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mCLASS® Lectura for SFUSD

mCLASS® Lectura is the brand-new Spanish-language counterpart to the mCLASS® with DIBELS® 8th Edition comprehensive diagnostic assessment system. Its screening, diagnostic assessment, and progress monitoring measures gauge student progress toward reading proficiency, and helps identify students who may be at risk of future reading difficulties such as dyslexia.

What is mCLASS?

mCLASS is a best-in-class assessment platform that houses a suite of proven, gold-standard assessment measures and tools that can be flexibly combined to meet the unique literacy needs of both teachers and students across grades K–6, including:

  • Universal screening
  • Diagnostic assessment
  • Text Reading and Comprehension (a.k.a. running records via Amplify Atlas Español)
  • Dyslexia screening
  • Progress monitoring
  • Dual language reporting
  • Targeted teacher-led instruction

What is the Lectura assessment?

The Lectura assessment is a brand-new interim and diagnostic assessment that consists of measures based on the latest research of how Spanish literacy develops.

Co-developed with the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon (UO CTL) and validated in partnership with Dr. Lillian Durán, the Lectura assessment was created to provide educators with a high-quality, evidence-based tool to support understanding of Spanish-speaking students’ biliteracy development, specifically foundational Spanish reading skills, which includes measures of phonological awareness, alphabetic understanding and decoding, reading fluency, and reading comprehension.

The measures in Lectura were written from the ground-up to assess students’ literacy development based on how Spanish literacy develops. Measures explicitly account for the syllabic and morphological structures of Spanish, and connected text was written and calibrated with respect to syntactical, lexical, and grammatical rules of Spanish. For example, phonological awareness is measured using syllable segmentation, and letter sounds and syllable reading are included in the decoding subtests for greater face-validity (in lieu of pseudowords). Word choice reflects the multisyllabic word complexity and variety of Spanish, driven by how decoding skills develop in Spanish. As such, Lectura provides instructionally actionable data for all students, including those scoring below the benchmark and those who meet or exceed the benchmark.

The Lectura assessment measures were purposefully designed, developed, field tested, and evaluated to address limitations that educators of Spanish speaking students have experienced in assessments. Specifically in these ways:

  • Assessment measures based on current research on how Spanish literacy is developed
  • Culturally responsive word choice and content reflecting the regional diversity of Spanish
  • Technical adequacy established through rigorous study
  • A sample size and geographic diversity reflecting the broad population of Spanish speakers across the U.S.
  • Complete parity with English solutions (instructional tools, skill coverage)
Download research paper

Assessment measures by grade

Lectura measures at each grade level 

Measure

 Grade K Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grades 4–6
Fluidez en nombrar letras An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.    
Fluidez en la segmentación de sílabas An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.      
¿Qué queda?    
Fluidez en los sonidos de letras An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.      
Fluidez en los sonidos de sílabas An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.      
Fluidez en las palabras An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.
Fluidez en la lectura oral   An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.
¿Cuál palabra?   An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.
Amplify measures at each grade level
Oral Language Español An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.    
Vocabulario An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background. An orange check mark icon on a white background.

Assessment measures sample videos

Please note that the videos below are intended for illustrative purposes only. Performance levels in mCLASS Lectura have yet to be finalized.

mCLASS Lectura measure: Fluidez en nombrar letras (FNL)

Students are asked to identify as many uppercase and lowercase letter names as they can in one minute.

mCLASS Lectura measure: Fluidez en los sonidos de letras (FSL)

Students are asked to identify the sounds of as many uppercase and lowercase letters as they can in one minute.

mCLASS Lectura measure: Fluidez en los sonidos de sílabas (LSS)

Students are presented with a page of printed orthographically regular Spanish syllables and asked to read as many syllables as they can in one minute.

mCLASS Lectura measure: Fluidez en la lectura oral (FLO)

Students are presented with an authentically written informational or narrative passage of Spanish connected text and asked to read as much of the passage as they can in one minute.

mCLASS Lectura measure: ¿Qué Queda? (QQ)

Students are presented with a word orally and then the examiner omits part of the word (i.e., compound word part, syllable, or phoneme). Students are asked to identify what word remains after the word part has been elided.

What makes mCLASS Lectura different?

mCLASS Lectura combines the power of the mCLASS assessment platform and the effectiveness of the Lectura assessment measures. As a result – educators are empowered with latest and greatest assessment tool.

More than a test, mCLASS Lectura is an integrated system that closes the knowing-doing gap by helping teachers take immediate instructional action that’s right for each and every student. What’s more, it addresses the classroom inequities Spanish-speaking students face along their early literacy journeys.

Spanish-speaking students have been underserved and misclassified for decades. With mCLASS Lectura, teachers of Spanish-speaking students finally have access to the same robust assessment tools that have been available to teachers of English-speaking students for years.

Plus! When mCLASS Lectura and DIBELS 8th Edition are used together, teachers are empowered with a more holistic view of their Spanish-speaking students abilities in both English and Spanish, making instructional next steps more targeted and effective.

What makes mCLASS Lectura different?

  1. It gives teachers access to authentic Spanish measures. Amplify is the only provider of the Lectura assessment. Rather than a direct translation of an English assessment, our solution is the only one to provide teachers a research-based, authentic Spanish assessment that is both valid and reliable.
  2. It makes it faster and easier to understand where every student is in their early literacy journey. By combining 1:1 observational diagnostic assessments, dyslexia screening, progress monitoring, instant scoring, rigorous reporting, automatic student grouping, and targeted instruction all in one place, it reduces the instructional delays associated with manual scoring, manual data analysis, and manual lesson planning.
  3. It brings more equity to the classroom. When used in conjunction with mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition, teachers have access to Dual Language Reports that highlight a students strengths and weaknesses in both English and Spanish.
  4. It makes every instructional minute count. In addition to one-minute measures that quickly gauge student progress toward reading proficiency, it leverages a teacher’s most powerful instructional tool — their own 1:1 observations.
  5. It drives growth more efficiently. Rather than relying on broad composite scores alone, granular data and in-depth insights for every student help teachers pinpoint exact skill gaps and areas of unfinished learning, making whole-group, small-group, and 1:1 instruction more targeted and effective.
  6. It saves teachers time. Instant reports, automatic student groups, and ready-to-teach lessons mean teachers spend less time cobbling together materials and more time working directly with students and responding to their needs.

Assessment systems must enable and compel educators to answer not just the “What?” questions, but also the “So What?” and “Now What?” questions. These are the questions that are essential in transforming classroom instruction, and the questions that mCLASS Lectura helps teachers answer with confidence.

Download the mCLASS Program Guide

How does mCLASS Lectura support screening for dyslexia risk?

mCLASS Lectura subtests have been specifically designed and validated to screen for dyslexia risks.

mCLASS Lectura was specifically developed to ensure the measure is able to meet state-level screening requirements for both dyslexia and universal reading screening. The research and development of Lectura was designed with this use in mind to accurately identify reading difficulties, including difficulties related to risk for dyslexia.

How does mCLASS Lectura support the use of running records?

Track your students’ reading progress from every angle with the Text Reading and Comprehension (TRC) assessment. When TRC is paired with the Lectura assessment, classroom teachers unlock the ability to record reading behaviors through running digital records. Available in English and Spanish, it measures reading comprehension and provides insight into how each student finds meaning in text.

A digital interface showing a step-by-step guide in Spanish for a language and oral class. The guide includes sections on content and organization with expandable details for each step.

How does mCLASS Lectura turn data into instant action?

mCLASS Lectura gives you instant results and clear next steps for each student.

Quick and actionable reports provide detailed insight into students’ reading development across foundational literacy skills for teachers, specialists, administrators, and caregivers.

Screenshot of an educational software dashboard displaying student progress, with tabs for instruction and home connection in dual language.
Download the mCLASS Reporting Guide

Diagnostic assessment

mCLASS Lectura analyzes individual student response data through a proprietary scoring algorithm that pinpoints a student’s specific area(s) of growth and improvement, providing classroom teachers in-depth insight into a students’ instructional needs.

Ready-to-teach instruction

Immediately following the analysis of individual student responses, mCLASS Lectura provides an in-depth diagnostic report complete with suggested next steps, also known as “mCLASS Instruction.”

mCLASS Instruction evaluates each student’s responses on each individual subtest and instantly:

  • Provides a list of specific needs by student, such as struggling with medial vowel sounds or difficulty reading words with consonant blends.
  • Groups students automatically based on similar discrete skill needs, not simply composite scores like other assessment tools.
  • Recommends a variety of ready-to-teach lessons that specifically target each individual student’s areas of need or common areas of need for small-group instruction.

Classroom skill and benchmark summary

The Classroom Skill Summary report is a dashboard showing benchmark performance on each skill. Teachers can use it to determine which skill areas need instructional focus at a classroom level.

The Classroom Benchmark Summary report is a classroom-wide view of overall reading performance. Teachers can use this report to determine if composite scores improved, declined, or remained the same each semester.

Detailed benchmark performance

Teachers can see each student’s performance during the current school year, on each subtest as well as the overall composite. The benchmark goal displays below the subtest name when applicable. The ability to sort the columns in this report gives teachers more flexibility to analyze data the way they prefer.

Dual language reports

When mCLASS Lectura and mCLASS with DIBELS 8th Edition are used together, teachers will receive an asset-based picture of a student’s biliteracy and instructional guidance on how to leverage literacy skills in one language to support literacy skill development in the second language.

  • Side-by-side view of foundational literacy skills in English and Spanish
  • Explicit guidance to teachers to support asset-based instruction using cross-linguistic transfer strategies
Screenshot of a student's mCLASS Lectura literacy skills evaluation report detailing progress in English and Spanish reading abilities, with charts and textual information.

Progress monitoring summary

See which subtests have been assessed since the most recent benchmark assessment, how students performed on the three most recent progress monitoring assessments for each measure, and which students have not been progress monitored since the benchmark assessment.

Caregiver supports

The mCLASS Home Connect letter provides parent and caregivers information in English or Spanish about the student’s literacy and guidance on how to support their child at home.

Screenshot of a digital document showing a student's performance evaluation, with text, tables, and color-coded performance ratings.

Clickable demo

Our clickable demo is a great way to orient yourself to the organization of our mCLASS platform and the mCLASS Lectura assessment. Click the button below to get started.

Screenshot of an educational software dashboard displaying student progress, with tabs for instruction and home connection in dual language.
Explore clickable demo

Here you will find 10 interactive screens:

  • Screen 2: Scroll down to the class list. Find Gabriel Archulata. Click on his score for “Decodificación”.
  • Screen 3: Explore Gabriel’s measure transcript. Then click on the gray arrow to the far right to advance to the next screen.
  • Screen 4: Click on the “Instruction” tab.
  • Screen 5: Scroll down to “Decoding Group 4” and click “See Activities”.
  • Screen 6: Click on the first activity called “Identificar y leer palabras con los dígrafos ch y ll.”
  • Screen 7: Click on the gray arrow to the far right to advance to the next screen.
  • Screen 8: Explore the detailed “Student” tab and then click the “Dual Language” tab.
  • Screen 9: Scroll down to the section about Gabriel’s phonological awareness skills. Click on the link called “Cross-Linguistic Transfer: Phonological Awareness”.
  • Screen 10: Click on the gray arrow to the far right to advance to the next screen. Explore the “Home Connect” letter.

mCLASS® with DIBELS® 8th Edition for Colorado

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Amplify Virtual Patent Marking

The following Amplify products are protected by patents in the U.S. and elsewhere. This webpage is provided to satisfy the virtual patent marking provisions of various jurisdictions including the virtual patent marking provisions of the America Invents Act.

The following list of Amplify products may not be all inclusive, and other Amplify products not listed here may be protected by one or more patents.

mCLASS: Protected by U.S. Patents 7,114,126; 8,231,389; 7,568,160; 8,667,400; 8,699,940; 8,699,941, 8,997,004, 8,958,741, 9,111,454.

Amplify Fractions: Protected by U.S. Patent 9,836,983.

Amplify Curriculum: Protected by U.S. Patent 9,972,213.

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You may access and use the Products solely for non-commercial instructional and administrative purposes. Guidelines for such purposes may be set forth at http://amplify.com/amplify-program-usage-guidelines and additional guidelines may be detailed in materials associated with the Product You are accessing. Further, You may not, except as expressly authorized by Amplify: (a) copy, modify, translate, distribute, disclose, or create derivative works based on the contents of, sell, or otherwise exploit, the Products, or any part thereof; (b) decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer the Products, or otherwise use the Products to develop functionally similar products or services; (c) modify, alter, or delete any of the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices in or on the Products; (d) rent, lease, or lend the Products or use the Products for the benefit of any third party; (e) avoid, circumvent, or disable any security or digital rights management device, procedure, protocol, or mechanism in the Products; (f) use any content from the Products, including but not limited to text, images, videos, assessments, lesson plans, or code, as input or training material for any machine learning or artificial intelligence system, including large language models, neural networks, or other algorithmic models, for any purposes, commercial or non-commercial; or (g) permit any Authorized User or third party to do any of the foregoing. You also agree that any works created in violation of this section are derivative works, and, as such, You agree to assign, and hereby assign, all right, title, and interest in such works to Amplify. The Products and derivatives thereof may be subject to export control laws, restrictions, regulations, and orders of the U.S. and other jurisdictions (together, “Export Laws”). You agree to comply with all applicable Export Laws, and will not, and will not permit Authorized Users to, export, or transfer for the purpose of re-export, any Product to any prohibited or embargoed country in violation of any U.S. export law or regulation. Further, You represent that You are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, subject to sanctions by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, or included on any restricted party list maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security. The software and associated documentation portions of the Products are “commercial items” (as defined at 48 CFR 2.101), comprising “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation,” as those terms are used in 48 CFR 12.212. Accordingly, if You are associated with the U.S. Government or its contractor, You will receive only those rights set forth in this Agreement in accordance with 48 CFR 227.7201-227.7204 (for Department of Defense and their contractors) or 48 CFR 12.212 (for other U.S. Government licensees and their contractors).

3. Use of the products

In connection with your access to and use of the Products, you agree not to: (a) post, upload, or otherwise transmit or link to content that is: unlawful; threatening; harmful; abusive; pornographic or includes nudity; offensive; harassing; excessively violent; tortious; defamatory; false or misleading; obscene; vulgar; libelous; hateful; or discriminatory; (b) violate the rights of others, including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, privacy, publicity, contract, or other proprietary rights; (c) harass or harm another person; (d) exploit or endanger a minor; (e) impersonate any person or entity; (f) introduce or engage in activity that involves the use of viruses, bots, worms, Trojan horses, time bombs, spyware, or any other computer code, files, or programs that interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permit the unauthorized access to or use of a computer or a computer network; (g) interfere with, damage, disable, disrupt, impair, create an undue burden on, or gain unauthorized access to the Products or any account (as defined below), or Amplify’s servers or networks; (h) restrict or inhibit any other person from using the Products (including by hacking or defacing the Products); (i) remove, disable, block, or obscure any portion of the Products; (j) use technology or any automated system, such as scripts or bots, to collect user names, passwords, email addresses, or any other data from or through the Products, or to circumvent or modify any security technology or software that is part of the Products; (k) send or cause to send (directly or indirectly) unsolicited bulk messages or other unsolicited bulk communications of any kind through the Products; (l) solicit, collect, or request any information for commercial or unlawful purposes; (m) post, upload, or otherwise transmit an image, audio recording, or video of another person without that person’s consent; (n) use the Products to advertise, promote, or engage in any commercial activity (including engaging in advertising, sales, contests, sweepstakes, or other promotions) without Amplify’s prior written consent; (o) frame or mirror the Products without Amplify’s express prior written consent; (p) use the Products in a manner inconsistent with any applicable law, rule, or regulation; (q) use any robot, spider, search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device to retrieve, index, “scrape,” “data mine,” or in any way gather content of the Products or reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Products; (r) attempt, facilitate, or encourage others to do any of the foregoing. In addition to the foregoing restrictions, your use of the Products may also be subject to an additional acceptable use policy provided to you by your School, as applicable. You are responsible for meeting the hardware, software, telecommunications, and other requirements listed at amplify.com/customer-requirements.

4. Intellectual property

The Products and any Product logo, and certain other of the names, logos, and materials displayed in the Products, may constitute trademarks, trade names, or service marks (“Marks”) of Amplify or other entities. You are not authorized to use any such Marks. Ownership of all such Marks and the goodwill associated therewith remains with Amplify or those other entities. The content provided to you in the Products, including the software, graphs, text, and graphics, is protected under copyright laws, is subject to other intellectual property and proprietary rights and laws, and is owned by Amplify or its licensors. Your access to the Products does not transfer to you or any third party any rights, title, or interest in or to such intellectual property rights. You may not use the content of the Products, in whole or in part, to train or fine-tune any machine learning or artificial intelligence model or system, including for research, product development, commercial services, or any other purpose, commercial or non-commercial. Such use constitutes unauthorized derivative work and a violation of Amplify’s intellectual property rights. Your rights to make use of the Products are limited to those provided under this AUP, any additional terms as may be agreed upon between your School and Amplify, and any available exceptions under applicable intellectual property laws. Amplify Products are protected by patents (see amplify.com/virtual-patent-marking).

5. Account information

Your authentication to enable your access and use of these Products is based in part upon information supplied by you. You are required to (a) provide accurate information to Amplify and promptly report any changes to such information, (b) not share or allow others to use your account, (c) maintain the confidentiality and security of your account information, and (d) use the Products solely via such authorized accounts. You may not share your credentials (i.e., username and password) to access the Products with anyone except the person for whom that account was created. You agree to notify Amplify immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or related authentication information. Amplify will not be responsible for any losses arising out of the unauthorized use of your account.

6. Student data

The parties acknowledge and agree that in the course of providing the Products, Amplify may collect, receive, or generate information that directly relates to an identifiable current or former student of a School (“Student Data”). Student Data may include personal information from a student’s “educational records,” as defined by FERPA. Student Data is owned and controlled by the School and Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of FERPA for the purpose of providing the Products hereunder. Individually and collectively, Amplify and School agree to uphold our obligations, as applicable, under FERPA, COPPA, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (“PPRA”), and applicable state laws relating to Student Data privacy. Amplify’s Privacy Policy governs the collection, use, and disclosure of Student Data collected or stored on behalf of the School under this AUP. The School is responsible for providing notice or obtaining appropriate consents under applicable laws to authorize Authorized School Users’ use of the Products, including making a copy of the Privacy Policy available to the parents or guardians of Child Users. Please see Additional Terms for Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts (Section 18) for additional information.

7. Confidentiality

You acknowledge that in connection with these terms, Amplify may provide you with certain sensitive or proprietary information (“Confidential Information”), including software, source code, assessment instruments, research, designs, methods, processes, customer lists, training materials, product documentation, know-how, or trade secrets, in whatever form. You agree (a) not to use Confidential Information for any purpose other than use of the Products in accordance with the AUP, and (b) to take all steps reasonably necessary to maintain and protect the Confidential Information of Amplify in strict confidence. Confidential Information shall not include information that, as evidenced by your contemporaneous written records: (i) is or becomes publicly available through no fault of your own; (ii) is rightfully known to you prior to the time of its disclosure; (iii) has been independently developed by you without any use of the Confidential Information; or (iv) is subsequently learned from a third party not under any confidentiality obligation.  

8. User materials

You represent, warrant, and covenant that you have all the necessary rights, including consents and intellectual property rights, in connection with any data, information, content, and other materials provided to or collected by Amplify from you or on your behalf in connection with your use of the Products, including materials and content that you post, upload, transmit, email, or otherwise make available on, through, or in connection with the Products (“User Materials”), and that except as otherwise agreed by your School and Amplify, you retain any ownership rights that you have in your User Materials. You hereby grant to Amplify and its affiliates, licensees, and authorized users, a perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), transferable (in whole or in part), worldwide license to use, modify, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and compilations based upon, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such User Materials in connection with the Products, subject to Amplify’s Privacy Policy. You and your School are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, completeness, quality, legality, and safety of such User Materials. You further represent and warrant that the posting of such User Materials through or in connection with the Products does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other rights of any person or entity. Amplify and your School reserve the right (but have no obligation) to monitor the Products, including for inappropriate content or conduct, and to remove any content in their discretion without liability to you or any third party. Further, Amplify reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in Amplify’s discretion, violates this AUP or attempts to do so, including terminating or suspending a user’s account or access to or use of the Products, or reporting any content or conduct to law enforcement authorities. You are solely responsible for creating and maintaining your own backup copies of your User Materials. Amplify is not responsible for any loss, theft, or damage of any kind to any User Materials. 

