains at a glance
Each Knowledge Domain in grades K–2 and Unit in grades 3–5 varies in the number of days based on instructional purpose. Just as with our top-rated Amplify CKLA program, the Amplify Caminos materials engage and delight young learners with resources that are both appealing and original.
Domain
Nursery Rhymes and Fables/Rimas y fábulas infantiles
Start learning about literature with these classic Mother Goose rhymes.
Domain
The Five Senses/Los cinco sentidos
Learning about the body starts with learning about how we experience the world.
Domain
Stories/Cuentos
Learn about the parts of a book and some of the stories that go in one.
Domain
Plants/Plantas
Discover the lifecycle of plants and the history of George Washington Carver.
Domain
Farms/Granjas
Now we know how plants make their food… but what about animals?
Domain
Native Americans/Los nativos americanos
Who were the first people in America? A look at the Lenape, Wampanoag, and Lakota Sioux.
Domain
Kings and Queens/Reyes y reinas
To understand fairy tales, it’s best to first understand royalty.
Domain
Seasons and Weather/Las estaciones y el tiempo
The study of natural cycles continues with the weather and why it happens.
Domain
Columbus and the Pilgrims/Colón y los peregrinos
A look at the first contact between Europe and the Americas, and some of its results.
Domain
Colonial Towns and Townspeople/Las colonias y sus habitantes
Before the War for Independence, how did the town and country depend on one another?
Domain
Taking Care of the Earth/Cuidar el planeta Tierra
We only have one Earth—here are some ways to help care for it.
Domain
Presidents and American Symbols/Presidentes y símbolos de los Estados Unidos
Start learning about government through the lives of five presidents.
Domain
Fables and Stories/Fábulas y cuentos
Learn some of the key elements of a story through classic fables.
Domain
The Human Body/El cuerpo humano
What are germs? What are the organs? And what does it all have to do with health?
Domain
Different Lands, Similar Stories/Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares
A world tour of storytelling, and the stories that stay the same across the world.
Domain
Early World Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones del mundo
Rivers, farming, writing, and laws: just what does it take to build a civilization?
Domain
Early American Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones de América
What will we find in the great temples of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations?
Domain
Astronomy/Astronomía
How the Earth relates to the moon, the sun, and the rest of the planets.
Domain
The History of the Earth/La historia de la Tierra
Just what lies beneath the Earth’s surface, and what can it teach us about the past?
Domain
Animals and Habitats/Los animales y sus hábitats
A look at the connection between how animals live and where they make their homes.
Domain
Fairy Tales/Cuentos de hadas
What do fairy tales have to teach us about how stories are told?
Domain
A New Nation: American Independence/Una nueva nación: la independencia de los Estados Unidos
The story of the birth of the United States out of the 13 Colonies.
Domain
Frontier Explorers/Exploradores de la Frontera
The story of the journey west from the newborn U.S.A. to find the Pacific Ocean.
Domain
Fairy Tales and Tall Tales/Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados
Learn about exaggeration and characterization on the frontier.
Domain
Early Asian Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones de Asia
Tour the world of classical civilization, starting with India and China.
Domain
Ancient Greek Civilization/La civilización griega antigua
The tour continues with the philosophy and politics of Greece.
Domain
Greek Myths/Mitos griegos
Dive deep into the characters and storytelling of classic myths.
Domain
The War of 1812/La guerra de 1812
Learn about America’s “Second War for Independence.”
Domain
Cycles in Nature/Los ciclos de la naturaleza
Introducing the natural cycles that make our lives possible.
Domain
Westward Expansion/La expansión hacia el oeste
Why did pioneers go west? What happened to the people who were there?
Domain
Insects/Los insectos
Lay the grounds for animal classification by looking at solitary and social insects.
Domain
The U.S. Civil War/La Guerra Civil de los Estados Unidos
Begin to grapple with U.S. history’s central crisis over slavery.
Domain
Human Body: Building Blocks and Nutrition/El cuerpo humano: componentes básicos y nutrición
A deeper dive into the digestive system and the nutrition process.
Domain
Immigration/La inmigración
Why did people immigrate to the United States, and what did they find here?
Domain
Fighting for a Cause/Luchar por una causa
How people can do extraordinary things to make the world better for everyone.
Unit 1
Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows/Cuentos Clásicos: El viento en los sauces
A deep dive into character, theme, and POV in classic stories from around the world.
Unit 2
Animal Classification/La clasificación de los animales
How do we classify different animals by their appearance and behavior?
Unit 3
The Human Body: Systems and Senses/El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
Let’s take a closer look at how the skeleton, muscles, and nervous system all work.
Unit 4
The Ancient Roman Civilization/La civilización romana antigua
What is Rome’s greatest cultural contribution? In this unit, your students decide.
Unit 5
Light and Sound/La luz y el sonido
The science behind all the ways we see and hear the world.
Unit 6
The Viking Age/La era vikinga
An immersive narrative experience about what life was like in Viking communities.
Unit 7
Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond/Astronomía: nuestro sistema solar y más allá
More about our universe, including a writing project about daily life on a space station.
Unit 8
Native Americans: Regions and Cultures/Los nativos americanos: regiones y culturas
How did Native American nations change their way of life in different parts of the world?
Unit 9
Early Explorations of North America/La exploración europea de América del Norte
What was it like to sail to North America with the early European explorers?
Unit 10
Colonial America/La época colonial en los Estados Unidos
A study of the very different ways of life in the different pre-U.S. colonies.
Unit 11
Ecology/Ecología
Students keep ecologist’s journals to learn about our world and how best to protect it.
Unit 1
Personal Narratives/Narrativas personales
Read stories of personal experience… and learn to reflect on your own.
Unit 2
Empires in the Middle Ages/Los imperios en la Edad Media, parte 1 & Los imperios en la Edad Media, parte 2
Explore the medieval history of Europe and the Middle East.
Unit 3
Poetry/Poesía
Study the poetry of many nations using licensed text anthologies, and begin to write your own.
Unit 4
Eureka! Student Inventor/¡Eureka! Estudiante inventor
Transform the class into a lab for students to build and present inventions.
Unit 5
Geology/Geología
Plate tectonics, volcanoes, erosion: all the forces that shape the Earth.
Unit 6
Contemporary Fiction with excerpts from The House on Mango Street/Ficción Contemporánea con Fragmentos de La Casa en Mango Street
Explore The House on Mango Street… and write a book while doing it.
Unit 7
American Revolution/La Revolución estadounidense
Why did America seek independence? Let’s investigate the causes and effects.
Unit 8
Treasure Island/La Isla del Tesoro
How dSeek the treasure of plot in this detailed study of a classic fiction adventure.
Unit 1
Personal Narratives/Narrativas personales
Through writing and sharing their writing, students begin to identify themselves as writers.
Unit 2
Early American Civilizations/Las primeras civilizaciones americanas
Students craft a codex to explain the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca people.
Unit 3
Poetry/Poesía
Students close read many forms of poetry… and learn to write them.
Unit 4
Adventures of Don Quixote/Las Aventuras de Don Quijote
Was Don Quixote right to fight the windmill? In this full-length novel study, students decide.
Unit 5
The Renaissance/El Renacimiento
Exploring the art and literature of the Renaissance through the works of its masters.
Unit 6
The Reformation/La Reforma
How did the printing press transform the religion and society of Europe?
Unit 7
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream/Sueño de Una Noche de Verano de William Shakespeare
Students enter the world of Shakespeare by reading, designing, and acting out his work.
Unit 8
Native Americans/Los nativos americanos
How did the policies of the U.S. government impact Native American culture and lives?
Unit 9
Chemical Matter/Química
Students use knowledge of chemistry to solve a mystery.
Print & digital components
The program includes instructional guidance and student materials for a year of instruction, with lessons and activities that keep students engaged every day.
Component
FORMAT
Knowledge (Conocimientos) Teacher Guides (K–2)
Knowledge Strand Teacher Guides contain Amplify CKLA’s cross-curricular read-alouds and application activities, all of which are standards-based to build mastery of content knowledge and literacy skills. There is one Teacher Guide per Knowledge Domain.
Print and digital
Knowledge Image Cards (K–2)
Amplify Caminos includes Image Cards for each Knowledge Domain to bring each topic to life through vivid visuals.
Print and digital
Knowledge Flip Books (K–2)
Projectable Flip Books are provided to accompany the read-alouds in each Knowledge Domain.
Digital
Teacher Guides (3–5)
Teacher Guides for grades 3–5 units are based on content-rich topics and incorporate reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in the context of background knowledge. There is one Teacher Guide per unit.
Print or digital
Teacher Resource Site (K–5)
The program includes a one-stop-shop website for lesson projections, digital versions of all Amplify Caminos materials, lesson planning resources, multimedia (such as eBooks), and more.
Digital
Professional Learning Site (K–5)
The Professional Learning site includes training materials, best practices, and other resources to develop program expertise. Access professional development anywhere, anytime.
Digital
Component
FORMAT
Knowledge (Conocimiento) Activity Books (K–2)
Activity Books provide students with the opportunity to deepen world and word knowledge by responding to text in a diversity of ways.
Student Readers (3–5)
Student Readers serve as content-rich anchor texts for each unit. Units such as Poetry and Contemporary Fiction feature authentic texts originally written in Spanish.
Activity Books (3–5)
Activity Books in grades 3–5 provide daily opportunities for students to hone reading and writing skills within the context of each unit.
Print and digital
Explore more programs
Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.
Welcome to the Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition program review site!
We’re excited to share everything you need to review Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition, our K–5 core literacy program. On this site, you’ll find a range of materials, including Teacher Guides, Activity Books, and Student Readers, organized by grade and unit.
Please note that the files on this site are static representations of the high-quality materials you’ll receive with your purchase.
We hope you find the site helpful! If you have any questions, please reach out to your Amplify representative.
Reviewer resources
Access key materials designed to support your review of Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition.
- Program Guide
- Components Guide
- Choice Units Overview
- Text Types and Text Complexity Guide
- Writing Brochure
- Assessment Overview
- K–5 Knowledge Map
- Curriculum Maps by Grade and Strand:
- Scope and sequence by Grade and Strand:
- Text Types and Range of Writing by Grade:
Kindergarten
Explore all available resources for Kindergarten, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
|
Unit 1: Star Light, Star Bright: Nursery Rhymes and Fables |
Unit 2: See, Hear, Smell, Taste, Touch: The Five Senses |
Unit 3: Underdogs and Heroes: Stories |
|
Unit 4: See How They Grow: Plants |
Unit 5: Moo, Cluck, Oink: Farms |
Unit 6: Deep Roots: Introduction to Native American Cultures |
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Unit 7: All Around the World: Geography |
Unit 8 (Choice): Royal Tales: Monarchs |
Unit 8 (Choice): National Icons: Presidents and American Symbols |
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Unit 9 (Choice): Our Planet: Taking Care of the Earth |
Unit 9 (Choice): Rain and Rainbows: Seasons and Weather |
Unit 10: Shaped by Nature: Art and the World Around Us
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Skills Strand
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Unit 7 |
Unit 8 |
Unit 9 |
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Unit 10 |
Ancillary Components |
Grade 1
Explore all available resources for Grade 1, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
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Unit 1: The Moral of the Story: Fables and Tales |
Unit 2: From Nose to Toes: How Your Body Works |
Unit 3: Common Threads: Different Lands, Similar Stories |
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Unit 4: Reach for the Stars: Astronomy |
Unit 5: Charting the World: Geography |
Unit 6: A World of Homes: Animals and Habitats |
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Unit 7: A New Nation: American Independence |
Unit 8 (Choice): Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tales |
Unit 8 (Choice): Our Planet: The History of the Earth |
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Unit 9 (Choice): From Babylon to the Nile: Early World Civilizations |
Unit 9 (Choice): Early Americas: Maya, Aztec, and Inca |
Unit 10: Adventure Stories: Tales from the Edge
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Skills Strand
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Unit 7 |
Ancillary Components |
Grade 2
Explore all available resources for Grade 2, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
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Unit 1: Fortunes and Feats: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales |
Unit 2: The Birthplace of Democracy: Ancient Greece |
Unit 3: Legends and Heroes: Greek Myths |
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Unit 4: Our Planet: Cycles in Nature |
Unit 5: Butterflies, Bees, and Beetles: Insects |
Unit 6: A House Divided: The American Civil War |
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Unit 7: Sounds and Stanzas: Poetry |
Unit 8 (Choice): Journeys to America: Immigration |
Unit 8 (Choice): Making a Difference: Creating Change |
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Unit 9 (Choice): Building Blocks: All About Nutrition |
Unit 9 (Choice): Early Asian Civilizations: India and China |
Unit 10: Taking Flight: The Age of Aviation
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Skills Strand
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Ancillary Components |
Grade 3
Explore all available resources for Grade 3, organized by unit.
Core Units
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Unit 1: Timeless Tales: Classic Stories |
Unit 2: Fur, Fins, and Feathers: Animal Classification |
Unit 3: Rhythm and Rhyme: Poetry |
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Unit 4: Rise and Fall: Ancient Rome |
Unit 5: Our Solar System and Beyond: Astronomy |
Unit 6: Regions and Cultures: Native Americans |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: Charlotte’s Web
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: Stella Díaz Has Something to Say
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Unit 8 (Choice): Systems and Senses: The Human Body |
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Unit 8 (Choice): From Glow to Echo: Light and Sound |
Unit 9: From Blues to Bebop: All That Jazz
|
Supplemental Skills
Grade 3 Skills resources are included in core classroom kits, although the instruction isn’t required for Grade 3 standards coverage.
|
Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Grade 4
Explore all available resources for Grade 4, organized by unit.
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Unit 1: My Story, My Voice: Personal Narratives |
Unit 2: Knights and Castles: Europe’s Middle Ages |
Unit 3: Meaning and Metaphor: Poetry |
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Unit 4: Eureka! Student Inventor |
Unit 5: Our Planet: Geology |
Unit 6: Road to Independence: The American Revolution |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Season of Styx Malone
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Unit 8 (Choice): Crafting Stories: A World of Tales |
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Unit 8 (Choice): Adventure on the High Seas: Treasure Island |
Unit 9: Inspiration and Ingenuity: American Innovation
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Grade 5
Explore all available resources for Grade 5, organized by unit.
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Unit 1: In My Own Words: Personal Narratives |
Unit 2: Early Americas: Maya, Aztec, and Inca |
Unit 3: Visions in Verse: Poetry |
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Unit 4: A Knight’s Tale: Don Quixote
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Unit 5: The Deep Blue World: Oceans |
Unit 6: Cultures and Histories: Native Americans |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Phantom Tollbooth
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Science of Breakable Things
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Unit 8 (Choice): Arts and Culture: The Renaissance |
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Unit 8 (Choice): Through the Forest: A Midsummer Night’s Dream |
Unit 9: Building Up the World: Global Architecture
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Digital platform
Amplify CKLA’s all-in-one platform offers essential tools that streamline instruction for teachers and engage students with meaningful content. Teachers can plan and deliver lessons efficiently, while students can access assignments, assessments, and fun practice games.
Presentation Screens
Deliver interactive lessons with ready-made, customizable slides for every lesson.
Auto-scored digital assessments
Assess vocabulary, comprehension, and knowledge development at the end of each K–2 Knowledge and 3–5 Integrated Unit.
Standards-based reports
Identify strengths and growth areas for individuals, small groups, or your entire class. Interactive dashboards offer detailed results from assessments and activities.
Skill-building practice games
Engage students with interactive games that reinforce concepts and make learning fun. Powered by Boost Reading™, these games align with lessons and provide real-time feedback.
eReader
Students access texts, take notes, and use audio-enabled eReaders to enhance their reading experience.
Sound Library
Students watch articulation videos and listen to songs for each sound to support phonological awareness.
Vocab App
Helps students in Grades 3–5 practice Amplify CKLA Tier 2 vocabulary words with fun, interactive games.
Intervention Toolkit
Offers user-friendly resources designed to aid educators in identifying and addressing deficiencies in students’ foundation skills.
Welcome Texas Home Learning Users!
Note: This site is no longer being actively updated. To access the latest 2021-22 Elementary Literacy Program instructional materials, please visit my.amplify.com.
If you have any questions, please reach out to texashomelearning@tea.texas.gov
Grade K
- English
- Spanish
Skills Unit 1
Skills Unit 2
Skills Unit 3
Skills Unit 4
Knowledge 1: Nursery Rhymes and Fables
Knowledge 2: The Five Senses
Knowledge 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
Knowledge 4: Plants: How Do They Grow?
Conocimiento 1: Rimas y fábulas infantiles
Conocimiento 2: Los cinco sentidos
Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
Conocimiento 4: Plantas: ¿cómo crecen?
