Page 5 – Core Knowledge Foundation

The Core Knowledge Foundation is committed to ensuring that people of all abilities are able to access and use the resources on our website. After nearly a year of working through a wide range of web accessibility updates, we would like to provide you with an update on our progress. While we will continue to improve our website in terms of accessibility, the Core Knowledge Foundation website is now compliant with the latest guidelines for web accessibility.

Working Toward Our Mission

Close-up view of child studying in a classroom

The decision to prioritize updates to improve the accessibility of our website was an easy one for our team to make. An accessible website brings us closer to our mission of advancing excellence and equity in education for all children.

“To achieve this mission, we offer detailed curricular guidance and materials to schools, teachers, parents, and policy makers—to anyone who believes, as we do, that every child in a diverse democracy deserves access to enabling knowledge.”

Now, our free downloadable curricular guidance and materials are accessible to everyone—all educators, parents, policy makers, and others—who can put it into action.

We offer many of our curriculum materials and other resources available for free download on our website, but without an accessible website, finding and downloading resources presented a variety of frustrations for our website users with disabilities. Now, educators and community members of all abilities can use our website to easily access those materials and resources as intended.

About Website Accessibility

An accessible website is a website that anyone and everyone can use as it’s meant to be used.

For a website to be truly accessible, this needs to carry across all of the features that are built into the website, such as our repository of free downloadable curriculum materials and online bookstore. Website accessibility takes a range of disabilities that can affect how people use the web into account, such as auditory, visual, physical and cognitive disabilities.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the international standard for website accessibility and are the guidelines that we’ve used to update our website. The Core Knowledge Foundation website is now built to be compliant with WCAG version 2.1 AA, the most recent version of accessibility recommendations as of the time of this publication.

Among the many updates we’ve implemented to improve website accessibility include:

Updating font colors to improve contrast with the background, making it easier for those with visual impairments to read content throughout the website.
Including a “focus” state for every interactive element on each page, allowing those who can’t use a mouse to engage with the entire website using only a keyboard.
Improving the HTML structure of the website so those using a screen reader can efficiently navigate the website to find the content that’s most valuable to them.
Adding additional text context to images so those who may not be able to see them can still understand their purpose.
And setting the default website language as English programmatically so screen readers use the appropriate pronunciation.

We at the Foundation are thrilled to share this progress with our network, but we also understand that website accessibility requires an ongoing commitment. With the help of our community, we will continue working to ensure our website is accessible for all people and that anyone who shares our mission is able to access the tools and resources they need to join us in advancing excellence and equity in education for all children.

If you’d like to learn more about the wide world of website accessibility for your school or organization, we found the following resources helpful:

If you have questions about website accessibility or feedback to share about using the Core Knowledge Foundation website or materials personally, we encourage you to reach out to our team. We’ll continue to make updates to our website to give each member of our Core Knowledge community the best experience possible.

Last spring we announced the start of a thorough review and revision process to update and enhance the Core Knowledge Sequence. A year later, we are proud to share that we will soon release a draft for public review and comment. Our current review process has engaged subject-matter experts and educator focus groups, and involved a careful review of national standards and current trends in cognitive science.

A draft of the 2022 Core Knowledge Sequence, K–8, will be posted on the Core Knowledge Foundation website by mid-July, 2021 for public comment. It is our hope that administrators, teachers, and parents will review this draft and offer feedback. See below for specific details.

Please note that the Core Knowledge Foundation will not be printing or offering this Sequence for sale until 2022, so that we are able to incorporate any appropriate changes that may be suggested by our constituents.

What to Expect

The newly revised Sequence will:

Increase elaboration of skills in Language Arts and Math.
Present revised science content guidelines to reflect the Next Generation Science Standard’s (NGSS) emphasis on scientific practice. You can preview a sample here.
Incorporate contemporary works in literature, art, and music.
Offer a renewed commitment to represent the diverse peoples and cultures, of the past and present, who enriched our society, including appendices that provide recommended trade books by grade level and social justice standards.
Align with CKHG and CKSci units (e.g., middle school history and geography topics will align with the CKHG middle school materials).

Anticipated Timeline

Late Summer 2021: Anticipated timeframe that the new Sequence draft will be posted online; collection of public comment will open.
November 30, 2021: Public comment will close.
Spring 2022: The updated Sequence will be made available for purchase and download on the Core Knowledge Foundation website.

What Does this Mean for the 2010 Sequence?

Hardcopies of this publication are in limited supply. Once sold out, it will not be reprinted.
The 2010 Sequence will remain online for free download until this newly released Sequence is finalized.

