Understanding the Curriculum
The Grades K–2 Language Arts Curriculum offers two hours per day of content-based literacy (Module Lessons and Labs), plus one hour of structured phonics (K–2 Reading Foundations Skills Block). All together, these three hours of curriculum are considered comprehensive, meaning they explicitly teach and formally assess all required ELA/literacy standards for each grade level.
RF = Reading Foundational Skills
L = Language standards
The Module Lessons and K–2 Labs immerse primary students in content-based literacy.
These two components of the curriculum complement each other to give students strong, active literacy instruction grounded in compelling topics. The Skills Block gives students another hour per day of essential structured phonics instruction to help them crack the alphabetic code.
Students participate in four Modules over the course of the school year. Each Module incorporates science and social studies content; additionally, curriculum Module topics build coherence by building knowledge and vocabulary.
Module lessons
Module lessons in the K-2 Language Arts curriculum are designed for whole group instruction, build students’ literacy skills, habits of character, and knowledge of the world as they engage with high-quality, compelling, authentic texts covering a range of topics.
Labs
K–2 labs provide age-appropriate hands-on activities, aligned to the Module Lesson, to support and extend student learning. Labs help teachers make sure all students get the time to play and explore, become immersed in oral language and content knowledge, and practice skills and habits of character that they need, both to live joyfully and to be successful.
Reading Foundations Skills Block
This block focuses on the building blocks of spoken and written language: the ability to break words apart and blend them back together, common spelling patterns, and word decoding skills.
During the Reading Foundations Skills block, students engage with explicit and systematic phonemic awareness and phonics instruction to learn decoding that will enhance fluency. In addition, students develop automaticity around reading, internalizing predictably patterned words in context as well as smoothly and accurately reading basic sentence patterns and texts.
The materials include specific instruction on grade-level, standards-based Reading Foundational Skills, both in isolation and in context using Engagement texts and decodable readers.
Curriculum Topics
Modules have been designed around engaging science and social studies topics, to foster engagement as well as knowledge acquisition for students.
View curriculum topics by grade.
Assessments
Our curriculum includes formative assessments that provide teachers with the data to ensure precise and differentiated instruction.
Each unit includes built-in end-of-unit assessments, as well as daily formative exit tickets. Module Lessons assessments have been built to reflect the key literacy learning that students have been acquiring in the lessons. The Reading Foundations Skills block includes three types of assessments:
- Benchmark assessments, conducted three times a year.
- Cycle assessments, conducted weekly in Kindergarten and first grade, then bi-monthly in second grade.
- “Snapshot” assessments, embedded in each lesson and conducted daily.
The K–2 Labs provide rich opportunities for ongoing formative assessment (i.e., student work, observation, data collection, etc.).
English Language Learner Supporters
Supports ELLs and language minority students bring a wealth of diverse experience and wisdom. Each lesson contains targeted instructional guidance and additional supports, including critical “language dives” (to unpack the structure and meaning of complex sentences) and “conversation cues” (to promote rich discussions), designed to help teachers support language learners.
Learn more about EL Education 3–5 Language Arts
The EL Education 3–5 Language Arts curriculum honors students’ growing capacity to read complex texts, write with depth, and explore pressing issues in the world around them. Students build literacy skills through complex text analysis, and an additional literacy block accelerates their achievement.
This is the second edition of EL Education’s 3–5 curriculum; EL Education previously authored a renowned curriculum for Grades 3-5, available through EngageNY. Educators familiar with the first edition can read about the enhancements here.
Understanding the Curriculum
The curriculum is designed for two hours of rich content-based literacy instruction per day: one hour of module lessons and one hour of the Additional Language and Literacy (ALL) Block. These two hours of curriculum are considered comprehensive, explicitly teaching and formally assessing ELA/literacy standards for each grade level. At the heart of the curriculum—at all grade levels—are the hour-long module lessons. All ELA standards are taught and assessed in the module lessons. The ALL Block is to support and reinforce the skills learned in module lessons. Each grade level includes four modules, which span a full school year. The four modules allow students to build important content knowledge based on a compelling topic related to science, social studies, or literature. Each module uses rich, authentic text throughout. Students participate in four Modules over the course of the school year. Each Module is designed to incorporate science and social studies content over the course of the year. Additionally, curriculum Module topics build coherence by building knowledge and vocabulary. In addition, the curriculum includes one Life Science Module per grade level. While the Life Science Module can stand alone, it connects with, and complements, Module 2 of the grade-level literacy Modules.
Module Lessons
In many ways, EL Education’s 3–5 Language Arts curriculum is similar to their K–2 curriculum.
- Modules are fully integrated and use rich, authentic text.
- Each Module is divided into three units.