Grade 1
- English
- Spanish
Skills Unit 1
Skills Unit 2
Skills Unit 3
Skills Unit 4
Knowledge 1: Fables and Stories
Knowledge 2: The Human Body
Knowledge 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories
Knowledge 4: Different Lands, Similar Stories
Conocimiento 1: Fábulas y cuentos
Conocimiento 2: El cuerpo humano
Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares
Conocimiento 4: Antiguas civilizaciones de América
Grade 2
- English
- Spanish
Skills Unit 1
Skills Unit 2
Skills Unit 3
Skills Unit 4
Knowledge 1: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales
Knowledge 2: The Ancient Greek Civilization
Knowledge 3: Stories from Mount Olympus
Knowledge 4: The War of 1812
Conocimiento 1: Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados
Conocimiento 2: La civilización griega antigua
Conocimiento 3: Historias del monte Olimpo
Conocimiento 4: La guerra de 1812
Grade 3
- English
- Spanish
Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
Unit 4: The Ancient Roman Civilization
Unidad 1: Cuentos clásicos: El viento en los sauces
Unidad 2: Escamas, plumas y pelaje: la clasificación de los animales
Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
Unidad 4: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
Grade 4
- English
- Spanish
Unit 1: Personal Narratives: My Story, My Voice
Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention
Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle
Unit 4: American Revolution: Building a Nation
Unidad 1: Narrativas personales: mi historia, mi voz
Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
Unidad 3: Ficción contemporánea: mi calle, tu calle
Unidad 4: La Revolución estadounidense: construir una nación
- English
- Spanish
Grade 5
- English
- Spanish
Unit 1: Personal Narratives: Let Me Tell You a Story
Unit 2: The Renaissance: Art and Culture
Unit 3: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
Unit 4: Don Quixote: A Hopeful Knight’s Tale
Unidad 1: Narrativas personales: déjame contarte una historia
Unidad 2: El Renacimiento: arte y cultura
Unidad 3: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes
Unidad 4: Don Quijote: la historia de un caballero optimista
Coming Soon!
Welcome
Elementary Literacy Program – Family Welcome Letter
Lectoescritura en Español – Carta de bienvenida para las familias
Grade K
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Skills Unit 4
- Knowledge Domain 1: Nursery Rhymes and Fables
- Knowledge Domain 2: The Five Senses
- Knowledge Domain 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Teacher Guide 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Trade Book Guide 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Digital Components 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Flip Book 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Image Cards 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Domain 4: Plants: How Do They Grow?
- Ancillary Materials
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Activity Book 1 (PDF)
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Activity Book 2 (PDF)
- Skills Unit 3
- Skills Activity Book 3 (PDF)
- Skills Unit 4
- Skills Activity Book 4 (PDF)
- Knowledge Domain 1: Nursery Rhymes and Fables
- Knowledge Domain 2: The Five Senses
- Knowledge Activity Book 2: The Five Senses (PDF)
- Knowledge Activity Book 2: The Five Senses (Editable PDF)
- Knowledge Domain 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Domain 4: Plants: How Do They Grow
- Read-Aloud Videos
- Conocimiento 1: Rimas y fábulas infantiles
- Conocimiento 2: Los cinco sentidos
- Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Guía del maestro – Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Componentes digitales – Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Rotafolio de imágenes – Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Tarjetas de imágenes – Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Conocimiento 4: Plantas: ¿cómo crecen?
- Conocimiento 1: Rimas y fábulas infantiles
- Conocimiento 2: Los cinco sentidos
- Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Conocimiento 4: Plantas: ¿cómo crecen?
- Lectura en voz alta
- English
- Español
Grade 1
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Fables and Stories
- Knowledge Domain 2: The Human Body
- Knowledge Domain 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Teacher Guide 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Trade Book Guide 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Digital Components 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Flip Book 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Image Cards 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Vocabulary
- Ancillary Materials
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Fables and Stories
- Knowledge Domain 2: The Human Body
- Knowledge Activity Book 2: The Human Body (PDF)
- Knowledge Activity Book 2: The Human Body (Editable PDF)
- Knowledge Domain 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Read-Aloud Videos
- Conocimiento 1: Fábulas y cuentos
- Conocimiento 2: El cuerpo humano
- Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares: relatos del mundo
- Lectura en voz alta
- Conocimiento 1: Fábulas y cuentos
- Conocimiento 2: El cuerpo humano
- Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares: relatos del mundo
- Lectura en voz alta
Grade 2
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Teacher Guide 1 (Includes Full-Year Cursive Instruction)
- Skills Digital Components 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales
- Knowledge Domain 2: Early Asian Civilizations
- Knowledge Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Teacher Guide 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Trade Book Guide Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Digital Components Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Flip Book Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Image Cards Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Domain 4: Greek Myths: Gods and Goddesses
- Vocabulary
- Ancillary Materials
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales
- Knowledge Domain 2: Early Asian Civilizations
- Knowledge Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Domain 4: Greek Myths: Gods and Goddesses
- Read-Aloud Videos
- Ancillary Resources
- Conocimiento 1: Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados
- Conocimiento 2: Antiguas civilizaciones de Asia
- Conocimiento 3: La civilización griega antigua
- Conocimiento 4: Mitos griegos: dioses y diosas
- Conocimiento 1: Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados
- Conocimiento 2: Antiguas civilizaciones de Asia
- Conocimiento 3: La civilización griega antigua
- Conocimiento 4: Mitos griegos: dioses y diosas
- Lectura en voz alta
- English
- Español
Grade 3
- Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Teacher Guide Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Digital Projections Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Flip Book Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Image Cards 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Exit Tickets Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Teacher Guide Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Digital Projections Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Flip Book Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Exit Tickets Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Teacher Guide Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Digital Projections Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Flip Book Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Image Cards Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Exit Tickets Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Unit 4: The Ancient Roman Civilization
- Vocabulary
- Vocabulary Scope and Sequence: K-5
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 1: Classic Tales: Idioms and Figurative Language
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 2: Scales, Feather, and Fur: Animal Classification: Alphabetizing
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 3: The Human Body: System and Senses: Homophones/Homographs
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 4: The Ancient Roman Civilization: Print and Digital References
- Ancillary Materials
- Unit 1: Classic Tales
- Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Unit 4: The Ancient Roman Civilization
- Ancillary Materials
- Unidad 1: Cuentos clásicos: El viento en los sauces
- Unidad 2: Escamas, plumas y pelaje: la clasificación de los animales
- Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Guía del maestro – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Proyecciones digitales – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Rotafolio de imágenes – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Tarjetas de imágenes – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Boletos de salida – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Unidad 4: La civilización romana antigua
- Guía del maestro – Unidad 4: La civilización romana antigua
- Proyecciones digitales – Unidad 4: La civilización romana antigua
- Rotafolio de imágenes – Unidad 4: La civilización romana antigua
- Tarjetas de imágenes – Unidad 4: La civilización romana antigua
- Boleto de salida – Unidad 4: La civilización romana antigua
- Unidad 1: Cuentos clásicos: El viento en los sauces
- Unidad 2: Escamas, plumas y pelaje: la clasificación de los animales
- Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Unidad 4: La civilización romana antigua
- English
- Español
Grade 4
- Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Teacher Guide Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Digital Components Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Cursive Instruction
- Beginning-of-Year Assessment
- Exit Tickets Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention
- Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle
- Unit 4: American Revolution: Building a Nation
- Vocabulary
- Vocabulary Scope and Sequence: K-5
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans: Formal and Informal Language
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention: Adages and Proverbs
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle: Print and Digital References
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle: Word Origins and Histories
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 4: American Revolution: Building a Nation: Common Prefixes
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 4: American Revolution: Building a Nation: Common Suffixes
- Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention
- Eureka! Audio
- Eureka! Video Files
- Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part1
- Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention
- Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle
- Unit 4: American Revolution: Building a Nation
- Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanas, parte 1
- Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
- Unidad 3: Ficción contemporánea: mi calle, tu calle
- Unidad 4: La Revolución estadounidense: construir una nación
- Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
- Componentes digitales Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
- Componentes digitales 2 – Transcripciones de los videos
- Componentes digitales 3 – Imagen del día
- Componentes digitales 4 – Apertura y Notas de los jueces
- Tarjetas de invenciones
- Tarjetas de inventores
- Pegatinas de laboratorio
- Bombilla de la Gloria
- Carteles de silencio y aplauso
- Rueda de la invención
- Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanas, parte 1
- Libro de lectura – Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanas, parte 1
- Cuaderno de actividades – Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanas, parte 1 (PDF)
- Cuaderno de actividades – Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanes, parte 1 (PDF editable)
- Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
- Unidad 3: Ficción contemporánea: mi calle, tu calle
- Unidad 4: La Revolución estadounidense: construir una nación
- English
- Español
Grade 5
- Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Teacher Guide Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Digital Components Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Cursive Instruction
- Beginning-of-Year Assessment
- Exit Tickets Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Unit 2: The Renaissance: Art and Culture
- Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Teacher Guide Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Digital Components Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Exit Tickets Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Vocabulary
- Vocabulary Scope and Sequence: K-5
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings: Word Origins & Word Histories
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings: Print & Digital References
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 2: The Renassiance: Art and Culture: Adages and Proverbs
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World: Formal and Informal Language
- Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Unit 2: The Renaissance: Art and Culture
- Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Ancillary Materials
- Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes
- Unidad 2: El Renacimiento: arte y cultura
- Unidad 3: La Reforma: cuando los libros cambiaron el mundo
- Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes
- Libro de lectura – Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mayas, aztecas e incas
- Cuaderno de actividades – Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes (PDF)
- Cuaderno de actividades – Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes (PDF editable)
- Unidad 2: El Renacimiento: arte y cultura
- Unidad 3: La Reforma: cuando los libros cambiaron el mundo
Welcome
Elementary Literacy Program – Family Welcome Letter
Lectoescritura en Español – Carta de bienvenida para las familias
Grade K
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Nursery Rhymes and Fables
- Knowledge Domain 2: The Five Senses
- Knowledge Domain 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Teacher Guide 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Trade Book Guide 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Digital Components 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Flip Book 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Knowledge Image Cards 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Ancillary Materials
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Activity Book 1 (PDF)
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Activity Book 2 (PDF)
- Skills Unit 3
- Skills Activity Book 3 (PDF)
- Knowledge Domain 1: Nursery Rhymes and Fables
- Knowledge Domain 2: The Five Senses
- Knowledge Activity Book 2: The Five Senses (PDF)
- Knowledge Activity Book 2: The Five Senses (Editable PDF)
- Knowledge Domain 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales
- Read-Aloud Videos
- Conocimiento 1: Rimas y fábulas infantiles
- Conocimiento 2: Los cinco sentidos
- Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Guía del maestro – Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Componentes digitales – Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Rotafolio de imágenes – Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Tarjetas de imágenes – Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Conocimiento 1: Rimas y fábulas infantiles
- Conocimiento 2: Los cinco sentidos
- Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares
- Lectura en voz alta
Grade 1
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Fables and Stories
- Knowledge Domain 2: The Human Body
- Knowledge Domain 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Teacher Guide 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Trade Book Guide 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Digital Components 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Flip Book 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Knowledge Image Cards 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Vocabulary
- Ancillary Materials
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Fables and Stories
- Knowledge Domain 2: The Human Body
- Knowledge Activity Book 2: The Human Body (PDF)
- Knowledge Activity Book 2: The Human Body (Editable PDF)
- Knowledge Domain 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories: Tales Around the World
- Read-Aloud Videos
- Conocimiento 1: Fábulas y cuentos
- Conocimiento 2: El cuerpo humano
- Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares: relatos del mundo
- Guía del maestro – Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares: relatos del mundo
- Componentes digitales – Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares: relatos del mundo
- Rotafolio de imágenes – Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares: relatos del mundo
- Tarjetas de imágenes – Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares: relatos del mundo
- Conocimiento 1: Fábulas y cuentos
- Conocimiento 2: El cuerpo humano
- Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares: relatos del mundo
- Lectura en voz alta
Grade 2
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Teacher Guide 1 (Includes Full-Year Cursive Instruction)
- Skills Digital Components 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales
- Knowledge Domain 2: Early Asian Civilizations
- Knowledge Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Teacher Guide 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Trade Book Guide Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Digital Components Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Flip Book Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Knowledge Image Cards Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Vocabulary
- Ancillary Materials
- Skills Unit 1
- Skills Unit 2
- Skills Unit 3
- Knowledge Domain 1: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales
- Knowledge Domain 2: Early Asian Civilizations
- Knowledge Domain 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization
- Read-Aloud Videos
- Ancillary Resources
- Conocimiento 1: Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados
- Conocimiento 2: Antiguas civilizaciones de Asia
- Conocimiento 3: La civilización griega antigua
- Conocimiento 1: Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados
- Conocimiento 2: Antiguas civilizaciones de Asia
- Conocimiento 3: La civilización griega antigua
- Lectura en voz alta
Grade 3
- Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Teacher Guide Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Digital Projections Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Flip Book Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Image Cards 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Teacher Guide Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Digital Projections Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Flip Book Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Teacher Guide Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Digital Projections Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Flip Book Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Image Cards Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Exit Tickets Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Vocabulary
- Ancillary Materials
- Unit 1: Classic Tales
- Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification
- Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses
- Ancillary Materials
- Unidad 1: Cuentos clásicos: El viento en los sauces
- Unidad 2: Escamas, plumas y pelaje: la clasificación de los animales
- Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Guía del maestro – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Proyecciones digitales – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Rotafolio de imágenes – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Tarjetas de imágenes – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Boletos de salida – Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
- Unidad 1: Cuentos clásicos: El viento en los sauces
- Unidad 2: Escamas, plumas y pelaje: la clasificación de los animales
- Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos
Grade 4
- Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Teacher Guide Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Digital Components Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part 1
- Cursive Instruction
- Beginning-of-Year Assessment
- Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention
- Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle
- Vocabulary
- Vocabulary Scope and Sequence: K-5
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans: Formal and Informal Language
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention: Adages and Proverbs
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle: Print and Digital References
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle: Word Origins and Histories
- Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention
- Eureka! Audio
- Eureka! Video Files
- Unit 1: Empires of the Middle Ages: Castles and Caravans, Part1
- Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention
- Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle
- Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanas, parte 1
- Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
- Unidad 3: Ficción contemporánea: mi calle, tu calle
- Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
- Componentes digitales Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
- Componentes digitales 2 – Transcripciones de los videos
- Componentes digitales 3 – Imagen del día
- Componentes digitales 4 – Apertura y Notas de los jueces
- Tarjetas de invenciones
- Tarjetas de inventores
- Pegatinas de laboratorio
- Bombilla de la Gloria
- Carteles de silencio y aplauso
- Rueda de la invención
- Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanas, parte 1
- Libro de lectura – Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanas, parte 1
- Cuaderno de actividades – Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanas, parte 1 (PDF)
- Cuaderno de actividades – Unidad 1: Los imperios en la Edad Media: castillos y caravanes, parte 1 (PDF editable)
- Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención
- Unidad 3: Ficción contemporánea: mi calle, tu calle
Grade 5
- Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Teacher Guide Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Digital Components Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Cursive Instruction
- Beginning-of-Year Assessment
- Unit 2: The Renaissance: Art and Culture
- Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Teacher Guide Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Digital Components Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Essential Questions and Writing Prompts Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Exit Tickets Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Vocabulary
- Vocabulary Scope and Sequence: K-5
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings: Word Origins & Word Histories
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings: Print & Digital References
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 2: The Renassiance: Art and Culture: Adages and Proverbs
- Vocabulary Lesson Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World: Formal and Informal Language
- Unit 1: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings
- Unit 2: The Renaissance: Art and Culture
- Unit 3: The Reformation: When Books Changed the World
- Ancillary Materials
- Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes
- Unidad 2: El Renacimiento: arte y cultura
- Unidad 3: La Reforma: cuando los libros cambiaron el mundo
- Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes
- Libro de lectura – Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mayas, aztecas e incas
- Cuaderno de actividades – Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes (PDF)
- Cuaderno de actividades – Unidad 1: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes (PDF editable)
- Unidad 2: El Renacimiento: arte y cultura
- Unidad 3: La Reforma: cuando los libros cambiaron el mundo
Introducing new units for Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos K–5
As part of our commitment to creating even richer and more wide-ranging curricula, we are excited to release six new units for both Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos!
About these units
Our brand-new Knowledge Research units carry forward the powerful and proven instructional approach of both Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos while also:
- Adding more variety to engage students from many walks of life. The rich topics and highly visual components featured in these units provide students with even more “windows and mirrors” and perspectives as they work to build knowledge.
- Adding more authentic literature. Each new research unit revolves around a collection of high-interest authentic trade books that will spark more curiosity and inspire more inquiry.
- Adding more flexibility. Units can be implemented for extended core instruction during flex periods, district-designated Pausing Points, or enrichment periods.
Units cover a variety of rich and relevant topics:
With these new units, students will soar to new heights with Dr. Ellen Ochoa, Amelia Earhart, and the Tuskegee Airmen. They’ll feel the rhythm as they learn about Jazz legends Miles Davis, Tito Puente, and Duke Ellington. And they’ll explore the far reaches of the world with Jacques Cousteau, Matthew Henson, and Eugenie Clark.
- Grade K: Art and the World Around Us/El arte y el mundo que nos rodea
- Grade 1: Adventure Stories: Tales from the Edge of the World/Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
- Grade 2: Up, Up, and Away: The Age of Aviation/¡A volar! La era de la aviación
- Grade 3: All That Jazz/Jazz y más
- Grade 4: Energy: Past, Present, and Future/Energía: pasado, presente y futuro
- Grade 5: Beyond Juneteenth: 1865 to present/Más allá de Juneteenth: de 1865 al presente
Units are available in English and Spanish, and will include the following components:
- Teacher Guide
- Student Activity Books
- Image Cards
- Trade Book Collection
- Digital Components (grades K–3 and 5)
Grade K: Art and the World Around Us/El arte y el mundo que nos rodea
“Every child is an artist,” said Picasso, meaning that every child uses art to explore and understand the world around them. Art and the World Around Us honors that truth by introducing Kindergarten students to some of the ways in which artists have explored and understood the worlds around them, too.