Want to be notified when the revised Sequence is ready for public comment?

Core Knowledge Mathematics™ is the latest subject-area to be added to the Core Knowledge Curriculum Series™ and is rolling out now for the middle grades in 6–8. Based upon the highly-rated, open source Illustrative Math curriculum, CKMath offers students the opportunity to develop conceptual understanding and procedural fluency while they work with teachers to apply math in the real world. Comprehensive Teacher Guides support educators in conducting productive mathematical discussions to ensure mathematical success for all students. Each unit includes a downloadable Student Workbook with activities and practice problems, and additional Teacher Resources that help educators implement the curriculum.

The full suite of 27 middle school units will include:

Grade 6

Area and Surface Area
Introducing Ration
Unit Rates and Percentages
Dividing Fractions
Arithmetic in Base Ten
Expressions and Equations
Rational Numbers
Data Sets and Distributions
Putting It All Together: Grade 6

Grade 7

Scale Drawings
Introducing Proportional Relationships
Measuring Circles
Proportional Relationships
and Percentages
Rational Number Arithmetic
Expressions, Equations,
and Inequalities
Angles, Triangle, and Prisms
Probability and Sampling
Putting It All Together: Grade 7

Grade 8

Rigid Transformations
and Congruence
Dilations, Similarity,
and Introducing Slope
Linear Relationships
Linear Equations and Linear Systems
Functions and Volume
Associations in Data
Exponents
and Scientific Notation
Pythagorean Theorem
and Irrational Numbers
Putting It All Together: Grade 8

Available now for free download: The first unit of each grade 6–8

Grade 6 Unit 1 Area and Surface Area

Grade 7 Unit 1 Scale Drawings

Grade 8 Unit 1 Rigid Transformation and Congruence

Additional units in grades 6–8 will be posted as they are completed.

To read more about the concepts and design behind CKMath™, we encourage you to dive into the Teacher Implementation Guide for each grade. For example, the Grade 6 Teacher Implementation Guide offers insight into how and why CKMath supports students as they engage with real-world mathematics. The Implementation Guides help to:

Clarify the design, research, and format of CKMath
Plan the pacing and sequence of activities, lessons, and assessments
Support diverse learners, including English language learners, students with disabilities, and students requesting additional challenges
And more!

What is yet to come?

We are striving to create a comprehensive Core Knowledge Curriculum Series™ for the elementary and middle grades across multiple subject areas, including Language Arts, History and Geography, and Science. CKMath will include elementary grades K-5 in the future. After the 27 middle school units are completed, our efforts will turn to kindergarten through fifth grade.

[button] Get started today and download a middle school unit now[/button]

Volume 1
A History of the United States: Precolonial to the 1800s

Volume 2
Modern Times–Late 1800s to the 2000s

Engaging, Challenging, and Thought-Provoking New Features!

The Student Volumes provide traditional narrative text and high-quality images. Interspersed with the text and images are three new features:

Think Twice boxes pose questions for students to answer, either in writing or in oral discussion. These questions prompt a deeper analysis of the text.
Find Out the Facts boxes prompt students to conduct research on a specified topic.
Writers’ Corner boxes present students with writing tasks, such as essays, reports, and creative compositions.

The Teacher Guide, contains the already established elements, such as the Daily Check For Understanding and Additional Activities. In addition there are also new features.

The Learning Lab provides additional time for students to complete the new Student Volume features, before the chapter is wrapped up.
A Talk it Over opportunity encourages discussion or debate, either in the Guided Reading Support, or in the Additional Activities.
When Primary Source documents are used within a lesson, the importance of such resources is highlighted.
Finally, select American History chapters offer opportunities for Civic Action and involvement. This part of the CKHG series feature, “The Pathway to Citizenship,” focuses on the foundational knowledge students need in order to become literate citizens.

These materials are designed for a full year use in Middle School. The complete U.S. History text can be used in either 7th or 8th grade for schools following the Core Knowledge Sequence.

[button]Volume 1 Table of Contents[/button]
[button]Volume 2 Table of Contents[/button]

Meet the Authors

Dr. Andrea Oliver

Dr. Oliver was awarded a Doctorate in History, with a concentration on 20^th Century Intellectual and African American History, at Florida State. Dr. Oliver is an award-winning educator, with over twenty-five years of experience. For five years, Dr. Oliver was the Coordinator of Teacher Education at Tallahassee Community College. Dr. Oliver was recognized as one of sixty community college professors nationwide with the Excellence in Teaching Award at the National Institute for Organizational and Staff Development (NISOD). Dr. Oliver is currently working on a book about the first Black valedictorians and salutatorians of formerly segregated Southern schools.

