ĵµ¤Ö±²¥ CKLA is a PreK–5 program. While the PreK and °â€“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.
°â€“2
The focus in °â€“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.