9. Feedback

If you provide us with any ideas, proposals, or suggestions related to the Products (“Feedback”), you hereby acknowledge and agree that your provision of any Feedback is gratuitous, unsolicited, and without restriction, and does not place Amplify under any fiduciary or other obligation. You hereby grant to Amplify a worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, and fully sublicensable (through multiple tiers) license to reproduce, distribute, perform and/or display (publicly or otherwise), adapt, modify, and otherwise use such Feedback, in any format or media now known or hereafter developed, and you hereby represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights to grant the foregoing license.

10. Third party links and services

The Products may make available, or third parties may provide, links to websites, software, applications, resources, advertisements, content, or other products or services created, hosted, or made available by third parties (“Third Party Services”). When you access or use a Third-Party Service, you are interacting with the applicable third party, not with Amplify, and you do so at your own risk. Inclusion of any Third-Party Service or a link thereto within the Products does not imply approval or endorsement of such Third-Party Service. Amplify does not control any content that is not Amplify content, and as such, you may be exposed to offensive, indecent, inaccurate, or otherwise objectionable content in the course of accessing or using such Third-Party Services linked from the Products. You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the Products, providers of Third-Party Services, and any other third parties with whom you interact on, through, or in connection with the Products. AMPLIFY IS NEITHER RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, INCLUDING THE ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, COMPLETENESS, QUALITY, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, OR SAFETY OF, OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS RELATING TO, SUCH THIRD-PARTY SERVICES. ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF SUCH THIRD-PARTY SERVICES MAY BE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION COLLECTION, USAGE, AND DISCLOSURE PRACTICES OF THIRD PARTIES. THIS AUP DOES NOT CREATE ANY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU AND ANY PROVIDER OF THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, AND NOTHING IN THIS AUP WILL BE DEEMED TO BE A REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY BY AMPLIFY WITH RESPECT TO ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICE.

11. Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe that any material residing on or linked to from the Products infringes your copyright, please send (or have your agent send) to Amplify’s Copyright Agent, by email, fax, or regular mail, a written notification of claimed infringement with all of the following information: (a) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (b) identification of the claimed infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material on the Products (such as the URL(s) of the claimed infringing material); (c) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an e-mail address; (d) a statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent or the law; (e) a statement by you that the above information in your notification is accurate, and a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed, or that you are authorized to act on such owner’s behalf; and (f) your physical or electronic signature. Amplify’s Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can be reached as follows: Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington Street #800, Brooklyn NY 11201; Attn: Copyright Agent. Amplify’s Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can also be reached electronically at legal@amplify.com. Amplify reserves the right to terminate infringers’ and suspected infringers’ accounts or their access to or use of the Products.

12. Changes to the products

Amplify may, without prior notice, change any Product or stop providing any features of any Product. We may permanently or temporarily terminate or suspend your access to any Product features without notice for any reason, including if in our sole determination you violate any provision of this AUP. Upon termination, you continue to be bound by this AUP.

13. Warranty disclaimer

PRODUCTS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND BY AMPLIFY. AMPLIFY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY AS TO TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. YOU ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELECTING THE PRODUCTS TO ACHIEVE YOUR INTENDED RESULTS AND FOR THE ACCESS AND USE OF THE PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE PRODUCTS. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, AMPLIFY MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE PRODUCTS WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR FREE FROM INTERRUPTIONS OR OTHER FAILURES OR WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. AMPLIFY IS NEITHER RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY CONTENT OR SOFTWARE INCLUDED IN PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, COMPLETENESS, QUALITY, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, OR SAFETY OF, OR IP RIGHTS RELATING TO, SUCH THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AND SOFTWARE. ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF SUCH THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AND SOFTWARE MAY BE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION COLLECTION, USAGE, AND DISCLOSURE PRACTICES OF THIRD PARTIES.

14. Limitation of liability

IN NO EVENT WILL AMPLIFY BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, RELIANCE, OR COVER DAMAGES, DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, LOST BUSINESS, OR ANY OTHER INDIRECT DAMAGES, EVEN IF AMPLIFY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, AMPLIFY’S ENTIRE LIABILITY TO YOU ARISING OUT OF PERFORMANCE OR NONPERFORMANCE BY AMPLIFY OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AUP, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE CLAIM FOR SUCH DAMAGES IS BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, WILL NOT EXCEED $100 IN AGGREGATE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL AMPLIFY BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES OF ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THE PRODUCTS THAT VIOLATES THIS AUP OR ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION.

15. Termination

Amplify may terminate or suspend your access to the Products at any time for any reason, including if Amplify believes that you have violated the AUP or have engaged in conduct that violates applicable law or is otherwise harmful to the interests of Amplify, any other Amplify user, or any third party. Upon termination, you will: cease using the Products and return, purge, or destroy all copies of any Products and, if so requested, certify to Amplify in writing that such surrender or destruction has occurred. Sections 3–13, 16, and 17 will survive the termination of this Agreement.

16. Governing Law

This Agreement will be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the U.S., state of New York, without giving effect to the choice of law rules thereof.

17. Additional terms for iOS apps

By downloading any Products through Apple, Inc.’s App Store (“iOS Products”), you agree that the following additional terms apply to your use of our iOS Products:

  1. This AUP is not a legal agreement with Apple, Inc. (“Apple”). As between Amplify and Apple, Amplify (not Apple) is responsible for the iOS Products and the contents thereof.
  2. The license to use the iOS Products under Section 3 above is limited to use (i) on iOS devices that you or your School owns or controls, separate from and in addition to any specific technical requirements for any iOS Product, and (ii) as permitted by the Usage Rules set forth in Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
  3. You must comply with applicable third-party terms of agreement when using the Products.
  4. Without limiting Section 13 above and solely as between Amplify and Apple, you acknowledge that: (i) Apple has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance and support services with respect to the iOS Products; (ii) Amplify (not Apple) is responsible for addressing any claims of yours or of any third party relating to the iOS Products or your possession and/or use of the iOS products, including but not limited to (1) product liability claims, (2) any claim that the iOS Products fail to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and (3) claims arising under consumer protection, privacy, or similar legislation; (iii) in the event of any failure of the iOS Products to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price for the iOS Products to you; to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the iOS Products, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, or expenses attributable to any failure to conform to any warranty will be Amplify’s sole responsibility; and (iv) in the event of any third-party claim that the iOS Products or your possession and use of the iOS Products infringes that third party’s intellectual property rights, Amplify (not Apple) will be responsible for any investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any such intellectual property infringement claim.
  5. You represent and warrant that: (i) you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a “terrorist supporting” country; and (ii) you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  6. Apple and Apple’s subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance of these Terms, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary thereof.
  7.  Any questions, complaints, or claims with respect to the Products should be directed to: 

Email: privacy@amplify.comMail: Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St. #800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201

18. Additional terms for Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts.

a. Mathigon updates: Amplify no longer offers accounts for Child Users, but we will continue to allow Child Users to access their active legacy Mathigon accounts where verifiable parental consent was obtained. We will continue to protect personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable law.

b. Mathigon and Amplify Classroom:

i. School Use:

  1. Educators: If you are an Educator, you can create a Mathigon or an Amplify Classroom account using any existing email or through an existing third-party account (e.g. Google, Microsoft). Go to https://mathigon.org/signup#teacher  to sign up for Mathigon. Go to classroom.amplify.com to sign up for Amplify Classroom.
  2. Students can also sign up using a unique class code provided by an Educator. Educators are responsible for gaining appropriate authorization or permission from their School to use the Products with students, including Child Users, before providing their unique class code or linking the Products to a third-party service like Google Classroom. For such use in the school context, we do not request additional consent from parents in accordance with the “school official” exception under FERPA and relevant COPPA guidance. For more information, visit our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, and disclose personal information and data through the provision of our Products in schools. 

ii. Outside of School Use: If you are an individual user using the Products at home or otherwise outside of the school context, you are prohibited from collecting or providing any personal information from students or minors. You are permitted to access the platform for instructional purposes, but you may not enroll or roster minors, create accounts for minors, or input any personal information of minors into the Product.

19. Updates to this policy

We may change this Acceptable Use Policy in the future. For example, we may update it to address changes in our product offerings, or to address changes in the law or best practices. If we make changes that materially impact your legal rights or use of our products, we will provide prominent notification to you (e.g. via the Site or by email).  Otherwise, we will post any updates to the policy with an updated “Last Revised Date” and all changes will become effective immediately. Please check the Last Revised Date to confirm if the policy has been revised.

Last Modified: February 2, 2026

Welcome, Minnesota educators!

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s CKLA resources for K–5.

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is an effective core literacy resource for students in grades K–5. CKLA was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation and was specifically designed to help teachers implement proven evidence-based instructional practices. CKLA is all green on EdReports- read the full review on EdReports.org.

Click here for correlations to the Minnesota Learning Standards.

Illustration featuring diverse cultural and historical elements like an african woman, an egyptian sphinx, a space rocket, and urban and natural landscapes under a starry sky.

Virtual presentations

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

About CKLA

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • A combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.
  • Embedded support and differentiation that get all students reading grade-level texts together.
  • Opportunities for students to see the strengths and experiences that all people share while celebrating each others’ unique identities and experiences.
  • Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.
A young girl with a braid smiles while leaning on a desk, with whimsical illustrations of a bear, buildings, and plants in the background.

Program effectiveness

How it Works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in grades K–2 and combines them in 3–5.

  • In grades K–2, students complete one full lesson that builds foundational reading skills and one full lesson that builds background knowledge.
  • In grades 3–5, students complete one integrated lesson combining skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater emphasis on writing
Illustration of ancient civilizations featuring pyramids, a pharaoh’s head, farmers plowing with oxen, animals, and traditional structures under a sunny sky.

CKLA Program Guide

Illustration showing a person painting by a window, bees and a grasshopper among sunflowers, a pyramid, and two children floating on a globe with books and planets.

Caminos Program Guide

Cover of a booklet titled "Assessment sampler Grades K–5" with colorful illustrations of animals, a woman, and nature at the bottom.

Assessment

What students Explore

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year to year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Download the at-a-glance resources below to learn more.

What students read

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

A comprehensive approach to literacy instruction requires students to have a wide range of text experiences, including reading, listening, discussing, and writing. Check out our text complexity guide to learn more by clicking here. Most questions, tasks, and assignments in CKLA materials are text-dependent. See how we use questioning and analysis skills to help students understand text in CKLA here.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include the following:

  • Authentic books
  • Authentic text passages
  • Student Readers
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5)

Download a list of K-5 student texts.

Six children's book covers arranged in two rows, featuring colorful illustrations of animals, people, and nature. Titles include "Rain Player," "A More Perfect Union," and "The Busy Body Book.

Supports LETRS

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by LETRS.

  • Structured: Concepts are taught through consistent routines.
  • Sequential: Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence.
  • Systematic: Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex.
  • Explicit: Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly.
  • Multi-sensory: Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways.
  • Cumulative: Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement.
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

Title page with the text: "Crosswalk for Core Knowledge Language Arts and LETRS Suggested Scope and Sequence," with some headings in orange and gray.

Amplify CKLA and LTRS Crosswalk

A comprehensive and cohesive solution

A strong literacy program is more than a reading program or an assessment tool: it combines curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy curriculum suite to ensure you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

Infographic describing a cycle of K–5 literacy solutions: mCLASS screening, Amplify CKLA instruction, digital and staff-led interventions, and professional development within an early literacy suite grounded in the science of reading.
A teacher using a tablet alongside a student

CKLA and mCLASS®

CKLA aligns with our mCLASS® with DIBELS 8th Edition, Amplify’s comprehens…

Two young girls, one with braided hair and the other with blonde hair, smiling and looking at a laptop screen in a classroom.

CKLA and Boost Reading

Boost Reading provides literacy acceleration and remediation for your students.

Trial Access

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore CKLA’s digital site:

Go to my.amplify.com
Select Log in with Amplify
Teacher login: t1.mde-mn@demo.tryamplify.net
Password: Amplify1-mde-mn
Select the CKLA icon and your desired grade level

Screenshot of the CKLA curriculum webpage displaying a list of materials, including Activity Book, Teacher Guide, Answer Key, and other educational resources.

Additional Resources

Check out the information below to learn more about Amplify CKLA and see how Amplify CKLA is impacting classrooms all over the country.

Welcome, K–5 Atlanta Public Schools!

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



S1-04: Connecting with students and caregivers in the science classroom: Ryan Rudkin

Promotional graphic for "science connections", season 1, episode 4, featuring a smiling woman named Ryan Rudkin, themed with science illustrations like atoms and a globe, highlighting how to engage students

In this special episode, our host Eric Cross sits down with veteran middle school teacher Ryan Rudkin. Ryan shares her expertise after almost two decades in the classroom, discussing ways to incorporate aspects of problem-based learning into the K–8 science classroom. Eric and Ryan talk about how to increase parent engagement, involve community members, and add excitement to lessons.

Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.

Download Transcript

Ryan Renee Rudkin (00:00):

I know there’s other goals in mind, you know, standards and test scores. But at the end of the day, I wanna come back and I want them to come back.

Eric Cross (00:35):

My name’s Eric Cross, host of our science podcast, and I am with Ryan Rudkin, middle-school teacher out here in California just to the north up near Sacramento? El Dorado Hills?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (00:46):

Yeah. 20 miles east of Sacramento.

Eric Cross (00:49):

Nice. And I am down here in San Diego. And so Ryan, to start off, what I wanna do is ask you about your origin story, like a superhero. So how did you become a middle-school science teacher to become part of this elite profession of science folks that get to do awesome things with kids?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (01:08):

I would agree with you that it is definitely an elite profession. I got my credential and I thought I was gonna teach third or fourth grade elementary school. And the second day I got called for a sub job for middle school. And I just thought, “We’ll take it,” you know? And by second period, I knew: This is where I belong. The kids, middle school, students are just a species of their own. And you have to appreciate them. And if you do appreciate them, then you’re in the right spot. And I quickly looked at my coursework and I was able to get authorizations in science, history, and English, and I love science. So I chose science. And the rest is history. It’s been a wild ride and I wouldn’t have changed or asked for anything different. I love it.

Eric Cross (02:02):

I definitely agree with you. So, your history—you’ve been in various middle-school classrooms. Can you tell us a little bit about that? What classrooms have you been in? What disciplines of science have you taught or are currently teaching?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (02:14):

I was hired for seventh grade life science, and then I did that for a few years and then I got moved into eighth physical science, and I was there for 12 years. Love eighth grade science. I love eighth graders. Chemistry and physics are my favorite. There’s just so much opportunity for just awesome labs, great conversations, student discourse, all of that. And then the past three years I’ve been in sixth grade and now we’re integrated. So,a sixth grade integrated science and I also teach social studies and a technology design class.

Eric Cross (02:52):

Oh, nice. What do you do in your technology design class? That sounds cool.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (02:56):

Right now it’s mostly internet media and we use WeVideo, it’s an editing-video program, and we produce and put on our school weekly news bulletin. And then we weave in other projects. We do some interdisciplinary projects. Right now my students are working on a mythology God, Goddess, and Monster project that relates to our social studies curriculum. And we’re learning about Greece. So yeah, we just try to give them added projects and they’re using the WeVideo platform. By sixth grade, they’re coming to us now with wonderful skills with all the tech. I mean, if I need help, I ask them like, “How do you do something on Google Docs?” Or, “How do you do something on Drive?” The kids are definitely tech-savvy.

Eric Cross (03:49):

They must love being the teacher in the classroom. They get to—it kind of switches power roles, where they get to teach the teacher something.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (03:56):

Yes. And especially WeVideo, sometimes we’ve had some hiccups, and the kids show everybody, and that’s part of the design class. They’re trying to solve—we’re teaching them how to solve their own problems. So if there’s any kind of issue with anything with the technology, honestly, I usually tell them, “Go ask a friend,” or we kind of shout out, “Hey, who knows how to troubleshoot this?” And the kids are eager to help each other, which is nice.

Eric Cross (04:21):

And they have this authentic experience where they’re actually doing real problem-solving, as opposed to something that we manufactured. Like, those are real things that we have to deal with in life. And that’s exactly like how we solve it, right? We just go ask people! We look it up, and the ahas are genuine too. Throughout!

Ryan Renee Rudkin (04:36):

Yes, especially thinking on the fly. Especially yesterday, I was in the middle of teaching and my laptop froze, and it’s like, “OK, everybodytake a couple minutes, you know, work on this, this, or that while I switch out laptops!” And so I’m modeling, too, how to solve my own problems. And I think it teaches the kids how to do that too.

Eric Cross (04:59):

I’ve always thought it was interesting that when teachers get to teach in real time, how do we handle stress and frustration when it’s really happening? And I think the tech—at times, failure is the real one where you feel this chill or this sweat that kind of comes over you and you’re trying to present or cast or the video won’t play and things like that. I think I’ve done enough times in my years of teaching where now my students know what to do, or they want to come up and help, and we’re good with it. But I remember in the beginning when those things would kind of glitch or go wrong or the wifi goes down, and you’re like, OK, what do we need now?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (05:33):

I think it’s honestly, after the fact, when I think in the moment, I’m not thinking of feeling stressed, but just afterwards, then I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this has just been a wild day.” But yeah, you just have to kind of go with it. And that’s just the beast of middle school. I just added to the list of why we love it.

Eric Cross (05:53):

You said something about interdisciplinary work, and I wanna kind of ask about that. Because it sounds like you’ve had your hand in several different areas of science and grade levels. Working, doing design courses, working with tech. Are there certain lessons that are your favorites to teach? The ones that you really enjoy, or that no matter what, you’re like, “We need to do this; this is such a rich experience for students”?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (06:17):

Yeah. I definitely try to do lessons or activities along the way. I like to do projects at the end of my units. When I taught physics, we did a project and it was mainly an assessment tool called the Wheeling and Dealing. The kids, they would all get a different car. And then they to sell their car. And so they had to pretend to be a car salesman, and they did that with their knowledge of the physics unit. So everything we did on forces and speed and motion. So I like doing culminating projects like that. And you’re kind of tricking them into assessing them.

Eric Cross (06:57):

When I think about your car salesman project, I’m thinking of a bunch of students, but they’re like on Shark Tank, but they’re just littler versions. And they’re doing these sales pitches, but they’re speaking in scientific terms as they’re trying to do it. Do you record these or do they just exist in the classroom?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (07:12):

No…And that was a long time ago, when I taught eighth grade. I wish I had; I wish I had recorded. That was definitely—it was fun, ’cause the kids, they would get their little piece of paper and they—some of ’em didn’t know what car it was. And so they’re like “A Boo… A Boo-gatti? What’s a Boo-gatti?” And then someone from across the room would be like, “Ooh, I want it! Here, I’ll trade you my Ford Focus!” And <laugh> so they would kind of wheel-and-deal which car they would…and then once they got their choice, then they would do the project.

Eric Cross (07:44):

So they’re really embodying this persona of a car salesman. The wheeling and doing back-and-forth and trying to trade a Bugatti for a Ford Focus. <Laugh>

Ryan Renee Rudkin (07:53):

I know. <Laugh> I like to make my class, my learning environment, enjoyable. You know, I gotta be there; they gotta be there. So I know there’s other goals in mind—you know, standards and test scores—but at the end of the day, I wanna come back, and I want them to come back. And I just have that as a priority.

Eric Cross (08:18):

Well, based on the projects that you’re doing and the way that you approach education with students, I can see why middle-school students would want to come back, even if they had the option not to. Just because of the cool things that you’re doing. Now we’re on this—hopefully, fingers crossed—tail end of COVID in the classroom and schools, and I know it’s impacted all of us differently. Has student engagement changed since COVID and if so, how, and what have you done in these last two years to maybe adjust your approach, to continue that engagement and that richness that you provide for your kids?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (08:57):

I definitely—I think for me, I recognize that when the students are in my classroom, I want them to, I dunno, for lack of a better word, just escape the noise at home. And I know we’ve always had students that are going through divorce situations or their dog died, other things, but I think with COVID, it’s definitely been compounded. And just creating a safe place for the kids to want to be and…it’s hard. We’ve had a lot of students that have been out, absent, for various reasons and on quarantine. And they’re struggling with doing work from home, ’cause their parents are stressed and their parents are dealing with their work issues. And so I think just having grace for the kids and just keeping…I don’t know, I guess like I said, I’ve always had student engagement as top of my list.