Dr. John Recchiuti

Dr. Recchiuti studied at Wesleyan University and at Warwick University, U.K., before earning a Doctorate in History at Columbia University. He has taught at the University of Michigan, Columbia University, and New York University. He is the Saffell Endowed Chair in Humanities at the University of Mount Union, and a member of the National Council for Education. His 2007 book, Civic Engagement, was nominated for the Bancroft and Parkman prizes.

This year, as schools are tasked with changing their modes of instruction delivery from face to face to a virtual or hybrid model, electronic books (“e-books”) can offer students unique experiences with texts. In some cases the e-book simply serves as a 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 e-books afford interactivity, such as links to vetted websites. Some e-books 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. The Core Knowledge Foundation accepted the challenge to create the option of an e-book format for our Core Knowledge History and Geography (CKHG) and Core Knowledge Science (CKSci) Student Readers, as well as Core Classics for our schools. When designing the Core Knowledge Library of Student Reader e-books in Partnership with Fathom Reads, we set out to offer students all of the options listed above and much more.

Access through Audio

For children who struggle with reading grade-level texts, or for those with visual impairments, e-books with audio supports can provide access to text content. The e-books in the Core Knowledge Library e-booknot 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 e-books to read aloud the vocabulary and questions in the callouts.

Translated Text

The Core Knowledge Library e-books 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 e-books 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 Core Knowledge Library of e-books 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 e-books deepen students’ engagement with text content.

Flexibility in Use

While e-books 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. Since our initial release of ten CKHG American History titles in October of 2019, teachers and parents report that some of the ways they use the Core Knowledge interactive e-books include: as 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 Zoom whole class discussions.

Through the flexibility and accessibility they afford, e-books deliver many benefits to teachers and students. Core Knowledge is very pleased to offer e-books 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 e-books, please contact our partner, Fathom Reads.

[button]Purchase Core Knowledge eBooks[/button]

Be sure you are signed up to receive future announcements by registering your email address at “Stay in the Know.”

The Core Knowledge Foundation is pleased to announce that we have turned our attention to the development of instructional materials in grades 6-8 for teachers, parents, and students . We are adding these materials to our wide array of comprehensive and downloadable materials for Kindergarten through Grade 5 in language arts, history and geography, and science.

Here is an overview of this multi-year initiative.

Core Knowledge Mathematics

Core Knowledge Mathematics™ is the newest subject-area to be added to the Core Knowledge Curriculum Series™, with our immediate focus on the middle grades in 6–8. Based upon the highly-rated Illustrative Math and Open Up Resources OER curriculum, CKMath offers students the opportunity to develop conceptual understanding and procedural fluency while they work with an adult to apply math in the real world. Comprehensive Teacher Guides support educators in orchestrating productive mathematical discussions and ensuring mathematical success for all students. Available now: Grade 6 Unit 1 Area and Surface Area. Coming Soon: Grade 7 Unit 1 Scale Drawings and Grade 8 Unit 1 Rigid Transformation and Congruence. Additional units in grades 6–8 will be posted as they are completed.

Core Knowledge History and Geography

A total of fifty-two Core Knowledge History and Geography™ units for Kindergarten – Grade 6 are available now for free download. We are currently working on writing both Student Texts and Teacher Guides for a Survey of American History, that is intended for use in either Grade 7 or 8, depending on when American History is taught in each state’s standards. These materials, written by subject matter experts, will cover:

The First Americans
European Exploration and Colonization
The US Constitution
The New Republic and The War of 1812
Westward Expansion Before the Civil War
The Civil War and Reconstruction
Westward Expansion After the Civil War
Native Americans: Cultures and Conflicts
Immigration, Industrialization, and Urbanization
Social Movements and Reform
World War I
The Twenties and the Great Depression
World War II
Postwar America and the Cold War, Vietnam, and the Age of Civil Rights
The United States at Home and on the World Stage
The Challenges Ahead and Powerful Voices

Core Knowledge Language Arts

Over 100 Core Knowledge Language Arts™ units for Preschool – Grade 5 are available now for free download. We are currently working on the development of eight CKLA Grade 6 units comprised of Student Texts and Teacher Guides which will include a balance of classic and contemporary literature:

Flying Lessons and Other Stories (Ellen Oh, Editor)
Calling All Minds: How to Think Like An Inventor (Temple Grandin)
The Iliad, Odyssey, and Other Greek Stories (Core Classics)
The History of Ancient Greece and Rome (Core Classics)
Julius Caesar (Core Classics)
Ninety Miles to Havana (Enrique Flores Galbis)
A More Perfect Union (Core Classics)
Realms of Gold (Core Knowledge Poetry)

The Teacher Guides will be aligned to the Common Core States Standards and will address teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.

