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The Core Knowledge Foundation is proud to announce that two new English Language Arts resources are now available for free download online.

Brown Girl Dreaming

This Grade 4 unit, based on the award winning memoir Brown Girl Dreaming by author Jacqueline Woodson, includes instruction and materials for fifteen 90 minute lessons. In this book, the author describes in emotionally charged and evocative language her life as an African American girl growing up in the South, and in New York City, in the 1960s and 1970s. This book is available for purchase from bookstores and online vendors.

The free, downloadable Core Knowledge Teacher Guide and Activity Book will enable teachers and students to explore the rich literary features of this book, as well as engage in discussions about themes of individual identity, connections to family and the wider community, and issues of tolerance.

The Core Knowledge instructional materials also identify numerous online resources that can be used by teachers to help implement culturally responsive and inclusive dialogue when discussing difficult issues raised in the book such as slavery and discrimination.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Teacher Guide and Student Activity Book 

This Grade 5 unit includes fifteen 90 minute lessons based on the adapted Core Knowledge Core Classic.

The Student Book is available for purchase at $9.95 per copy in the Core Knowledge Store.

In this title, William Shakespeare uses language and the action of
the characters to create a light-hearted story which has a happy ending.The Core Knowledge Core Classic presents a grade-level narrative summary, as well as text in the format of a script that can
be reenacted.

And don’t miss our free
K-6 Core Knowledge
History and Geography materials
– 54 comprehensive units!!!
OR
our free
3-5 Core Knowledge Science materials
K-2 CKSci is in development!

The following article first appeared in “The 74” on February 19, 2020.

This is the second in a series of pieces from a Knowledge Matters Campaign tour of school districts in Tennessee. Sullivan County sits in the northeast corner of the state and is home to almost 9,200 students. The school system has received national attention for the progress it’s made using the Core Knowledge, a comprehensive English language arts curriculum that sequentially builds students’ knowledge of history and science topics as they are learning to read, beginning as early as kindergarten. After four years of strategic implementation, all 11 elementary schools in the district are using the program from kindergarten to the fifth grade. Knowledge Matters asked two principals, Alesia Dinsmore of Rock Springs Elementary and Angie Baker of Central Heights Elementary School — both of whom have been part of the curriculum’s rollout since inception, to share some of their lessons learned. Read an introduction to this series here and the remainder of the pieces in this series here.

Halfway through a unit on the westward expansion this year, a second-grade teacher in Rock Springs Elementary School was conducting a read-aloud of the Core Knowledge text Buffalo Hunters. She posed the question, “In what ways are the steamboat and the locomotive train similar?” One of our most behaviorally challenged students — a young boy who lives in extreme poverty and struggles mightily with anger — was eager to display his knowledge. “The train and the steamboat both run off coal or wood. Both have steam,” he said. “I am like the train. The train has to release steam. It’s like me. Sometimes I get really, really mad and I have to release steam. That helps me calm down or I would explode, just like the train.”

What this young boy demonstrated is the impact that rich and relatable texts can have — and the platform they can provide for the kinds of connections we want students to make. In the past, this classroom might well have been working on a skill like “cause and effect” with a text like Don’t Slam the Door (about the effects of the family dog letting the house door slam). With Buffalo Hunters, not only is the student far more engaged, but also this teacher has more meaningful content to explore, more advanced vocabulary to discuss and more interesting writing prompts to assign.

Over the past three years, our school system has moved from a “1” on the state’s TN Ready Assessment to a “4,” exceeding the state’s growth standard. The percentage of students requiring Tier 3 instruction — intensive intervention, versus general instruction in Tier 1 and moderate intervention in Tier 2 — in ELA has dramatically decreased. We’ve accomplished this with the largely free, downloadable version of the Core Knowledge Language Arts program, supplemented with grant dollars.

Our journey with CKLA has been transformative, helping us to act upon three core beliefs:

    1. Focusing on foundational skills (e.g., phonemic awareness and phonics) instruction;
    2. Ensuring that the questions we engage in with texts require higher-order thinking versus simple recall and memory;
    3. Passing on ownership to students for their work;

In our experience, it is rare to find teachers who don’t believe students can perform to high expectations. The problem is that they don’t know what to do about it; we have not given them an organized way of delivering on their core beliefs.

Over the past three years, Sullivan County Schools has put significant effort into professional learning about those three core actions that have greatly impacted instruction and, consequently, student learning. Those core actions have been instrumental in moving forward our district’s literacy improvement plan.

Prior to the implementation of CKLA, phonics instruction — including writing assignments that required mastery of sound-spelling patterns and sight words — was often isolated and brief. While teachers had a great deal of control over the way they used the block of time carved out for reading instruction, they had little understanding of the power and strength of strategic, explicit phonics instruction. It was rarely connected to any current unit of study and ranged in sophistication from merely sentence-copying to the more sophisticated construction of paragraphs on isolated topics.