Eric Cross (10:06):

It sounds like—the things I hear you say really have to do with who these students are as people.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (10:12):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (10:13):

And then as a second, who they are as students. How do relationships fit into your engagement? ‘Cause I’m hearing this connection that you seem to be making with kids as you’re talking about things that are beyond academics: their home life, how they’re impacted.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (10:28):

Yes.

Eric Cross (10:28):

Is there anything that you do to build these relationships, or to connect with your students, to make them feel wanted or feel connected to the classroom or to you?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (10:37):

Yeah, I do. I do a few things to build those connections. And again, this timeframe in their life is so out of their control, their peer relationships, relationships with their parents. And when they’re in my classroom, I want them to feel loved and appreciated. Something I do it’s called Phone Fridays. And in one of the social media groups, someone posted about it, and I’ve been doing it for over a year now, actually. So on Fridays I call parents and give good news. And so I’ll pick maybe one or two students. And it could be academic reasons. It could be behavior, I’ve seen a slight improvement of behavior. Maybe a role model in the classroom. And my goal is to get everybody every trimester. So everybody gets a phone call by the end of the trimester. And it’s funny ’cause sometimes the parents are a little like “Uh-oh”! When they pick up, they see the caller ID, and their school’s calling. ‘Cause Some kids don’t get good calls. So it’s a really—I would say every single parent that I’ve called, I usually get a follow-up email, either to me or my admin, just saying it’s such a cool idea I do this; thank you so much. And yeah, I just call and give good news and just put ’em on the spot. And usually the kids are a little embarrassed, but you can tell, even though they’re kind of—I think they’re faking it, that they’re embarrassed! ‘Cause You know that they got the Phone Friday, and everybody’s like, “Who’s gonna get the phone Friday?!” And so it’s a very big deal in my class.

Eric Cross (12:07):

What a great way to—I mean, it seems like that hits on so many levels. You’re making these positive calls home. You’re praising publicly, which a lot of times can happen where students can get criticized or redirected publicly and then praised privately, which is a lot of times the reverse what we should be doing. But here you are praising them publicly. And then you’re not only building a relationship with yourself, but you’re also connecting them with their parent or whoever is caring for them, because now when they go home, there’s this, “Hey, your teacher called; you’re doing awesome!” So it’s this kind of triangle that’s forming there. I think that’s super-cool and a great thing for teachers to do.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (12:45):

It takes, you know, the last five minutes of my class. I do it every class. And then I have a system. Like I said, I keep track of all the kids. That way, by the end of the trimester I’ve gotten everybody. Sometimes I let the students, whoever I call first, then I let them pick a peer and I tell them, “OK, we have to have a solid reason. Why are we calling?” And a couple times they’ll have a student, like one of my energized ones, they’ll raise their hand. “How About me? How about me?” And I and the kids kind of laugh a little and I said, “Well, how about this? Let’s make a goal. How about next week we’re gonna make a goal and we’re gonna have a reason to call home.” So just working on the kids that need a little push in the right direction. That’s other reasoning to it. But yeah, it’s fun. I love it.

Eric Cross (13:33):

And you have the community. You have this goal setting. We were talking a little earlier about this transition—so you’re becoming this…your school’s going through the IB process, is that right?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (13:44):

Yes.

Eric Cross (13:44):

And we were talking about the ATL skills and one of them is goal-setting management. You already kind of organically do this in your classroom, which is really neat. I know being an IB teacher, a lot of times I find the things that I’ve already been doing and find, “Oh, this is actually an approach to learning!” or “This is something that has a title!” I just thought it was just being helpful! Ah…So the kids are connected. You have this process where you’re calling parents; it’s working; students are involved, so it’s building this community. Now you’re engaging students. Do you have any favorite student engagement tools that you use in your classroom or when you’re teaching that you feel like you get a lot of bang for your buck? There’s so many things out there these days. And so many approaches, tools, web apps. Do you have any favorites that you use?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (14:40):

No. Nothing comes up top of my mind right now. Mostly just projects, like I said. And being excited. I think having my students see me excited about something…and I’m honest when we’re doing something that’s not quite my favorite, then I’m honest about that too. But just having my—like, we just started thermal energy this week and I told my students, I said, “OK guys, I’m gonna weave in some chemistry in there. I’m gonna weave in some particle motion,” and they’re like, “Oh! That’s when you taught eighth grade, huh!” Cause I talk a lot about when I taught eighth grade before. I don’t know, just showing my own enthusiasm, I think, is a good payoff to me. That’s a bang for your buck. Other things…I try to give ’em cool videos and Mark Grober, he’s definitely a favorite of mine I like to show my students. I like to bring in guest speakers from our community. When I taught eighth grade for physics, I always brought in a local CHP officer and they would bring in the radar and lidar guns and the kids would mark off the parking lot and they would calculate their speed. And then they would verify it with the radar gun. Two years ago when I taught math, I brought in a local landscaper company, a father-and-son outfit, and they showed the kids how they would do bids on jobs. And so, relate it to our chapter on volume and area. So just making that connection with real life. Plus it’s just a nice opportunity, too, for the community to come in. With our design class, put on our newscast. And then one of our units in our sixth grade curriculum is weather. And so I brought in a local weatheruh, chief meteorologist. And he actually talked to the students about his job as a meteorologist and then also being on the news and putting on a newscast. So we got him on our green screen and did a little like Mark Finan, you know, little cameo on our newscast for the week for school. So that was kind of cool.

Eric Cross (16:45):

They must have been excited.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (16:47):

Yeah. They’re pretty starstruck by him. So that was pretty fun.

Eric Cross (16:51):

This person was on their local news? So they would know him?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (16:56):

Yeah, he’s on Channel 3 out of Sacramento. Yeah. KCRA Channel 3, Mark Finan.

Eric Cross (17:00):

So all these guest speakers that you have…how do you reach out to these people? And you sound like you get a lot of success. Do you ever get nos? Like if I’m sitting here listening and that inspires me, but you’re getting celebrities and you see a few people…like, how do you reach out to them? And does everybody say yes? How does it go?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (17:21):

Well, usually at my back-to-school night, I always ask the parents if they have a career or hobby that could lend itself to the curriculum. And so sometimes I’ll hear about—students will talk about, like, “My mom’s a doctor.” And so I’ll reach out to parents and just say, “Hey, you know, your kiddo said, you’re a doctor. May I ask what type?” And most of the time the nos that I’ve received are just because of schedule conflicts. You just have to get creative! Look in your community and see what you have. People want to come and talk to kids. I’ve had some presentations that the person is so intelligent and amazing, but they just, weren’t very kid-friendly. I mean, that happens. Butsomeone knows someone. And just ask! I mean, it doesn’t hurt to ask to have ’em come out, come hang out for the day, with my students. Andone time I had a nurse practitioner she was in the cardiac unit. And so she brought in hearts and led a heart dissection with my students. And we did a station set-up. I’ve had elaborate ones like that, or just a mom come in to tell my students about her job as a nutritionist and relate it to our unit on metabolism. And so just did like a little 15-minute Q&A with the kids on nutrition. And I would just say, look at your community and/or post on social media. I always do that. Post in your school’s PTA groups. So the parents know someone, that’s for sure. Or someone’s retired. One time I had—I think he was a grandfather of one of the kids—he was into rocks. And he had a bunch of meteorites <laugh> and brought in his meteorites.

Eric Cross (19:15):

Bring in your rocks!

Ryan Renee Rudkin (19:15):

I know! Right? And he <laugh> just brought in his meteorite collection! I was like, sure, come on in!

Eric Cross (19:23):

That’s one of the things I love about being a middle-school teacher is that my students have such varied interests and I’ll get the Rock Kid every once in a while and he’ll come in and he’ll have all these rocks and crystals. And a lot of times there’s a grandfather that’s responsible for this inherited geologic treasure that they have.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (19:45):

Yeah, something like that—I mean rocks are not my favorites, but I don’t really tell the kids that. I was like, “Sure, yeah, come on in! We can have a whole-day lesson on rocks!”

Eric Cross (19:55):

<Weakly> “This is great!”

Ryan Renee Rudkin (19:58):

Just utilizing your resources. That’s all it’s about.

Eric Cross (20:02):

Well, I think the back-to-school night was really helpful. That’s something that’s super doable. You have a bunch of parents and you just simply ask, “Who do you know? What do you do?” And then just collecting that and then just asking people to come in. I’ve I’ve been reluctant to do it more often than I’ve wanted to, because I haven’t figured out—and maybe you can help me with this—I have three class periods a day plus other class periods that are not necessarily science. And I don’t want to dominate a person’s schedule. Do they tend to be willing to stay all day? Or do you do, one class gets it, and you record it? Like, how do you balance out the speakers with your school schedule?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (20:39):

Mostly they’ll they’ll just come for the whole day. When I taught eighth grade, I had five classes, so that was easy. That was an all-day thing. And then usually I’ll offer to call lunch, have lunch delivered, or snacks during the day. I mean—

Eric Cross (20:53):

Feeding them is key.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (20:54):

Yeah. Just something kind of nice. Donuts in the morning. I mean, you’d be very surprised. Most people that are in the field or retired, like I said, they’re more than willing to come. And even if they have to wait an hour, while you teach another class that doesn’t pertain to it, then they’ll either leave or come back or just hang out in the back and pretend to be a student during that history class that you have.

Eric Cross (21:20):

It’s my own limiting belief where I feel guilty. I don’t think about it. I need to think about it through the perspective that you do, that these people WANT to talk. I just assume everybody’s so busy. But I do know, the times I’ve had speakers come out, at the end of the day, they’re so energized or they’re so happy or they’re so grateful. ‘Cause They’re like, “This is what it’s like to teach every day?” I’m like, “Yeah, this is what it’s like.”

Ryan Renee Rudkin (21:42):

I think too, a lot of parents…usually being being in the stops at elementary. A Lot of parents don’t get the opportunity to come help out in the classroom, because the middle school kids, you know, it’s not very cool or it’s just not needed like in the elementary classes. So a lot of times, like I said, you’d be surprised. A lot of the parents they’re more than happy to come and hang out. And again, some students, they don’t want their mom or dad to be there, but then I talk it up. I’m like, “Everyone’s gonna be so like impressed that your dad’s a doctor,” or “your mom’s a doctor” or —so then I kind of like downplay it. Like, “Oh, whatever, you’re you’re faking it. It’ll be fine. Don’t be embarrassed.” Leading up to their parent coming into the classroom.

Eric Cross (22:36):

Right. Kind of redirect that energy toward something positive. With guest speakers, projects, pacing, all these awesome things that you have going on, how do you find balance as a teacher, as a person? And what encouragement would you give to new or aspiring teachers? We work in a profession that will take as much as you give it. And you fall asleep at night worrying about other people’s kids and we love it. And teachers by personality can just give and give and give and give. But in order for us to last—I’m thinking about those new teachers who are going into it, who are gonna go in and be there before the sun gets up and stay after the sun gets down. How do you maintain balance, taking care of yourself? You’ve been in education for—how long have you been teaching for?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (23:29):

Sixteen. This is my 16th year.

Eric Cross (23:31):

Enough to be that veteran. So how do you find balance? And then, what encouragement would you give to new or aspiring teachers?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (23:39):

I would say each year, pick one or two things to add on. You can’t add on 10 things, even though you’re gonna find 10 things that are awesome. But just make a little list, put ’em in a file, and every year, just get good at what you do and then just add on one or two things. And reflect on what’s not going well that you can get rid of to make room to add something else. Try to be patient with yourself. And don’t reinvent the wheel. There’s so many things out there that you can borrow and make it your own. Again, I think that’s a time-saver, just leaning on your colleagues. And take lots of notes, because then when you do it again next year, you can refresh yourself and, “Oh yeah, this lesson, wasn’t the best…” What can you add in to make it a little bit better? And yeah, I would say just take on one or two things each year. And then by the time you get to, you know, being a veteran, you can do all these awesome things and it’ll feel natural ’cause you’ve been practicing and just adding in one thing at a time. I coached Science Olympiad a bunch of years ago, and Science Olympiad is so rewarding. It’s just so amazing.

Eric Cross (24:59):

What is Science Olympiad, for the people who’ve never heard of it?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (25:03):

Oh, Science Olympiad is so awesome. Google it. I think it’s just ScienceOlympiad.org. It’s 23 different events across all disciplines of science, different topics. And then you have a team of 15 students. And so your 15 students have to cover the 23 events. So for example, if the student’s on the anatomy team, usually there’s a team of two kids they’re gonna study and learn. They provide all the rules and the guidelines. So the students learn and study whatever the parameters are for that year. And then they take a test. And then they compete against other schools. And there’s build events, the engineering events, they can build things like trebuchets matchbox cars or mousetrap cars. Oh gosh, there’s all kinds of things. There’s like a Rube Goldberg device. It changes every year. And it’s so rewarding to see the kids; they pick their area of science that they love. And sometimes you have to put them on an event that they don’t know, and then they end up loving it. It’s so rewarding as a teacher to see these kids that are just on fire and you know that one day they’re gonna go off and do amazing things. They just commit. They commit to their event. And then they blow it outta the water and they win medals and just the recognition…it’s super, it’s just an amazing program.

Eric Cross (26:42):

One of the competitions that’s really low-tech that I’ve taken into my classroom is Write It, Do It. Have you done that one before?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (26:50):

Oh, yes. Yeah. That’s one. Yep.

Eric Cross (26:52):

It’s such a low-tech, simple one to do, but it teaches such great skills. And for those people who haven’t heard of the Write It, Do It project, you create kinda some abstract art out of random crafts. That’s very difficult to describe. You have pipe cleaners and foam and balls and you know, all these different things. And you make it. And then one person on the team is the writer, and they look at it and they write the procedures, and then their teammate, who’s in a different room and doesn’t get to see it, gets all the materials to build it and the procedures, and they have to rebuild it as closely as possible to the actual original. Even though they don’t get to see the original. So they have to rely on their partner’s ability to write procedures step-by-step. And it was fun to watch my students become teammates in that. And they learned how to communicate in a really fun competition. So I expanded it to do it with all of my students as an activity, just to teach them how write descriptively, to write procedurally, to be technical writers. And it’s, it’s fun! It’s fun to see what they build based on what the students say. <Laugh> And it’s also fun to watch them interact with each other, which for seventh graders, usually it’s conflict. <Laugh> But, like, playful conflict. <Laugh> It’s pretty funny to see what they build.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (28:11):

They’re like, “Man, what are you talking about? That doesn’t mean this; it means this!”

Eric Cross (28:16):

<Laugh> I know part of me feels guilty, but not enough to stop the project. ‘Cause I know for some of ’em, it’s gonna be a really trial by fire being able to practice their skills with writing procedures.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (28:27):

But they’re learning among themselves how to provide more details and to be more thorough with their writing and and their thoughts, put their thoughts onto paper. So yeah, that’s a funny event. Definitely.

Eric Cross (28:41):

Earlier you had mentioned something about connecting your kids with kids and students outside of your classroom. What is it that you do with that? Because I thought that was a really cool project. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (28:57):

Yes, I’ve done—they haven’t had it in a few years, but there’s something called the Pringles Challenge. And if you Google that, I’m sure it’s on the Internet still. So you sign your class up, or your classes, and you get partnered with another school somewhere in the U.S., someplace else. And you decide individually teams, whatever they build. And they make a package to ship a single Pringle chip through the mail. And then you actually mail a Pringle chip through the mail. And then your partner team or partner school, they send their chips to you and then you open everything and then you can take pictures and video. And then there was a whole scoring process where you would score when you receive the chips. And then you input all the data on the website so you can see like how your—and most schools would trade pictures, so that the kids found out how their chip survived. March Mammal Madness is so much fun. Again, Google that.

Eric Cross (30:01):

Did you say March Mammal Madness?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (30:02):

Yes.

Eric Cross (30:03):

Like March Madness, with mammals?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (30:05):

Yes.

Eric Cross (30:05):

  1. What is this?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (30:06):

It starts up in March. And you can sign your students up. And that one—it’s not too interactive with other schools, but this is opportunity to get the kids interacting within your site or within your district. Or if you have teacher friends at other schools. There’s like 60…I think it’s 64 animals? And they have this massive bracket that they post. And then you can have the students, I did it—it would be very time-consuming to have the kids individually research each animal. So I just gave one animal per student and so as a class we researched all the animals and then, I think it’s every three days or so, they have these bouts. And it’s all posted on YouTube. Google it. It’s kind of fun.

Eric Cross (30:56):

I’ve already got the website up, ready to go! Folks, everybody who needs to Google this: <articulates carefully> March Mammal Madness. And is it Arizona State University? Is that the main site, ASU?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (31:04):

Yes.

Eric Cross (31:04):

So people, listen to this. Check it out. March Mammal Madness. Look, I’m doing this! I’m already,—you’ve already sold me on this.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (31:14):

It is so much fun, oh my gosh. And then, then the kids—each round, they pick their pick, just like basketball. They do their picks and then you wait for the video. And they do it live on—I think it’s live on Instagram, or the next day on YouTube. And then the kids get all excited. And then usually the kids, whatever animal they got as their research animal, they’re rooting for that one to win, the whole thing.

Eric Cross (31:42):

But we still have time; we still have time to—

Ryan Renee Rudkin (31:45):

You can jump in anytime. Even if it’s already started, you can jump into it. It usually lasts—I believe it’s a two-week from beginning to end. When they do the first round, the wild card, and then all the way to the winner, I believe it’s a two-week process. Oh, maybe three, actually.

Eric Cross (31:59):

I’m already seeing this lead-up to the video being watched in class to see…I’m already thinking about like, “How do I prevent my students from finding the video?” Or like, “When does it go live so that I could be the one to show them so they didn’t go find it early?”

Ryan Renee Rudkin (32:13):

It takes time out of the class, but I believe it’s one of those things where you have to just…it takes 10 minutes out of the class, but it’s important. So when they each round and then the next day, they release the YouTube video. Last year, when it got down to the final round, we were on spring break. And so I told my students, “You guys, let’s do some optional Zooms. And so I had a bunch of kids log on and we all watched the videos together. So that was kind of fun. And then this year, the other thing, the first time I’ve ever done this and it’s going really well is—on social media, I was talking with one of the teachers from Ohio who teaches science and she and I decided we’re gonna do penpals for our students this year. Paper-And-Pen penpals. So that’s been a lot of fun. We just partnered up all the students, her students and my students, and once a month we send and receive the letters to each other. So that’s been a really cool experience.

Eric Cross (33:14):

If you keep doing that, and you need more teachers to be involved, can my students be penpals with your students?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (33:20):

Yeah!

Eric Cross (33:20):

If you open it up to more people? I think that, to get a letter, old-school? Letter in the mail? It would be so exciting.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (33:28):

It is. We mail them, the teacher and I, we just put them all together in one package. But yeah, it’s an actual handwritten letter.

Eric Cross (33:37):

The only letters I feel like I get in the mail now are bills.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (33:42):

Right? Exactly.

Eric Cross (33:42):

But I feel like the digital version of that is if someone calls me, it’s probably bad news. I don’t know if I’m the only one that’s like that, but I’m like, “Who’s calling me? Why aren’t you texting me? What’s going on? Text me first, then call! I need to know who’s going on, and if you’re unknown, you’re going to voicemail.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (34:00):

Exactly. The penpals has been a lot of fun.