This domain introduces students to artists from different time periods, countries, and cultures. Throughout the unit, students learn about different kinds of art and how artists use the world around them as they make art. They also connect this to what they have already learned about the earth, plants, and animals in other Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos domains: Farms/Granjas, Plants/Plantas, and Taking Care of the Earth/Cuidar el planeta Tierra. In addition, students connect this to what they have learned about sculptors in the Presidents and American Symbols/Presidentes y símbolos de los Estados Unidos domain. As they explore different artists and artistic traditions, they develop their ideas about how humans are connected to each other and to the world around them.
As you read the texts in this unit, students may observe ways in which the characters or subjects are both similar to and different from students. This is a good opportunity to teach students awareness and sensitivity, building on the idea that all people share some things in common, and have other things that make them unique. This unit also offers an excellent opportunity to collaborate with your school’s art teacher, as many lessons have suggested activities to help students understand the kind of art they are studying.
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:
- Use details to describe art.
- Identify three ways to create art.
- Identify characteristics of cave art.
- Sequence the steps of making pottery.
- Describe how artists can create work connected to the world around them.
- Describe what makes Kehinde Wiley’s portraits unique.
- Explain how the texture of a surface can affect artwork created on it.
- Explain what a sculpture is.
- Describe what makes James Turrell’s artwork about the sky unique.
- Explain what a museum is and what kinds of things you can see or do there.
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein
- Van Gogh and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anholt
- My Name is Georgia by Jeanette Winter
- A Life Made by Hand by Andrea D’Aquino
- Rainbow Weaver by Linda Elovitz Marshall
- Luna Loves Art by Joseph Coelho
Grade 1: Adventure Stories: Tales from the Edge of the World/Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
This domain introduces students to adventure stories set around the world and challenges students to dig into the adventures through research. By listening to the Read-Alouds and trade books, students increase their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, learn valuable lessons about perseverance and teamwork, and become familiar with gathering information for research.
In this unit, students study the careers of real-world explorers Dr. Eugenie Clark and Sophia Danenberg, marvel at the inventions of Jacques Cousteau, think critically about how teamwork and collaboration can make greater adventures possible, learn about the science and technology that enable adventures, and research some of the ways humans have confronted challenges at the edges of the world, from the oceans below to space above.
Each lesson in the domain builds students’ research skills as they ask questions, gather information, and write a paragraph about their findings. Students share what they have learned about adventures in an Adventure Gallery Walkthrough. By taking on the persona of one of the adventurers they meet in the Read-Alouds and trade books, students deliver their final paragraphs as if they are a “speaking portrait” of that person. Students are invited to dress up as that adventurer if they desire.
In addition, teachers can set aside time outside of the instructional block to create the picture frames students will hold as they present to the Adventure Gallery Walk guests. Frames can be made from shirt boxes, cardboard, construction paper, or any art supplies that are on hand. This might be an opportunity to collaborate with the school’s art department if resources are available. Another option is to ask students to make their frames at home with their caregivers. On the day of the Adventure Gallery Walk, students will be the hosts and take on specific jobs, such as welcoming the guests, describing their work throughout the unit, and pointing out the areas of study on the domain bulletin board. You can find a complete list of student jobs in Lesson 13.
This unit builds upon the following Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos units that students will have encountered in the previous grade.
- Nursery Rhymes and Fables/Rimas y fábulas infantiles (Kindergarten)
- Stories/Cuentos (Kindergarten)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Adventure Stories: Tales from the Edge of the World. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- My Name is Gabito/Me llamo Gabito by Monica Brown
- Tomas and the Galápagos Adventure by Carolyn Lunn
- The Astronaut with a Song for the Stars: The Story of Dr. Ellen Ochoa by Julia Finley Mosca
- Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
- Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating
- Manfish by Jennifer Berne
- Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole by Deborah Hopkinson
- The Top of the World: Climbing Mount Everest by Steve Jenkins
Grade 2: Up, Up, and Away: The Age of Aviation/¡A volar! La era de la aviación
With this domain, students head up, up, and away with an introduction to the soaring history of aviation. Students learn the stories of early aviators, such as the Montgolfier brothers, the Wright brothers, Aída de Acosta, and Amelia Earhart.
During the unit, students study the science of flight, including the physics concept of lift, and research the social impacts of the world of flight. Finally, students let their research skills take flight as they explore key figures from the world of aviation.
The lessons in this domain build on earlier Grade 2 CKLA and Amplify Caminos domains about the westward expansion, early Greek civilizations, and Greek myths, and lay the foundation for learning about other periods of world history in future grades.
This unit builds upon the following Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos units that students will have encountered earlier in the year.
- The Ancient Greek Civilization/La civilización griega antigua (Grade 2)
- Greek Myths/Mitos griegos (Grade 2)
- Westward Expansion/La expansión hacia el oeste (Grade 2)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Up, Up, and Away: The Age of Aviation. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Up and Away!: How Two Brothers Invented the Hot-Air Balloon by Jason Henry
- The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Blériot by Alice and Martin Provensen
- The Flying Girl: How Aída de Acosta Learned to Soar by Margarita Engle
- Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane by Kirsten Larson
- Helicopter Man: Igor Sikorsky and His Amazing Invention by Edwin Brit Wyckoff
- The Tuskegee Airmen Story by Lynn Homan and Thomas Reilly
- Skyward: The Story of Female Pilots in WWII by Sally Deng
- Aim for the Skies: Jerrie Mock and Joan Merriam Smith’s Race to Complete Amelia Earhart’s Quest by Aimee Bissonette
Grade 3: All That Jazz/Jazz y más
This domain teaches students about the vibrant music, poetry, and culture of the Jazz Age in the United States. Students learn about famous writers and musicians like Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Melba Liston, Tito Puente, and Miles Davis. They study how the jazz art form took root in the South, then spread to the North to become the sound of the Harlem Renaissance, eventually connecting people around the world in musical expression.
During this unit, students perform guided research to further explore both the history of jazz and what jazz is today. They develop research skills and then use those skills to find deeper connections between the stories and music of the Jazz Age and music today. As students learn about the world of jazz, they collaborate and share ideas with their classmates. They also practice sharing feedback focused on their written work, and, at the end of the unit, students present their research to the group.
The lessons give students opportunities to dive into the rhythms and stories of jazz, utilizing the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively generate research questions about jazz, jazz musicians, contemporary musicians from the state where they live or have lived, and the evolution of jazz music.
- Utilize Read-Alouds, independent reading, and partner reading to learn about the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, jazz music, and biographies of celebrated jazz musicians and writers.
- Research the answers to their generated questions, gather information, write a short research essay about a famous jazz musician, write a short essay about a contemporary musician from the state where they live or have lived, and give a presentation about their research.
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:
- Ask relevant questions and make pertinent comments
- Identify details in texts
- Determine key ideas of texts by evaluating details
- Make text-based inferences
- Generate questions based on prior knowledge and gathered information
- Synthesize details across texts to demonstrate comprehension
- Discuss and explain an author’s purpose
- Identify and cite reliable primary and secondary sources of information
- Compose a well-organized and focused informative essay
- Make connections between topics
- Present information using appropriate media
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Birth of the Cool: How Jazz Great Miles Davis Found His Sound by Kathleen Cornell Berman
- Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Kathryn Russell-Brown
- Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black and White Jazz Band in History by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- Tito Puente, Mambo King by Monica Brown
- Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle
- Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra by Andrea Pinkney
In this unit, students also read the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. (Available for free through the Academy of American Poets website and the Poetry Foundation website, with recorded audio available through the website for John Hancock College Preparatory High School.)
Grade 4: Energy: Past, Present, and Future/Energía: pasado, presente y futuro
With this domain, students become tomorrow’s problem solvers in this study of energy in the United States. Analytical reading skills are developed by examining the challenges of early energy innovators. Students then read about current energy practices and young energy change-makers across the world.
Throughout the unit, students conduct research into different sources of energy and present a proposal, putting them in the shoes of future energy innovators. They also use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively analyze texts to identify cause-effect and problem-solution relationships.
- Generate questions and conduct research about energy.
- Write an opinion essay making their case for a fuel of the future.
- Create energy proposals using primary and secondary resources.
This unit builds upon the following Amplify CKLA units that students will have encountered in previous grades as well as earlier in the year.
- Plants/Plantas (Grade K)
- The History of the Earth/La historia de la Tierra (Grade 1)
- Eureka! Student Inventor/¡Eureka! El arte de la invención (Grade 4)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Energy: Past, Present, and Future. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm
- Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed their World by Allan Drummond
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Picture Book Edition by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Grade 5: Beyond Juneteenth: 1865 to present/Más allá de Juneteenth: de 1865 al presente
Within this domain, Students learn about General Granger’s announcement in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, a day marked in history as Juneteenth. Texts and multimedia sources will support foundational knowledge-building about the end of slavery in the United States. A review of the first freedom announcement, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, provides students with background knowledge to further emphasize the significance of Juneteenth in American history.
This unit also takes students on a journey beyond Juneteenth, as they study specific contributions of African Americans from 1865 to the present day. Students participate in a virtual field trip to Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas and use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively generate research questions about Juneteenth, The Great Migration, innovators and inventors, education, the humanities, activists, and allies.
- Use Read-Alouds, independent, and partner reading to learn about African American contributions from 1865 to the present.
- Research to find answers to their generated questions, gather information, and write a four-chapter Beyond Juneteenth book.
This unit builds upon the following Amplify CKLA units that students will have encountered in previous grades.
- Native Americans/Los nativos americanos (Grade K)
- A New Nation: American Independence/Una nueva nación: la independencia de los Estados Unidos
(Grade 1) - The U.S. Civil War/La Guerra Civil de los Estados Unidos (Grade 2)
- Immigration/La inmigración (Grade 2)
- Native Americans/Los nativos americanos (Grade 5)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Beyond Juneteenth: 1865 to present. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson
- The Great Migration: An American Story by Jacob Lawrence
- Sing a Song: How “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Inspired Generations by Kelly Starling Lyons
- Side by Side/ Lado a lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/ La Historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez by Monica Brown
- Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama
Amplify CKLA in Action
Rich, engaging content is at the center of Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) curriculum and instruction. Students build subject area knowledge in history, science, literature, and the arts by learning to read and write. High-quality instructional materials built on the Science of Reading simplify your planning and provide the support and resources you need.
Inside the Classroom
Kindergarten
Follow along as a kindergarten class goes through an Amplify CKLA Skills Strand lesson on tricky words. Students review sounds and spellings using Large Letter Cards, engage with Student Readers, and receive explicit instruction from their teacher in both whole- and small-group settings.
Grade 1
In this Amplify CKLA Knowledge Strand lesson, students achieve reading proficiency with complex read-alouds, exposure to background knowledge, vocabulary practice, text-based discussions, and writing activities.
Grade 4
Watch students journey through a Quest for the Core™ in the Amplify CKLA lesson, Eureka! Student Inventor. These fourth-graders work in teams, combining research, writing, and presenting skills to become master inventors.
Spotlights
Knowledge at the center
When you put knowledge at the center of learning, an amazing thing happens: students get motivated and curious for more. They learn to read, and they learn to love reading.
Foundational skills to accelerate fluency
Watch students receive targeted, explicit instruction on sounds, spellings, and word automaticity in lessons designed to teach phonological awareness, decoding, and more.
Making teachers’ lives easier with high-quality instructional materials
Hear a teacher’s account of how Amplify CKLA gives teachers all the tools and support they need no matter how much experience they have.
Student engagement
Watch how much students enjoy learning about the latest topic and how eager they are to join classroom discussions. Teachers can see the increased engagement and the program’s results.
Request a sample
Ready to take a closer look at Amplify CKLA? Complete our form to request a sample!
Welcome, Indiana Department of Education!
Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition builds on the principles and instruction of previous editions to provide better-than-ever support for teaching and learning. The focus continues on delivering evidence-based instruction across a system of multi-tiered supports aligned with the Science of Reading and Writing.
We’re excited to share this site, where you’ll find a range of materials and literacy tools including Reviewer Resources and Teaching Materials (Teacher Guides, Activity Books, and Student Readers) organized by grade and unit.
We welcome your thoughts and questions!
Reviewer resources
Overview and program resources:
- Program Guide
- What’s New: CKLA 3rd Edition
- Choice Units Overview
- Text Types and Text Complexity Guide
- Writing Overview
- Assessments Overview
- K-5 Knowledge Map
Alignment and scope and sequence:
- Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Alignment
- K-2 Skills Scope and Sequence
- K-2 Knowledge Scope and Sequence
- 3-5 Integrated Scope and Sequence
Curriculum maps by grade:
- Kindergarten Knowledge | Kindergarten Skills
- Grade 1 Knowledge | Grade 1 Skills
- Grade 2 Knowledge | Grade 2 Skills
- Grade 3
- Grade 4
- Grade 5
Kindergarten
Explore all available resources for Kindergarten, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
Skills Strand
Grade 1
Explore all available resources for Grade 1, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
Skills Strand
Grade 2
Explore all available resources for Grade 2, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
Skills Strand
Grade 3
Explore all available resources for Grade 3, organized by unit.
Core Units
Explore all available resources for Grade 3, organized by unit.
Supplemental Skills Units
Grade 3 Skills resources are included in core classroom kits, although the instruction isn’t required for Grade 3 standards coverage.
Grade 4
Explore all available resources for Grade 4, organized by unit.
Grade 5
Explore all available resources for Grade 5, organized by unit.
Digital platform
In the 2025-26 school year, Amplify CKLA’s all-in-one platform will offer essential tools that streamline instruction for teachers and engage students with meaningful content. Teachers can plan and deliver lessons efficiently, while students can access assignments, assessments, and fun practice games.
Presentation Screens
Deliver interactive lessons with ready-made, customizable slides for every lesson.
Auto-scored digital assessments
Assess vocabulary, comprehension, and knowledge development at the end of each K–2 Knowledge and 3–5 Integrated Unit.
Standards-based reports
Identify strengths and growth areas for individuals, small groups, or your entire class. Interactive dashboards offer detailed results from assessments and activities.
Skill-building practice games
Engage students with interactive games that reinforce concepts and make learning fun. Powered by Boost Reading™, these games align with lessons and provide real-time feedback.
eReader
Students access texts, take notes, and use audio-enabled eReaders to enhance their reading experience.
Sound Library
Students watch articulation videos and listen to songs for each sound to support phonological awareness.
Vocab App
Helps students in Grades 3-5 practice Amplify CKLA Tier 2 vocabulary words with fun, interactive games.
Intervention Toolkit
Offers user-friendly resources designed to aid educators in identifying and addressing deficiencies in students’ foundation skills.
Program support resources
Additional program resource documents:
Welcome to the Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition program review site!
Inside the Classroom
Kindergarten
Follow along as a kindergarten class goes through an Amplify CKLA Skills Strand lesson on tricky words. Students review sounds and spellings using Large Letter Cards, engage with Student Readers, and receive explicit instruction from their teacher in both whole- and small-group settings.
Grade 1
In this Amplify CKLA Knowledge Strand lesson, students achieve reading proficiency with complex read-alouds, exposure to background knowledge, vocabulary practice, text-based discussions, and writing activities.
Grade 1
In this Amplify CKLA Knowledge Strand lesson, students achieve reading proficiency with complex read-alouds, exposure to background knowledge, vocabulary practice, text-based discussions, and writing activities.
Grade 4
Watch students journey through a Quest for the Core™ in the Amplify CKLA lesson, Eureka! Student Inventor. These fourth-graders work in teams, combining research, writing, and presenting skills to become master inventors.
Spotlights
Knowledge at the center
When you put knowledge at the center of learning, an amazing thing happens: students get motivated and curious for more. They learn to read, and they learn to love reading.
Foundational skills to accelerate fluency
Watch students receive targeted, explicit instruction on sounds, spellings, and word automaticity in lessons designed to teach phonological awareness, decoding, and more.
Making teachers’ lives easier with high-quality instructional materials
Hear a teacher’s account of how Amplify CKLA gives teachers all the tools and support they need no matter how much experience they have.
Student engagement
Watch how much students enjoy learning about the latest topic and how eager they are to join classroom discussions. Teachers can see the increased engagement and the program’s results.
Request a sample
Ready to take a closer look at Amplify CKLA? Complete our form to request a sample!
Unlock possibility with the Science of Writing
The reality is…writing is hard. It’s hard to learn, it’s hard to teach, it’s hard to do.
Natalie Wexler, author of The Knowledge Gap and The Writing Revolution, says, “Writing is the hardest thing we ask students to do.” Fortunately, we have decades of research that shows us how best to teach and learn how to write, known as the Science of Writing. As an educator your job is to make this hard task easier and more fulfilling for students. And our job is to help you.
Why writing matters: Connection, expression, and better reading comprehension
Without writing, there would be no need for reading, and of course, writing is a part of literacy.
Through writing, students can express their ideas, connect with others, and deepen and communicate their understanding of what they are reading and thinking.
Having strong writing skills ensures students can engage fully in all settings, share their opinions and information, tell stories, and have a voice.
What is the Science of Writing?
Learning to write (and read) isn’t natural but it can be taught—and research shows us how. Like the Science of Reading, the Science of Writing is the collection of research and evidence-based practices that explains how writing develops along with the teaching strategies that help students develop into skilled writers.
Writing proficiency involves mastering the use of a complex set of skills that must be taught explicitly, again just like reading proficiency. The Simple View of Writing breaks down these processes into transcription and composition, and provides us with a framework for guiding instruction.
The relationship between reading and writing
Reading and writing reinforce and support each other. When reading, students are exposed to vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. And when writing, students can get more practice to improve the fluency and efficiency of their handwriting, and apply their knowledge of spelling and their understanding of vocabulary, grammar, and syntax.