Second-grader Anabele Fleenor plans her writing as part of the “Westward Expansion” unit. (Courtesy of Knowledge Matters Campaign)

Through our work with CKLA, our teachers have been given the requisite training to pass on the code-breaking tools of reading to their students. They’ve learned that while the English language has only 26 letters, these letters represent 44 different sounds (which they are taught how to correctly pronounce in isolation) and make up 150 different spelling patterns. What we have found is that when teachers provide foundational skills instruction that is explicit and systematic, all students have the opportunity to perform at mastery.

The kind of questioning that drives our inquiry of texts — the second core action — has also undergone a considerable shift. Prior to the implementation of CKLA, when we observed teachers, we noticed that questions were designed for a quick student response that didn’t set teachers up for follow-up questions, so they often accepted a weak response and moved on. Now our teachers plan. The curriculum sequences questions for them — questions that develop from the level of knowledge/recall to higher order. As a result, our students are understanding texts at a deeper level and engaging in far more complex thinking about what they’re reading, as indicated by the second-grader who independently likened himself to a steam engine.

We are really just getting started with this work and are now focusing ever more effort on the quality of student responses. In doing so, we are beginning to see students owning more rigorous thinking and articulating their own ideas. Student responses contain details from the text, and they confirm or refine their understandings through collaborative group interaction. Students are developing the ability to incorporate academic vocabulary, defend their response with text evidence and build on each other’s responses respectfully.

Putting the conditions in place where students can take this kind of ownership of their work is the third core action. Prior to the implementation of CKLA, teachers exposed students to texts that, frankly, were not especially rich in content, rigor or vocabulary. The texts they were reading were often written not so much to convey knowledge or mine themes as to teach strategies like “find the main idea” or “cause and effect” — which can be done just as easily with Don’t Slam the Door as it can with a story like Buffalo Hunters. It was difficult for students to make deep connections to these lower-level texts — to, in fact, have much interest in them. Even the read-alouds, presumably at a more advanced reading level, weren’t engaging our students.

But now they are learning about the War of 1812, Greek mythology and westward expansion. They understand the importance of these topics, which are extensions of ones they learned the year before and are the building blocks to other important topics they’ll learn in the years ahead. They are invested in learning because the topics are interesting to them.

Once again, we want to underscore that this ownership applies to all students in our buildings.

Here’s another recent scene from a second-grade class. The teacher is reading Prometheus and asks her students, “Was the punishment Zeus gave Prometheus fair?” A student responds, “Well, it seems fair to Prometheus, but what about the bird? If the bird comes back every day to eat liver because it grows back daily, would it be a punishment or not? I like steak, but if I had to eat it every day, it might not be a treat anymore. And what about his freedom? He has to be there every day to eat the liver. But, what do you think?” We are all so proud that this young man, who is one of the poorer children in our school and also has special needs, is able to participate in the classroom discussion alongside his peers, making profound contributions to work of the group.

Mrs. Anderson’s fourth- and fifth-grade social studies students describe the weaknesses in the Articles of Federation. (Courtesy of Knowledge Matters Campaign)

One of the most exciting things for our school community, and for visitors like those who came to see us as part of the Knowledge Matters school tour, is that when you enter our CKLA classrooms, you can’t tell which students might be living in poverty (60 percent), are receiving special education (18 percent) or are homeless (2 percent); you can’t distinguish which are from low or high socioeconomic groups, which have stable or dysfunctional family situations. They are all engaged. They are all responsive. They are all on a level playing field for success.

In Sullivan County, we are learning that their core beliefs about what is possible instructionally need to be backed by core actions — and that those actions need to be supported by strong curriculum and practiced daily. We are thrilled about where this journey is taking our staff and our students.

Alesia Dinsmore is principal of Rock Springs Elementary School in Sullivan County, Tennessee.

Angie Baker is principal of Central Heights Elementary School in Sullivan County, Tennessee.

Why Does Core Knowledge Science Offer Student Readers?

Current research suggests that teaching reading strategies has value in helping students recognize the purpose of reading and may lead to a slight boost in reading comprehension scores, but not the sustained improvement that would be indicative of true literacy. Something is still missing. What’s missing is background knowledge. “Most of us think about reading in a way that is fundamentally incorrect,” observes University of Virginia cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham. “We think of it as transferable, meaning that once you acquire the ability to read, you can read anything… In order to understand what you’re reading, you need to know something about the subject matter. And that doesn’t just mean that you need to know the vocabulary—you need to have the right knowledge of the world,”

E.D. Hirsch, Jr.
Core Knowledge Sequence: Content and Skill Guidelines for K–8

Over the last few decades, science pedagogy has undergone a significant shift. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) represent a culmination of research indicating that young students should experience the world around them. Students should observe natural phenomena and make sense of these phenomena by doing science.

This shift in the recommended pedagogy means that young students learn about the world in the same way that an experienced scientist does. They conceive and carry out investigations, engineer devices to collect data and analyze it, and form conclusions. Even in the earliest grades, students build science understanding by engaging in these science practices.

The new Core Knowledge Science program (CKSci) program embraces the concept of engagement in the processes of science and engineering design.