Eric Cross (34:03):

You’ve been in education for a while. You’re on the other side of what it’s like to be a student in the classroom. Which can be surreal in itself, when we think about our own experiences as being a student. Is there a teacher or a learning experience that’s had an impact on you while you were a student in school that really stands out to you? And you can interpret the question however you want. But is there someone that’s memorable or an experience that’s memorable that you still carry with you today?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (34:32):

Definitely. My favorite teacher, and we actually still keep in contact on social media is Mrs. Sheldon. She was my fifth and sixth grade teacher. I had the pleasure when I was in elementary school, I was in an all-day contained GATE class—Gifted and Talented Education class. I vividly remember doing so many amazing projects. We built this big, giant—she brought in a big ol’, like, TV box. It was big, big, big. And you could stick like three kids inside there, standing up shoulder-to-shoulder. And we built this big dragon. The head, and we had the whole rest of the class in a big sheet behind us, and we would do a little parade around the school. And she had that thing for years after. They had to repair it every year, and they would do the little parade around school. She did a lot of traveling and when we would go on vacation and then come back, that was always the big deal: “Where did Mrs Sheldon go?” And she had sand from Egypt and pictures from the rainforest. And later when I became a teacher and then I looked her up and we reconnected I did ask her, “Did you go to those places? Or did you, like, lie about it? <Laugh> To get us engaged?

Eric Cross (35:52):

You went for the real questions!

Ryan Renee Rudkin (35:54):

I did. And she laughed and thought that was funny. And she did travel for real. But yeah, she’s an amazing woman. We still keep in contact. And I remember, you know, little things…like we would be out there doing our PE time and she’d have her long skirt, you know, dress on, with her tennies, and she’s out there playing kickball with us. Just a very kindhearted, smart, amazing woman. I’m very fortunate and I’m grateful that we are able to keep in contact. Love social media for that reason. So.

Eric Cross (36:33):

Yeah. And that’s Miss Sheldon?

Ryan Renee Rudkin (36:35):

Mrs. Sheldon. Marlene Sheldon. Yeah.

Eric Cross (36:37):

Shout-Out to Marlene Sheldon influencing the next generation of teachers, with engagement with your world travels and all those different things.

Eric Cross (37:04):

Ryan, thank you so much for one, serving our students. And in the classroom, our middle-school students who need us. I think that middle school especially, elementary school, those years are when students are really starting to decide, “What am I good at?” And the experiences that we create for our students really shape what they believe they can do. These really cool, engaging experiences, these projects that you’re giving them, whether they’re doing these car sales, Shark Tanks, or they’re doing penpals, or you have guest speakers, or they’re designing planets. These are things that students don’t forget. And then when they move on to higher grades, they remember more than anything, I think, how they felt about something. And it sounds like you’re crafting these awesome experiences. And so I just wanna thank you for your time. I know as a teacher it’s very short. And I thank you for being on the podcast with us.

Ryan Renee Rudkin (38:04):

Thank you. This has been a great experience. I just—I really enjoy my students. And I feel very, very grateful and very blessed for finding where I belong.

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.

What Ryan Rudkin says about science

“I like to make my class and my learning environment enjoyable. I know there’s other goals in mind… but at the end of the day, I want to come back and I want [students] to come back. It’s so rewarding as a teacher to see these kids that are just on fire… and you know that one day they’re going to go off and do amazing things. ”

– Ryan Renee Rudkin

Middle school science teacher

Meet the guest

Ryan Rudkin is a middle school science educator near Sacremento, California. Although she originally thought she would teach elementary students, Ryan connected with middle school and never looked back. Now in her 16th year in the classroom, Ryan also supports teachers in her district with professional development. Ryan’s favorite part of teaching science is seeing students grapple with concepts and explore phenomena.

A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair smiles at the camera, wearing earrings and a dark top. The background is blurred green and gray.

About Science Connections: The podcast

Welcome to Science Connections: The Podcast! 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.

You might also like:

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Join Science Connections: The Commu…

Ready to join a community of like-minded science educators? Find us on Facebook!…

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Free ebook: How to Train Your Robot

Integrate science and literacy by introducing your young readers to cutting-edge…

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Connect parents to Amplify Science!

Check out resources and helpful guides for enabling parents to have the most pro…

A curiosity-driven K–12 program that builds lifelong math proficiency

Amplify Desmos Math thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Each math lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals.

What is Amplify Desmos Math?

Amplify Desmos Math supports teachers in building students’ lifelong math proficiency. The program:

  • Supports social classrooms, invites mathematical creativity, and evokes wonder, creating a welcoming learning space where students are empowered to see themselves and their classmates as having brilliant mathematical ideas.
  • Provides teachers with clear, step-by-step moves to build systematically from students’ prior knowledge to grade-level learning.
  • Connects students to each other’s thinking and to an understanding that they can use math to make sense of the world.
  • Enables access to grade-level understanding for every student, every day.

A powerful suite of math resources

Amplify Desmos Math combines the best of problem-based lessons, intervention, personalized practice, and assessments into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers.

Data informs instruction. Comprehensive student profiles provide full data on students’ assets and skills, empowering teachers to provide just-in-time scaffolds throughout core instruction and targeted intervention when needed.

Educational software interface featuring a New York math problem about measuring platform heights using a 9-inch tube, illustrated with a playful, colorful design.

Experience Amplify Desmos Math

Click the links below to explore our interactive digital lessons, where you’ll also find print Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for each lesson.

For helpful navigation tips and more program information, download our Grades K–5, Grades 6–Algebra 1, and Grades 9–12 program guides.

You can also watch a product expert walk through a lesson and the available program components with a lesson walkthrough video.

A teacher using her finger to count, showing the number two to a young student with illustrated fruits like apples, pears, and blueberries above them in a New York math classroom.

Grade K lessons

A cartoon of a worried young woman sitting cross-legged on a sofa, holding a laptop with thought bubbles showing "New York Math" books and a color palette.

Grade 1 lessons

A person with long blond hair and a red dress points at a screen with addition and subtraction symbols, tally marks labeled "A" and "B," reminiscent of the engaging methods used in Amplify Desmos Math New York.

Grade 2 lessons

Illustration of five children, including one in a wheelchair, seated on chairs, engaging in a classroom activity. A girl raises her hand while a speech bubble shows drawings of hands and numbers, amplifying New York math lessons.

Grade 3 lessons

A woman with glasses teaches New York math using a colorful chart, surrounded by geometric shapes in a classroom setting.

Grade 4 lessons

Illustration of two people whispering, with abstract backgrounds depicting a box with a question mark and pallets on shelves, emphasizing "amplify desmos math" concepts.

Grade 5 lessons

Three raccoons sit on one side of a seesaw balanced by a 21 lb weight on the other side, set against an outdoor cityscape background.

Grade 6 lessons

Illustration of a number line from -25 to 5, featuring a sheep and a unicorn on opposite ends, set against a backdrop of grass, water, and sky, crafted for Amplify Des

Grade 7 lessons

Four colorful robots stand in front of a whiteboard displaying a scatter plot with a trend line.

Grade 8 lessons

A snail sits on a ledge 28 mm high, next to a series of vertical stacks of purple and blue blocks, with a sun and lettuce in the background.

Algebra 1 lessons (Middle school)

A graph displaying red and purple parabolas on a green grid, with highlighted intersection points and red plus purple buttons below—perfect for exploring functions with Amplify Desmos Math.

Algebra 1 lessons (High school)

A geometric flower-like pattern inspired by Amplify Desmos Math, featuring overlapping purple circles on a light blue square background.

Geometry lessons

Four square graphs with blue lines, each showing a different curve or pattern, displayed on a blue background—perfect for illustrating how Amplify Desmos Math brings data to life visually.

Algebra 2 lessons

Diagnostic screening and progress monitoring assessments

Integrated mCLASS® Assessments go beyond accuracy to reveal students’ math thinking through an asset-based approach. This data provides better insights about what students know, what math assets to leverage, and where students need support.

A laptop displays a math problem with illustrated students and a virtual keyboard. Behind it, a chart shows percentages for a Math 2 Beginning-of-Year Screener assessment.

Personalized learning and support

Amplify Desmos Math includes digital, adaptive practice that provides the personalized support a student needs to access grade-level math every day. Boost Personalized Learning activities target a skill or concept aligned to the day’s core lesson, with each student receiving personalized scaffolds based on what they already know. This technology complements daily learning and provides another layer of support to the in-lesson differentiation and instructional guidance provided to teachers. Click here to try a Boost Personalized Learning activity. More activities coming soon!

The Fluency Practice of Amplify Desmos Math uses an evidence-based approach to memory retention—spaced repetition—for the basic operations. Students around the world have answered more than 120 million multiplication questions within our application. Try it now! 


Indiana Amplify Desmos Math resources for your review

Outline of Indiana with a star marking the center, surrounded by icons of a racecar, basketball, basket, barn, corn, and flowers.

Contact us

Support is always available. Our team is committed to helping you every step of the way. Contact your dedicated Indiana representative here for program access, samples, and additional information.

A woman with long brown hair and a white top smiles at the camera in front of an orange background, showcasing her passion for the Science of Reading and dedication to Indiana middle school education.

Elizabeth Sillies Callahan

Southern IN
(513) 407-5801

A woman with long brown hair and blue eyes smiles gently at the camera. The background is a light purple circle, reflecting her passion for the Science of Reading and dedication to Indiana middle school education.

Jody Kammer

Central IN
(310) 402-7837

Woman with long brown hair, large black glasses, and a nose ring, wearing a striped shirt and dark blazer, posing in front of a neutral background—professional style suited for the Indiana Department of Education.

Amanda Knipper

Northern IN
(260) 894-5123

A woman with wavy red hair and blue eyes, dressed in a purple turtleneck, smiles at the camera against a dark background—reflecting the approachable spirit of Indiana middle school teachers.

Paige Lawrence

District enrollment below 1200
(980) 421-2608

Amplify CKLA usage & branding guidelines

Welcome to Amplify’s guidelines on using CKLA materials both under its Open Education Resource (OER) license (CC BY-NC-SA) and Amplify’s license to school districts. These guidelines apply to all variants of the CKLA program, including those not authored by Amplify. These guidelines address the following programs:

  • Amplify CKLA
  • Amplify Texas ELAR/SLAR
  • TEA’s K-5 RLA Literacy / SLAR program
  • TEA’s Bluebonnet Learning K-5 Reading Language Arts
  • CKF Core Knowledge Language Arts

Amplify is committed to supporting educators in using CKLA resources to enhance classroom learning while protecting the integrity of the CKLA program and Amplify’s exclusive rights.

Our goal is to encourage impactful, efficacious use of the program while providing clear guidelines on permissible and prohibited uses.

1. Amplify’s license and what it means

Amplify partnered with the Core Knowledge Foundation (CKF) to develop the Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum. You can learn more about this program and Amplify’s partnership with CKF here.

Amplify holds the exclusive commercial license to all CKLA content. In more than a decade of partnership, we have worked with CKF to enhance and supplement the program, now in its third edition nationally. Amplify licenses Amplify CKLA and Amplify ELAR/SLAR Texas to school districts, along with a full suite of assessment, intervention, and supplemental products, as well as professional development and coaching services. Learn more here.

As the exclusive commercial partner for CKLA, Amplify is the only organization permitted to use the materials commercially.

If your organization purchases CKLA materials from Amplify, you get the customary usage rights for those purchased materials specified in Amplify’s Customer Terms & Conditions.

2. Open Non-Commercial license

Some versions of the CKLA program are available under a Creative Commons NonCommercial license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This includes Amplify Texas ELAR/SLAR, TEA’s K–5 RLA Literacy / SLAR program, TEA’s Bluebonnet Learning K–5 Reading Language Arts and CKF Core Knowledge Language Arts.

CC BY-NC-SA is the OER license for these materials. The license allows users to share and adapt the materials, as long you follow these terms:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
  • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under this same CC BY-NC-SA license.

Below we explain how Amplify and CKF apply these terms to common situations — which uses are permitted under the licenses, and which uses are prohibited or require a special permission or commercial arrangement.

Materials licensed under Creative Commons licenses are known as Open Education Resources (OER), and Amplify is proud to have been one of the earliest champions of OER materials in K-12. We believe that OER materials enable a widespread adoption of high quality materials and innovative adaptations by educators for their classrooms, alongside commercial versions that include a full suite of supports.

3. Permitted uses of CKLA content

In these guidelines, when we say “CKLA Content”, we are referring to all versions of the program that was based on the original content from CKF, both those under OER licenses and commercially licensed. Many uses by educators are permissible under either the commercial or OER license. The only difference is that your rights under the commercial license only last as long as that license is maintained by your school or district.

Amplify encourages educators to leverage CKLA Content to foster innovative and effective learning experiences. Below are uses that are permitted without any additional license, as long as you follow attribution guidelines and share-alike requirements.

Classroom Activities and Custom Materials. Educators may create supplementary activities, worksheets, lesson plans, and projects based on the CKLA Content for use within their classroom or school. For these purposes, educators may incorporate portions of the CKLA Content.

Sharing and Selling Materials based on CKLA Content. Educators may also share classroom activities and custom materials with other educators, including by selling the materials on sites like Teachers Pay Teachers. However, if these materials are sold, they may not include CKLA Content.

For any materials you create, you are required to follow our attribution and disclaimer guidelines below.

If you are unsure whether your planned use qualifies as “non-commercial” or is otherwise permitted by Amplify please reach out to us directly.

4. Restricted uses of CKLA program content

To protect the CKLA program’s value and respect Amplify’s exclusive commercial rights, certain uses of the CKLA content are prohibited without first obtaining a commercial license. Amplify reserves the right to enforce these restrictions to protect our rights.

No third party may embed, republish, or incorporate any portion of the CKLA content in products or services intended for sale, licensing, or other commercial purpose. Examples of prohibited uses include embedding CKLA content as a part of digital platforms, apps, or resources marketed to educators or the public, as well as using the content as an input or training data for such products.

This prohibition applies to all types of individuals and organizations (both for-profit and non-profit), and applies to both paid and free uses.

See “Commercial License and Partnerships” below for information on commercial arrangements.

4. Commercial licenses and partnerships

For those interested in using CKLA content in a way that may be commercial, Amplify offers various licensing options. These negotiated licenses allow approved partners to use the CKLA content within their commercial products under specific terms and conditions.

To inquire about a commercial license or discuss a partnership opportunity, please contact our partnerships team at partnerships@amplify.com.

5. Attribution and branding guidelines

Our trademarks are valuable assets of Amplify and its licensors, and we want to ensure our users and partners use them correctly. These trademarks include the Amplify, Core Knowledge Language Arts, and CKLA word marks and logos.
These marks and logos may only be used if you have an existing partnership with us, and you’ve reached out to Amplify to secure our approval to use them.

If you are creating materials based on CKLA Content in accordance with the guidelines above, you are required to include the following attribution in a reasonably perceptible location on each copy of those materials:

“These materials are based on Amplify CKLA but are not affiliated with, sponsored by, reviewed, approved, or endorsed by Amplify Education, Inc. or the Core Knowledge Foundation. ‘Amplify’, ‘CKLA’ and other marks are the property of Amplify Education, Inc. and its licensors.”

Why these guidelines matter

Amplify’s goal is to support educational access to high-quality curriculum resources while protecting the intellectual property and integrity of the CKLA program. By adhering to these guidelines, you help ensure that CKLA remains an accessible and respected resource for educators while supporting its continued improvement.

For additional questions on using the program, or if you need further clarification on any of these points, please contact us.

Welcome to Amplify CKLA!

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



Welcome to Amplify CKLA!

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a state-approved core ELA curriculum designated as a primary core program that fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Truly built on the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA helps all teachers implement the Utah Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy by translating the science of reading into manageable, engaging, and effective classroom practices.

Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all your students make learning leaps in literacy.

Illustration featuring diverse cultural and historical elements like an african woman, an egyptian sphinx, a space rocket, and urban and natural landscapes under a starry sky.

Recognized Quality

Amplify CKLA is one of only a few high-quality, knowledge-building literacy curricula recognized by the Knowledge Matters campaign. Our shared message: Background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Diagram displaying the "knowledge matters campaign" with connections between "core knowledge language arts comprehension," "skills word recognition," and "amplify ckla skilled reading.

Science of Reading Approved by USBE

Amplify CKLA is a content-rich literacy curriculum that systematically braids knowledge-building with skills instruction. Click below to see our state submission rubric on how Amplify CKLA addresses the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Review our state checklist

Independently and rigorously reviewed

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a literacy program that excels in building knowledge.

Read our EdReports review
Read our Knowledge Matters review

Intentional knowledge-building

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Hear from Natalie Wexler
edWebinar Links

Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

How it works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the science of reading.

  • 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, student complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.
Download CKLA Program Guide
A flowchart shows language comprehension and word recognition strands merging into skilled reading, with processes becoming increasingly strategic and automatic.

Rich topics

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Illustration showing diverse cultural representations: two native american figures, a bear in a forest, and a medieval european woman, all set against colorful abstract backgrounds.
Seven illustrated circles represent different literary genres: fable, kindergarten, myth, grade 6, farsi, comic book, and novella, each with a relevant scene or symbol.

Units by grade

Take a closer look at the topics students explore.

A collage of educational materials including comic panels, illustrated worksheets, and classroom posters featuring diverse characters.

New! Knowledge Research Units

Explore our newly added Knowledge Research units.

A chocolate chip cookie in a glass of milk, a person speaking, a speech bubble saying “Let’s say it together!”, and two illustrated eyes on a green background.

Skills by grade

Take a closer look at the skills students develop.

Diverse text

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills. Our texts include:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors.

Six children's book covers arranged in two rows, featuring colorful illustrations of animals, people, and nature. Titles include "Rain Player," "A More Perfect Union," and "The Busy Body Book.
A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List

A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List

A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List

Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List

Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List

A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Aligned to LETRS and Orton-Gillingham

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

Universal access

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

A boy with glasses smiles while reading a book, with illustrated objects like a telescope, gourd, and cartoon insect in the background.
A group of diverse children attentively looking upwards with expressions of curiosity and interest.

Grades K–2: Supporting all learners

A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

CKLA-Language-Studio

Complete curriculum

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

A teacher using a tablet alongside a student

CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.

Two young girls, one with braided hair and the other with blonde hair, smiling and looking at a laptop screen in a classroom.

CKLA and Boost Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Boost Reading.

A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–5.

A boy sits at a desk, leaning over a notebook and writing with a pen.

CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.

Science of Reading Resources

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Explore Science of Reading Handbook
A girl runs outdoors holding a kite with colorful ribbons labeled knowledge, vocabulary, sentences, connections, gist, sounds, letters, and words.

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore the CKLA Teacher Digital Site

First, watch the quick navigation video to the right. Then, follow the directions below to access the CKLA Teacher Digital Site.

  • Go to learning.amplify.com or click Access CKLA Teacher Digital below
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: t1.utahckla@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-utahckla
  • Click the CKLA button on the left hand side
  • Select your desired grade level from the Program drop down
Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Explore the CKLA Student Digital Site

Follow the directions below to access the CKLA Student Digital Site.

  • Go to learning.amplify.com or click Access CKLA Student Digital below
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: s1.utahckla@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-utahckla
  • Answer the question.
  • Click “Go” to get to the Hub!
Access CKLA Student Digital

Welcome to Amplify CKLA!

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is currently the only state-approved core ELA curriculum designated as a primary core program that fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Truly built on the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA helps all teachers implement the Utah Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy by translating the science of reading into manageable, engaging, and effective classroom practices.

Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all your students make learning leaps in literacy.

Illustration featuring diverse cultural and historical elements like an african woman, an egyptian sphinx, a space rocket, and urban and natural landscapes under a starry sky.

Recognized Quality

Amplify CKLA is one of only a few high-quality, knowledge-building literacy curricula recognized by the Knowledge Matters campaign. Our shared message: Background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Diagram displaying the "knowledge matters campaign" with connections between "core knowledge language arts comprehension," "skills word recognition," and "amplify ckla skilled reading.

Science of Reading Approved by USBE

Amplify CKLA is a content-rich literacy curriculum that systematically braids knowledge-building with skills instruction. In fact, according to the Utah SBE, Amplify CKLA fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Review our state checklist

Independently and rigorously reviewed

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a literacy program that excels in building knowledge.

Read our EdReports review
Read our Knowledge Matters review

Intentional knowledge-building

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension, and even lifelong literacy. That’s why leading scientists say knowledge-building must be incorporated into reading instruction from the beginning—and with Amplify CKLA, it is.

Hear from Natalie Wexler

Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

How it works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the science of reading.

  • 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, student complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.
Download CKLA Program Guide
A flowchart shows language comprehension and word recognition strands merging into skilled reading, with processes becoming increasingly strategic and automatic.