- Modules are designed to build important content knowledge and understanding.
- Modules fully and intentionally teach and assess the literacy standards at each grade level.
Additional Language and Literacy (ALL) Block
The hour-long ALL Block complements and supports the Module lessons. The ALL Block includes three units, parallel to the three units of the Module. In addition, the ALL Block reinforces and offers opportunities to practice the components covered in the Module lessons, and activities are differentiated based on student need.
During the ALL Block, students rotate through the following types of activities:
- Accountable independent reading
- Additional work with complex texts
- Reading and speaking fluency/Grammar usage and mechanics (GUM)
- Writing practice
- Word Study and vocabulary
Module 2 Companion: Life Science
Science is about asking questions, observing carefully, investigating, reflecting, and then drawing conclusions based on evidence. The EL Education 3–5 Life Science Modules provide teachers and students with an inquiry-based approach to rigorous and authentic science instruction.
Each module is designed to last eight weeks, with approximately three hours of science instruction per week. The Modules extend the work of the main Module Lessons, address and assess at least one Next Generation Science Standard, explicitly teach several others, and incorporate the unique features of the NGSS principles of science instruction.
Curriculum Topics
Modules have been designed around engaging science and social studies topics, to foster engagement as well as knowledge acquisition for students.
View curriculum topics by grade.
English Language Learner Support
English Language Learners and language minority students bring a wealth of diverse experience and wisdom. Within each lesson, language learners have targeted instruction and additional supports, including critical “language dives” (to unpack the structure and meaning of complex sentences) and “conversation cues” (to promote rich discussions).
Assessments
The EL Education K–5 Language Arts curriculum includes formative assessments that provide teachers with the data to ensure precise and differentiated instruction.
Each unit includes an embedded mid-unit and end-of-unit assessment. In both Module lessons and the ALL Block, daily lessons suggest specific “ongoing assessment.” The 3–5 ALL Blocks provide rich opportunities for ongoing formative assessment (I.e., student work, observation, data collection, small group differentiation, etc.).
All assessments offer teachers valuable information to use, both in working with the lessons and in grouping and emphasis for the support block.
Learn more about EL Education 6–8 Language Arts
The EL Education 6–8 Language Arts curriculum is a comprehensive, standards-based core literacy program that engages teachers and diverse learners through compelling, real-world content. Through the curriculum we address an expanded definition of student achievement that builds students’ academic knowledge and skills, habits of character, and capacity to create high-quality work. Our approach infuses rigor and joy and embodies a focus on equity and closing the learning opportunity gaps.
This is the second edition of EL Education’s 6–8 curriculum; EL Education previously authored a renowned 6–8 curriculum for Grades 3-8, available through EngageNY. Educators familiar with the first edition can read about the enhancements here.
Understanding the Curriculum
The four modules fully teach and assess the literacy standards in 45-minute daily lessons as students build important content knowledge based on a compelling topic related to science, social studies, or literature. Each module uses rich, authentic text throughout. Features include:
- Building World Knowledge through Content: The curriculum builds students’ deep subject matter expertise, immersing them in the study of real-world social and scientific topics that fuel creativity, higher-order critical thinking, and literacy.
- Embedded Social-Emotional Learning: We know that middle schoolers need what they learn to have emotional resonance. New topics and texts prepare students to be more effective learners and ethical people.
- National Relevance and Standards Alignment: The second edition engages students with topics that resonate nationally, based on recommendations from students and teachers, while maintaining close alignment with targeted NGSS (science) and C3 (social studies) content standards for each grade band.
Curriculum Topics
Modules have been designed around engaging science and social studies topics, to foster engagement as well as knowledge acquisition for students.
View curriculum topics by grade.
English Language Learner Support
Language minority students and ELLs bring a wealth of diverse experience and wisdom to the classroom. In EL Education’s curriculum, ELLs are presumed to be fully participating members of a diverse and heterogeneous classroom structure. The curriculum honors the fact that ELLs need targeted instruction within each lesson and additional supports to be successful.
Specific scaffolds have been integrated into each module lesson, so the classroom teacher can provide myriad supports for students, particularly for those classified as long-term ELLs. These resources take a variety of forms. Two specific areas of emphasis are Language Dives (conversations that teach students to unpack the structure and meaning of complex sentences) and Conversation Cues.
Assessments
The EL Education 6–8 Language Arts curriculum includes formative assessments that provide teachers with the data to ensure precise and differentiated instruction.
Each unit includes an embedded mid-unit and end-of-unit assessment. In addition, the daily lessons provide guidance for specific ongoing assessment. The 3–5 ALL Blocks provide rich opportunities for ongoing formative assessment (I.e., student work, observation, data collection, small group differentiation, etc.).