But one of the unique aspects of CKSci is that it fosters learning in two fundamental and inseparable ways: 1) mastering the doing of science and 2) the presentation of direct background knowledge.

The second tenet of CKSci, affording students direct background knowledge, is often overlooked in contemporary science programs.  However, it serves a crucial role in meeting the goals and expectations of the NGSS.

Here is an example from Grade 3 Unit 4 Weather and Climate.

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Our Teacher Guide supports student’s engagement with direct, background knowledge reading by presenting reading strategies directly tied to the student Reader. Extensive support is given to teachers in areas such as vocabulary, meeting standards, and background information on science.

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Our student Readers, full color and engagingly written, help students learn by presenting factual knowledge and emphasizing reading in the content areas—a pathway to better reading skills across multiple disciplines.

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Think about it: For students to develop solutions to protect against lightning or earthquakes, they need to know about these natural phenomena.  If students are expected to develop solutions to overcome friction, they need to know about friction as a force. We believe that students—in fact, most students at the elementary level—must have access to factual knowledge. This is a hallmark of Core Knowledge learning.  Our student Readers, written to grade-level specifications, clearly communicate knowledge that facilitates student comprehension of the core ideas in science. Student Readers in science can also be used for reading in the classroom. Reading in a content area helps students develop the skills needed in our modern world.

[button]Click here to watch a video Teaching Content is Teaching Reading[/button]

The CKSci Readers present clear text and outstanding images to complement a phenomenon and process-based learning. They anchor students in the facts and language of the real world; thus, making those investigations more meaningful. Such advanced content may be difficult to comprehend solely by a student-designed investigation. 

Here is an example from Grade 5 Unit 2 Energy and Matter in Ecosystems.

Teaching a complex phenomenon, such as energy flow within an ecosystem, can be achieved through student experimental design and engaging in the various science processes. But consider the enormous benefit of direct learning that complements that pedagogy. Above is an example of this from Grade 5 Unit 2 Energy and Matter in Ecosystems.

The CKSci Reader goes beyond the presentation of direct information. It also provides guidance to the student with point-of-use emphasis to assist in reading.

Big Questions center the student on the main idea of each chapter. Before they read, the Big Question feature keeps the student focused as they enter the chapter.

Vocabulary is found at point-of-use. The Vocabulary box is a quick reference to the definition of a Core Vocabulary word.

Words to Know alert students to vocabulary used in special context. The Words to Know box provides additional background information for reading accuracy.

The student Reader plays another important function in preparing the young science student. Reading in the sciences is of paramount importance for many, if not most, adult careers. Here is what the National Academy of Sciences says about reading in the sciences.

“Being a critical consumer of science and the products of engineering, whether as a lay citizen or a practicing scientist or an engineer, also requires the ability to read or view reports about science in the press or on the Internet and to recognize the salient science, identify sources of error and methodological flaws, and distinguish observation from inferences, arguments from explanations, and claims from evidence. All of these are constructs learned from engaging in a critical discourse around texts.”

from A Framework for K-12 Science Education. National Academy of Sciences

By leveraging the background knowledge and domain-specific vocabulary afforded by the Readers, students can more easily navigate the processes of science, such as experimental design, data collection, and presenting scientific arguments. This type of scaffolding plays an integral part in the CKSci program, and likewise is invaluable in any BALANCED and fully modern science education program.

Check out other unique features to our readers that reinforce direct knowledge.

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As a nonprofit organization, the Core Knowledge Foundation is dedicated to supporting schools and educators to ensure excellence and equity in education for all children.  To that end, almost a decade ago, the Foundation made the bold and unprecedented decision to provide free access to our preschool through grade 2 ELA program, Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA). From the comprehensive Teacher Guides, to the engaging student texts, to the vivid images and original artwork, the entire PreK–2 CKLA program was made available for FREE download.  Since that time, the Foundation has added free access to grades 3–5 CKLA and is continuing to develop new units for grades 4 and 5. This means that anyone can download and use at no cost (noncommercial use only) ALL CKLA resources for Preschool–Grade 5!

Along with CKLA units, the Foundation also released a plethora of free professional learning tools designed to support and strengthen teachers’ implementation of CKLA.  These include:

  • Turnkey professional development training kits
  • On-demand (interactive) presentations
  • Video clips of implementation in action
  • Pacing guides
  • FAQ
  • And more!

All CKLA professional learning resources can be found in our Implementation Guide.

In addition, the Core Knowledge Foundation has recently completed a comprehensive Core Knowledge History and Geography (CKHG) program for Kindergarten–Grade 6. The CKHG instructional materials (52 units) are designed to align, supplement, and enrich the use of CKLA.

Our Focus in 2020

As we start 2020, a new decade, the Core Knowledge Foundation is committed to renewing our support to our school leaders, teachers, and families by continuing to add to this work as well as strengthen our Core Knowledge Network.

Products Currently in Development

  • Core Knowledge Science (grades K–2)
  • Core Knowledge Biography Series (grades 3–5)
  • Core Knowledge Core Classics The Iliad and the Odyssey and Julius Caesar
  • CKArt and CKMusic resources (grades K–5)

If you are interested in receiving notifications regarding product updates, consider signing up for our newsletter.