Readers use comprehension skills such as summarizing, predicting, and making inferences to help them create meaning as they read. Writers use those same skills to develop a piece of writing that is clear and concise for the reader.
The benefits of applying reading skills and strategies when writing
- If you teach students decoding skills, then they become better spellers.
- If students learn strategies for planning, drafting, and revising during composition, then their reading comprehension improves.
- If students have word and vocabulary knowledge, then they’re better at expressing their ideas in writing.
Oral language and writing
Oral language is the foundation for literacy, and its development begins in infancy. As their oral language develops, children learn how to string words into phrases and sentences, which progresses into telling stories and answering questions in detail. And as they listen to stories, children develop vocabulary and understanding of syntax and grammar. All of these build a foundation for writing.
Discovering the Science of Writing
Explore helpful resources to learn more about the Science of Writing, and the importance of implementing evidence-based instructional practices into your classroom, school, and district.
Books:
Articles:
Webinars:
- The Science of Reading: The Next Chapter
- The Science of Reading + Writing: Turning a New Page Together
- The Writing Chapter: Sparking the Writing Revolution with the Latest Insights and Research
- Writing and the Science of Reading Forum Panel Discussion: How does Writing Intersect with Reading?, Education Week
Welcome, Minnesota Educators!
Welcome to the Amplify Caminos 3rd Edition program review site.
Welcome to Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition, Utah Reviewers!
We’re excited to share everything you need to review Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition, our K–5 core literacy program. On this site, you’ll find a comprehensive collection of resources and overviews to get you started, as well as a range of materials to explore the program, including Teacher Guides, Activity Books, Student Readers, and more, organized by grade and unit.
Please note that the files on this site are static representations of the high-quality materials you’ll review on the digital platform.
Reviewer resources
Access key materials designed to support your review of Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition.
- Utah Instructional Strategies and Routines
- Utah Science of Reading Evidence-Informed Core Criteria Checklist
- Utah State Standards for English Language Arts and 3rd Edition Core Knowledge Language Arts Alignment
- Program Guide
- Components Guide
- Amplify Technology Requirements
- Choice Units Overview
- Text Types and Text Complexity Guide
- Writing Brochure
- Assessment Overview
- K–5 Knowledge Map
- Scope and Sequence by Grade and Strand:
- Text Types and Range of Writing by Grade:
Digital platform access
Amplify CKLA’s all-in-one platform offers essential tools that streamline instruction for teachers and engage students with meaningful content.
In order to access your digital materials, you’ll need to log into our platform using your unique login credentials found on the Start Here flyer inside of your Reviewer Binder. Once you have located the flyer:
- Click the orange button below to access the platform.
- Click “Log in with Amplify.”
- Enter the username and password provided on your Start Here flyer.
The video below will provide you with instructions on how to access and navigate the digital platform.
Teachers can plan and deliver lessons efficiently, while students can access assignments, assessments, and fun practice games within the CKLA digital platform. The digital experience includes:
Presentation Screens
Deliver interactive lessons with ready-made, customizable slides for every lesson.
Auto-scored digital assessments
Assess vocabulary, comprehension, and knowledge development at the end of each K–2 Knowledge and 3–5 Integrated Unit.
Standards-based reports
Identify strengths and growth areas for individuals, small groups, or your entire class. Interactive dashboards offer detailed results from assessments and activities.
Skill-building practice games
Engage students with interactive games that reinforce concepts and make learning fun. Powered by Boost Reading™, these games align with lessons and provide real-time feedback.
eReader
Students access texts, take notes, and use audio-enabled eReaders to enhance their reading experience.
Sound Library
Students watch articulation videos and listen to songs for each sound to support phonological awareness.
Vocab App
Helps students in Grades 3–5 practice Amplify CKLA Tier 2 vocabulary words with fun, interactive games.
Intervention Toolkit
Offers user-friendly resources designed to aid educators in identifying and addressing deficiencies in students’ foundation skills.
Kindergarten
Explore all available resources for Kindergarten, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
|
Unit 1: Star Light, Star Bright: Nursery Rhymes and Fables |
Unit 2: See, Hear, Smell, Taste, Touch: The Five Senses |
Unit 3: Underdogs and Heroes: Stories |
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Unit 4: See How They Grow: Plants |
Unit 5: Moo, Cluck, Oink: Farms |
Unit 6: Deep Roots: Introduction to Native American Cultures |
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Unit 7: All Around the World: Geography |
Unit 8 (Choice): Royal Tales: Monarchs |
Unit 8 (Choice): National Icons: Presidents and American Symbols |
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Unit 9 (Choice): Our Planet: Taking Care of the Earth |
Unit 9 (Choice): Rain and Rainbows: Seasons and Weather |
Unit 10: Shaped by Nature: Art and the World Around Us
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Skills Strand
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Unit 7 |
Unit 8 |
Unit 9 |
Grade 1
Explore all available resources for Grade 1, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
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Unit 1: The Moral of the Story: Fables and Tales |
Unit 2: From Nose to Toes: How Your Body Works |
Unit 3: Common Threads: Different Lands, Similar Stories |
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Unit 4: Reach for the Stars: Astronomy |
Unit 5: Charting the World: Geography |
Unit 6: A World of Homes: Animals and Habitats |
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Unit 7: A New Nation: American Independence |
Unit 8 (Choice): Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tales |
Unit 8 (Choice): Our Planet: The History of the Earth |
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Unit 9 (Choice): From Babylon to the Nile: Early World Civilizations |
Unit 9 (Choice): Early Americas: Maya, Aztec, and Inca |
Unit 10: Adventure Stories: Tales from the Edge
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Skills Strand
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Unit 7 |
Ancillary Components |
Grade 2
Explore all available resources for Grade 2, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
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Unit 1: Fortunes and Feats: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales |
Unit 2: The Birthplace of Democracy: Ancient Greece |
Unit 3: Legends and Heroes: Greek Myths |
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Unit 4: Our Planet: Cycles in Nature |
Unit 5: Butterflies, Bees, and Beetles: Insects |
Unit 6: A House Divided: The American Civil War |
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Unit 7: Sounds and Stanzas: Poetry |
Unit 8 (Choice): Journeys to America: Immigration |
Unit 8 (Choice): Making a Difference: Creating Change |
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Unit 9 (Choice): Building Blocks: All About Nutrition |
Unit 9 (Choice): Early Asian Civilizations: India and China |
Unit 10: Taking Flight: The Age of Aviation
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Skills Strand
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Ancillary Components |
Grade 3
Explore all available resources for Grade 3, organized by unit.
Core Units
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Unit 1: Timeless Tales: Classic Stories |
Unit 2: Fur, Fins, and Feathers: Animal Classification |
Unit 3: Rhythm and Rhyme: Poetry |
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Unit 4: Rise and Fall: Ancient Rome |
Unit 5: Our Solar System and Beyond: Astronomy |
Unit 6: Regions and Cultures: Native Americans |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: Charlotte’s Web
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: Stella Díaz Has Something to Say
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Unit 8 (Choice): Systems and Senses: The Human Body |
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Unit 8 (Choice): From Glow to Echo: Light and Sound |
Unit 9: From Blues to Bebop: All That Jazz
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Supplemental Skills
Grade 3 Skills resources are included in core classroom kits, although the instruction isn’t required for Grade 3 standards coverage.
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Grade 4
Explore all available resources for Grade 4, organized by unit.
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Unit 1: My Story, My Voice: Personal Narratives |
Unit 2: Knights and Castles: Europe’s Middle Ages |
Unit 3: Meaning and Metaphor: Poetry |
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Unit 4: Eureka! Student Inventor |
Unit 5: Our Planet: Geology |
Unit 6: Road to Independence: The American Revolution |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Season of Styx Malone
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Unit 8 (Choice): Crafting Stories: A World of Tales |
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Unit 8 (Choice): Adventure on the High Seas: Treasure Island |
Unit 9: Inspiration and Ingenuity: American Innovation
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Grade 5
Explore all available resources for Grade 5, organized by unit.
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Unit 1: In My Own Words: Personal Narratives |
Unit 2: Early Americas: Maya, Aztec, and Inca |
Unit 3: Visions in Verse: Poetry |
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Unit 4: A Knight’s Tale: Don Quixote
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Unit 5: The Deep Blue World: Oceans |
Unit 6: Cultures and Histories: Native Americans |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Phantom Tollbooth
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Science of Breakable Things
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Unit 8 (Choice): Arts and Culture: The Renaissance |
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Unit 8 (Choice): Through the Forest: A Midsummer Night’s Dream |
Unit 9: Building Up the World: Global Architecture
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Welcome to the Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition program review site!
Meet the Science of Reading superstars at Windber Elementary
Hardworking teachers, schools, school leaders, and school districts deserve applause every single day. We try to honor educators and their outstanding contributions in as many ways as we can at Amplify—which is why our annual Science of Reading Star Awards is one of our biggest events of the year! We’re currently accepting nominations through Jan. 31. Apply now!
This annual educator awards program is a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on the teachers, administrators, and entire schools working to improve student literacy outcomes in communities across the country—just like 2024 Science of Reading Rookie winner Windber Elementary in Windber, PA.
We hope their positive impact on student learning inspires you in your work—and inspires you to nominate a teacher or school for an award next year!
The challenge: Driving success in early literacy skills
Windber Area School District is a small, rural district in central Pennsylvania. Its preK–5 elementary school is Title One and has just over 620 students, 54% of whom are economically disadvantaged.
The district has been dedicated to helping its diverse student population succeed for years, but getting young learners to excel in literacy has always been a challenge.
That’s why, when Principal Charles Beckley stepped in to lead the way, he adopted a fresh approach to early literacy learning experiences. Principal Beckley has worked in education for a decade, first in North Carolina then at Windber Elementary as classroom teacher, dean of students, and now principal. Under his guidance, Windber’s educators worked together to transform the school’s reading program—and offer inspiration for literacy educators everywhere.
Best practices: Embracing a Science of Reading curriculum
Principal Beckley’s leadership did what truly powerful leadership does: inspire and equip others to lead, too.
First, he and his colleagues had to clarify the why of science-based literacy education. “We had to understand the literacy research and the rationale behind why we needed to make the shift,” he recalls. They collaborated with outside experts to get the information they needed, then they focused on teamwork.
“The original stakeholders who led the push for the Science of Reading, they talked to their colleagues, they collaborated. They were understanding of their teams’ needs and wants. It was a team effort and a team approach,” he says.
They knew they were on the right track when the school board offered their full support, aligning everyone behind their vision for research-based literacy education.
Individual teacher awards: Also deserved!
The most powerful drivers of this change, says Beckley, were the teachers: “Our teachers and coaches had the biggest lift because they had to learn the [CKLA] curriculum.” He affectionately calls them “the neurosurgeons of our school,” and emphasizes their ability to pinpoint areas of need and build the grade-level foundational skills students need most, as well as their readiness to embrace change and dedication to professional growth.
Beckley further emphasized his school’s collective effort, which other districts can look to as a model: “Our community has been on board with this,” he says, “and our students have been great.”
The adoption of Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) was also crucial, providing the teachers with a framework and instructional materials that skillfully combined both skills and content knowledge.
The results have been undeniable. “If you look at our kindergarten,” Beckley says, “at midyear, [we] were 72% on or above benchmark through DIBELS®.”
Windber’s progress is proof of the power of an evidence-based curriculum that nurtures capable and informed readers—and of a community willing to deliver innovative literacy approaches. Their story is one of commitment to research, dedication to student success, development of shared leadership, and access to the right tools and support.
“We know that we’ve done the best for our kids,” Beckley says. “And that’s the most important thing.”
Inspired? Nominate a teacher, school, or district for an award.
We’re looking for our shining 2025 Science of Reading leaders now! Find the specs, our nomination deadline, and more on our Star Awards page. Nominate a teacher for an award.
Frequently asked questions
Still have questions? We have answers. Check out the following FAQ.
Overview
- Amplify CKLA is based on research showing that closing the background knowledge gap is necessary for supporting the literacy development of all students. To that end, Amplify CKLA teaches literacy through the lens of cross-curricular domains in science, history, literature, and culture. It was developed in response to research that shows the critical impact of background knowledge on reading comprehension and college- and career-readiness.
- The program also reflects the latest early reading research showing the importance of explicit foundational skills instruction. The program develops students’ foundational literacy skills through a systematic scope and sequence with a focus on phonics.
Our research-based language arts curriculum is built on findings showing that higher-level reading comprehension depends on both automatic, fluent decoding and background knowledge. Combining well-established findings from the field of early literacy research with classroom-based feedback, Amplify CKLA ensures that children will learn to listen, speak, read, and write confidently and proficiently. For more information, view the Amplify CKLA Research Guide.
Amplify CKLA is a PreK–5 program. While the PreK and K–2 materials respect the important differences between early childhood education and formal schooling, the Grades 3–5 materials ensure a smooth transition to the academic rigors of middle school.
PreK
The focus in PreK is to maintain a developmentally appropriate early childhood setting; the structures, routines, and activities are engaging and children receive a solid foundation for future language arts instruction.
K–2
The focus in K–2 is developing fluent reading and writing skills, and enhancing language comprehension by building background knowledge and vocabulary. This is accomplished through two strands: the Skills Strand and the Knowledge Strand.
The Skills Strand focuses on decoding, encoding, grammar, handwriting, and the writing process, and it contains decodable chapter books for students to practice just-learned sound-spellings.
The Knowledge Strand builds background knowledge and vocabulary through carefully sequenced read-alouds and complex texts. Teachers read aloud stories that are more complex than the text students can decode on their own, enabling children to engage with complex texts and build background knowledge of a variety of connected topics in history, science, literature, and the arts.
3–5
In Grades 3–5, students are still focused on building reading and writing skills as well as knowledge and vocabulary, but the program no longer has two strands. The various lessons in each unit include read-alouds; whole-group, small-group, and partner reading; close reading; literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension questions; vocabulary; grammar; writing; morphology and spelling (10–15 words per week); and unit assessments.
Program design
The Skills strand provides intentional and systematic support in building decoding skills. The lessons support learning related to phonemic awareness, sound-letter patterns (or spelling patterns), decoding (both in explicit lessons and with engaging decodable texts), writing mechanics, and writing structure and processes, for 60 minutes daily.
The Knowledge Strand develops young children’s language and background knowledge. By exposing children to rich and complex texts through daily read-alouds, engaging in text-based and analytic discussions of the text and content, and building connections from the text to the work of the classroom through extension activities, the Knowledge Strand provides daily, extensive (60 minutes) broadening and deepening of children’s oral language and comprehension.
Teaching the Skills Strand and Knowledge Strand in parallel helps students avoid cognitive overload and acquire advanced, complex vocabulary in the Knowledge Strand—in essence, reading to learn from day one—while becoming expert decoders in the Skills Strand. The program is designed to bring these two strands together in grades 3–5, as foundational skills and higher-level comprehension and meaning-making gradually intertwine.
The CKLA program takes a comprehensive approach to teaching the code of the English language in the Skills strand. While the English language has only 26 letters, these letters combine to create 150 spelling patterns that represent 44 sounds of language. In most reading programs, children are explicitly taught only a fraction of this information and must glean the rest from ad hoc and incidental exposure to these spelling patterns through text. CKLA focuses on explicitly teaching each of the 44 sounds and the 150 ways that these sounds are represented (via letters and letter combinations). This comprehensive approach assures educators that children have the knowledge they need to address any text and any word.
The Knowledge Strand reflects the fact that knowledge, comprehension, and vocabulary are intimately related. The materials are designed to provide children sustained time on a variety of domains (bodies of knowledge) through shared read-alouds and discussions. This coherent organization of content is critical to building knowledge, inferring new vocabulary, and enabling comprehension. The content-rich, intentionally sequenced nature of the read-alouds within the Knowledge Strand creates the optimal context for incidental and explicit vocabulary-learning opportunities. After the read-aloud, children analyze the text through interactive discussion questions, engage in activities that foster their comprehension of complex sentences and ideas, and extend the ideas of the read-aloud into other activities in the classroom. In this way, the lessons create rich, academically oriented, oral language experiences that promote both receptive and expressive language skills.
Amplify CKLA embeds a variety of diagnostic and classroom assessments into the program materials.
There are curriculum-based assessments of both foundational skills and content knowledge, placement assessments in Grades 1 and 2 for the Skills Strand, and end-of-year Skills Strand assessments in Grades K–3. These assessments are built into the units of instruction/domains within the Teacher Guides. In Grades 4–5, there are beginning-of-year assessments, frequent spelling assessments, and comprehensive unit assessments.
Formative Assessments are integrated into every lesson, allowing teachers to understand exactly how students are doing on meeting lesson goals and standards-based objectives.
Writing in multiple genres is taught through a process that builds from three highly scaffolded steps to seven flexible steps.
In addition to explicit lessons in handwriting, spelling, and grammar, writing is taught throughout K–5. Instruction begins with a three-step writing process: plan, draft, and edit. The process is reinforced as each new writing genre is addressed. Each genre is taught through a gradual reduction in scaffolding over a set of six lessons that includes teacher modeling, group practice, independent practice, and independent application. This systematic approach allows for continued support and predictable learning as children progress in their knowledge of text types and complexity of writing. By Grade 3, students have worked their way up to a five-step writing process: planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Beginning in Grade 4, the writing process expands to seven components: planning, drafting, sharing, evaluating, revising, and editing (and the optional component of publishing). An important change between the writing process in Grades 3–5 is that the writing process is no longer conceptualized as a series of scaffolded, linear steps that students follow in a set sequence. Rather, students move back and forth between components of the writing process in a flexible manner, similar to the process that mature and experienced writers follow. In addition to specific writing lessons, there are numerous writing opportunities for students throughout the curriculum.