Rich topics

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

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Seven illustrated circles represent different literary genres: fable, kindergarten, myth, grade 6, farsi, comic book, and novella, each with a relevant scene or symbol.

Units by grade

Take a closer look at the topics students explore.

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New! Knowledge Research Units

Explore our newly added Knowledge Research units.

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Skills by grade

Take a closer look at the skills students develop.

Diverse text

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).
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A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List

A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List

A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List

Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List

Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List

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Grade 5 Text List

Aligned to LETRS and Orton-Gillingham

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton-Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement
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CKLA Skills sequence for K–2

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

Equitable instruction

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

A boy with glasses smiles while reading a book, with illustrated objects like a telescope, gourd, and cartoon insect in the background.
A group of diverse children attentively looking upwards with expressions of curiosity and interest.

The four pillars of equity

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Equity and diversity overview

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Grades K–2: Supporting all learners

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Grades 3–5: Supporting all learners

Complete curriculum

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

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CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.

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CKLA and Amplify Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Amplify Reading.

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CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–5.

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CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.

Science of Reading Resources

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Explore Science of Reading Handbook
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Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore the CKLA Teacher Resource Site

First, watch the quick navigation video to the right. Then, click the “Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site” button to log in.

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: t1.slcsd-ckla-1@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-slcsd-ckla-1
  • Select the desired grade level
Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site

S3-02: How science strengthens literacy and language development

A graphic with the text "Science Connections" and "Amplify" features colorful circles and curved lines on a dark gray background.

In our second episode of the season, we continue finding ways that science is overlooked and how it can be better utilized in schools—and as an ally to other subjects!

We sat down with Susan Gomez Zwiep, former middle school science teacher and senior science educator and staff advocate at BSCS Science Learning. She shared past experiences and research that shows the benefits of integrating science and literacy, as well as strategies for applying these ideas in the classroom.

We hope you enjoy this episode and explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page!

DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (00:00):
We started to see this trend of students communicating more in English because they were excited about the science that they had been learning.

Eric Cross (00:10):
Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host Eric Cross. In this third season, we’re exploring the theme of science as the underdog. And last time around, we delved into the data showing that compared to other subjects, science is often put on the back burner. Now it’s time to explore why it’s so important to change that and how to do it effectively. So over the course of these coming episodes, we’re gonna make the case for science and equip you with data and strategies for advancing science in your own home, school, or community. To kick things off, we’re going to spend a few episodes going in depth on the integration of science and English instruction. We know we need to dramatically improve literacy rates in this country, and as we’ll show in the coming episodes, science can be a key ally in that goal. We’ll also show how language development and literacy instruction can support science. Yes, it can be a win-win, folks. To start out, I’m joined by someone who has been studying science and language development for more than a decade. Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep is a senior science educator and staff advocate for BSCS Science Learning. On this episode, she talks about her own experience as a middle school science teacher and share some key insights and strategies from the research on integrating science and English language development. Please enjoy this conversation with Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep.

Eric Cross (01:36):
Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being here and having this really important conversation. So I’m so glad you can make it, Susan.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (01:43):
Yeah, I’m excited to be here.

Eric Cross (01:44):
We’re gonna talk all about language development and science. But first I was hoping that you can just kind of set the stage and tell the listeners about yourself and how you came about to studying this specific subject.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (01:57):
Sure. So I am a California native. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and that’s where I started teaching. I have an undergraduate degree in integrated biology from UC Berkeley. And I thought I was gonna go be a field scientist. And while I was waiting for grad school applications to run their course, I took a substitute job in Montebello to kind of bide my time. And because I had a science degree, they asked if I would take a permanent placement, well, a temporary permanent placement. And I said sure. And found myself teaching seventh and eighth grade general science to a population that at the time was about 68% English language learners, in a school that you would consider urban, under-resourced with a community that was large percentage immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America. And I never looked back. I kept that job.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (03:04):
I loved it. I love the middle school classroom. I love teaching science to my middle school students and truly, truly just found a really good home for my love of science, but also my love for talking about science and helping other people understand science. So at some point I was entertained with the idea of going to graduate school. So while I was still teaching, I actually did a Ph.D. At the University of Southern California in the science education field. And once there, realized that I actually had a unique experience in higher ed, that experience of teaching with populations that are learning English or have home languages other than English, was actually not common in higher ed circles. And being from that community was also not common. And so I pretty quickly leveraged that experience to combat what I think is universally agreed as an equity issue that in my school where I taught, the district had advocated for ELs to get an extra hour of language development in order to promote their English language proficiency.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (04:28):
And, our principal wisely said, there are not enough English-only students in this school to do that without losing all of our science teachers because there’s not enough kids left to actually fill a day, a teacher’s day. And she said, these kids learn more language in their science courses than they do anywhere else, so I don’t wanna remove that. But the reality is, is that at that time–this was in the late nineties, early two thousands–if you were not proficient in English, you went to more time with language development. And that makes a lot of sense in some ways. But when you look at the big picture, you realize, well, that means those kids aren’t going to science and they’re not having opportunities to have consistent quality science learning opportunities simply because they spoke a language other than English at home. And so that’s really how I fell into this work.

Eric Cross (05:28):
And that has a downstream effect. I mean, once you start pulling students from a course, that automatically sets the trajectory for later outcomes, which we ultimately see in STEM fields where we, we don’t see the population of our students represented in the STEM fields. Now, I know this goes back a few years, but you were doing research for your Ph.D. What did you start to follow?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (05:50):
Yeah, so I eventually took a position at Cal State Long Beach, which was not by chance, it’s a Hispanic-serving institution, and that’s where I wanted to do my academic work. And once I was there, sought funding with a district to support elementary science learning. So it had a teacher professional learning component that was both summer and in-class, sort of like PD in the classroom component. And the district came back and said, the only way you are gonna get time to even talk about science in elementary school is if it’s attached to language development. And so that’s what we did. It was a three-year grant, there was a sister grant that followed–so all told, it was about a five-year program where we basically said, what if instead of following the traditional ELD, English Language Development curriculum, we modified and put science as the context for language development in the K2 bands.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (07:01):
Teachers at the district traditionally had not been excited about their language development curriculum until we said, we’re gonna take that and we’re gonna do some science instead. And then they were like, no, no, no! We love our ELD curriculum. But they hung in there with us. The project was successful enough that it actually became a K4 and then a K5 project. The district ended up having to put in a ton of money into this because the grant only paid for so much. But their schools actually wanted “in” ’cause what they heard is when we put science as a context for language development, kids were talking more. Kids were speaking in English more. Kids were writing more. Kids were engaged. And the ultimate, kids were developing English quickly and in a community where you could actually operate within the community without speaking English. These are Spanish-speaking communities and the schools operated in Spanish outside the classroom. So if you walked into the school’s office, the principal secretary, the person who manned the door, spoke Spanish. The field supervisors that the lunch supervisors spoke Spanish.

Eric Cross (08:17):
The non-teaching staff that are supporting the rest of the students outside of the classroom.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (08:23):
Yeah. Everybody spoke Spanish and they spoke Spanish at school. And even the principals came back and said, from being in this project, that the kids were coming into the office and had transitioned to communicating in English, especially when they wanted to talk about science, and they really wanted to talk about science ’cause they were super excited about the stuff that they were learning. So we started to see this trend of students communicating more in English because they were excited about the science that they had been learning. And yeah, that sold itself and we had schools jumping in.

Eric Cross (09:01):
So you started off in a situation where you were told that you had to, if you wanna get science and you had to merge it into English, basically. And is it fair to say that that’s because of testing requirements that schools have on them? Like this is what gets analyzed or what was the purpose behind that?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (09:15):
It was district policy and it was site policy and those policies were put into place for very good intentions. Students don’t get reclassified into English only, and reclassification is how you traditionally got access to all this other programming, electives, AP college prep, all those other things. And the best way to get them reclassified was to learn English, and to learn it sooner rather than later. So it was in an attempt to get kids reclassified from English learner to English proficient.

Eric Cross (09:55):
And then during that process it was able to be expanded to K4. And then with these open-minded teachers, you gave them the content, they used science as the context for learning. And then your students who were mostly emerging bilinguals and multilingual students, you found that they started speaking English more frequently. What did you make of that result? Like what did you come to after seeing all that happen?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (10:20):
So I do wanna say that there’s a couple of reasons why we think this works so well. But I have to really acknowledge that there were linguistics, second language acquisition experts that were part of this team. And we wouldn’t have been able to make any of this work if it was purely science educators leading this cause. There’s a lot we didn’t understand about language development, and they really helped us. But one of the things that we think is unique about science, there’s a few really important aspects–one is that we all have experiences in the natural world, since we can process outside information, right? We all have observations, things we’ve observed with our eyes, we’ve heard, we’ve felt, and all of those experiences build some pretty good science ideas before we enter formal schooling. You know, kids already have ideas about this.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (11:20):
We don’t have to give them language for it. They already have these concepts and experiences. The other thing is that we are inherently interested in the natural world we occupy. And so we’re curious, science is often considered cool, there are science channels and science fiction movies and science fiction books and magazines–and this is just … it’s just cool. And that tended to be the trigger, you know, when we gave kids something interesting to observe. A Ziploc bag with water that we added an Alka-Seltzer to, and strange things starts happening in the baggie. That curiosity, that excitement allowed kids to leap over any concerns they had about the language they were supposed to use in the classroom. One of the most difficult things about learning a language is using a language that is imperfect. So saying things and communicating in a language that you are not a hundred percent confident about, that you’re not sure you’re using the right words or the right tenses. But when kids were excited about this thing in a Ziploc bag, they didn’t care. They communicated however they could, sometimes in their primary language or their home language, sometimes in imperfect English, but by and large they just communicated. They did it in oral language, like listening and speaking, but they also did it in writing. And that was easy. Like we didn’t have to do anything other than provide interesting science experiences. And that’s, that’s pretty common.

Eric Cross (13:06):
Yeah. I feel like, to co-sign on the science is cool, it is objectively, if a matter of fact, even just looking at the Oscars, like we have multiverse, you know, we have sci-fi you know, the costume designer of Wakanda Forever. We have all of these different movies that are all founded in some kind of these scientific principles. And so the idea that science is cool and organic, naturally engaging is something I think we, we all can connect to and it resonates with all of us. So I feel like is sort of your origin story too.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (13:33):
That’s the origin story.

Eric Cross (13:34):
That’s the origin story right there, to continue with this like movie theme. Now if we fast forward to today, based on all the research that you’ve seen since then, and your experience, why would you advocate merging English language development and science?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (13:49):
Well, for one, the research that we conducted actually provided some really nice evidence that showed, even though we had essentially stole minutes from language development time and inserted science. And on state mandated tests and on their students’ language proficiency measures, the kids in the program with the blended, did significantly better than students who were getting ELD instruction alone. Traditional ELD instruction. And that kind of blew our mind. We would’ve been happy if they had done just fine. Like we could put science into a student’s day and do no harm. They could get their language development; they could get science. But in fact, what we found was that they did better. That they actually gained English more quickly and it showed up in multiple measures, including the state English language arts assessment, which again, kind of blew our mind.

Eric Cross (14:55):
So just to be clear about the study that you did, you looked at two groups and one was the blended science and English language development, and then the other one was a control group. And the blended group ended up showing more improvement.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (15:09):
Yes. So there’s quite a bit of research now, this research was done in the early two thousands, and the research has built around it to really suggest that this does seem to be a more efficient way to promote language development while still maintaining students’ access to a core content area. But in recent years, the standards have shifted and that has been just a remarkable, wonderful change. And both standards have shifted. So when we did our research, we did it under the old California Science standards that were fairly heavy in technical terms. They were heavy in science concepts rather than kids doing things. And they were a much narrower focus.

Eric Cross (16:04):
And these are the standards that most of us grew up on, right? Those of us who are pretty much teachers in the classroom today pretty much grew up on what you’re talking about. Is that fair to say?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (16:12):
That’s fair to say, yes. So the new standards that we have now, the California NGSS Standards emphasize not just ideas, but they also emphasize students doing things in science. And we didn’t have to build-in language portions to the standards. They now exist. The NGSS is a very, very rich linguistic opportunity for students. And at the same time, the way we’ve thought about language development has also shifted. We used to talk about language and science… we used to think about science as a lot of words, and you had to know the words, you had to have this technical language. And we’ve sort of shifted that to really thinking about, language is no longer a prerequisite for science learning. Language is now developed through the science learning or the content learning experiences.

Eric Cross (17:11):
So now there’s more chances to integrate English into science. Have you seen success stories or have you seen examples of this? Maybe just anecdotes of teachers kind of doing this since you’ve been doing this research and kind of watching. If so, would you mind sharing one or two?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (17:30):
Yeah. And I will just give a nod to Dr. Dr. Okie Lee who’s now at NYU who has really led sort of this reconception of language and science. And one of the ways she talks about it is this notion that I enter this learning experience, I enter this observation of this phenomena with fairly naive, simple scientific ideas. And my language about it is equally simple. But as I develop more and more ideas, as my understanding of the phenomenon, what I figured out becomes more sophisticated, I need more sophisticated language. And so what we’re starting to see are these spaces where teachers are building science ideas and science and understanding along with the language. And in order to do that, you really need to know what’s the storyline arc of my science lesson? What do they figure out in lesson one? What do they figure out in lesson two?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (18:35):
What do they figure out in lesson three? How are the science ideas building over time? So that I can then look at the language that they’re using and what language supports do I need in order to allow students to not only engage and figure things out, but communicate their ideas about it. And so we’re seeing teachers blow up what we call language, what we call text. It’s not just words. It’s not just sentences written on a paper, but it’s models, it’s pictorial representations, it’s gestures, it’s this wide range. We pretty much said, let’s blow language up. Let’s like use all of the linguistic registers that we have in order to make meaning of what we’re seeing it in together in this classroom. So that’s one thing that we’re starting to see. The other thing is that teachers are really allowing students opportunities to use what we call social language, non-standard dialects.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (19:40):
The language I use at home and with my friends. Because earlier I had said, we have all these experiences and those experiences in the world are tied up in my social register. They’re tied up in my home language ’cause that’s where I experience them. And to let students have access to using that language in the classroom, especially initially in a unit, means we’re giving ’em access to those experiences that they have that are related to the phenomena under study. So I totally understand the benefit of promoting academic language and promoting language frames and forms that we use in more academic settings. But it’s a sticky wicket. You have to be careful how you tell students about the way you want them to communicate. Because when we tell them that language that you use at home with your friends and family is not welcome here, we can send a message that they’re not welcome here. And that those experiences that they have outside of classroom about how things fall, the way sunlight heats up different surfaces, where you’ll find plants and what plants you will find based on conditions. All of those experiences, we’re sending a message that those are not welcome in the classroom. And so this expansion of language, including non-standard dialects and even home language, is really important for letting students bring their whole selves into the classroom.

Eric Cross (21:23):
I love what you just said. It legitimizes the funds of knowledge, the language, the cultures that our students are bringing to the table. I remember when I first learned the word code-switching in college and you know, I’m biracial, I grew up in my home community and my school community were two different communities and I ethnically, culturally belonged to both. And I had to code-switch in order to kind of survive and be accepted into different communities. And not until I was in college did I actually understand what I was doing. Now there were all kinds of teasing and jokes that went on to how I would talk if I code-switched improperly. And in my classroom, I would see students who would explain concepts in a way that was maybe like a casual register. They just were explaining it the best way they could.

Eric Cross (22:10):
And the way they were speaking was kind of denigrated or it was seen as negative even though they were communicating their concept. And when I became a middle school teacher, one of my, I don’t know, it’s like sometimes when you teach, you get to, you change how you were taught or what you experience and legitimizing my students’ language, and they would tell these beautiful stories and in their most common like, casual language, but they’re explaining the concept brilliantly. And it was phenomenal to see this barrier be removed of saying, you have to talk like this in order to be a scientist or you have to say these right words. And, and that’s what I feel like I’m hearing that in how you’re describing kind of how science has been done and what language can do to certain groups of students.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (22:58):
Yeah, very much so. And you know, back to the origin story, you know, I grew up in a multi-generational household. My mom, my aunt, my grandmother, Spanish was their first language, but they lost it because my mom was raised in Riverside and she, you know, went to school in the, the fifties and sixties and back then you weren’t allowed to speak Spanish at school. And so they lost the language.

Eric Cross (23:27):
They weren’t allowed to speak it at all.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (23:29):
At all. I didn’t directly observe it, but that is the story that my family tells, that there was no English spoken anywhere on school grounds. And that was a different issue. Right? That was very much for people unfamiliar with some of the history in Southern California. Their segregated schools, severe racism, linguistic racism, racial racism against Mexicans was a real thing. But yet I grew up in this household where the sort of way of speaking, like I think many Mexican households, the context is everything. So you can’t get to the facts until you’ve told the whole context of everything happening around it. So we used to joke that we couldn’t send my grandmother to the doctor by herself ’cause he had 15 minutes, and she was gonna take 20 just to tell him how she got there before she got to why she was there. But this telling of the context, the telling of the story around the idea is part of the linguistic, this sort of linguistic way of my household. When I got to school, I had to learn to drop it because teachers found me off topic. You know, I still have to be careful how I express things and sometimes I’m not a fast storyteller <laugh>, and I monitor that for myself. So I can only imagine what it’s like to be a kid in a classroom.

Eric Cross (24:59):
Right. And there are so many constraints in the school day, you know, especially if you’re multi-subject and you’re elementary and you’re teaching multiple subjects and someone’s trying to tell a story and you’re just like, land the plane! And they’ve, you know, gotta tell ’em the story, but realizing that when you look at it through a lens of like, culturally, this is how we communicate, then it reframes what the student is trying to do. They’re communicating to you based on how they’ve learned to communicate and they’re including essential parts of the story. And so how do you both honor that while also, you know, certain things like brevity and being concise and things like that that they’ll have to learn. But also honoring that and making sure that there’s space for that in your classroom. Even me, I’m thinking about this where I had students record this video and it was one minute to two-and-a-half minutes explaining three concepts. And I had students coming up to me afterwards saying, Mr. Cross, I need to record two videos because two-and-a-half minutes is not long enough. And I was like, how? I even extended it. But I’m realizing and listening to you and going, they’re probably not just getting to the point. They’re probably including more context into this because that’s how they story tell and that was actually part of the lesson.

Eric Cross (26:12):
So now I need to go back and extend their time that I’ve given them for <laugh> that project. I wanna come back to kind of, since we’re on this topic about why this is also an equity issue. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So we were talking about language, you touched on this a bit, and we were talking about integrating into science, but can we go a little bit further into how this integrated approach maybe can benefit English language learners in particular? And maybe anything else that’s related to equity that comes to mind.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (26:40):
So there’s a couple of layers of the equity issue. The most tangible and clear is student access. If we wait until students develop English proficiency to allow them access to quality science learning, we lose a tremendous number of students that could not only could they benefit from science, we could benefit from their entering this science conversation. And I was at a university and I was in a college of natural sciences and we were dedicated to increasing the diversity of the faculty. And it was a struggle ’cause the number of Ph.D. science ed or biology or chemistry academics that come from marginalized populations is very, very small. And it’s not by accident. You know, the number of students that make it into the next level, that make it into college prep courses, that make it into STEM majors, that complete STEM majors and go on to either careers or advanced degrees narrows at every possible step.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (28:01):
And so the equity issue is really one of access. And as basic as that is, it’s the easiest to solve. So that’s the first layer of equity. But the second issue around equity is how we engage these students once they’re in this space. Do we make it possible for them to see themselves as a scientist or an engineer? Are we creating learning experiences that not only allow them to use all the sense-making resources that they have, but do we make them feel like they’re valuable and useful in that space? Because there’s a lot of people that will say, I could be successful as a scientist, but I’m not willing to give up who I am in order to do that. And that’s a real thing. There’s a lot of research about like, why are they leaving? Like why, you know, is it because they’re not able?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (29:05):
Is it because they don’t see themselves as being capable? And now I think we’re looking at this as a different issue. It’s not that students don’t see themselves as capable and not that they’re not achieving. They see the cost that it will take to enter these fields and essentially not be able to be their full selves. So that’s the second equity issue. And in both cases we lose. As a society, we lose. We lose access to the full range of human resources that we have, and we lose access to their unique perspectives that they would bring to real problems facing us. It’s like all hands-on deck. We need to stop making it too difficult to participate in the conversation and we need to be more inclusive about how we invite these other perspectives and how we respect and utilize their ways of sense-making. That may not be Western science ways that we have in our books now, but hopefully those science materials are gonna change and we’re gonna start to see other ways of sense-making and other people involved in the stories that we tell around science concepts.