Strengthening Our Network

Connecting Core Knowledge Educators

The Foundation facilitates multiple Facebook discussion groups where educators from across the country share ideas and ask questions.  Using Instagram or Twitter (#ckschools), you can view and share some of the great work your students are doing through Core Knowledge.

Increasing the Visibility of Schools

Through our new Core Knowledge School Network, you can make your school visible to prospective parents and teachers as well as other Core Knowledge schools in your local area.

Answering Questions

Members of the Core Knowledge Foundation team are available to answer your questions and provide guidance that can support your implementation.  Contact us.

Announcing the Publication of K-2 CKHG Instructional Materials

Spread the news! Twenty-four NEW American and World History Grade K−2 Student Books and Teacher Guides in the Core Knowledge History and Geography™ (CKHG™) series are now available for free download.

For those who prefer our beautifully illustrated print editions, order now before price increases go into effect in Spring, 2020.

What’s unique about CKHG for students in Grades K−2? The Student Books are authentic texts, intended to be read aloud by a teacher or parent while young students follow along in their own book, looking at the richly drawn illustrations, engaging photographs, and colorful maps. Read aloud texts are central to teaching history in these early grades because young students are more able to grasp complex ideas when they hear content read aloud than
when they read to themselves.

An engaging feature of the K-2 CKHG materials is the downloadable My Passport, a souvenir passport that students compile throughout the year to remind them of the historic places they have “visited,” and featuring beautiful Passport Images used by students as passport stamps. Students are invited to become “Time Travelers” in different units. For example, in Grade 2 when students study a world history unit about ancient Greece the following instructions are given to the teacher:

Tell students that you are going to pretend that you have a special machine so that you can all travel back in time to visit ancient Greece. Ask students to close their eyes and make sure that they are “buckled in,” so that they can travel back in time. Count backward, saying, “3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Back to ancient Greece!” and then ask students to open their eyes.

The Teacher Guides offer step-by-step guidance in reading the stories aloud and in discussing their content. They also offer additional wide-ranging activities for teachers and parents to choose — such as, virtual tours of historic sites, history games, craft projects, short video and music clips, as well as activity pages.

Kindergartners are introduced to the seven continents and geography skills, the lives of early Native Americans,  early explorers and settlers in America, and to the Mount Rushmore presidents.

Grade 1 students will learn about topics ranging from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt to the culture of Mexico and the exploration of the American West.

Grade 2 students will hear stories about ancient India, China, and Greece, as well as topics ranging from the making of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil War, and American civil rights leaders.

What else is included in this K−2 history and geography curriculum? Teachers will find recommended lists of additional age-appropriate, engrossing trade books they can turn to for further instruction, as well as activity page masters and assessments. Early civics instruction is also embedded in the curriculum, so that by the time students enter Grade 3, they have a foundation for concepts taught explicitly in the upper elementary grades.

Take a peek at what we have to offer: Teacher Guides and Student Books are available free download and purchase. The My Passport resources are only available for download.

Check out the CKHG units available NOW for free download:

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This article, which first appeared in the January 22, 2020 edition of Flypaper, is reprinted here with the permission of its author, Robert Pondiscio

I owe my education career to reader’s workshop, the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, and its founder Lucy Calkins. I started as a mid-career switcher with a two-year commitment to teach fifth grade in a South Bronx public school. Two things about my school are worth knowing: It was the lowest-performing school in New York City’s lowest-performing district. And we were devoted to Calkins’s Units of Study.

My initial response to the reading and writing “workshop model” Calkins helped make famous and ubiquitous was willing suspension of disbelief. To the degree I remembered learning to read at all, it had nothing in common with how I was expected to teach it. Next came frustration. My “TC” staff developer spoke in inscrutable koans, encouraging me to “be the author of your own teaching.” When I took that advice and gave explicit instruction, however, she shook her head and said, “That’s not teaching, that’s giving directions.” Frustration gave way to exasperation, then resistance, and finally hostility. I left the classroom determined to advocate for curriculum and instruction thanks to Calkins and balanced literacy. My struggling fifth graders needed a lot of things, but not that.

This is all to say that I read the new report from Student Achievement Partners, “Comparing Reading Research to Program Design: An Examination of Teachers College Units of Study,” not as a neutral observer, but largely conversant with the many issues it surfaces and already a convert. Still, the report is staggering—as authoritative and thorough dismantling as you’re likely to find of a curriculum that has been widely praised, implemented, and imitated. Well, not exactly. As another TC staff developer insisted, “It’s not a curriculum, it’s a philosophy.” Either way, schools that are relying on the workshop model, particularly if they serve disadvantaged students and English language learners, should now feel obligated to explain why they continue to use it when the vast weight of evidence is so clearly arrayed against it.