Alignment to the CCSS
Fully implementing the Common Core Standards requires some shifts in prevailing instructional approaches. For early grades language arts, these shifts can be summarized as (1) balancing fiction and nonfiction text, (2) building knowledge, (3) supporting students’ capacity to learn from increasingly complex texts, (4) giving text-based answers, (5) writing from sources, and (6) explicitly supporting the acquisition of academic vocabulary. The following sections document the primary ways that Amplify CKLA meets the demands of these shifts.
- The amount of nonfiction gradually increases, reaching the 50-50 balance of fiction and nonfiction by grade 3.
- Read-alouds in the Knowledge Strand are designed according to the latest research to build knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, the arts, and more.
- The texts in both the Knowledge Strand and the Skills strand increase in complexity as the program progresses within and across grades.
- In the Skills Strand, the language and knowledge demands of the texts increase, but remain decodable based on the aspects of the code that have been taught to date.
- Both strands engage students in appropriate means of providing text-based answers—orally, pictorially, and eventually in writing.
- Together, the Skills and Knowledge Strands enable students to read and digest various sources and then write by drawing on those sources.
- In both strands of the program, Amplify CKLA teaches children the process of using the text as a springboard for understanding.
- The Knowledge Strand offers repeated exposures to academic vocabulary through authentic texts and explicit word instruction.
Materials
PreK
- Teacher Guides, Student Activity Pages, 3–4 Trade Books per domain, Flip Books, Image Cards, Transition and Center Cards, Nursery Rhymes and Songs Posters, and a Big Book (Classic Tales)
Grades K–2
- Knowledge Strand: Teacher Guides, Flip Books, Student Activity Books, Image Cards, and online resources including supplemental lessons
- Skills Strand: Teacher Guides, Activity Books, Student Readers, Big Books, Letter Cards, Spelling Cards, Individual Code Sheets, Code and Chaining Resources (Vowel/Consonant Code Flip Books, Student Chaining Folders), Blending Cards, and online resources including differentiation and remediation guides
Grades 3–5
- Teacher Guides, Student Readers, Activity Books, Poet’s Journal, Writer’s Journal, Core Quests (The Viking Age in Grade 3, Eureka: Student Inventor in Grade 4 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in grade 5) and Writing Quests (The Contraption in Grade 4, The Robot in Grade 5)
What’s included in our Grades 3–5 language arts curriculum
Grounded in the science of reading, Amplify CKLA for grades 3–5 integrates foundational skills students have learned in grades K–2 while continuing to build rich content knowledge. With Amplify CKLA, you’ll have the instruction and guidance of proven, evidence-based practices to help all of your students become strong readers, writers, and thinkers.
Year at a glance
The Amplify CKLA curriculum is modeled after proven research in early literacy that supports a two-strand approach to literacy instruction in the early years. With this approach, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson per day that builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds background knowledge in the Knowledge Strand. The deep content knowledge is sequenced together with research-based foundational skills in Grades K–2 so that students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers, as well as build the context to understand what they’re reading.
In Grades 3–5, lessons combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater emphasis on writing. Students start to use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures, further opening up their worlds.
Units at a glance
Students move fluidly between reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language activities, with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.
Unit 1
Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
Students explore international classic tales, including The Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, and “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.”
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 2
Animal Classification
Students learn how scientists use animals’ characteristics to classify and study them; students apply knowledge through text-based discussions and writing exercises.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 3
The Human Body: Systems and Senses
This unit involves the study of the human body, building students’ understanding of its senses and skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems.
Number of Lessons: 14
Unit 4
The Ancient Roman Civilization
Students dive into ancient Rome, studying its history, culture, and myths about Roman gods and goddesses.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 5
Light and Sound
Students learn the science behind light and sound, read biographies of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, and write newspaper articles.
Number of Lessons: 17
Unit 6
The Viking Age (with Core Quest)
This unit’s informational and literary texts convey information about the Vikings, their culture, and their exploration.
Number of Lessons: 11
Unit 7
Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond
Students learn about astronomy, the universe, and important figures in the history of space exploration, including Nicolaus Copernicus and Mae Jemison.
Number of Lessons: 20
Unit 8
Native Americans: Regions and Cultures
Students compare, contrast, assemble information, and reflect on what they have learned about Native Americans and their ways of life.
Number of Lessons: 13
Unit 9
Early Explorations of North America
Students explore reasons for European exploration, what exploration was like, and who went exploring; then students write opinion pieces using this information.
Number of Lessons: 14
Unit 10
Colonial America
Students learn about colonies in early America, including how colonies were started and the progress colonists made after settling.
Number of Lessons: 16
Unit 11
Ecology
Students learn about different aspects of ecology, including food chains, the balance of nature, changes to the environment, and protecting the environment.
Number of Lessons: 12
Unit 1
Personal Narratives
This unit examines the genre of personal narratives, including nonfiction works written by a first-person narrator involved in the events being described.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 2
Empires in the Middle Ages
This unit covers the history of various empires and geographical regions throughout the Middle Ages.
Number of Lessons: 25
Unit 3
Poetry
Students explore poetry, training in methods and devices poets use and learning to read, write, and interpret formal and free verse poems.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 4
Eureka! Student Inventor
This Core Quest, a narrative-driven unit, immerses students in close-reading adventures and scientific and historical content about inventions. Students write and read opinion, informational, and narrative texts.
Number of Lessons: 10
Unit 5
Geology
This unit focuses on the composition of Earth and the forces that change its surface.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 6
Contemporary Fiction with excerpts from The House on Mango Street
This unit explores narrative literature and writing, using excerpts from The House on Mango Street as its anchor text.
Number of Lessons: 13
Unit 7
American Revolution
Students learn that disagreements about principles of government led colonists in North America to seek independence from Great Britain.
Number of Lessons: 17
Unit 8
Treasure Island
Students focus on character development, setting, plot, and literary devices while reading an abridged version of a classic novel, Treasure Island.
Number of Lessons: 19
Unit 5
Writing Quest (supplemental): The Contraption
In this supplemental Quest, students interact with a mysterious machine fueled by their writing and solve the machine’s puzzles. This Quest features a digital environment controlled by the teacher.
Unit 1
Personal Narratives
This unit examines the genre of personal narratives, including nonfiction works written by a first-person narrator involved in the events being described.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 2
Early American Civilizations
Students study the geography, climate, flora, and fauna of the Americas and the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 3
Poetry
Students explore poetry, training in methods and devices poets use and learning to read, write, and interpret formal and free verse poems.
Number of Lessons: 13
Unit 4
Adventures of Don Quixote
In this unit students trace the development of plot, characters, and literary elements while reading a full-length, adapted version of Don Quixote.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 5
The Renaissance
This unit provides students with a broad exposure to the art and literature of the Renaissance through the works of renowned masters.
Number of Lessons: 19
Unit 6
The Reformation
This unit teaches students about the Reformation, a movement involving religious and political upheaval that shifted the political power in Europe.
Number of Lessons: 10
Unit 7
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Core Quest)
This unit is an immersive Quest that treats Shakespeare’s comedy as both literature and a living text for interpretation and performance.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 8
Native Americans
Students learn how settlers, explorers, and the American government in the 1800s affected Native American cultures and their relationship with the land.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 9
Chemical Matter
Students learn about chemistry and close-reading through a literary and informational work, The Badlands Sleuth, in which the protagonist uses chemistry to solve mysteries.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 10
Writing Quest (supplemental): The Robot
Students interact with a classroom pet that learns and grows with their writing. This Quest features a digital environment controlled by the teacher.
Program components
The program includes instructional guidance and student materials for a year of instruction, with lessons and activities that keep students engaged every day.
Component
FORMAT
Teacher Guides
Teacher Guides for each unit provide engaging lessons with standards-based objectives and formative assessments that empower teachers with proven strategies and research-based tools.
Print or digital
Differentiation resources
The online Assessment and Remediation Guide (Grade 3) and the Decoding and Encoding Supplement (Grades 4–5) provide thousands of pages of targeted activities in decoding, spelling, and other core literacy skills. Supplemental Guides provide opportunities for enrichment.
Digital
Writing Studio
A riveting connected writing program for more time, practice, and challenge in writing, with a focus on informative, narrative, and opinion modes of writing.
Print or digital
Digital experience
The Amplify CKLA digital experience delivers ready-made, customizable, slides-based lesson presentations to enhance instruction and save time. Everything needed to plan and present high-quality, engaging early literacy instruction is in one convenient place.
Digital
Component
FORMAT
Student Readers
Amplify CKLA’s Student Readers anchor each of the content-based units, providing a close-reading experience fueled by rich background knowledge that inspires students to dig deeper.
Activity Books
In addition to providing daily opportunities for students to respond to text and apply skills and knowledge, Activity Books feature formative assessments for each day’s objectives.
Digital experience
The Amplify CKLA digital experience delivers ready-made, customizable, slides-based lesson presentations to enhance instruction and save time. Everything needed to plan and present high-quality, engaging early literacy instruction is in one convenient place.
Digital
Explore more programs
Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.
Welcome to the Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition program review site!
CKLA 1st Edition Resources (new)
Welcome, Volusia reviewers!
Welcome to Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), a comprehensive reading and language arts curriculum for Grades K–5 built on today’s rigorous standards. Amplify CKLA delivers superior results through a uniquely research-based approach, combining explicit foundational skills instruction with meaningful content knowledge in science, history, literature, and the arts.
By focusing deeply on building students’ knowledge base, Amplify CKLA levels the playing field for every child.
Amplify CKLA was developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation and Amplify.
Grades K–2 introduction
In grades K–2, Amplify CKLA is segmented into two distinct strands: Knowledge and Skills.
Skills Strand: Skills Strand lessons build a strong foundation for students through daily instruction in phonemic awareness, spelling patterns, decoding with engaging, decodable texts, writing mechanics, and writing structure and processes.
Knowledge Strand: It is vital to build students’ knowledge and vocabulary while they are still in the process of learning to read. In doing so, you better ensure their long-term success. CKLA’s Knowledge Strand is based on that very principle.
Grades K–2 materials
Student Reader
Unlike other decodable texts, CKLA’s Readers feature engaging plots and characters, making the process of learning to read rewarding. Student Readers are provided for each unit in the program beginning in Kindergarten Unit 6.
Grades 3–5 introduction
In grades 3–5, the Skills and Knowledge strands are integrated. As part of the curriculum’s research-based design, students in grades 3–5 spend several weeks immersed in sequenced domains in science, history, and literature, deepening both critical literacy skills and background knowledge.
Grades 3–5 materials
Student Reader
Rich in knowledge and diverse in content, Student Readers are the foundation of each unit as students dive into increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills. From geology to the Middle Ages, students engage with a truly diverse range of topics.
Student Readers
- Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Unit 2: Animal Classification
- Unit 3: The Human Body
- Unit 4: The Ancient Roman Civilization
- Unit 5: Light and Sound
- Unit 6: The Viking Age
- Unit 7: Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond
- Unit 8: Native Americans: Regions and Cultures
- Unit 9: Early Explorations of North America
- Unit 10: Colonial America
- Unit 11: Ecology
Welcome, Tennessee reviewers!
Welcome to Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), a comprehensive reading and language arts curriculum for Grades K–5 built on today’s rigorous standards. Amplify CKLA delivers superior results through a uniquely research-based approach, combining explicit foundational skills instruction with meaningful content knowledge in science, history, literature, and the arts.
By focusing deeply on building students’ knowledge base, Amplify CKLA levels the playing field for every child.
Amplify CKLA was developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation and Amplify.
Grades K–2 introduction
In grades K–2, Amplify CKLA is segmented into two distinct strands: Knowledge and Skills.
Skills Strand: Skills Strand lessons build a strong foundation for students through daily instruction in phonemic awareness, spelling patterns, decoding with engaging, decodable texts, writing mechanics, and writing structure and processes.
Knowledge Strand: It is vital to build students’ knowledge and vocabulary while they are still in the process of learning to read. In doing so, you better ensure their long-term success. CKLA’s Knowledge Strand is based on that very principle.
Grades K–2 student materials
Student Reader
Unlike other decodable texts, CKLA’s Readers feature engaging plots and characters, making the process of learning to read rewarding. Student Readers are provided for each unit in the program beginning in Kindergarten Unit 6.
Grades 3–5 introduction
In grades 3–5, the Skills and Knowledge strands are integrated. As part of the curriculum’s research-based design, students in grades 3–5 spend several weeks immersed in sequenced domains in science, history, and literature, deepening both critical literacy skills and background knowledge.
Grades 3–5 student materials
Student Reader
Rich in knowledge and diverse in content, Student Readers are the foundation of each unit as students dive into increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills. From geology to the Middle Ages, students engage with a truly diverse range of topics.
Student Readers
- Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
- Unit 2: Animal Classification
- Unit 3: The Human Body
- Unit 4: The Ancient Roman Civilization
- Unit 5: Light and Sound
- Unit 6: The Viking Age
- Unit 7: Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond
- Unit 8: Native Americans: Regions and Cultures
- Unit 9: Early Explorations of North America
- Unit 10: Colonial America
- Unit 11: Ecology
Welcome, Florida community reviewers!
Welcome, Michigan Committee for Literacy Achievement!
We’re excited to share everything you need to critically evaluate Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition, our K–5 core literacy program. On this site, you’ll find a range of materials and literacy tools, including Reviewer Resources and Teaching Materials (Teacher Guides, Activity Books, and Student Readers) organized by grade and unit.
We hope you find the site helpful. We welcome your thoughts and questions!
Reviewer resources
Key bid documents:
- ESSA Level Evidence Worksheet
- K-5 Reading League Curriculum Evaluation Tool
- K-2 EdReports Self-Evaluation
- 3-5 EdReports Self-Evaluation
Overview and program resources:
- Program Guide
- Choice Units Overview
- Text Types and Text Complexity Guide
- Writing Overview
- Assessment Overview
- K–5 Knowledge Map
Alignment and scope and sequence:
- Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Alignment
- K-2 Skills Scope and Sequence
- K-2 Knowledge Scope and Sequence
- 3-5 Instruction Scope and Sequence
Curriculum maps by grade:
- Kindergarten Knowledge | Kindergarten Skills
- Grade 1 Knowledge | Grade 1 Skills
- Grade 2 Knowledge | Grade 2 Skills
- Grade 3
- Grade 4
- Grade 5
Kindergarten
Explore all available resources for Kindergarten, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
Skills Strand
Grade 1
Explore all available resources for Grade 1, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
Skills Strand
Grade 2
Explore all available resources for Grade 2, organized by strand and unit.
Knowledge Strand
Skills Strand
Grade 3
Explore all available resources for Grade 3, organized by unit.
Grade 4
Explore all available resources for Grade 4, organized by unit.
Grade 5
Explore all available resources for Grade 5, organized by unit.
Skills Supplement (Grades 3-5)
These supplementary units for Grades 3-5 reinforce and build on K-2 foundational skills instruction.
Digital platform
In the 2025-26 school year, Amplify CKLA’s all-in-one platform will offer essential tools that streamline instruction for teachers and engage students with meaningful content. Teachers can plan and deliver lessons efficiently, while students can access assignments, assessments, and fun practice games.
Presentation Screens
Deliver interactive lessons with ready-made, customizable slides for every lesson.
Auto-scored digital assessments
Assess vocabulary, comprehension, and knowledge development at the end of each K–2 Knowledge and 3–5 Integrated Unit.
Standards-based reports
Identify strengths and growth areas for individuals, small groups, or your entire class. Interactive dashboards offer detailed results from assessments and activities.
Skill-building practice games
Engage students with interactive games that reinforce concepts and make learning fun. Powered by Boost Reading™, these games align with lessons and provide real-time feedback.
eReader
Students access texts, take notes, and use audio-enabled eReaders to enhance their reading experience.
Sound Library
Students watch articulation videos and listen to songs for each sound to support phonological awareness.
Vocab App
Helps students in Grades 3–5 practice Amplify CKLA Tier 2 vocabulary words with fun, interactive games.
Intervention Toolkit
Offers user-friendly resources designed to aid educators in identifying and addressing deficiencies in students’ foundation skills.
Program support resources
Additional program resource documents:
Welcome, Ohio Department of Education and Workforce!
Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition builds on the principles and instruction of previous editions to provide better-than-ever support for teaching and learning. The focus continues on delivering evidence-based instruction across a system of multi-tiered supports aligned with the Science of Reading and Writing.
We’re excited to share this site, where you’ll find a range of materials and literacy tools including Reviewer Resources and Teaching Materials (Teacher Guides, Activity Books, and Student Readers) organized by grade and unit.
We welcome your thoughts and questions!