Eric Cross (30:29):
And just to be clear, this practice in integration, while it lifts up equity for marginalized or underrepresented groups or students who are emerging bilinguals or students who typically we don’t see representation of, this approach also benefits native speakers as well. Correct?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (30:47):
Yeah. And there’s actually a group of native speakers that come from text poor homes. It’s typical in underserved communities. Poor people living in poverty that may be native English speakers. They may not be marginalized populations. But they don’t have access to like text. And so that’s another group altogether that needs linguistic support. And then once you have all voices in the room contributing, everybody benefits because now the conversation, the building understanding conversation we’re having or the sense-making conversation that we’re having has everybody involved. And we all benefit from that.

Eric Cross (31:33):
And we see, I think one of the benefits about a country like the U.S., is we have such a heterogeneous group of people. And when we’re moving in the same direction, we’re all coming to the same problem, but from different perspectives and we’re able to come up with more innovative and novel solutions to them. And that’s kind of what I’m hearing is like as we generate scientists that are all coming from different backgrounds, we’re gonna be able to solve future problems, current problems a lot more effectively because nobody has a monopoly on perspective. Nobody has a monopoly on knowledge or the fastest way to do something or the best way to do something.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (32:11):
Right. Right. And traditionally we really have privileged particular experiences, particular ways of sense-making particular linguistic registers. And if we could just kind of put that privileged ways aside and open up space for everybody to feel like they have a voice, I think the next generation could change the world. I think they could solve some real problems. I’m truly hopeful that they would see themselves not just as capable, but as necessary in these pursuits.

Eric Cross (32:50):
So what does it actually look like today to do this work in instruction well? So to integrate the science, to integrate literacy, to take the benefits of the things that we’ve been talking about. What are some practical things that educators could do to get started, whether it’s in early, you know, K5 or middle school or even high school.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (33:13):
So I will say, I’m gonna kind of separate ’cause in the elementary space, students are primarily developing literacy in multiple languages. The language of the classroom, typically English, home language, languages, they may be multilingual. In the secondary setting where students tend to have developed social language in some language, it’s a little different. So I’m gonna kind of separate those two. So for elementary spaces where teachers tend to teach multiple things, I recommend that you get a partner. Don’t do this work alone. You cannot do this work alone. I mean you can, but it’s very frustrating and not nearly as much fun. So you really wanna take a look at what is the science that kids are going to be engaged in. Because when we look at science first and build language development around it, the experience tends to be more authentic and organic.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (34:18):
And what we used to do is we used to, like when we were talking about the science, we’d monitor the language we were using and then use that to say these are the registers. This is the language that we use when we were thinking about this. So if students are gonna use this, these are the scaffolds they’re gonna need. ‘Cause to do it, well, to do it efficiently, the scaffolds need to be specific to the science learning. So if we’re doing cause and effect, those are specific linguistic scaffolds that are different than if, say we’re doing model and systems and systems models, those are a whole other slew of scaffolds. And so you wanna be really tending to, what is the science being discussed and what is the language that kids are going to use and build scaffolds around it.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (35:10):
And then you also wanna think about what is the social language? What are the experience that kids will have either in words or pictures that I can leverage in this space. And then you wanna do that for the arc of the unit and slowly increase sophistication around those linguistic supports, as well as the science learning. But if kids have social language and they’re now in, there’s a group we call long-term English learners who have not been reclassified way beyond what the typical reclassification is. And that actually is important to think about because if you think about the kinder group, the group of kindergartners that enter a school when they’re five or six, those kids are going to go from grade to grade to grade. And as students develop proficiency, will get reclassified and they move out of this group that we’re still calling English learners.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (36:10):
So by the time you get to like seventh, eighth, ninth grade, if they’re still students in that category, they have very different needs on average than the group we started with. Often when we talk about secondary or these long-term English learners, we can leverage social language a lot more, but have to build the scaffolds more carefully around, for lack of a better word, the more academic content transferring that those social nonverbal language into more sophisticated forms. I think in any setting, you wanna utilize your resources. If I’m in a secondary space and I have a language development teacher and I’m not talking to her or him or they, that’s a problem. You need to go talk to the other people that have these same kids and talk to them about, how are you engaging in language, what are you doing?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (37:07):
Because you know, you could actually have a lesson, maybe this is a lesson about energy and you’re using a model and the kids are creating an initial model. And over in ELD land, they’re doing some linguistic supports. They’re working on some forms and functions of language. You could talk about the catapult, you could talk about the solar heater. You could use the context of the science conversation, which has a whole bunch of tangible experiences. You know, there’s the solar heater in front of you. I don’t need to keep it all in my head ’cause it’s in front of me and we can point to things and talk about things by manipulating the materials. And then I can take all of that and my ELD partner can use that as context when available. But it takes collaboration, but it’s collaboration well spent. And it’s more challenging in the initial phases of the collaboration. Once you kind of the get into the groove, it becomes a lot easier.

Eric Cross (38:16):
The meta of this, as we talk about integrating science and literacy is, and this is great advice, but it’s basically integrate your science teachers with your English teachers and co-plan and do this work together. It’s a force multiplier. One, you’re both, you’re getting two specialists together. It also, I’m just listening to just the parallels. It also resembles what you actually do in the STEM fields of collaboration working together to problem-solve, and you’re modeling for your students what you want to happen. And if I was an administrator listening to this, someone who had control, like master schedules and things like that, there also needs to be space created for these teachers to talk to each other and plan and do all these other things to kind of maybe come up with like interdisciplinary units or even just meet and begin the conversation. It just seems like such great advice.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (39:07):
Yeah. We’re professionals. We have academic degrees and credentials and experience in the classroom and yet more often than not, we leave it to the students in the seats to make the connections between my class and the class they go to next. And that’s not fair. We need to be talking to each other. So if we’re talking about argumentation, argumentation in science and argumentation in ELA and argumentation in math–we’re not even talking about the same thing. I mean, cognitively we’re talking about taking some evidence and creating a claim and supporting it, but what we mean by evidence is very different in the different disciplines. What counts as more convincing evidence changes. And yet we assume that because we say evidence in one class, the kids know what we’re talking about. And the kids are sitting there going, which one is this? Which evidence are you talking about? Because last period it was something else. And so I think we also need to really consider who’s in the best position to clarify the connections and the integration because we leave it to kids more often than not right now.

Eric Cross (40:19):
I agree. Just having those conversations and defining your terms and agreeing on them just to make it easier for students. ‘Cause you’re right, they are left to make those connections or bridge the gaps. And when you have an education system for many schools, I think most of us, it’s still pretty siloed. You’re still kind of like, especially when you’re in secondary, it’s we’re doing this or even elementary, different times of the day you do different subjects, versus the way that we experience life itself or even our professions. We’re actually integrating science and math and reading and writing throughout the day, and ebbs and flows going back and forth. And without making those explicit connections, we’re leaving a lot of things to chance, hoping that the learning’s there in such a valuable moment. Before we go, I’m wondering if you have a parting message for listeners about the topic of integrating science and literacy. You’ve already said so many amazing things, but you have the platform speaking to educators and folks out there. What would you wanna say to them?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (41:18):
This is not an easy endeavor. The system that we operate in does not make this effort easy, but it is worth it. It is worth it to the kids in our classrooms. It is worth it to the building of a scientific community and a scientifically literate populace. It’s important to solving problems in the future. It’s important to have kids feel like regardless of how they say things, that they belong in a classroom. If we can relax the sort of linguistic demands on kids and let them enter science learning in a way that allows them to use all their resources and they’re curious, they can really leverage both areas in a way that they don’t do individually. It’s really hard to think about what it is I’m trying to say if I’m worried about how I have to say it. And so we really need to think about, when are those times that we’re gonna let kids just tell us what it is that they’re excited about and when is it that we’re going to help them craft a more formalized language around those ideas. Right now we do a really good job at that second half. We need to do better at the first.

Eric Cross (42:46):
Susan, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing your expertise and your wisdom and your passion for serving the students and for bringing everybody to the table through language and through science. We really appreciate it and the listeners will too.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (43:03):
Thank you so much. This is my favorite topic.

Eric Cross (43:06):
Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep, senior science educator and staff advocate at BSCS Science Learning. And please remember to subscribe to Science Connections so that you don’t miss any of the episodes in this exciting third season. And while you’re there, we’d really appreciate it if you can leave us a review. It’ll help more listeners find the show. Next time on the show, we’re going to continue exploring the how and why of integrating science and literacy instruction.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
When we interview scientists, they spend a lot of their time reading the work of other scientists and writing their findings, writing grant proposals, presenting at conferences. A huge part of the work of a scientist is not just at a bench conducting experiments, but even if you’re conducting experiments, you’re using your literacy processes to think about what you’re seeing in your experiment.

Eric Cross (43:57):
That’s next time on Science Connections. Thanks so much for listening.

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What Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep says about science

“When we used science as a context for language development, kids were talking more, kids were writing more, kids were engaged.”

– Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep

Senior Science Educator, BSCS Science Learning

Meet the guests

Susan Gomez Zwiep began her career in science education as a middle school science teacher in Los Angeles where she spent over 12 years working in urban schools. Prior to joining BSCS, Susan worked at California State University, Long Beach as a Professor of Science Education.

Susan has also worked as a Regional Director for the K-12 Alliance, providing high-quality professional development in science and mathematics for K12 educators, including the CA NGSS Early Implementer Initiative. Susan consistently works toward establishing equitable access for all students to rigorous, inquiry-based science instruction and supporting teachers in their journey to become advocates for students, science education, and their own professional development.

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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. 

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Free K12 Teaching Lessons & Resources – Amplify Classroom

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Amplify Classroom FAQ

Amplify Classroom (formerly Desmos Classroom) is a free K–12 teaching platform that gives educators access to a library of high-quality, interactive lessons in math, literacy, and science. The platform is built with tools that promote student engagement and collaboration, while giving teachers real-time visibility into student thinking.

Amplify Classroom supports K–12 educators across math, science, and literacy. The platform offers more than 1,000 free interactive lessons, with content designed to build deeper understanding and student engagement at every grade level.

No. Teachers can create a free Amplify Classroom account and immediately access teaching tools and hundreds of lessons without a district license or subscription. Paid programs such as Amplify Desmos Math and Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) also run on Amplify Classroom, and you can access that content through the same platform if your school or district subscribes to these programs.

Some schools and districts require that specific URLs be added to their allowlist before teachers can access Amplify Classroom. A full list of permitted domains can be found at amplify.com/allowlist. Teachers should share this information with their school or district IT team.

Amplify Classroom offers built-in tools that promote real-time teacher visibility and student engagement. Key features include:

  • Real-time student insights: See student responses and thinking as they happen, all in one easy-to-use teacher dashboard.
  • Teacher pacing controls: Pause a lesson or advance all student screens simultaneously.
  • Select and sequence student work: Highlight student ideas live by selecting and sharing student work during a discussion.
  • Anonymous student sharing: Display student work to the class without showing students’ real names.
  • Lesson customization: Copy and edit pre-built K–12 lessons or build your own from scratch using our drag-and-drop lesson builder.
  • Class management tools: Create and manage multiple classes, add co-teachers, and organize rosters.

Yes. Teachers can customize our K–12 lessons or even create lessons from scratch to meet their students’ unique needs. This includes adding things like pre-made screens, images, multiple-choice questions, graphs, and more with our drag-and-drop lesson builder.

Yes. Many teachers use Amplify Classroom to supplement their existing curriculum. The platform can be integrated into any part of a teacher’s day, with a wide library of lessons and tools for core or supplemental instruction.

For schools seeking a full core curriculum, Amplify also offers paid programs including Amplify Desmos Math and Amplify CKLA, both fully integrated into the platform.

Yes. Amplify Classroom supports signing in with Google. Teachers can import class rosters directly from Google Classroom to streamline setup. For Amplify customers, Clever integration is available for school and district rostering. You can learn more about our integrations here.

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USBE Data Analysis for K-3 Reading Assessment Program

Introduction

mCLASS Assessment: Acadience™ Reading

How it works: Quickly identify the needs of each student and inform next steps with instant analysis, reports, and instructional planning tools included in the only licensed mobile version of the research-based Acadience Reading assessment.

  • Use short, 1-minute fluency measures for foundational reading skills.
  • Replace manual calculations with instant results and recommended activities.
  • Compare student progress with predictive, research-based benchmark goals.
  • Track progress and target instruction to individual student needs.
  • Support decision-making at every level using aggregate reports.
  • Translate class- and student-level reports into individualized instruction using the Now What?Tools.
  • Get a more complete view of early literacy skills with the new mCLASS:Early Literacy Measures (ELM).
Enrollment for mClass

Please review the Utah Enrollment for mCLASS document for important information about the rostering process for LEAs in Utah.

Benchmark Windows

The USBE has required that each Acadience Reading testing benchmark window occur within the below dates:

BOY — the first benchmark before October 14
MOY — the second benchmark between December 1 and February 5
EOY — the third benchmark between the middle of April and June 15

Benchmark windows for LEAs are set to the state benchmark window dates in mCLASS. Each LEA is to have 2-4 week benchmark period that is within the state benchmark window dates and LEA leaders are to share those dates with staff. The benchmark windows in mCLASS are set to the state benchmark window dates; not the LEA benchmark window dates and this can not be changed in mCLASS. If a student moves into your LEA and your benchmark window is closed, but the state benchmark period is still open, the student must be benchmarked. Should your LEA need an extension of a benchmark window beyond the close of the state benchmark windows, that must be approved by the USBE Assessment Department. Once the benchmark window closes, do not give the benchmark to a student, instead, educators can progress monitor the student on the measures they would have received a benchmark in order to get the students current instructional levels.

If you have questions regarding your current benchmark window dates, feel free to reach out to Amplify Customer Services at help@amplify.com.

Acadience Reading Benchmark Invalidations

Before you invalidate a benchmark probe, review the USBE’s list of acceptable reasons for invalidating on the Frequently Asked Questions: Acadience Reading Invalidations document. If a district/charter has a significant percentage of invalidations, contact and further action will be deployed. If you believe an invalidation is required, please contact your District/Charter Literacy Director. If they need support, they can contact Sara Wiebke, sara.wiebke@schools.utah.gov, to request an invalidation.

Progress Monitoring

The impact of progress monitoring

Progress monitoring is the most powerful tool we offer with regards to student achievement.

“Scores for Daze increase more slowly than they do for other Acadience Reading measures, so more frequent monitoring may not be as informative. For students who need to be monitored on Daze, we recommend monitoring once per month.”
Progress Monitoring with Acadience Reading 
© Acadience Learning
October 2012

The Acadience Reading authors recommend progress monitoring students in the Well Below Benchmark category once every 7-10 days (and once every 10-12 days for students in the Below Benchmark category).

Progress monitoring is the practice of testing students briefly but frequently on the skill areas in which they are receiving instruction, to ensure that they are making adequate progress. When students are identified as at risk for reading difficulties, they can receive progress monitoring testing more frequently to ensure that the instruction they are receiving is helping them make progress. (Acadience Learning/October 2012, Progress Monitoring Guide)

The purposes of progress monitoring are:

  • to provide ongoing feedback about the effectiveness of instruction,
  • to determine students’ progress toward important and meaningful goals, and
  • to make timely decisions about changes to instruction so that students will meet those goals.

How to progress monitor?

  • Select students for progress monitoring
  • Select Acadience Reading materials for progress monitoring
  • Set progress monitoring goals
  • Determine the frequency of progress monitoring
  • Conduct progress monitoring assessment
  • Access data through class and student reports
  • Evaluate progress and modify instruction.

The key to progress monitoring: Instruction should link to progress monitoring and progress monitoring should link to instruction. They should run parallel and merge as one to confirm student growth in reading.

Check your progress monitoring fidelity report in mCLASS to ensure you are on track with these students. For more information regarding progress monitoring guidelines, visit the official progress monitoring guidelines.

Support Team

Amplify Customer Services

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Educational Support Team

Pedagogical Questions
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edsupport@amplify.com

For more information, please contact:

Sarah McCarty
Associate Director, Educational Partnership
(812) 593-5776
smccarty@amplify.com

Donna Bright
Educational Partnership Manager
(303) 960-3772
dbright@amplify.com

Robert McCarty
Regional Director of Educational Partnership
(435) 655-1731
rmccarty@amplify.com

Cydnee Carter
Assessment Development Coordinator
(801) 538-7654
cydnee.carter@schools.utah.gov

Liz Williams
Elementary ELA Assessment Specialist
(801) 538-7542
Liz.williams@schools.utah.gov

Sara Wiebke
Literacy Coordinator
(801) 538-7935
sara.wiebke@schools.utah.gov

Krista Hotelling
K-3 Literacy Specialist
(801) 538-7794
krista.hotelling@schools.utah.gov

Christine Elegante
K-3 Literacy Specialist
(801) 538-7551
christine.elegante@schools.utah.gov

Julie Clark
K-3 Literacy Specialist
801-499-2515
julie.clark@schools.utah.gov

Melissa Preziosi
Assessment Data Specialist
(801) 538-7949
melissa.preziosi@schools.utah.gov

Resources

Helpful tips and guides
mCLASS:Acadience Reading tutorials
Technical resources

Amplify Enrollment This guide walks you through the necessary steps to complete enrollment using the manual enrollment tools on Amplify Home. It shows you how to manage staff, student, and class assignment information, and maintain the accuracy of your staff, student, and class assignments.

Devices & Requirements Ensure mCLASS is compatible with your devices and systems for optimal performance and support.

Remote Assessing

Videos:

Remote Assessment Guidance from the Acadience Team:  
mCLASS®: Acadience® Reading (formerly known as DIBELS Next)

Key Points:

Before you assess:

1. Determine how you will show student materials and score in mCLASS at the same time. 

  Description

Description

Recommended set up
  • One computer for video conferencing and sharing student materials.
  • One touchscreen device for scoring in mCLASS.
Modified set up
  • One computer.

Note: mCLASS app is optimized for touchscreen; scoring with a mouse may need more practice.

2. Familiarize yourself with the digital copies of student materials.

3. Schedule virtual meetings with students. To communicate with English-speaking caregivers, consider sending this email or video. To communicate with Spanish-speaking caregivers, consider sending this email or video.

4. Determine how you will handle scenarios where there’s a lag:

  Description
Record the meeting
  • Before the assessment begins, press the recording button on your video conferencing tool.
  • After the virtual meeting, listen to recording and rescore in mCLASS if needed.
  • Pick a decision rule for how to score ambiguous items and be consistent. For example, if you decide that you will give a student the benefit of the doubt and mark ambiguous similar sounding items correct when you can’t quite hear their answer, do this for all students you assess.
Use a phone
  • Before the assessment begins, call caregiver’s phone using your phone (type *67 before your number if you want your number to be hidden).
  • Ask the caregiver to press the speaker button. 
  • Mute yourself and your student on the virtual learning platform.

While you assess: 

1. Take the opportunity to connect individually with your students as they experience so much change. Don’t make the session solely about testing, and remind caregivers and students that the assessment is a way to see how you can best tailor instruction.

2. Make student materials visible to your student.

For Maze, choose the model that works best for you:

Enter results into the mCLASS web reports

  • Students complete online Maze during a video conference
    • Put a link to the student assessment site (mclass.amplify.com/student) and the student’s credentials into the chat box (learn how to generate student credentials in this video)
    • Ask your student to complete Maze.
  • Students complete online Maze outside of a video conference (caregiver support is needed with log-in)
    • To provide student credentials and instructions to English-speaking caregivers, consider sending this email and video. To provide student credentials and instructions to Spanish-speaking caregivers, consider sending this email and video.
  • Students complete Maze on paper
    • Locate the benchmark Maze Acadience Learning’s site.
    • Print a copy of the form you need (e.g. BOY) for each student in your class.
    • Send the form home in a sealed envelope with students, mail the form to caregivers, or have caregivers get forms via school-based pick-up. Provide instructions not to open the envelope until the student is ready to take the assessment.
    • Provide parents with instructions on how to proctor the assessment for their child. They need to:
      • Give the form to their child
      • Sit with their child and read the instructions and practice items
      • Tell their child to stop when 3 minutes has elapsed
      • Send screenshots of their child’s work via email or text, or return the completed form to the school in a sealed envelope provided by the school.
  Guidance
Acadience:Reading 

Use the share screen feature to display student materials on your screen.