The report begins gently enough. “The literacy expert reviewers were impressed by how beautifully crafted the Units of Study materials are.” Lessons are “charming, elegant, and highly respectful of teachers.” The reviewers, which include bold-faced names in reading research including Tim Shanahan, Lilly Wong Fillmore, Marilyn Jager Adams, and Claude Goldenberg, agreed that the program is “organized above all on the value of loving to read and the encouragement of reading and writing as lifelong habits, both laudable and vital ambitions.”

There’s a “but” coming—lots of buts, actually—and they run for more than sixty pages across multiple dimensions of reading instruction: phonics and fluency; text complexity and language development; building background knowledge and vocabulary; English language learner supports. In none of them is Units of Study found to be anything but lacking.

The program gives insufficient time and attention to phonics skills and recommends teachers use the so-called “three-cueing system” (read: guessing) to help children get past unfamiliar words they’re unable to decode “in direct opposition to an enormous body of settled research.” There is “insufficient guidance” for teachers on how to use assessments to inform instruction. “This means any student who does not immediately master an aspect of foundational reading is at risk of never getting it.” The sternest criticism in the report is that Units of Study “fail(s) to systematically and concretely guide teachers to provide English learners (ELs) the supports they need to attain high levels of literacy development.”

Children who come to school already reading or primed to read “may integrate seamlessly into the routines of the Units of Study model and maintain a successful reading trajectory,” the report cautions. But that’s of little value to those who need additional support and instruction. “These students are not likely to get what they need from Units of Study to read, write, speak, and listen at grade level.”

The overarching conceit of the review’s process is to evaluate the program not by how well it’s aligned to standards, but whether it encourages scientifically validated practice in reading instruction. This is a good and important lens. There may be disagreement over standards (and as a prominent advocate for Common Core, Student Achievement Partners would otherwise be vulnerable to conflict of interest charges), but the weight of scientific evidence is harder to challenge. Enlisting prominent outside experts to evaluate the program makes it the critique stick and sting, and makes it harder to explain away.

Indeed, the review stands as a critique not just of Units of Study but the workshop model, and balanced literacy more broadly. “If you run a balanced literacy classroom that shares some aspects of Units of Study but not others,” the report notes, “it follows that some of the research findings in this report will apply and others may not.” That’s a good and scholarly caveat. But Units of Study is the most clearly articulated and prescriptive program of its type. It stands to reason that other flavors of balanced literacy that are even less well developed are equally or more deficient.

At present, there has been no response that I’m aware of from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project; Heinemann, the publisher of Units of Study; or from Calkins herself. In a lengthy blog post late last year, written in response to the “phonics-centric people who are calling themselves ‘the science of reading,’” Calkins insisted that “no one interest group gets to own science.” Perhaps not. But what she really needs to own is a shovel, to dig Units of Study out from under the mountain of contrary scientific evidence it is now buried beneath.

Electronic books (“eBooks”), which have become more and more popular in classrooms with each passing year, offer students unique experiences with texts.  In some cases the eBook simply serves as digital version of a curriculum text or trade book that students can access on a tablet at school or at home.  In other situations, the eBooks afford interactivity, such as links to vetted websites. Some eBooks even have the ability to provide students with access to a text that otherwise would be beyond their grasp due to a language barrier or disability. When designing the Core Knowledge American History and Geography™ (CKHG) Student Reader eBooks, we set out to offer students all of these options and much more.  

Access through Audio

For children who struggle with reading grade-level texts or those with visual impairments, eBooks with audio supports can provide access to text content. The CKHG eBooks not only offer students the ability to listen to the pronunciation of select words, they also provide students the option of hearing the entire story read aloud.  Students can also prompt the CKHG eBook to read aloud the vocabulary and questions in the callouts. 

Translated Text

Some eBooks offer a text in multiple languages.  CKHG eBooks provide students the option of reading (or listening) to the text in either English or Spanish.  Offering Spanish-speaking students the opportunity to access the history and geography content through their native language serves as a crucial step in building their knowledge base around a topic.

Video and Interactive Experience

Adding interactivity to eBooks transforms the experience with the text from passive to active.  This can include embedded interactive content or links to outside sites that provide students with a closer look at a particular event or concept. The CKHG eBooks are filled with interactive opportunities for the reader.  Whether its third graders exploring a photo gallery of Native American pottery, fourth graders listening to the poem “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, or fifth graders “experiencing” the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter via video simulation, the supplemental activities made available through the eBooks deepen students’ engagement with text content.

eBooks that offer built-in assessments enable students to self-assess their learning and teachers to monitor their progress.  At the end of each chapter, CKHG eBooks offer students the option of responding to “checks for understanding” writing prompts. Each CKHG eBook also includes a digital assessment. This assessment has both standard response questions, such as multiple choice, which are automatically graded by the eBook software, as well as free written response questions, which allow students to provide an open-ended response. A criteria for success is provided (on the backend) to the assist the teacher in the scoring of the written responses.

Flexibility in Use

While eBooks can be used as part of the core instruction, if they incorporate a wide range of functionality, they can serve as effective independent instructional tools.  In the short time since their release, CKHG eBooks have been reported to be used as a part of listening centers for students to review a previously taught chapter, for struggling readers as added support, as homework for additional exposures to the text and content, and even used in a whole group setting via a projector.