Reviewer resources
- Program Guide
- What’s New: CKLA 3rd Edition
- Choice Units Overview
- Text Types and Text Complexity Guide
- Writing Overview
- Assessments Overview
- K-5 Knowledge Map
Alignment and scope and sequence
Core Comprehensive English Language Arts:
- Correlations to the Ohio Learning Standards for English Language Arts
- K-2 Knowledge Scope and Sequence
- 3-5 Integrated Scope and Sequence
Core Foundational Skills:
Curriculum maps
Core Comprehensive English Language Arts:
- Kindergarten Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
- Grade 1 Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
- Grade 2 Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
- Grade 3 Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
- Grade 4 Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
- Grade 5 Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
Core Foundational Skills:
- Kindergarten Core Foundational Skills
- Grade 1 Core Foundational Skills
- Grade 2 Core Foundational Skills
Kindergarten
Explore all available resources for Kindergarten, organized by strand and unit.
Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
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Unit 1: Star Light, Star Bright: Nursery Rhymes and Fables |
Unit 2: See, Hear, Smell, Taste, Touch: The Five Senses |
Unit 3: Underdogs and Heroes: Stories |
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Unit 4: See How They Grow: Plants |
Unit 5: Moo, Cluck, Oink: Farms |
Unit 6: Deep Roots: Introduction to Native American Cultures |
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Unit 7: All Around the World: Geography |
Unit 8 (Choice): Royal Tales: Monarchs |
Unit 8 (Choice): National Icons: Presidents and American Symbols |
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Unit 9 (Choice): Our Planet: Taking Care of the Earth |
Unit 9 (Choice): Rain and Rainbows: Seasons and Weather |
Unit 10: Shaped by Nature: Art and the World Around Us |
Core Foundational Skills
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Unit 7 |
Unit 8 |
Unit 9 |
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Unit 10 |
Ancillary Components |
Grade 1
Explore all available resources for Grade 1, organized by strand and unit.
Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
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Unit 1: The Moral of the Story: Fables and Tales |
Unit 2: From Nose to Toes: How Your Body Works |
Unit 3: Common Threads: Different Lands, Similar Stories |
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Unit 4: Reach for the Stars: Astronomy |
Unit 5: Charting the World: Geography |
Unit 6: A World of Homes: Animals and Habitats |
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Unit 7: A New Nation: American Independence |
Unit 8 (Choice): Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tales |
Unit 8 (Choice): Our Planet: The History of the Earth |
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Unit 9 (Choice): From Babylon to the Nile: Early World Civilizations |
Unit 9 (Choice): Early Americas: Maya, Aztec, and Inca |
Unit 10: Adventure Stories: Tales from the Edge |
Core Foundational Skills
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Unit 7 |
Ancillary Components |
Grade 2
Explore all available resources for Grade 2, organized by strand and unit.
Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
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Unit 1: Fortunes and Feats: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales |
Unit 2: The Birthplace of Democracy: Ancient Greece |
Unit 3: Legends and Heroes: Greek Myths |
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Unit 4: Our Planet: Cycles in Nature |
Unit 5: Butterflies, Bees, and Beetles: Insects |
Unit 6: A House Divided: The American Civil War |
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Unit 7: Sounds and Stanzas: Poetry |
Unit 8 (Choice): Journeys to America: Immigration |
Unit 8 (Choice): Making a Difference: Creating Change |
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Unit 9 (Choice): Building Blocks: All About Nutrition |
Unit 9 (Choice): Early Asian Civilizations: India and China |
Unit 10: Taking Flight: The Age of Aviation |
Core Foundational Skills
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
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Unit 4 |
Unit 5 |
Unit 6 |
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Ancillary Components |
Grade 3
Explore all available resources for Grade 3, organized by unit.
Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
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Unit 1: Timeless Tales: Classic Stories |
Unit 2: Fur, Fins, and Feathers: Animal Classification |
Unit 3: Rhythm and Rhyme: Poetry |
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Unit 4: Rise and Fall: Ancient Rome |
Unit 5: Our Solar System and Beyond: Astronomy |
Unit 6: Regions and Cultures: Native Americans |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: Charlotte’s Web |
Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: Stella Díaz Has Something to Say |
Unit 8 (Choice): Systems and Senses: The Human Body |
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Unit 8 (Choice): From Glow to Echo: Light and Sound |
Unit 9: From Blues to Bebop: All That Jazz |
Ancillary Components |
Supplemental Skills Units
Grade 3 Supplemental Skills units are included in core classroom kits, although the instruction isn’t required for Grade 3 standards coverage.
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Unit 1 |
Unit 2 |
Unit 3 |
Unit 4
Grade 4 Core Comprehensive ELA
Explore all available resources for Grade 4, organized by unit.
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Unit 1: My Story, My Voice: Personal Narratives |
Unit 2: Knights and Castles: Europe’s Middle Ages |
Unit 3: Meaning and Metaphor: Poetry |
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Unit 4: Eureka! Student Inventor |
Unit 5: Our Planet: Geology |
Unit 6: Road to Independence: The American Revolution |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler |
Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Season of Styx Malone |
Unit 8 (Choice): Crafting Stories: A World of Tales |
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Unit 8 (Choice): Adventure on the High Seas: Treasure Island |
Unit 9: Inspiration and Ingenuity: American Innovation |
Ancillary Components |
Grade 5 Core Comprehensive ELA
Explore all available resources for Grade 5, organized by unit.
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Unit 1: In My Own Words: Personal Narratives |
Unit 2: Early Americas: Maya, Aztec, and Inca |
Unit 3: Visions in Verse: Poetry |
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Unit 4: A Knight’s Tale: Don Quixote
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Unit 5: The Deep Blue World: Oceans |
Unit 6: Cultures and Histories: Native Americans |
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Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Phantom Tollbooth |
Unit 7 (Choice): Novel Study: The Science of Breakable Things |
Unit 8 (Choice): Arts and Culture: The Renaissance |
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Unit 8 (Choice): Through the Forest: A Midsummer Night’s Dream |
Unit 9: Building Up the World: Global Architecture |
Ancillary Components |
Digital platform
In the 2025-26 school year, Amplify CKLA’s all-in-one platform will offer essential tools that streamline instruction for teachers and engage students with meaningful content. Teachers can plan and deliver lessons efficiently, while students can access assignments, assessments, and fun practice games.
Presentation Screens
Deliver interactive lessons with ready-made, customizable slides for every lesson.
Auto-scored digital assessments
Assess vocabulary, comprehension, and knowledge development at the end of each K–2 Knowledge and 3–5 Integrated Unit.
Standards-based reports
Identify strengths and growth areas for individuals, small groups, or your entire class. Interactive dashboards offer detailed results from assessments and activities.
Skill-building practice games
Engage students with interactive games that reinforce concepts and make learning fun. Powered by Boost Reading™, these games align with lessons and provide real-time feedback.
eReader
Students access texts, take notes, and use audio-enabled eReaders to enhance their reading experience.
Sound Library
Students watch articulation videos and listen to songs for each sound to support phonological awareness.
Vocab App
Helps students in Grades 3-5 practice Amplify CKLA Tier 2 vocabulary words with fun, interactive games.
Intervention Toolkit
Offers user-friendly resources designed to aid educators in identifying and addressing deficiencies in students’ foundation skills.
Program support resources
Additional program resource documents:
S1-10: Empowering the science educator: Jessica Kesler
In the final episode of the season, Eric sits down with his friend and professional development facilitator, Jessica Kesler. Jessica describes her passion for sharing free, high-quality, empathy-centered professional development for K12 educators. Jessica also shares her experience jumping into leadership positions while teaching in Philadelphia. Eric also chats with Jessica about how students often lean on teachers for more than delivering content. Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.
Jessica Kesler (00:01):
One student at a time, isn’t gonna bring a million students through the door. But if we focus on their teachers, then they can implement it in their classroom and have this multiplicative effect that can continue on and help us to reach those millions of kids and helping them be prepared for future careers.
Eric Cross (00:19):
Welcome to science connections. I’m your host. Eric Cross. My guest today is Jessica Kessler. Jessica’s director of professional learning at TGR foundation, which is a tiger woods charity. There she creates and leads free stem, professional learning opportunities for educators across the country. Prior to working at TGR, Jessica worked as an elementary, middle and high school science teacher while fulfilling several leadership roles, including science department, chair and principal intern. In this episode, Jessica shares some of her classroom experiences while working in Philadelphia, where she was in classrooms, where her students needed her to be more than just her content. She also addresses how designing professional learning with empathy for teachers in mind creates better experiences for teachers. And now please enjoy my discussion with Jessica Kessler. So let’s, let’s start off with St. Joseph’s chemistry college to the classroom, like your origin story. What led you to ultimately get into the classroom and being successful, even just looking at, at your kinda like your resume or your CV of all of the things that you’ve done. You definitely weren’t idle, but start off with chem. Yeah. Like where did that passion come from?
Jessica Kesler (01:27):
Yeah. So when I was younger, I just had this burning passion to help people. Right. And when you’re young and you think about helping people, you think about doctors, doctors help people. Right. So I had this idea that I wanna be a surgeon. I wanna be a black surgeon. I wanna be a young girl, female Charles drew, and I just wanna go out there and do it. And so my mom is actually an alum of St Joe’s. So I spent a lot of time on campus cuz as she was getting her mini master’s degrees I will visit campus with her often. And so when I applied, I had the scholarships, had everything and I went in ready to be bio ready to be a surgeon. I took my first bio class and I was like, yes, let’s talk about the human body. And let’s get into dissections and sections. And they were like, okay, so a plant so has this. And I was like, Ooh <laugh> I was like, this is not what I was expecting at all. It just felt so detached from the trajectory that I wanted to take. And it just did not feed that passion of helping people in the immediate moment.
Eric Cross (02:31):
Did it, did it feel too abstract?
Jessica Kesler (02:33):
It felt abstract. It felt boring. Okay. And one thing I didn’t want was to be like stuck, bored. Like if I’m not being stimulated in a good way, mm-hmm <affirmative> then it’s not gonna last, but I love science. So I switched over to chemistry cuz I’m like this chemistry is exciting. I’m mixing things together. I’m producing new things. I’m doing extractions. I’m being introduced to machinery that I haven’t seen before. I’m loving it. I’m doing a math. The math is awesome. And so I switched over to chem and I started doing research in the summers and things like that. My research was around water quality in Philadelphia and looking at different natural water sources and comparing them and all those great things. But I was in a lab and the lab had no windows and I was stuck talking to this atomic absorption specter every day.
Jessica Kesler (03:24):
And I hit that, that wall again, where it was like, is this the rest of my life? Like talking to these machines and not having windows and not being able to interact with people. What is this? This can’t be life. And so I was seeking out some new opportunities that said, Hey, I need more money. First of all. So I’m like, I call the financial aid office like every week, like, Hey, what’s out today. What new scholarships do you have? I’m applying for everything. Like it was my goal to not have to pay for much of my education. And so I was talking to them and they’re like, Hey, you’re in science. There’s this awesome opportunity called a noise scholarship where they’ll pay for your last year and your master’s degree. If you go into education mm-hmm <affirmative> and I sat on it and I was like, this makes so much sense to me.
Jessica Kesler (04:12):
I was like, I’ve been literally tutoring my peers and teaching in churches and all this other kind of stuff. My whole life. It makes so much sense. How come nobody ever said this before? <Laugh> and so I applied for the noise scholarship, got in and started, you know, mm-hmm, <affirmative> doing practicums in the classroom as I went through my last year as a chemistry major and my first year for my masters and it just felt so right. And I was like, I can do this. And of course there were a lot of people who told me, no, Josh, you can’t do that. Like these kids will eat you alive. And I’m like I don’t think so. <Laugh> but, but that’s give it a go. And I stepped into the classroom and it, it just felt like, felt like it was always meant to be there.
Eric Cross (04:57):
So you were able to, you were able to make that connection between, I mean, if you’re, if you’re studying chemistry and bio and going into stem, I mean, there’s, there’s an aptitude there, but then you realize that this there’s a road that you could take that leads you into a room with no windows. And you’re just hanging out with machines all day
Jessica Kesler (05:14):
And I’m not helping people. Right. Right. And that was, my passion was like, I’m not helping people sitting in this room. I need to be a person that’s outside telling people about what happens in the room. Right. And how they can get involved and like what’s going on in here. Like that’s, that’s where I can be useful.
Eric Cross (05:28):
When you were, you were in Philly when you were teaching, what were you teaching when you were there?
Jessica Kesler (05:33):
So I started off teaching eighth grade science first job in north Philadelphia, teaching eighth grade science and just a, a funding tangent that first day a student called me a B
Eric Cross (05:44):
Trial by fire
Jessica Kesler (05:45):
Trial by fire called me out in front of like the whole floor. We were outside doing line drills and just was like, I hate you miss Kusa your B. And I was like, oh, this is it. This is it. This is where you stand your ground and you take it or you, you bail out <laugh> and you go back into the lab mm-hmm <affirmative>. And of course at the end of that, that traumatic experience between all the kids, like two months later, she wanted me to adopt her. So like everything comes full circles. Right.
Eric Cross (06:10):
That’s how it is. Right.
Jessica Kesler (06:11):
But I started teaching eighth grade science. There’s not a lot of science teachers at that level who actually have a science background. Most of them have elementary school background. So I’m the only scientist walking into the science classroom and saying, this is how science actually works. And so I ended up taking a lot of onus of science while I was there. Ended up building out the K through eight curriculum for science. I ended up doing like a science strategic plan to submit to the district. I ended up leading out our first couple stem nights and like really leading the stem department and kind of our science department. And this was as like a second, third year teacher <laugh> know, but nobody else had the science mm-hmm, <affirmative> the way that I had the science and the education. So it really opened up a door for me to be able to, to run full steam with all those things.
Eric Cross (07:04):
So MI was it primarily middle school during those, those years that you were there?
Jessica Kesler (07:07):
So there, I started with middle school and I did that purposefully because I was still young and I wanted there to be a good age gap between me and the students. And then I moved up to high school and taught high school chemistry, also taught a couple other different subjects while I was at that school. But primarily high school chemistry. Then I actually took a big leap down and I said, okay. I was going for my second master’s degree in educational leadership. And I was going for my principal cert. And I said, if I’m gonna be a principal of a school, then I need to understand all the levels of education and how they operate, cuz they operate really differently. So I said, I started in middle school, went to high school. I don’t have elementary school experience. In fact, I’d spent a day in a kindergarten classroom and I was like this never again, but I was like, I need to go back down there and I need to figure out how this system works because you know, I never know where I’m gonna land as far as principalship.
Jessica Kesler (08:01):
So I went and taught fourth grade.
Eric Cross (08:03):
How was that experience?
Jessica Kesler (08:05):
So imagine me going from teaching high school, seniors and juniors Uhhuh and like they’re self-sufficient and you know, they’re independent, they’re driving to school and all these things. And then I immediately drop down and go into fourth grade where these kids are crying every five seconds. They still have like a lot of bodily fluids, like there’s noses running and things. And like <laugh>, I was like a fish outta water. I was like, what is this? What’s going on down here. But those kids pour out so much love. And they, you, you become another parent to them. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> your high schoolers know who their parents are. They kind of are finding their place in society, but the little ones, they only know big people as parents, small people as equal. So they see you as another parent. So it taught me a lot about, you know, patience and breaking information down, even smaller. I had to figure out new and inventive ways to teach science and bring it down so far that they would be able to grab onto it and achieve it. And it was a challenge, but at the end it paid off, we were running, we were hitting like great markers for all of our PSSA goals that year. I mean, we were really knocking it out the park
Eric Cross (09:17):
And this backstory leads into how we met and adds to the picture as to why I really want to have you on, because your involvement with TGR, which is where I want to go next for the folks listening. I bet a lot of them have no idea what it’s about, just like I did. And now me learning about TGR foundation and meeting you I would love to make sure that everyone knows about it and what they offer.
Jessica Kesler (09:39):
Absolutely. So TGR foundation, a tiger woods charity was founded by tiger woods and his father with a mission to really introduced them education to students in low income minority populations and prepare them for success in their world and their future careers moving forward. And so was founded in 1996 and went through several changes in iterations since 1996. But eventually opened up its first learning lab, which is in Anaheim, California. And through the learning lab, they opened up these satellite sites. So they basically partner with schools to provide after school education and robotics and wearable electronics and things like that. And they would partner with schools to teach these courses after school, they would pay the teacher, pay for the materials and stuff like that to provide more opportunity for students in different areas. And so that’s how I was introduced to the foundation because while I was teaching high school my good friend and previous manager, Jason Porter shout out to JP Jason Porter used to lead the tiger woods foundation when it was the tiger woods foundation.
Jessica Kesler (10:52):
He used to lead the afterschool program. And when I joined that high school, he said, Jess, you got all this great content, knowledge, all this great enthusiasm, and we wanna get more women into this robotics. We wanna get them engaged in this process of, of stuff. And you will be a great role model to start bringing in more of our female students. And I was like, great, sign me up. And that’s where I started working with the TGR foundation, right after school programs, getting my students into robotics, competitions and clubs, doing different challenges and design challenges. And then after some time, a few years, they actually needed someone to come to the DC area and support the development of professional learning and partnerships here in DC, as they were continuing to expand. And really it came out of the idea that tiger gave this big mission to the organization that he wanted to reach millions of kids.
Jessica Kesler (11:48):
He said millions and everybody said, what millions, what M <laugh>. So the foundation was like, okay, well we can’t reach millions by just tackling one student at a time, right? Not one student at a time, isn’t gonna bring a million people or students through the door. But if we focus on their teachers, mm-hmm <affirmative>, then those teachers not only spend most of their day with these students and learn the basics of their skills with these students. But each one of those teachers has 30 to 150 200 students that they see every day. And that’s how we multiply this effect. So we train the teachers on all the stem competencies and the pedagogical tools and strategies to implement the stem that we’re doing in our learning labs. And then they can implement it in our classroom and have this multiplicative effect that can continue on and help us to reach those millions of kids and helping them be prepared for future careers.