Optional next step for measures that have student materials:

Zoom users: grant your student control of your screen so you can see their cursor as they read:

  • Click “Remote Control” and select your student’s name in the dropdown.
  • Ask your student to use their cursor to point to words as they read.

Note: For Mac OSX, you will need to give Zoom access in the Accessibility tab in the Privacy and Security preferences of your Mac. For more information on giving Zoom access in Security and Privacy, click here.

3. Score in mCLASS.

Student materials

  Benchmark Progress monitoring
Acadience Reading (formerly known as DIBELS Next) Available for free download on the Acadience Learning website

Amplify CKLA Review for Alabama

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Oregon Enhanced ELA State Review for K–5

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Utah – USBE Data Analysis for K-3 Reading Assessment Program – New

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Amplify Desmos Math for the Archdiocese of Miami

Welcome Catholic school educators, 

Amplify Desmos Math thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Each math lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals.

What is Amplify Desmos Math?

Amplify Desmos Math supports teachers in building students’ lifelong math proficiency. The program:

  • Supports social classrooms, invites mathematical creativity, and evokes wonder, creating a welcoming learning space where students are empowered to see themselves and their classmates as having brilliant mathematical ideas.
  • Provides teachers with clear, step-by-step moves to build systematically from students’ prior knowledge to grade-level learning.
  • Connects students to each other’s thinking and to an understanding that they can use math to make sense of the world.
  • Enables access to grade-level understanding for every student, every day.

A powerful suite of math resources

Amplify Desmos Math combines the best of problem-based lessons, intervention, personalized practice, and assessments into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers.

Data informs instruction. Comprehensive student profiles provide full data on students’ assets and skills, empowering teachers to provide just-in-time scaffolds throughout core instruction and targeted intervention when needed.

Ready to Explore?

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:

Educational software interface featuring a New York math problem about measuring platform heights using a 9-inch tube, illustrated with a playful, colorful design.

Experience Amplify Desmos Math

Click the links below to explore our interactive digital lessons, where you’ll also find print Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for each lesson.

For helpful navigation tips and more program information, download our Grades K–5 and Grades 6–Algebra 1 program guides.

You can also watch a product expert walk through a lesson and the available program components with a lesson walkthrough video.

A teacher using her finger to count, showing the number two to a young student with illustrated fruits like apples, pears, and blueberries above them in a New York math classroom.

Grade K lessons

A cartoon of a worried young woman sitting cross-legged on a sofa, holding a laptop with thought bubbles showing "New York Math" books and a color palette.

Grade 1 lessons

A person with long blond hair and a red dress points at a screen with addition and subtraction symbols, tally marks labeled "A" and "B," reminiscent of the engaging methods used in Amplify Desmos Math New York.

Grade 2 lessons

Illustration of five children, including one in a wheelchair, seated on chairs, engaging in a classroom activity. A girl raises her hand while a speech bubble shows drawings of hands and numbers, amplifying New York math lessons.

Grade 3 lessons

A woman with glasses teaches New York math using a colorful chart, surrounded by geometric shapes in a classroom setting.

Grade 4 lessons

Illustration of two people whispering, with abstract backgrounds depicting a box with a question mark and pallets on shelves, emphasizing "amplify desmos math" concepts.

Grade 5 lessons

Three animated raccoons on a seesaw in a park at night, with a purple tent and a weight scale showing 21 lbs under a yellow moon and the New York skyline.

Grade 6 lessons

Illustration of a number line from -25 to 5, featuring a sheep and a unicorn on opposite ends, set against a backdrop of grass, water, and sky, crafted for Amplify Des

Grade 7 lessons

Four colorful cartoon robots of various shapes and sizes standing in front of a large blank whiteboard with a New York math graph.

Grade 8 lessons

Illustration of a snail on top of a brick wall, measuring 28mm with a ruler, beside a rising moon and a New York math leaf.

Algebra 1 lessons

Personalized learning and support

Amplify Desmos Math includes digital, adaptive practice that provides the personalized support a student needs to access grade-level math every day. Personalized Learning activities target a skill or concept aligned to the day’s core lesson, with each student receiving personalized scaffolds based on what they already know. This technology complements daily learning and provides another layer of support to the in-lesson differentiation and instructional guidance provided to teachers. Click here to try a Boost Personalized Learning activity. More activities coming soon!

The Fluency Practice of Amplify Desmos Math uses an evidence-based approach to memory retention—spaced repetition—for the basic operations. Students around the world have answered more than 120 million multiplication questions within our application. Try it now! 

Educational software on a laptop screen showing a student activity to complete a bar graph by categorizing dragonflies, designed for the New York math curriculum.

Contact us

Support is always available. Our team is dedicated to helping you every step of the way. Contact your dedicated Florida representative here for program access, samples, and additional information.

A smiling man with short hair wears a green polo shirt against a plain background, exuding the kind of confidence that comes from teaching an inspiring math lesson.

Jeff Rutter

Field Manager
Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties
jrutter@amplify.com
(727) 407-5801

A smiling person with long blonde hair wears a textured blue top against a plain background, embodying the essence of personalized learning.

Amanda Shelley

Account Executive
Broward County Schools
ashelley@amplify.com
(321)-693-3518

A man with short, dark hair and a full beard smiles confidently. He is wearing a pink patterned shirt and a green jacket, reminiscent of an engaging math lesson. The light gray background subtly complements his dynamic style.

Tom Gantt

District Manager
Miami Resident
tgantt@amplify.com
(305)-546-2979

Welcome, Ohio educators!

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s CKLA resources for K–5.

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is an effective core literacy resource for students in grades K–5 and is aligned to Ohio’s Rule for Phonics. CKLA was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation and was specifically designed to help teachers implement proven evidence-based instructional practices.

Click here for correlations to the Ohio Learning Standards for English Language Arts.

Click here to view Amplify CKLA’s Alignment to Ohio’s “Shifting to the Science of Reading” Framework.

Illustration featuring diverse cultural and historical elements like an african woman, an egyptian sphinx, a space rocket, and urban and natural landscapes under a starry sky.

Recognized Quality

Amplify CKLA is one of only a few high-quality, knowledge-building literacy curricula recognized by the Knowledge Matters campaign. Our shared message: Background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

A diagram showing "Knowledge x Skills = Amplify CKLA," with Knowledge as language comprehension, Skills as word recognition, and Amplify CKLA as skilled reading. Knowledge Matters badge included.

Independently and rigorously reviewed

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a literacy program that excels in building knowledge.

Read our EdReports review Read our Knowledge Matters review

Intentional knowledge-building

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Hear from Natalie Wexler edWebinar Links

Designed for Ohio

We know there are several different paths you can take when implementing a Science of Reading program in your district:

  • Prekindergarten
  • K-2 Core No Foundational Skills
  • K-2 Supplemental Foundational Skills
  • K-2 Core Comprehensive English Language Arts
  • 3-5 English Language Arts

To learn how Amplify CKLA supports each one of these paths, click here.

Una escena histórica muestra gente afuera de una gran mansión de estilo colonial con dos chimeneas. En primer plano se ve un carruaje tirado por caballos y a la izquierda se ve una casa más pequeña.
A man in a suit reads a book to a group of young children seated on a colorful rug in a classroom with a large clock displayed on a screen.

PreKindergarten

Amplify CKLA PreK easily fits into any class routine, with 45 minutes of interac…

A collection of colorful, spiral-bound and softcover educational books featuring illustrated covers arranged on a white surface.

K-2 Core No Foundational Skills

The most extensive and robust knowledge-building sequence that builds within and…

A collection of educational books, workbooks, flashcards, and teaching materials with red and white covers displayed on a white background.

K-2 Supplemental Foundational Skills

Amplify CKLA Skills is a comprehensive foundational skills program offering expl…

A collection of educational workbooks, activity books, and other printed learning materials arranged neatly on a white surface.

K-2 Core Comprehensive English Language Arts

In grades K–2, students complete one lesson that builds foundational reading ski…

A collection of educational books, workbooks, and cards displayed in front of a box labeled “Eureka!” with various illustrations and diagrams on the covers.

3-5 English Language Arts

In Amplify CKLA grades 3–5, lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with i…

Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

How it works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the science of reading.

  • 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, student complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.
Download CKLA Program Guide
A flowchart showing word recognition and language comprehension strands intertwining to form skilled reading, with progression labeled as increasingly automatic and strategic.

Rich topics

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Illustration showing diverse cultural representations: two native american figures, a bear in a forest, and a medieval european woman, all set against colorful abstract backgrounds.

Units by grade

Take a closer look at the topics students explore.

New! Knowledge Research Units

Explore our newly added Knowledge Research units.

Skills by grade

Take a closer look at the skills students develop.

Diverse text

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include:

  • authentic books.
  • authentic text passages.
  • student readers.
  • novel guides (grades 3–5).

Grade K Text List

Grade 1 Text List

Grade 2 Text List

Grade 3 Text List

Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List

A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Aligned to LETRS and Orton Gillingham

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

Universal access

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

A boy with glasses smiles while reading a book, with illustrated objects like a telescope, gourd, and cartoon insect in the background.
Un grupo de jóvenes estudiantes se sientan muy juntos y miran atentamente hacia arriba. Algunos de los niños visten atuendos coloridos, incluida una niña con un hijab azul. Parecen estar en un salón de clases.

Grades K–2: Supporting all learners

Un grupo de niños sentados alrededor de un escritorio, sonriendo y riendo mientras miran una computadora portátil. Un adulto está cerca y también sonríe.

Grades 3–5: Supporting all learners

Complete curriculum

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

Un adulto y un niño se sientan en una mesa y usan juntos una tableta. El adulto viste un top floral amarillo y el niño, vestido con un traje azul marino y blanco, señala la pantalla.

CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.

Dos niñas están sentadas en una mesa, mirando juntas la pantalla de una computadora portátil en un salón de clases. Al fondo se ven estanterías con libros y materiales de clase.

CKLA and Boost Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Boost Reading.

Un grupo de niños sentados alrededor de un escritorio, sonriendo y riendo mientras miran una computadora portátil. Un adulto está cerca y también sonríe.

CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–5.

CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.

Science of Reading Resources

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Explore Science of Reading Handbook
A girl runs outdoors holding a kite with colorful ribbons labeled knowledge, vocabulary, sentences, connections, gist, sounds, letters, and words.

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore the CKLA Teacher Digital Site

First, watch the quick navigation video to the right. Then follow the directions below:

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Digital Site button
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: t1.cklareviewohio@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-cklareviewohio
  • Select the desired grade level
Access CKLA Teacher Digital Site

Explore the CKLA Student Digital Site

To access the student digital site follow the directions below:

  • Click the CKLA Student Digital Site button
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: s1.cklareviewohio@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-cklareviewohio
  • From the Home page, scroll down to the robot and “Click to go to the Hub“
  • From the Hub, click the Grade button to select the grade.
Access CKLA Student Digital Site

Welcome, Nebo SD, to Amplify CKLA!

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a state-approved core ELA curriculum designated as a primary core program that fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Truly built on the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA helps all teachers implement the Utah Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy by translating the science of reading into manageable, engaging, and effective classroom practices.

Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all your students make learning leaps in literacy.

Illustration featuring diverse cultural and historical elements like an african woman, an egyptian sphinx, a space rocket, and urban and natural landscapes under a starry sky.

Recognized Quality

Amplify CKLA is one of only a few high-quality, knowledge-building literacy curricula recognized by the Knowledge Matters campaign. Our shared message: Background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Diagram displaying the "knowledge matters campaign" with connections between "core knowledge language arts comprehension," "skills word recognition," and "amplify ckla skilled reading.

Science of Reading Approved by USBE

Amplify CKLA is a content-rich literacy curriculum that systematically braids knowledge-building with skills instruction. Click below to see our state submission rubric on how Amplify CKLA addresses the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Review our state checklist

Independently and rigorously reviewed

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a literacy program that excels in building knowledge.

Read our EdReports review
Read our Knowledge Matters review

Intentional knowledge-building

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Hear from Natalie Wexler
edWebinar Links

Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

How it works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the science of reading.

  • 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, student complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.
Download CKLA Program Guide
A flowchart showing word recognition and language comprehension strands intertwining to form skilled reading, with progression labeled as increasingly automatic and strategic.

Rich topics

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Illustration showing diverse cultural representations: two native american figures, a bear in a forest, and a medieval european woman, all set against colorful abstract backgrounds.
Seven illustrated circles represent different literary genres: fable, kindergarten, myth, grade 6, farsi, comic book, and novella, each with a relevant scene or symbol.

Units by grade

Take a closer look at the topics students explore.

A collage of educational materials including comic panels, illustrated worksheets, and classroom posters featuring diverse characters.

Knowledge Research Units

Explore our newly added Knowledge Research units.

A chocolate chip cookie in a glass of milk, a person speaking, a speech bubble saying “Let’s say it together!”, and two illustrated eyes on a green background.

Skills by grade

Take a closer look at the skills students develop.

Diverse text

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).
Six children's book covers arranged in two rows, featuring colorful illustrations of animals, people, and nature. Titles include "Rain Player," "A More Perfect Union," and "The Busy Body Book.
A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List

A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List

A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List

Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List

Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List

A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Aligned to LETRS and Orton Gillingham

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

Universal access

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

A boy with glasses smiles while reading a book, with illustrated objects like a telescope, gourd, and cartoon insect in the background.
A group of diverse children attentively looking upwards with expressions of curiosity and interest.

Grades K–2: Supporting all learners

A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

Grades 3–5: Supporting all learners

Complete curriculum

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

A teacher using a tablet alongside a student

CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.

Two young girls, one with braided hair and the other with blonde hair, smiling and looking at a laptop screen in a classroom.

CKLA and Boost Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Boost Reading.

A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–5.

A boy sits at a desk, leaning over a notebook and writing with a pen.

CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.

Science of Reading Resources

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Explore Science of Reading Handbook
A girl runs outdoors holding a kite with colorful ribbons labeled knowledge, vocabulary, sentences, connections, gist, sounds, letters, and words.

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore the CKLA Teacher Digital Resources

First, watch the quick navigation video to the right. Then, follow the directions below.

  • Go to: learning.amplify.com or click the Access CKLA Teacher Digital button below
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: t1.nebocklak5@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-nebocklak5
  • Click the CKLA button
  • Select your desired grade level from the Program drop down
Access CKLA Teacher Digital

Explore the CKLA Student Digital Resources

Follow the directions below to access the Student Resource Site:

  • Go to: learning.amplify.com or click the Access CKLA Student Digital button below
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: s1.nebocklak5@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-nebocklak5
  • From the main page, click the backpack in the top right corner.
  • Click on the grade level to select your desired grade.
Access CKLA Student Digital

Introducing Amplify CKLA

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

What it is

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.

 

Three children's book covers displayed: "The Green Fern Zoo" with illustrated animals, "The Job Hunt" featuring a woman and child, and "Fables" showing a fox reading to forest animals.

All-green on EdReports
Una chica con una camisa azul se sienta en una mesa con un libro abierto. Las características del fondo incluyen un oso, una pagoda, plantas, gemas y un pájaro, todo en un estilo ilustrado.

Program effectiveness
A circular badge reads "Read the Report, edreports, Review Year 2020" with a blue background and geometric logo.

Also all-green: CKLA Skills

How it works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the science of reading.

  • 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, student complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.

See pages 30-65 of the CKLA Program Guide below to learn more.

How it works
Illustration of ancient civilizations featuring pyramids, a Sphinx statue, a step pyramid, farmers with oxen, and people in traditional clothing.

CKLA Program Guide
Illustration featuring diverse characters and elements such as frida kahlo with flowers, children on planets, maya pyramid, a bee, and a cricket on nature-themed background.

Caminos Program Guide

What students explore

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Download the at-a-glance resources below to learn more.

What students explore
Illustrative circles depicting educational stages from prek to grade 5, each showing children engaged in age-appropriate activities or learning themes.

Units by grade
Ilustración de una galleta con leche, un primer plano de la boca de una persona, un texto que dice "¡Digámoslo juntos!" en un bocadillo y dos círculos azules uno al lado del otro sobre un fondo verde.

Skills by grade

What students read

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).

Download the lists below to explore specific grade-level texts.

What students read
A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List
A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List
A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List
Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List
Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List
A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Access and equity

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

Explore how we make learning equitable for all learners with the resources below.

Un grupo de jóvenes estudiantes se sientan muy juntos y miran atentamente hacia arriba. Algunos de los niños visten atuendos coloridos, incluida una niña con un hijab azul. Parecen estar en un salón de clases.

The four pillars of equity

Two boys sit at desks with open books, talking to each other. A paper cutout of a lightbulb stands upright between them.

Equity and diversity overview
Un grupo de jóvenes estudiantes se sientan muy juntos y miran atentamente hacia arriba. Algunos de los niños visten atuendos coloridos, incluida una niña con un hijab azul. Parecen estar en un salón de clases.

Grades K–2: Supporting all learners
A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

Grades 3–5: Supporting all learners

Built on the Science of Reading

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Download the resources below to dive deeper into the Science of Reading.

Built on the Science of Reading
Cover image of the book Science of Reading: A Primer, Part One by Amplify, showing a person flying a kite with multicolored ribbons in a green landscape with trees and clouds.

Science of Reading Primer: Part 1
Cover of Science of Reading: The Primer Part Two by Amplify, featuring an illustration of a person standing atop a large stair pyramid holding a staff with a glowing symbol, with trees and clouds in the background.

Science of Reading Primer: Part 2
Three children read books together on the floor with a small table and a stack of books in the background.

Science of Reading: Look Fors
Orange outline of headphones with a sound wave symbol in the center, set against a black background.

Science of Reading podcast

Gain insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading.

Supports Orton-Gillingham and LETRS

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton-Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

A comprehensive and cohesive solution

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

 

Un adulto y un niño se sientan en una mesa y usan juntos una tableta. El adulto viste un top floral amarillo y el niño, vestido con un traje azul marino y blanco, señala la pantalla.

CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.
Two young girls, one with braided hair and the other with blonde hair, smiling and looking at a laptop screen in a classroom.

CKLA and Amplify Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Amplify Reading.
A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–2.
Un niño con la cabeza rapada está sentado en un escritorio, escribiendo en un cuaderno con un bolígrafo blanco.

CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore the CKLA Teacher Resource Site

First, watch the quick navigation video to the right. Then, click the “Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site” button to log in.

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: t1.yakima_school_district@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-yakima_school_district
  • Select the desired grade level
Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Please note, these demo accounts expire on: February 23, 2023

Welcome to Amplify CKLA!

Amplify CKLA is the only Oregon-approved elementary ELA curriculum truly built on the Science of Reading.

Not only that, it helps all teachers implement the Oregon English Language Arts and Literacy Standards by translating the science of reading into strong instructional resources. As a result, teachers can fully focus on their students and the kind of teaching they love.

Virtual Caravan Stop Ahead!

If this is your first stop on your virtual caravan, start with the video presentations below.

Watched them already? Click here to skip ahead.

Illustration featuring diverse cultural and historical elements like an african woman, an egyptian sphinx, a space rocket, and urban and natural landscapes under a starry sky.

Virtual Caravan Stop

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

What it is

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Equitable and authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.
Three children's book covers displayed: "The Green Fern Zoo" with illustrated animals, "The Job Hunt" featuring a woman and child, and "Fables" showing a fox reading to forest animals.

All-green on EdReports

A young girl with a braid smiles while leaning on a desk, with whimsical illustrations of a bear, buildings, and plants in the background.

Program effectiveness

Circular badge with "READ THE REPORT" at the top, "REVIEW YEAR 2021" at the bottom, and the EdReports logo in the center.

Also all-green: CKLA Skills

How it works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the science of reading.

  • 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, student complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.

See pages 30-65 of the CKLA Program Guide below to learn more.

A flowchart showing word recognition and language comprehension strands intertwining to form skilled reading, with progression labeled as increasingly automatic and strategic.
Illustration of ancient civilizations featuring pyramids, a Sphinx statue, a step pyramid, farmers with oxen, and people in traditional clothing.