Through the flexibility and accessibility they afford, eBooks deliver many benefits to teachers and students. Core Knowledge is very pleased to now offer eBooks that will not only enhance the students’ experience and engagement with content but also build their knowledge base. If you are interested in learning more about our interactive eBooks, contact us.

[button]Interactive CKHG eBook Contact Request[/button]

Both school and parent annual licenses are now available. Check out our bookstore for more details.

Current List of CKHG Student Reader eBooks in Grades 3–5:  

Grade 3
• The Earliest Americans
• Exploration of North America 
• The Thirteen Colonies 

Grade 4

• The American Revolution
Click to explore the new Student eBook for The American Revolution for FREE,
and learn about the founding of our country.
• The United States Constitution 
• Early Presidents and Social Reformers 

Grade 5

• The Geography of the United States
• Westward Expansion Before the Civil War
• The Civil War
• Native Americans and Westward Expansion: Cultures and Conflicts

 

How did George Washington’s leadership at Valley Forge, and his later insistence that he serve only two terms as president, reflect his virtuous character? What did Ida B. Wells’s fight against Jim Crow laws and lynching say about an individual’s moral duty in America? Why did Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo decide to break the law to help the indigenous people in his Mexican village, and what did his role as a revolutionary demonstrate about his values? Such stories of historical leaders and reformers are central to the Core Knowledge History and Geography™ (CKHG™) program, and they can serve as a rich resource for the study of character.

CKHG’s Grade K−6 world and American history curriculum—including twenty-four brand-new K−2 units—provides elementary teachers with innumerable examples of figures in history who displayed virtuous character, as well as some history makers whose actions proved harmful. These stories can be used to think about and discuss issues of character faced by people throughout history.

The Core Knowledge Foundation is pleased to call to your attention two resources that teachers may find useful in integrating Core Knowledge content with classroom discussions about important values.

The Core Knowledge Foundation Welcomes the Launch of The Character Formation Project

The Civic Character Formation Project (CCFP) draws on CKHG content to help students develop their own sense of character. The Character Formation Project is a nonprofit that strives to prepare students to lead fulfilling and virtuous lives. Like Core Knowledge, CCFP uses outside subject matter experts to review their material. Designed to align with CKHG, CCFP’s vividly written accounts effectively place the student at moments of moral decision making, allowing for reflection, discussion and the examination of virtue. CCFP programming focuses on seven virtues that have been exhibited throughout time by countless individuals who have worked to advance human freedom. The seven virtues are justice, respect, responsibility, integrity, self-sacrifice, diligence, and courage.

CCFP has created a series of lessons offered for free download on the Character Formation Project website. An accompanying student component, My Character Formation Journal is available for purchase on the CFP website.

Congratulations to Core Virtues on Twenty-Three Years

Twenty-three years ago, Mary Beth Klee designed Core Virtues, a nonsectarian approach to character education for students in Grades K−6. Klee founded Crossroads Academy, an independent day school in New Hampshire, with the twin goals of academic and moral excellence. To accomplish these goals, she oversaw the implementation of the Core Knowledge Sequence at her school, and then created the Core Virtues program. Teachers who follow the program read quality children’s literature “to provide inspirational or insightful examples of virtue in action.” Each month teachers highlight a key intellectual, moral, or civic virtue, such as respect, responsibility, diligence, honesty, generosity, or perseverance. They read quality children’s literature at a “Morning Gathering” to provide inspirational or insightful examples of virtue in action. The reading of these well-written and often beautifully illustrated stories helps children to fall in love with the good, and to cultivate a vocabulary of virtue.

Of particular interest to Core Knowledge Schools is a feature entitled Core Knowledge Connections that highlights the elements in the Core Knowledge Sequence that align to the Core Virtues program. Also don’t miss the September blog post by Mary Beth Klee, “Eyes on the Prize:  Knowledge and Virtue.”

It’s official—summer is finally here! This is a great time for Core Knowledge teachers to discover some new books . . . beginning with some classics that may be new to you. You might start by looking at the book titles listed in the Language Arts section of each grade level of the Core Knowledge Sequence.

Are you a primary-grade-level teacher who is familiar only with your own grade level of Core Knowledge recommended titles? Check out some of the titles in the later grades, such as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, or The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Or, are you perhaps an upper-grade teacher who has never read the many wonderful titles we recommend in the early grades, such as The Velveteen Rabbit, Charlotte’s Web, The Wind in the Willows, or even Miss Rumphius, a recommended preschool title? Do not underestimate the powerful insights and wisdom imparted in these early childhood selections just because they are intended for younger children.

It’s also a great time to explore the wide range of voices and perspectives in works by contemporary authors. Where to begin? You might start with recent Newberry and Caldecott winners, or peruse the titles selected by the Association for Library Service to Children as this year’s Notable Children’s Books.

Here at the Core Knowledge Foundation, we’d like to share the titles that we have been reading recently. Let us know what you think, and please share any book titles, using “Reply,” that you would like to recommend to Core Knowledge teachers.