Core Knowledge Science

Twenty-nine Core Knowledge Science™ units for Kindergarten – Grade 5 are available now for free download. We are currently working on the development of a Grade 6-8 Core Knowledge Science Sequence, analogous to the K-5 Core Knowledge Science Sequence. Once the Grade 6-8 Science Sequence has been completed, we will begin the creation of eight CKSci Grade 6 units comprised of Student Texts and Teacher Guides.

Be sure you are signed up to receive future announcements by registering your email address at “Stay in the Know.”

Keep on eye on the Core Knowledge Blog in the weeks to come for more detailed descriptions of the Core Knowledge Middle School materials!

Across the generations, human understanding of the physical world has been enriched by the Scientific Project: the careful, systematic investigations of those who ventured to experiment, to pursue evidence, to communicate findings, and to subject theories to scrutiny within the scientific community.

Symposium 2021 will focus on “Teaching the Scientific Project,” with its rich discoveries, current developments, and ongoing questions. Symposium 2021 aims to inspire science teachers and improve pedagogy by deepening our understanding of the sciences, an essential characteristic of genuine liberal arts education. The program will include all of the following:

Presentations from nearly three dozen scholars in a variety of scientific domains ranging from artificial intelligence to the philosophy of science (and so much more!) …including Dan Franck from the Core Knowledge Foundation!
Exemplary lessons plans and teaching tools for the science classroom
Demonstrations of curricular science content tailored for classical schools
Various talks, panels, and other presentations from applied disciplines and topics related to the sciences

There will also be extensive networking opportunities. All registrants will also have continued access to recordings, in the months that follow the event.

[button]Get your tickets HERE[/button]

Registration costs $125/per ticket or $115 when you sign up with five or more.

Like those across the nation who watched the inauguration of President Biden, we at the Core Knowledge Foundation were deeply affected by Amanda Gorman’s recitation of the poem she wrote for the occasion, “The Hill We Climb.”

We are moved to share the following teaching ideas and resources with Core Knowledge teachers, particularly those who work with students in Grades 6 -8:

Recitation of “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman

Facing History and Ourselves: Teaching Ideas for The Hill We Climb

A copy of the book that includes the poem, “The Hill We Climb,” is scheduled for publication in September, 2021 and can be pre-ordered now.

Years have passed since the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were first introduced, prompting educators and policy makers throughout the country to more closely examine and revise academic standards to ensure that, at the end of their K-12 education, all students leave school prepared to be fully contributing citizens to our democratic society. As a result, there has finally been long overdue attention to the importance of knowledge-rich curricula and instruction.

But something is still missing. One has only to look at the lack of civil discourse evident everywhere these days between individuals and groups, where shouting matches and physical confrontation become increasingly commonplace. What may be missing in school instruction is the failure to teach social skills.

The Stop and Think Songbook CD To that end, the Core Knowledge Foundation has just made a set of Preschool Social Skills Posters available for free download. These posters identify important social skills that can be taught in a step-by-step manner. Educators and homeschoolers who want to introduce these social skills to young children in an engaging manner may also be interested in purchasing The Stop and Think Songbook CD.

Teaching social skills must, of course, extend beyond preschool. The steps described in the free downloadable Social Skills Posters are based on the more comprehensive Stop and Think Social Skills Program for Preschool – Grade 8. We encourage you to examine these additional resources, including a guide for parents, available for purchase from our partner, Project Achieve.

We are happy to announce the 10 winners of our How to Educate a Citizen raffle that ended on Friday, October 16^th at 5:00 pm EST!

1. 1. 1. 1. Shandra J.
      2. Terri M.
      3. Brad R.
      4. Heather R.
      5. Rita M.
      6. Erin P.
      7. Shannon B.
      8. Charlotte B.
      9. Colleen B.
      10. Albert W.

The response we received for this raffle was overwhelming, with over 900 entries submitted! It was difficult to choose only 10 winners, but we hope to have more raffles like this in the future.

Thank you to everyone who entered, and for your continued support of Core Knowledge.

Please make sure to sign-up for our newsletter so you are notified about other raffles we may have or other Core Knowledge related news.

Accessibility Updates to the Core Knowledge Foundation Website