Eric Cross (12:44):
And so D divide the effort, multiply the effects. Exactly. And then when I was exposed to it, this was over zoom. Now, how long has it been going on? Has it always been virtualized or did you do the, were you all doing this before? We all went online
Jessica Kesler (12:57):
Before the pandemic man, the glory days, right before pandemic, it feels like I’m talking about prehistoric times, right? Like back in the dinosaur, like era, like, I don’t know, pre we actually did these workshops in a person. So we would invite people to come to DC, invite teachers in Philadelphia to do a Philly one. We were in New Mexico. We were in Florida. We were, I mean, we were everywhere and this would be a extremely hands on engaging workshops. So not only do we focus on this is the theory and the philosophy behind the pedagogy, but we would also focus on like creating a student experience for the teacher, having the teacher flip into student mode and put on that student hat and actually go through sample lessons, model lessons and activities as the student so that they can feel it. So you can feel if, if you feel confused, your students are gonna feel confused.
Jessica Kesler (13:52):
If you feel like this is challenging, you, your students are gonna feel the challenge. If you are, don’t understand the instructions, your students will understand the instructions. So it gives us a different perspective and it puts us in their shoes. So we can better empathize with them and create more responsive lesson planning. So we flipped them into that student role for that purpose. When COVID hit, we went virtual, but virtual allowed us to reach teachers that we probably would’ve never hit. So it was kind of that blessing and disguise, right? It was like we didn’t keep people as long cuz obviously virtually you’re not, you don’t wanna stare at a screen for eight hours. So we cut it down. We revised it a little bit, but we kept the hands on philosophy and feel of it going by, you know, using materials that they could find at home really modeling what education could look like.
Jessica Kesler (14:41):
Mm-Hmm <affirmative> if you used your Z zoom room to capacity, or if you had these materials and resources or rethought your lesson plans and structures. So we went virtual and not only were we able to hit so many more thirst that first year thirsty educators ready to get, dive into it, ready for some comradery with fellow educators. But we were also able to expand our international network. We were able to get so many international educators through our global work that it was, it was beyond what we had when we were in person. So it really had this skyrocketing effect.
Eric Cross (15:20):
There’s professional learning pathways and then virtual stem studio. Is that right for professional development for like teachers who are listening, are those the two kind of main prongs?
Jessica Kesler (15:30):
Yeah. So a stem studio is basically just one, right? And a pathway is a collection. So we now offer four stem studios, four separate stem studios. The first one is on inquiry mindset. You attended that one area. And it’s really about for teachers who are changing their perspective on what the classroom should look and feel like, especially administrators too. It’s about developing that inquiry mindset. So you understand and you feel, and you practice and you learn the tools that are necessary for inquiry to happen in your classroom. We never promote overhauling your classroom. We’re just saying, add a little bit here and there and see how it impacts your students. The second one is on making inquiry, visible, making inquiry visible is all about making students thinking visible in the moment. What are tools and strategies that you use so that students can illuminate their thinking for themselves, but for you and their peers as well and how we benefit from that.
Jessica Kesler (16:28):
So not only do the students get to see their own thinking as they progress and you get to tell the story of how their minds have evolved, but you, as the teacher get to see, oh, this is where everyone is making the mistake, or this is how this misconception came about. Or this is where I need to target for my next lesson. So it makes you more responsive in the moment. And then the third and fourth one where we’re actually launching for a small group this summer, it won’t be available to the masses until maybe a year or two down the line. We have one small group that we’re just going to test it out with. The third one is about developing your inquiry environment. So thinking not just about your physical space, but thinking about your intellectual space too. So what are the things that you can embed into your physical space and develop in a student’s intellectual space that will help you create a holistic inquiry environment?
Eric Cross (17:22):
So this is this inquiry space, not just physical, but then also the intellectual environment
Jessica Kesler (17:26):
Intellectual. Exactly. And it focuses in on the design process and how we design spaces. Because as a teacher, we take a lot of background in the background onus of de creating these spaces. If you take someone out of an old habit or space and tell them, oh, we are gonna change in your minds and teach inquiry, but put them back in the same environment, they’re gonna be conflicted, right? Their bodies wanna do one thing, their minds wanna do another thing. And they don’t know how to bridge the gap between the two. So this is a really illuminating, like how do you change all the spaces? How do you design a flow in space in your classroom and in your students thinking that allows them to be productive in that inquiry environment. It’s really good stuff
Eric Cross (18:11):
Who creates these experiences for teachers.
Jessica Kesler (18:14):
We do. So me and my teammate, Holly, Dard shout out HD. Holly Dard, we really put our brains together and developed these. So it’s a really a team effort because like Jason Porter, Eric even David Tong when he was with us, really collectively thought about what it is that we wanted educators to experience. And then Holly and I do a lot of the grunt work, but then we really collectively put it all together and make it what it is. So I have a heavy hand and a lot of that. And in fact, inquiry four is all about the entrepreneurial mindset. So oftentimes educators don’t consider themselves entrepreneurs, but if you take a look at what an entrepreneur is and what they do on a regular basis, educators are entrepreneurs, but we are missing an opportunity to use our entrepreneurialship in the classroom to drive for stem competencies in inquiry based practices. And so in, in stem studio, four, we really focus in on how the educator is the entrepreneur of their classroom, but also uses entrepreneurial techniques to tackle issues in their schools, districts, and spheres of influence. So it’s really taking the educator to the next level of their teaching practice through entrepreneurship. This is some deep stuff.
Eric Cross (19:37):
It is, well, this entrepreneurial mindset is, is something that I’ve heard before. And I definitely see the link between even the term teacherpreneur beyond just selling lessons on teachers, pay teachers. <Laugh> it’s way bigger than that,
Jessica Kesler (19:52):
Where entrepreneurs actually in the classroom, not just because we do things on the side to make money. Exactly.
Eric Cross (19:57):
A lot of teachers hear that. They’re like, yeah, I got, you know, I got, got a few jobs going on. Exactly. Yeah. And, and I think one thing we, I should have said this earlier, and I’ll, I’ll say the intro, but these are all free.
Jessica Kesler (20:07):
This is largely sponsored by do OD stem as well. So we have a partnership with D O D stem and they have been driving forth the department of defenses, strategic stem plan for years. And as a part of that, they give us funding in order to provide these opportunities for educators for free. So literally educators don’t have to come with anything. And we are giving you not only the content of our, our lessons and our instruction, but we’re also going give you a chance to earn a free micro credential. So people are spending 12 plus hours with us in a workshop which sounds like a lot of time, but it’s over a series of time and days. But we wanna give you something that means something after that, we wanna give you a micro credential to add to your resume, to show your administrator, to show that you have achieved the next level in your professional learning career.
Jessica Kesler (20:59):
Right? And if you finish the pathway, which is all for, then we give you our TGR foundation certificate that says that you’ve completed so much professional learning in these areas that you are basically a warrior of inquiry that you are ready to go out and really lay inquiry out in new creative ways, not in your CLA just in your classroom, but everywhere you go in your district, in your school. And on top of that, we just offer so many other great free partnership incentives like discovery, education, experience licenses. We’re doing raffles this summer. We’re giving out free a free meal voucher so that you can get some lunch. One of these days we’re offering $50 gift cards so that people can get school supplies. So anything you do with us, and you’re like, man, I really wish I could have this so that I can do that in my classroom. We wanna break down all the barriers that prevent teachers from doing this stuff in their classroom, actively engaging in this stuff. And we give you a free copy of the books that we reference. Again, trying to break down the barriers,
Eric Cross (22:00):
What are some of the things that you’ve noticed kind of being on both sides of science teaching in the classroom, and then in training trends with teachers, things like moments that have been great or, or challenges that you’re noticing teachers experiencing, especially maybe changes in differences from a, from, you know, an outsider’s perspective. Seeing what teachers are experiencing are like, since you’ve been doing PDs for folks.
Jessica Kesler (22:22):
Yeah. So it’s actually really interesting being on both sides of the fence. You know, what I always noticed is that teachers are eager, but they’re tired. They’re wanting to learn, but they can’t take advantage of every opportunity to learn. And especially during COVID time, if you take a look at even all the professional learning that’s happening across the world right now, attendance is going down because teachers are so burnt out this hybrid space, this either we’re in person, but we’re still wearing masks and still social distancing and all this other stuff, or I’m still virtual or I’m virtual some days and I’m in person other days, it’s just wearing our teachers out. And I think we notice that as we see a large numbers of friends and family just start to retire, right? Like people are just like, I don’t know if I can adapt to another change in education.
Jessica Kesler (23:14):
Like education goes through these waves of big changes and it’s hard for everybody to adapt to, but for those who are willing to stick it out and those who are able to stick it out and, and still have that energy and enthusiasm to learn, they come in so hungry for more resources, so hungry to learn more and they still have their why at the top of their minds, as they think about why they do this it’s for the kids it’s to drive this mission is to get more kids excited about this. And they just come in so passionate. So once they come in, once we can get them to come in they stick with us for a really long time. They’re like, what else do you have? What else do you have? What else do you have? But we hear, still hear the common threads of like, do I have time for this?
Jessica Kesler (23:58):
Do I have the funding for this? Do I have the energy for this? Do, will my students understand this? And we are constantly facing that challenge of trying to address those things by, but keeping the excitement going, like we know you don’t have enough time. We’re gonna call it out from the start. I know you don’t have enough time to try to do 29 extra things. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. But my advice is always, but do one thing at a time, start with something small, asking your students a few questions rather than lecturing to them. Doesn’t take a whole lot of extra time, but it gives you so much extra insight. So let’s not work, you know, harder, let’s work smarter. Let’s embed this into our, our work together. And I always say that we’re not asking you to add to your plate. You know, it’s not Thanksgiving where you just pile, keep piling on a plate.
Jessica Kesler (24:47):
It’s it’s a time where you organize the plate. It’s allowing inquiry to restructure your plate so that everything has its place and its time mm-hmm <affirmative> do you wanna leave room so that the educator feels comfortable trying some new initiative? That’s why we encourage admin. We have librarians attend elementary school teachers, administrators, we, and we encourage it because everyone can support the classroom. And if administrators are more in touch with these new practices and tools and strategies, then they can help facilitate the learning. As the teachers are trying new things and coaching them in specific areas. So we really opened the door for some studios, for any and all who are gonna participate in that child’s education, because us all rallying around them as that three-legged stool helps to create that environment and helps support the teacher. The teachers need support, and we’re trying to do our part by providing the resources and the tools, but they need everyone else to.
Eric Cross (25:42):
We don’t always think about it as a way to support, to get support in our classrooms for ourselves. But I agree with you by, by educating vertically up the chain, you know, vice principal, principal, whoever it is, mm-hmm <affirmative> superintendent getting them on boarding and, and educating them to see what’s ex expected. We’ll open up doors and more freedoms for you because now you just have this vertical alignment of folks kind of on the same wave length. Exactly.
Jessica Kesler (26:07):
Yep. And that’s why we love districts. Anaheim union school district is actually one of our partners this year, where they have invited their teachers to participate in the whole pathway because they know how important it is that we practice these tools and strategies. And they want as many educators in the same space going through this at the same time as possible so that we can support each other through it. And so that we don’t feel like islands, oftentimes as educators, we feel like islands we’re in our classroom day in and day out. And we don’t feel like there’s anybody else who’s doing the same things we’re doing and supporting the work that we’re doing. So when we get administrators who support it, it’s magical. It can be magical.
Eric Cross (26:47):
What are some opportunities that are coming up if somebody’s listening and they, they wanna sign up for something, are there things coming up this month or next month or in the summer that they can participate in?
Jessica Kesler (26:55):
Yeah, for sure. So we’ve been doing our monthly workshops. And if you go to our website, so if you actually go to TGR foundation.org and slash stem studio you’ll actually see our summer events already posted, already live for everybody to start engaging in. And again, everything is free. So registration is open and available for everybody to participate. We are offering that first inquiry stem studio inquiry mindset twice the week of June 21st and the week of June 28th, two opportunities for educators to join us for inquiry mindset for the first one. And then also in July, we’re offering the second one making inquiry visible, and that’s the week of July 12th. So again, all free stuff, raffle prizes are available for those who register early and get in there and reserve their seat. It is limited seating. And so, yeah, a bunch of opportunities coming up this summer and guess what all you have to do is sign up and then you get all these free things coming your way. You get to look forward to all this exciting stuff. So TGR foundation.org/studio.
Eric Cross (28:01):
And if folks wanna follow you in your career, your journey.
Jessica Kesler (28:05):
Yeah. I’m on Twitter and LinkedIn, for sure. And it’s Jessica Kessler, K E S L E R one S
Eric Cross (28:12):
I wanna honor your time. And as we close, you’ve been an educator of impact in, in your own classroom. And I know you’re still teaching actively now, and you’ve also made an impact on me and other educators through your professional development. And, and the last question I’d like to end with is who’s the most memorable teacher or learning experience that you had during K eight. When you think about you, your time in school, who was a memorable teacher or a moment that kind of stands out to you and what was it that they did that made them memorable?
Jessica Kesler (28:44):
It was that one teacher who brought me my first T I, 84. You remember when a new calculators came out, I had a teacher give me one amazing, but I think in high school, there was really a turn about where I had miss Caroline and Mr. Canello math and Spanish teacher. So two opposite wings of the, the education spectrum there. But most of all, they listened. They listened to me. I felt seen with those teachers, they supported me. They listened to me, they saw my potential. And they just rallied around me and continued to support me thereafter. Even afterwards, I continued to reach out to those educators. And I think that’s what drives me to be that force for, for my students. And I remember my most memorable heart touching education experience was probably, I had a high school student get interviewed by the newspaper.
Jessica Kesler (29:38):
And they were like, oh, what’s your favorite classes? And what’s your favorite this, and what’s your favorite of that? And he was like, well, I love chemistry, which is what I was teaching. It was like, and I love my after school robotics team. I was leading and I love this and this and this. And he basically listed all the stuff that I was doing that I was teaching and that I was leading in the school. And I was like this one student, literally out of all the classes and experiences he’s experiencing is really just calling out everything that I’m doing. And I feel like it’s because he felt seen, he felt heard. He was like, this person is listening to me. And no matter what space we’re in this teacher is, is there for me. And so I try to be that wherever I go, <laugh>,
Eric Cross (30:16):
It’s amazing how making someone feel seen and, and making them feel important and heard, and, and being present for them. All of a sudden opens up their interests into the subjects that you’re teaching. Thank you for, for making time for serving our kids for serving teachers during a hard time, and for making PD one, being part of an organization that made it free and serve teachers, but also making PD fun and enthusiastic. I think that was one of the things in addition to the empathy that you led with, but also your enthusiasm and passion was something that really resonated with me. And it made our time together. Feel like something that was, was making me a better teacher for my kids. And so, thanks for making time for us tonight. Oh,
Jessica Kesler (30:53):
Bless face.
Eric Cross (30:57):
Thanks so much for joining me and Jessica today. If you have any great lessons or ways that you connect with students, please email us@stemamplifycom.wpengine.com. That’s S TM amplifycom.wpengine.com. And please remember to support the podcast by clicking subscribe, wherever you listen to podcasts, you can also hear more about the podcast in our Facebook group, science connections, the community until next time.
Stay connected!
Join our community and get new episodes every other Tuesday!
We’ll also share new and exciting free resources for your classroom every month.
Meet the guest
In the final episode of the season, Eric sits down with his friend and professional development facilitator, Jessica Kesler. Jessica describes her passion for sharing free, high-quality, empathy-centered professional development for K12 educators. Jessica also shares her experience jumping into leadership positions while teaching in Philadelphia. Eric also chats with Jessica about how students often lean on teachers for more than delivering content.
About Science Connections
Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. Listen here!
When not to differentiate: A guide to small-group instruction, with Jamey Peavler
Transcripts and additional resources:
Meet Our Guest(s):
Jamey Peavler
Jamey Peavler is a co-director and full-time instructor in the Reading Science Graduate Program at Mount St. Joseph University. Before joining The Mount, Jamey served as director of training for the M.A. Rooney Foundation. In addition, she works for the National Council for Teacher Quality (NCTQ) as a higher-education textbook and teacher licensure reviewer. Jamey is a certified fellow-in-training with the Orton-Gillingham Academy and an International Dyslexia Association Structured Literacy dyslexia specialist, and currently serves on the board for the Reading League’s Indiana chapter. Her research interests include instructional design, the impact of spaced practice and interleaving to support effortful retrieval and retention of information, the role of oral language and syntactic awareness on comprehension and written expression, and foundational skills for supporting literacy in the early childhood setting.
Meet our host, Susan Lambert
Susan Lambert is the Chief Academic Officer of Elementary Humanities at Amplify, and the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Her career has been focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Susan is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.
As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. As a former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, Susan is dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.
Quotes
“We have this mindset of that small-group differentiated golden standard, but there's a certain amount of instruction, again, [that] all kids need and there isn't a lot of difference between those things.”