Primary K-3 Picture Books for Read-Alouds

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson: Chloe and her friends refuse the overtures of Maya, a new girl in their classroom. One day, when Maya is not in school, Chloe’s teacher conducts a simple lesson on kindness. Chloe realizes, sadly, that she has lost an opportunity to show kindness to Maya, who has moved away with her family.

George by Frank Keating: In this first-person narration, Revolutionary War hero George Washington recounts the key facts of his life, from birth to his election as president of the new United States. The book interweaves Washington’s account with quotes from “Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation,” a set of precepts that Washington copied down for himself as a young teenager.

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine: Enslaved Henry Brown grows up not knowing the date of his birth and longing to be free. Forcibly separated from his family, Henry eventually decides to mail himself in a crate to the North in order to finally be free, ultimately choosing his first day of freedom as his true birthday. This true story by an award-winning author brings home the tragedy and triumph of one enslaved American.

How Children Lived: A First Book of History by Chris and Melanie Rice: This beautifully illustrated book allows young readers to compare their lives to those of sixteen children from wide-ranging periods of history and parts of the world. With photos of actual artifacts—ranging from a Viking girl’s ice skates to the helmet that a samurai in training aspires to wear—the book investigates the lives of an American drugstore owner’s son in the 1920s, an ancient Egyptian scribe in training, a Moghul Indian boy whose father raises elephants, a Dakota girl living on the Great Plains, a girl at home in industrial Britain, and many more.

I Am Human: A Book of Empathy by Susan Verde: This charming picture book celebrates the joys of being human—the curiosity, dreams, playfulness, and wonder—and gently acknowledges the challenges—hurting other people, being hurt, and feeling sad—while praising our ability to move forward to connect to other people with kindness, forgiveness, and compassion.

If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America by Anne Kamma: This seminal book—part of a history series—helps answer questions that young students have about the tragic institution of slavery, such as: Where did enslaved people come from? What were their homes like? What types of work did they have to do? Introducing this difficult topic to young readers, the book provides an age-appropriate overview of what life was like for the millions of people who suffered as slaves in America from the 1600s until 1865.

Light in the Darkness: A Story About How Slaves Learned in Secret by Lesa Cline-Ransome: Rosa and her mama sneak off at night to attend a secret school for slaves, where Rosa determinedly works on her letters and excitedly anticipates learning how to read. Along the way, she learns how important it is to keep the school a secret from the man who owns them, because he will punish them if he finds out.

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson: Clover, a young, African American girl, is perplexed about why a fence separates the white and black sides of town. When Annie, a white girl, starts sitting on the fence, Clover becomes brave enough to befriend her.

Elementary (Grades 4 and Up) Chapter Books

Amina’s Voice by Henna Kahn: Amina is a Pakistani American, Muslim girl in middle school, confused about how to fit in while also being true to the culture of her family. Her best friend, Sajin, contemplates changing her name to one that is more “American,” and Amina wonders if she should do the same. Her local mosque is vandalized, a heart-wrenching event. However, Amina learns to use her voice to help bring her diverse community together.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson: This National Book Award-winning collection of emotionally evocative poems is Woodson’s exploration of growing up in the 1960s and 1970s as an African American girl. Her poems, which are accessible, powerful, and poignant, focus on the Civil Rights movement, the lingering effects of Jim Crow, personal family stories from time spent in both South Carolina and New York, and special challenges Woodson faced in learning how to read.

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson: Six kids start meeting with each other on a weekly basis to share stories, challenges, and fears. Their ARTT room—A Room to Talk—becomes a safe space to chat about a parent’s deportation, a father’s incarceration, fears of being profiled, and family struggles. This uplifting novel, focusing on the concerns of these six students as they approach adolescence, conveys the idea that a shared community can make you braver and better able to face the challenges ahead.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia: In this humorous, Newbury Honor novel, three African American sisters—Delphine, Vendetta, and Fern—travel to Oakland in 1968 to spend time with their mother, who had previously left them behind in Brooklyn, deserting them for a new life in California. Once Cecile reunites with her daughters, she decides to send them to a summer day camp managed by the Black Panthers. Their resulting crazy summer teaches them a lot about who they are, their family, and even their country.

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez: Tyler’s Vermont farm family has to hire migrant workers when his father is hurt in a tractor accident. Mari and her family live in constant dread that they may be deported back to Mexico, although she is both proud of her cultural background and interested in her life in America. Alvarez’s touching novel explores the friendship that develops between Tyler and Mari, despite their differences and the very real challenges they face.

The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Nye: Aref loves his life and home in Muscat, Oman, and stubbornly refuses to prepare himself for his family’s upcoming move to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Worried about him, Aref’s mother asks his beloved grandfather, Sidi, for help. Sidi takes Aref on some special adventures—sleeping on Sidi’s roof, visiting a camp in the desert, fishing in the gulf of Oman, and viewing sea turtles in a nature reserve—reassuring Aref that his time in America will be another adventure that will end in his returning home.

They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems by David Bowles: Güero, the Mexican American protagonist of this novel-in-poems, is a bookish border kid who wishes he could trade his fair skin and red hair for the darker complexion that would more clearly identify him as Mexican American. Through a variety of poetic forms, ranging from sonnets to raps, Güero provides a lively, funny portrait of the life and culture of a border kid and the challenges of seventh grade.

Teacher Resources

This is Our Constitution by Khizr Khan: Gold Star father Khizr Khan—who emigrated with his wife from Pakistan in 1980 to the United States, where they eventually became U.S. citizens, and whose son gave his life, stopping a suicide attack in Iraq—reflects on the U.S. Constitution, how he feels connected to it, and the document’s history, with a detailed explanation of what the Constitution means. Khan also examines the Bill of Rights and key Supreme Court decisions, and provides complete texts of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Words That Built a Nation: Voices of Democracy That Have Shaped America’s History by Marilyn Miller, Ellen Sordato, and Dan Tucker: This much-hailed collection of the most seminal documents in U.S. history, aimed at upper elementary and early middle school students, includes the documents themselves, as well as brief biographies of the people who wrote them and responses to them. The book opens with the Mayflower Compact and includes the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, key amendments to the Bill of Rights, historic speeches, pivotal Supreme Court decisions, and much more.

Congratulations to Dr. Gregory Meece, who is soon to retire after eighteen continuous years as Director of  Newark Charter School, now the school with the largest enrollment of all pre-collegiate schools—public, charter, or private—in the state of Delaware.

Back in 2000, when the school was still in the planning stages, few might have anticipated such growth. While Newark Charter had the backing of committed and enthusiastic parents, it lacked a few things—as Greg recalls, “We didn’t have any money, didn’t have any curriculum, didn’t have staff, didn’t have a building.”

Greg, who was hired as School Director from the start, scrambled to find a facility—“We had no track record, and we couldn’t get a loan because we had no collateral.” But at least he found a curriculum. A parent on the founding committee asked Greg if he had heard of Core Knowledge. Indeed he had.

In a graduate course at the University of Delaware, Greg had recently read E. D. Hirsch, Jr.’s The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them. Looking back, says Greg, “I suspect the book was assigned as a contrast to the other curriculum models” represented in most of the readings in the course. After reading Hirsch’s book, Greg’s response was, “This makes perfect sense.”

What made perfect sense to Greg also made sense to prospective parents of the new charter school. “From the very beginning,” he says, “when I was going around neighborhood to neighborhood talking about Newark Charter School, long before we had any teachers, before we had a facility, I talked about Core Knowledge—and I could see the parents’ heads going up and down as I explained the concepts behind it.”

Greg told parents how Core Knowledge “sets the bar high, how it works for any kind of learner, how the topics are integrated within a grade level, and how they build carefully year to year to avoid gaps and unnecessary repeats, giving kids the ‘intellectual Velcro’ that lets them gain new knowledge more easily because they have a good foundation, a good background.”

Parents, says Greg, “basically understood Core Knowledge from the beginning, and we’ve stuck with it because we’ve had so much success with it”—success borne out by the school’s state test scores, consistently among the highest across Delaware’s schools, as well as two National Blue Ribbon Awards for academic excellence.

While Greg is proud of the school’s high scores, he says, “I don’t wait to see what our state test scores look like to see if we’re successful. I listen to what parents tell me their kids are talking about at the dinner table. If they’re talking about history and literature and art and music, I know we’re already successful. Because once kids are tuned in and they enjoy learning, they’re going want to do well and do more of it. The instruction in the classroom, the classroom environment, and the content of the curriculum all have to stimulate the kids to get them interested and get them wanting to learn more.”

Under Greg’s committed leadership, Newark Charter School has grown steadily. When the school opened in the fall of 2001 it served 450 students in grades 5-7, housed in rented trailers. Now it serves 2,400 students in grades K-12, and the campus consists of three buildings owned by the school, with a fourth building in the planning stages. Moreover, says Greg, there are about 3,000 students on a waiting list to attend Newark Charter. Admission to the school, notes Greg, is by lottery. “We have all kinds of students here,” says Greg, representing a cross-section of income and ability levels.

One thing, says Greg, that has consistently encouraged him during his time at Newark Charter is seeing “our students rise to the occasion and enjoy learning about topics that are daunting to adults.” He recalls a special education class in the school’s first year, with “about six or seven students who met in half a trailer next to my office. They were studying Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar. The teacher called me over and said, ‘My kids want you to come see what they can do.’ So I stepped over, and here were these kids, dressed in togas and with laurel wreaths on their heads, and they acted out scenes from Julius Caesar. They could tell you the story, tell you who the characters were, tell you about Shakespeare. These kids were only 11 years old, and they had learning disabilities, and they were enthusiastic about Julius Caesar—and I’m thinking, holy cow, this is really amazing!”

As amazing, perhaps, as eighteen unbroken years of steady leadership and dedicated service—for which, Greg, the Core Knowledge Foundation offers sincere thanks and all best wishes for the years ahead!