Featured Episodes
The Science of Reading in the Montessori classroom, with Susan Zoll, Natasha Feinberg, Laura Saylor
Meet Our Guest(s):
Dr. Natasha Feinberg
Natasha Feinberg, Ed.D. is an assistant professor at Rhode Island College in the elementary education department. She instructs preservice teachers in the areas of reading and writing as well as directs the Master’s of Education in Reading program. Dr. Feinberg has 17 years of experience as a reading specialist/literacy coach in the R.I. public school system. With an Ed.D. in curriculum leadership from Northeastern University, Dr. Feinberg’s area of expertise lies in the Science of Reading and teaching reading to all types of learners. She has worked extensively with Tier 2 and 3 literacy interventions identifying specific student literacy needs and matching evidence-based interventions and specific progress monitoring tools that address those needs. Her work focuses on supporting data-based individualization and data-based decision making.
Dr. Laura Saylor
Dr. Laura Saylor is dean of the school of education at Mount St. Joseph University. She earned her Ph.D. in educational studies with a concentration in educational policy and higher education with a focus in STEM education from The University of Cincinnati. Previously, she earned her Master of Education from Xavier University with a concentration in Montessori Education.
Her 25 years of practical experience include teaching in inclusive and multi-age settings and serving as the head of school for an independent Montessori school. Laura is a frequent presenter at national conferences. Her research focuses include the importance of learning and reading science in teacher preparation as well as assessing performance of pre-service teachers in clinical experiences. Dr. Saylor’s interests also extend to best practices in educational assessment and collaborative work between P-12 and educator preparation. Her recently published research includes mathematics discourse with pre-service teachers and the effects of teacher-centered mentorship.
Dr. Susan Zoll
Susan Zoll, Ph.D., specializes in early childhood education serving in leadership roles on several U.S. Department of Education-funded early literacy initiatives (Early Reading First 2004, 2006, 2009; Early Childhood Education Professional Development grant 2006); Director of the Institute for Early Childhood Teaching and Learning (Race To The Top – Early Learning Challenge, 2014); and her current role as Associate Professor in teacher preparation coaching preservice educators at Rhode Island College.
Dr. Zoll holds a Montessori primary credential (AMS 3-6) having served as a Montessori classroom teacher, teacher trainer for the language curriculum, and a head of school. Currently, she serves as the co-chair of the American Montessori Society’s (AMS) Research Committee.
Publications include: Powerful Literacy in the Montessori Classroom: Aligning Reading Research and Practice (Teachers College Press, 2023); Designing a Logic Model to Inform Montessori Research (2019); The Montessori Experiment in Rhode Island (1913-1949): Tracing Theory to Implementation over 25 Years (2017); Towards Social Justice: A Needs Assessment of Early Childhood Development In South Africa (2013); From “at risk” to “at promise”: An Evaluation of an Early Reading First Project (2012); and Sustainable Practices in Mentoring: Tools to Support Child Outcomes and a Mentoring Protocol (2011). Her work in the development of an assessment protocol has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education’s Doing What Works initiative.
Meet our host, Susan Lambert
Susan Lambert is the Chief Academic Officer of Elementary Humanities at Amplify, and the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Her career has been focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Susan is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.
As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. As a former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, Susan is dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.
Quotes
“Maria Montessori was a scientist first. She developed her methods based on science.”
“Reading is the human rights issue of our era in education and we want all children to be successful.”
“I encourage everyone, get together with your colleagues, talk about the different pedagogy, talk about the different strategies that are out there, because that is what is going to help us become better in the field of education.”
Featured Episodes
Identifying and addressing pseudoscience
Meet Our Guest(s):
Bertha Vazquez
Bertha Vazquez recently retired from teaching middle school science in Miami-Dade County Public Schools after 33 years in the classroom. She is the education director of The Center for Inquiry which currently includes three projects, The Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES), ScienceSaves, and Generation Skeptics.
A seasoned traveler who has visited all seven continents, she enjoys introducing the world of nature and science to young, eager minds. An educator with National Board Certification, she is the recipient of several national and local honors, including the 2014 Samsung’s $150,000 Solve For Tomorrow Contest and the $5,000 Charles C. Bartlett National Excellence in Environmental Award in 2009. She was Miami-Dade Science Teacher of the Year in 1997, 2008, and 2017. Thanks to the success of TIES, Bertha was the recipient of the 2017 winner of the National Association of Biology Teachers Evolution Education Award.
Meet our host: Eric Cross
Eric Cross is a seventh grade science/technology teacher, grade level lead, and digital learning innovator for Albert Einstein Academies, International Baccalaureate schools. He is also an adjunct professor of learning and technology at the University of San Diego and a Google certified innovator. Eric earned a bachelor’s degree from Azusa Pacific University and a Master of Education from the University of San Diego. He had 17 years of experience working with at-risk youth and underserved populations before becoming a middle school teacher. By building relationships with students, colleagues, and the community, he has become an empowered leader in and out of the classroom. Through meaningful learning experiences centered around student agency, STEM has become accessible to students through highly engaging lesson design, thoughtful integration of digital tools, and pedagogy that engages students from all backgrounds.
Quotes
"We teach these skills in a science class, but hopefully they use those skills when they encounter pseudoscience. So definitely, what we do on a day-to-day basis is really important for society."
Stay connected
School by Design (SxD) becomes an independent company dedicated to helping education leaders design the schools their kids and teachers need
SxD will be led by Andrew Joseph, a senior executive at Amazon Education and the co-founder of TenMarks Education, Inc., a personalized online math program. Vicki Phillips, the previous K-12 Director of Education – College Ready at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will join the SxD Board of Directors, along with David Stevenson, Executive Vice President of Amplify.
SxD brings a design thinking approach to education’s annual resource planning cycle—from district budgeting to master scheduling—so that it shifts from an administrative process to a strategy for instruction. Delivered through an online platform, analytic tools, and technical assistance, SxD services include:
- Specialized resource audits that give districts and schools a quick way to see how resource allocation and utilization are currently impacting instructional decisions related to teacher time, student time, equity, class size, and more.
- Scenario planning to uncover the different ways budgets and time could be used based on the school experience leaders and teachers want to provide students and the supports staff need. Examples include: looking at ways to manage class size within current budget while also finding more time for teacher professional development; and exploring school designs developed around student learning opportunities such as STEAM, problem-based learning, and community-based learning.
- Decision-making supports for districts and schools to make informed decisions about budgeting, scheduling, and school model options so that they support, not block, high quality teaching and learning experiences.
“School by Design is tackling one of the biggest challenges for districts and schools: making sure resources and policies support teachers and students,” explains Vicki Phillips. “The SxD services and supports are invaluable to schools because they help solve, within budget, the age-old ‘pain points’ that undermine good teaching—issues such as class size, time for teacher collaboration and professional learning, and scheduling for interdisciplinary learning and student field experiences.”
School by Design is built around the leading work of Marilyn Crawford on resource alignment, master scheduling, and professional development in service of innovative teaching and learning. Over the past few years, School by Design has worked with dozens of districts and CMOs across the country to find thousands of hours for teacher professional development and planning, while helping schools address the unique learning needs of their students within budget.
“School by Design helps you solve problems. Most people know what their issues are, but School by Design helps them know what to do about it,” states Steve Broome, director of state development for high school and middle grades at the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Working with education leaders, Steve and the team at SREB use the SxD audit and scenario planning to help schools turn their High Schools that Work principles—such as multiple pathways to college and careers—into reality.
The SxD spinoff enables Amplify to focus on its core offerings of digitally-enabled instruction, assessment, and professional development for K-5 reading and language arts and middle school ELA, math, and science. As Amplify’s and SxD’s services and products are distinct but complementary, the organizations expect to collaborate to serve districts and schools.
“I’m honored to be leading School by Design to the next level,” says Andrew Joseph. “We are uniquely positioned in this too-often ignored space where resources meet instruction. Our platform and services have helped a number of districts and schools solve their resource allocation and scheduling challenges and uncover the possibilities for their schools. We’re excited to now help other educators create the conditions in which teaching and learning can thrive.”
As an independent company, School by Design will be better able to respond to the evolving needs of educators and expand its suite of products and services. Through actionable analytics, virtual experiences, and new school models, SxD will further its position as the leader of education design thinking—helping school leaders leverage data, see all of the opportunities for engaging, high quality schooling within their resources, and make informed decisions for the types of schools their teachers, parents, and students want and deserve.
Contact: media@amplify.com
Welcome to Amplify CKLA® for grades K–5!
On this site, you’ll find resources to guide you in your review.
When you’re ready to explore the material, select a grade and click the “Review” button at the bottom of this page.
About the program
Rich, engaging content is at the center of Amplify CKLA instruction. Students build subject area knowledge in history, science, literature, and the arts by learning to read and write. High-quality instructional materials simplify your planning and provide the support and resources you need.
Every day in grades K–2, students complete one full lesson that builds foundational reading skills, as well as one full lesson that builds background knowledge. In grades 3–5, students start to master the basic skills of reading, further opening up their worlds.
Hear from educators like you
Hear from teachers, administrators, and students across the country who are using Amplify CKLA in their classrooms right now.
Resources to support your review
Download the resources below before you review the program to better understand the program structure, components, digital resources, and more.
- Program guide [PDF]
- Knowledge sequence [PDF]
- Program structure brochure [PDF]
- Multimedia flyer [PDF]
- PreK–grade 5 unit summaries [PDF]
- Common Core State Standard Alignment [PDF]
- Research base [PDF]
- Impact brochure [PDF]
- ELA K-8 Instructional Materials Evaluation Guide [PDF]
Program walkthrough
Before you explore the program, watch this overview to get familiar with the program, its components, and ways to find resources for you and your students online.
Lesson walkthrough videos
Kindergarten
Before you explore the program, follow along as a kindergarten class goes through a Amplify CKLA Skills Strand lesson on tricky words.
Grade 1
In this Knowledge Strand lesson, students achieve reading proficiency with complex read-alouds, exposure to background knowledge, vocabulary practice, text-based discussions, and writing activities.
Grade 4
Curious how the two strands are integrated in grades 3–5? Watch students journey through a Quest for the Core™ lesson in which fourth graders work in teams, combining research, writing, and presentation skills to become master inventors.
Start your review
To digitally complete your review, you can explore teacher and student materials for every grade:
Amplify CKLA includes rich, diverse multimedia resources. Below you’ll find a sample of our Knowledge Builder videos and the Sound Library for foundational skills.
In Grades 3–5, we offer various multimedia resources, as well as supplemental reading resources like Novel Guides.
If you’d like to review the full program, request physical samples, or speak to a product expert for more information, fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch.
Request more information
Amplify literacy curriculum sample boxes – TX
Amplify literacy curriculum sample boxes – CA
Amplify literacy curriculum sample boxes
Welcome!
Amplify Science: California Edition is an immersive and engaging core curriculum authored by UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and built specifically for the NGSS.
K–8 Integrated Course Model
Needs of Plants and Animals
- Needs of Plants and Animals: Milkweed and Monarchs Investigation Notebook
- Science Walk
- Handbook of Plants
- Investigating Monarchs
- A Plant in the Desert
- Above and Below
- What Does a Scientist Look Like?
Pushes and Pulls
- Pushes and Pulls: Designing a Pinball Machine Investigation Notebook
- Talking About Forces
- A Busy Day in Pushville
- Room 4 Solves a Problem
- Forces in Ball Games
- Building with Forces
Sunlight and Weather
Animal and Plant Defenses
- Animal and Plant Defenses: Spikes, Shells, and Camouflage Investigation Notebook
- Whose Lunch Is This?
- Tortoise Parts
- Parents and Offspring
- Frog Models
- Spikes, Spines, and Shells: A Handbook of Defenses
Light and Sound
- Light and Sound: Puppet-Theater Engineers Investigation Notebook
- Let’s Test!
- Engineering with Light and Sound
- Can You See in the Dark?
- What Vibrates?
- What Made This Shadow?
Spinning Earth
Plant and Animal Relationships
- Plant and Animal Relationships: Investigating Systems in a Bengali Forest Investigation Notebook
- My Nature Notebook
- A Plant Is a System
- Habitat Scientist
- Investigating Seeds
- Handbook of Habitats
Properties of Materials
- Properties of Materials: Designing Glue Investigation Notebook
- Jelly Bean Engineer
- What If Rain Boots Were Made of Paper?
- Handbook of Interesting Ingredients
- Jess Makes Hair Gel
- Can You Change It Back?
- Ideas and Inventors
Changing Landforms
Balancing Forces
- Balancing Forces: Investigating Floating Trains Investigation Notebook
- Forces All Around
- What My Sister Taught Me About Magnets
- Hoverboard
- Explaining a Bridge
- Handbook of Forces
Environments and Survival
- Environments and Survival: Snails, Robots, and Biomimicry Investigation Notebook
- Scorpion Scientist
- How the Sparrow Learned Its Song
- Handbook of Traits
- Blue Whales and Buttercups
- The Code
- Who Thinks About Structure?
Inheritance and Traits
- Inheritance and Traits: Variation in Wolves Investigation Notebook
- Earthworms Underground
- Mystery Mouths
- Environment News
- Cockroach Robots
- Biomimicry Handbook
Weather and Climate
Energy Conversions
- Energy Conversions: Blackout in Ergstown Investigation Notebook
- Energy Past and Present
- Sunlight and Showers
- Blackout!
- It’s All Energy
- Who Thinks About Systems
- Systems
Earth’s Features
- Earth’s Features: Mystery in Desert Rocks Canyon Investigation Notebook
- Clues from the Past
- Through the Eyes of a Geologist
- Arguing to Solve a Mystery
- Rocky Wonders
- Fossil Hunter’s Handbook
- Through the Eyes of a Geologist
Vision and Light
- Vision and Light: Investigating Animal Eyes Investigation Notebook
- Investigating Animal Senses
- I See What You Mean
- Crow Scientist
- Seeing Like a Shrimp and Smelling Like a Snake
- Handbook of Animal Eyes
Waves, Energy, and Information
Patterns of Earth and Sky
- Patterns of Earth and Sky: Analyzing Stars on Ancient Artifacts Investigation Notebook
- How Big Is Big? How Far Is Far?
- Which Way Is Up?
- Dog Days of Summer
- Star Scientist
- Handbook of Stars and Constellations
Ecosystem Restoration
- Ecosystem Restoration: Matter and Energy in a Rain Forest Investigation Notebook
- Matter Makes It All Up
- Walk in the Woods
- Energy Makes It All Go
- Restoration Case Studies
- Why Do Scientists Argue?
The Earth System
- The Earth System: Investigating Water Shortages Investigation Notebook
- Chemical Reactions Everywhere
- Water Shortages, Water Solutions
- Drinking Cleopatra’s Tears
- Engineering Clean Water
- How the Earth System Explains Dinosaur Extinction
- Water Encyclopedia
Modeling Matter
Grades 6–8 Integrated Model
- Microbiome Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Metabolism: Making the Diagnosis Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Metabolism Engineering Internship: Health Bars for Disaster Relief Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Traits and Reproduction: The Genetics of Spider Silk Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Thermal Energy: Using Water to Heat a School Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate: Cold Years in New Zealand Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Weather Patterns: Severe Storms in Galetown Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Earth’s Changing Climate: Vanishing Ice Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship: Rooftops for Sustainable Cities Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Geology on Mars Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Plate Motion: Mystery of the Mesosaurus Fossils Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Plate Motion Engineering Internship: Tsunami Warning Systems Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Rock Transformations: Geologic Puzzle of the Rockies and Great Plains Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Phase Change: Titan’s Disappearing Lakes Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Phase Change Engineering Internship: Portable Baby Incubators Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Chemical Reactions: Mysterious Substance in Westfield’s Water Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Populations and Resources: Too Many Moon Jellies Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Matter and Energy in Ecosystems: Biodome Collapse Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Harnessing Human Energy Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Force and Motion: Docking Failure in Space Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Force and Motion Engineering Internship: Pods for Emergency Supplies Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Magnetic Fields: Launching a Spacecraft Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Light Waves: Skin Cancer in Australia Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Earth, Moon, and Sun: An Astrophotographer’s Challenge Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Natural Selection: Poisonous Newts Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Natural Selection Engineering Internship: Fighting Drug-Resistant Malaria Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Evolutionary History: Advising a Paleontology Museum Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
Grades 6–8 Discipline Specific Model
- Geology on Mars Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Plate Motion: Mystery of the Mesosaurus Fossils Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Plate Motion Engineering Internship: Tsunami Warning Systems Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Rock Transformations: Geologic Puzzle of the Rockies and Great Plains Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Earth, Moon, and Sun: An Astrophotographer’s Challenge Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate: Cold Years in New Zealand Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Weather Patterns: Severe Storms in Galetown Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Earth’s Changing Climate: Vanishing Ice Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship: Rooftops for Sustainable Cities Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Microbiome Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Metabolism: Making the Diagnosis Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Metabolism Engineering Internship: Health Bars for Disaster Relief Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Traits and Reproduction: The Genetics of Spider Silk Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Populations and Resources: Too Many Moon Jellies Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Matter and Energy in Ecosystems: Biodome Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Natural Selection: Poisonous Newts Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Natural Selection Engineering Internship: Fighting Drug-Resistant Malaria Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Evolutionary History: Advising a Paleontology Museum Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Harnessing Human Energy Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Force and Motion: Docking Failure in Space Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Force and Motion Engineering Internship: Pods for Emergency Supplies Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Magnetic Fields: Launching a Spacecraft Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Thermal Energy: Using Water to Heat a School Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Phase Change: Titan’s Disappearing Lakes Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Phase Change Engineering Internship: Portable Baby Incubators Engineering Notebook with Article Compilation
- Chemical Reactions: Mysterious Substance in Westfield’s Water Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation
- Light Waves: Skin Cancer in Australia Investigation Notebook with Article Compilation