CKLA Program Guide

Illustration showing a person painting by a window, bees and a grasshopper among sunflowers, a pyramid, and two children floating on a globe with books and planets.

Caminos Program Guide

What students explore

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Download the at-a-glance resources below to learn more.

Illustration showing diverse cultural representations: two native american figures, a bear in a forest, and a medieval european woman, all set against colorful abstract backgrounds.
Seven illustrated circles represent different literary genres: fable, kindergarten, myth, grade 6, farsi, comic book, and novella, each with a relevant scene or symbol.

Units by grade

A chocolate chip cookie in a glass of milk, a person speaking, a speech bubble saying “Let’s say it together!”, and two illustrated eyes on a green background.

Skills by grade

What students read

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).

Download the lists below to explore specific grade-level texts.

Six children's book covers arranged in two rows, featuring colorful illustrations of animals, people, and nature. Titles include "Rain Player," "A More Perfect Union," and "The Busy Body Book.
A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List

A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List

A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List

Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List

Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List

A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Access and equity

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

Explore how we make learning equitable for all learners with the resources below.

A boy with glasses smiles while reading a book, with illustrated objects like a telescope, gourd, and cartoon insect in the background.
A group of diverse children attentively looking upwards with expressions of curiosity and interest.

The four pillars of equity

Two boys sit at desks in a classroom, talking to each other. An upright paper cutout of a yellow light bulb is placed between their open books.

Equity and diversity overview

A group of diverse children attentively looking upwards with expressions of curiosity and interest.

Grades K–2: Supporting all learners

Un grupo de niños sentados alrededor de un escritorio, sonriendo y riendo mientras miran una computadora portátil. Un adulto está cerca y también sonríe.

Grades 3–5: Supporting all learners

Built on the Science of Reading

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Download the resources below to dive deeper into the Science of Reading.

A girl runs outdoors holding a kite with colorful ribbons labeled knowledge, vocabulary, sentences, connections, gist, sounds, letters, and words.
Cover image of "Science of Reading: A Primer | Part One" by Amplify. It depicts a person running with a colorful kite in a grassy landscape with trees and a cloudy sky.

Science of Reading Primer: Part 1

Una ilustración que muestra a una persona en la cima de una pirámide con un texto que dice "Amplificar. La ciencia de la lectura: Introducción | Segunda parte". El paisaje presenta árboles y nubes.

Science of Reading Primer: Part 2

Three children read books together on the floor with a small table and a stack of books in the background.

Science of Reading: Look Fors

Orange outline of headphones with a sound wave symbol in the center, set against a black background.

Science of Reading podcast

Gain insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading.

Supports Orton-Gillingham and LETRS

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton-Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

A comprehensive and cohesive solution

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

A teacher using a tablet alongside a student

CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.

Dos niñas están sentadas en una mesa, mirando juntas la pantalla de una computadora portátil en un salón de clases. Al fondo se ven estanterías con libros y materiales de clase.

CKLA and Amplify Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Amplify Reading.

Un grupo de niños sentados alrededor de un escritorio, sonriendo y riendo mientras miran una computadora portátil. Un adulto está cerca y también sonríe.

CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–2.

A boy sits at a desk, leaning over a notebook and writing with a pen.

CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore the CKLA Teacher Resource Site

First, watch the quick navigation video to the right. Then, click the “Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site” button to log in.

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: t.orcklak5@tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Select the desired grade level
Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Contact us

Looking to speak directly with your Oregon representative? Get in touch with a team member by emailing hellooregon@amplify.com or by calling us directly.

Kristen Rockstroh

Oregon Account Executive

Districts under 4,500 students

(480) 639-8367

krockstroh@amplify.com

Lynne Kraus

Oregon Consultant

(503) 989-3533

lkraus@amplify.com

Overview Videos

Amplify CKLA and Caminos for K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA and Caminos for 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

What it is

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Equitable and authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.

 

Three children's book covers displayed: "The Green Fern Zoo" with illustrated animals, "The Job Hunt" featuring a woman and child, and "Fables" showing a fox reading to forest animals.

All-green on EdReports
Una chica con una camisa azul se sienta en una mesa con un libro abierto. Las características del fondo incluyen un oso, una pagoda, plantas, gemas y un pájaro, todo en un estilo ilustrado.

Program effectiveness
Circular badge with "READ THE REPORT" at the top, "REVIEW YEAR 2021" at the bottom, and the EdReports logo in the center.

Also all-green: CKLA Skills

How it works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the science of reading.

  • 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, student complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.
How it works
Illustration of ancient civilizations featuring pyramids, a Sphinx statue, a step pyramid, farmers with oxen, and people in traditional clothing.

CKLA Program Guide
Illustration featuring diverse characters and elements such as frida kahlo with flowers, children on planets, maya pyramid, a bee, and a cricket on nature-themed background.

Caminos Program Guide
Una ilustración que representa a un gran lobo con sombrero de copa liderando un desfile de animales y personas con instrumentos musicales a través de un paisaje montañoso.

Grade K Teacher Planner
Illustration of a space scene with an astronaut in the foreground, a rocket launching, people with a telescope, and a distant planet with rings.

Grade 1 Teacher Planner
Ilustración que muestra la antigua Grecia con un anfiteatro, estatuas, soldados con armadura, un barco y un templo en una colina rodeada de vegetación.

Grade 2 Teacher Planner
An illustration from Amplify CKLA's The Viking Age (with Core Quest)

Grade 3 Teacher Planner
Un pequeño bote de remos con tres personas navega por mares agitados mientras dos grandes barcos luchan al fondo, con humo y fuego visibles.

Grade 4 Teacher Planner
Dos jinetes medievales a caballo, uno de ellos con la espada en alto, avanzan por un terreno rocoso. El fondo presenta un paisaje brumoso bajo un tono violeta.

Grade 5 Teacher Planner

What students explore

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Download the at-a-glance resources below to learn more.

What students explore
Illustrative circles depicting educational stages from prek to grade 5, each showing children engaged in age-appropriate activities or learning themes.

Units by grade
Ilustración de una galleta con leche, un primer plano de la boca de una persona, un texto que dice "¡Digámoslo juntos!" en un bocadillo y dos círculos azules uno al lado del otro sobre un fondo verde.

Skills by grade

What students read

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).

Download the lists below to explore specific grade-level texts.

What students read
A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List
A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List
A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List
Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List
Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List
A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Access and equity

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

Explore how we make learning equitable for all learners with the resources below.

Un grupo de jóvenes estudiantes se sientan muy juntos y miran atentamente hacia arriba. Algunos de los niños visten atuendos coloridos, incluida una niña con un hijab azul. Parecen estar en un salón de clases.

The four pillars of equity

Two boys sit at desks with open books, talking to each other. A paper cutout of a lightbulb stands upright between them.

Equity and diversity overview
Una mujer adulta está ayudando a un niño con sus tareas escolares en un escritorio en un salón de clases.

Grades K–2: Supporting all learners
Four students work together at a desk in a classroom, with one writing in a notebook. A projector screen and whiteboards with notes are visible in the background.

Grades 3–5: Supporting all learners

Built on the Science of Reading

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Download the resources below to dive deeper into the Science of Reading.

Built on the Science of Reading
Cover image of the book Science of Reading: A Primer, Part One by Amplify, showing a person flying a kite with multicolored ribbons in a green landscape with trees and clouds.

Science of Reading Primer: Part 1
Cover of Science of Reading: The Primer Part Two by Amplify, featuring an illustration of a person standing atop a large stair pyramid holding a staff with a glowing symbol, with trees and clouds in the background.

Science of Reading Primer: Part 2
Three children read books together on the floor with a small table and a stack of books in the background.

Science of Reading: Look Fors
Orange outline of headphones with a sound wave symbol in the center, set against a black background.

Science of Reading podcast

Gain insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading.

Supports Orton-Gillingham and LETRS

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton-Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

A comprehensive and cohesive solution

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

 

CKLA_Caminos

CKLA and Caminos

Amplify Caminos delivers equitable ELA instruction in Spanish.
male student smiling with books at desk

CKLA and Caminos Lectoescritura

Amplify Caminos authentically builds foundational skills for Spanish-speakers.
A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–2.
Un niño con la cabeza rapada está sentado en un escritorio, escribiendo en un cuaderno con un bolígrafo blanco.

CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.
Un adulto y un niño se sientan en una mesa y usan juntos una tableta. El adulto viste un top floral amarillo y el niño, vestido con un traje azul marino y blanco, señala la pantalla.

CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.
Two young girls, one with braided hair and the other with blonde hair, smiling and looking at a laptop screen in a classroom.

CKLA and Amplify Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Amplify Reading.

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore the CKLA Teacher Resource Site

First, watch the quick navigation video to the right. Then, click the “Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site” button to log in.

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username to explore as a teacher: t1.kentcaminos2021@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this username to explore as a student: s1.kentcaminos2021@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-kentcaminos2021
  • Select the desired grade level
Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Contact us

Have questions? Your dedicated Account Executive, Patrick Momsen, is standing by and ready to help.

Patrick Momsen Senior

Account Executive

Districts over 4,500 students

(541) 207-2148

pmomsen@amplify.com

Welcome to Amplify CKLA!

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a state-approved core ELA curriculum designated as a primary core program that fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Truly built on the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA helps all teachers implement the Utah Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy by translating the science of reading into manageable, engaging, and effective classroom practices.

Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all your students make learning leaps in literacy.

Illustration featuring diverse cultural and historical elements like an african woman, an egyptian sphinx, a space rocket, and urban and natural landscapes under a starry sky.

Recognized Quality

Amplify CKLA is one of only a few high-quality, knowledge-building literacy curricula recognized by the Knowledge Matters campaign. Our shared message: Background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Diagram displaying the "knowledge matters campaign" with connections between "core knowledge language arts comprehension," "skills word recognition," and "amplify ckla skilled reading.

Science of Reading Approved by USBE

Amplify CKLA is a content-rich literacy curriculum that systematically braids knowledge-building with skills instruction. Click below to see our state submission rubric on how Amplify CKLA addresses the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Review our state checklist

Independently and rigorously reviewed

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a literacy program that excels in building knowledge.

Read our EdReports review
Read our Knowledge Matters review

Intentional knowledge-building

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Hear from Natalie Wexler
edWebinar Links

Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

How it works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the science of reading.

  • 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, student complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.
Download CKLA Program Guide
A flowchart showing word recognition and language comprehension strands intertwining to form skilled reading, with progression labeled as increasingly automatic and strategic.

Rich topics

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Illustration showing diverse cultural representations: two native american figures, a bear in a forest, and a medieval european woman, all set against colorful abstract backgrounds.
Illustrative circles depicting educational stages from prek to grade 5, each showing children engaged in age-appropriate activities or learning themes.

Units by grade

Take a closer look at the topics students explore.

A collage of educational materials including comic panels, illustrated worksheets, and classroom posters featuring diverse characters.

New! Knowledge Research Units

Explore our newly added Knowledge Research units.

A chocolate chip cookie in a glass of milk, a person speaking, a speech bubble saying “Let’s say it together!”, and two illustrated eyes on a green background.

Skills by grade

Take a closer look at the skills students develop.

Diverse text

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).
Six children's book covers arranged in two rows, featuring colorful illustrations of animals, people, and nature. Titles include "Rain Player," "A More Perfect Union," and "The Busy Body Book.
A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List

A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List

A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List

Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List

Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List

A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Aligned to LETRS and Orton Gillingham

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

Universal access

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

A boy with glasses smiles while reading a book, with illustrated objects like a telescope, gourd, and cartoon insect in the background.
A group of diverse children attentively looking upwards with expressions of curiosity and interest.

Grades K–2: Supporting all learners

Un grupo de niños sentados alrededor de un escritorio, sonriendo y riendo mientras miran una computadora portátil. Un adulto está cerca y también sonríe.

Grades 3–5: Supporting all learners

Complete curriculum

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

A teacher using a tablet alongside a student

CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.

Dos niñas están sentadas en una mesa, mirando juntas la pantalla de una computadora portátil en un salón de clases. Al fondo se ven estanterías con libros y materiales de clase.

CKLA and Boost Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Boost Reading.

Un grupo de niños sentados alrededor de un escritorio, sonriendo y riendo mientras miran una computadora portátil. Un adulto está cerca y también sonríe.

CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–5.

A boy sits at a desk, leaning over a notebook and writing with a pen.

CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.

Science of Reading Resources

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Explore Science of Reading Handbook
A girl runs outdoors holding a kite with colorful ribbons labeled knowledge, vocabulary, sentences, connections, gist, sounds, letters, and words.

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore the CKLA Teacher Digital Site

First, watch the quick navigation video to the right. Then follow the directions below:

  • Go to learning.amplify.com or click Access CKLA Teacher Digital 
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: t1.davislangarts@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-davislangarts
  • Click the CKLA button on the left hand side
  • Select your desired grade level from the Program drop down
Access CKLA Teacher Digital

Explore the CKLA Student Digital Site

To access the student digital site follow the directions below:

  • Go to learning.amplify.com or click Access CKLA Student Digital 
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter this username: s1.davislangarts@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: Amplify1-davislangarts
  • From the Home page, scroll down to the robot and “Click to go to the Hub“
  • From the Hub, click the Grade button to select the grade.
Access CKLA Student Digital

Welcome, K-5 LAUSD principals and teachers!

What’s new?

View the LAUSD CKLA Teacher Hub

Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all students make learning leaps in literacy.

Looking for LAUSD G6 ELA information and resources? Visit the LAUSD G6 ELA site.

A boy in glasses reading a book, surrounded by illustrations of a telescope, grasshopper, and carrot, with a logo saying "bringing the science of reading to lausd!.

Our promise

Developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, Amplify CKLA promises:

  • A unique research-based approach based on the Science of Reading.
  • A combination of explicit foundational skills instruction with meaningful content knowledge.
  • An instructional design that levels the playing field for every child.
  • Superior results.

Before you explore the program on your own, watch this program walkthrough.

Illustration of ancient civilizations featuring pyramids, a Sphinx statue, a step pyramid, farmers with oxen, and people in traditional clothing.

CKLA Program Guide

Learn more about key program features and how CKLA works.

Illustration showing a person painting by a window, bees and a grasshopper among sunflowers, a pyramid, and two children floating on a globe with books and planets.

Caminos Program Guide

Learn more about key program features and how Caminos works.

A young girl with a braid smiles while leaning on a desk, with whimsical illustrations of a bear, buildings, and plants in the background.

Program effectiveness

Learn about the impact and effectiveness of Amplify CKLA.

Illustration of a space scene with an astronaut in the foreground, a rocket launching, people with a telescope, and a distant planet with rings.

Program structure and components

Explore how the program is structure and dive into its key components.

Built on the Science of Reading

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

What does the Science of Reading really mean? What does it tell us about how to teach? How can we bring those insights and practices into our classrooms (remote or otherwise)? We believe CKLA has the answers.

A girl runs outdoors holding a kite with colorful ribbons labeled knowledge, vocabulary, sentences, connections, gist, sounds, letters, and words.
Illustration of a girl holding a kite with colorful tails labeled with reading skills. Text: "Toolkit: Science of reading. Five insights you can start using today." Amplify logo in top left.

Science of Reading toolkit

Explore the latest research in the Science of Reading.

Promotional graphic for "science of reading: the podcast" featuring text alongside colorful, diagonal lines with education-related words.

Science of Reading podcast

Gain insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading.

A woman with short curly hair in a white shirt is shown next to two book covers: "The Writing Revolution" and "The Knowledge Gap." Colorful stripes are in the background.

Expert Natalie Wexler

Hear from expert and author Natalie Wexler on the power of Amplify CKLA.

Supports Orton-Gillingham and LETRS

CKLA brings the instructional principles recommended by Orton-Gillingham and LETRS to life in the classroom.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected text with constant review and reinforcement

Watch a CKLA grade 1 Skills Lesson in action by clicking the video.

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2

Take a closer look at the instructional sequence of the CKLA Skills strand.

Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5

Take a closer look at the instructional sequence of integrated reading skills wi…

What students read

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

Reading and comprehension activities utilize:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).
Six children's book covers arranged in two rows, featuring colorful illustrations of animals, people, and nature. Titles include "Rain Player," "A More Perfect Union," and "The Busy Body Book.
A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List

Take a closer look at what students read in Grade K.

A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List

Take a closer look at what students read in Grade 1.

A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List

Take a closer look at what students read in Grade 2.

Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List

Take a closer look at what students read in Grade 3.

Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List

Take a closer look at what students read in Grade 4.

A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Take a closer look at what students read in Grade 5.

CKLA DEI and Social Justice Guides

The following guide offers an overview of the many ways that the Amplify CKLA program supports students’ understanding of issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.

A vibrant illustration depicting diverse children and animals engaged in various activities in nature and by a pond.

The missing piece

CKLA is aligned with programs you already know and use—mCLASSⓇ and Boost Reading—making the integration between systems, your implementation, and ongoing instructional planning more efficient, effective, and easy for your teachers.

A teacher using a tablet alongside a student

mCLASS and CKLA

Learn how mCLASS and CKLA work together to help teachers make immediate and info…

Two young girls, one with braided hair and the other with blonde hair, smiling and looking at a laptop screen in a classroom.

Boost Reading and CKLA

Learn how Boost Reading supports the instructional approach in CKLA further stre…

Standards alignment and unit summaries

A teacher and a young student focus on a book during a classroom lesson, with educational posters visible in the background.

CA CCSS Unit-Level Standard Alignment

Explore how Amplify CKLA fully supports CA standards.

Illustration of a red flower plant with green leaves under a bright sun, set against a soft pink landscape with white clouds.

Kindergarten unit summary

Illustration of a simple, stylized sandcastle with a central tower and two smaller side towers, set against a teal background with small white stars.

Grade 1 unit summary

Illustration of several saguaro cacti of different sizes on a flat landscape with a soft orange background and small white clouds.

Grade 2 unit summary

Three indigenous people, two in traditional attire and one in colonial clothes, stand by a river with a boat and trees in the background.

Grade 3 unit summary

Tres personajes animados están sentados en una mesa: un hombre con bigote, una persona en traje de buceo con gafas y una mujer de cabello negro y un pañuelo rojo.

Grade 4 unit summary

An illustration of don quixote riding his horse with a spear in hand and sancho panza on a donkey, set against a moonlit, hilly background.

Grade 5 unit summary

Caminos Curriculum maps

Grades K-2

GK Caminos Conocimiento Curriculum Maps

GK Caminos Lectoescritura Curriculum Maps

G1 Caminos Conocimiento Curriculum Maps

G1 Caminos Lectoescritura Curriculum Maps

G2 Caminos Conocimiento Curriculum Maps

G2 Caminos Lectoescritura Curriculum Maps

Grades 3-5

G3 Caminos Curriculum Maps

G4 Caminos Curriculum Maps

G5 Caminos Curriculum Maps

Language Studio Curriculum Maps

Grade K Language Studio Curriculum Map

Grade 1 Language Studio Curriculum Map

Grade 2 Language Studio Curriculum Map

Grade 3 Language Studio Curriculum Map

Grade 4 Language Studio Curriculum Map

Grade 5 Language Studio Curriculum Map

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Access the CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Watch the quick navigation video first, then login using the “Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site” button.

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site below.
  • Select the Log in with Amplify button.
  • Enter the username: lausdreviewer@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Select the desired grade level.
Access CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Access the CKLA Student Hub

Watch the quick navigation video first, then login using the “Access CKLA Student Hub” button.

  • Click the CKLA Student Hub button.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username lausdreviewer@tryamplify.net.
  • Enter the password AmplifyNumber1.
  • Select the desired grade level.
Access CKLA Student Hub

Contact us

Looking to speak directly with your LAUSD representative? Get in touch with a team member by emailing ckla.lausd@amplify.com or by calling us directly.

Shalonda Johnson

Customer Success Manager

(213) 310-0107

shajohnson@amplify.com


Virtual Caravan Stop

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–2

After watching the K–2 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

Amplify CKLA for Grades 3–5

After watching the 3–5 video below, scroll down to learn even more, download resources, and access a demo.

What it is

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.

 

Three children's book covers displayed: "The Green Fern Zoo" with illustrated animals, "The Job Hunt" featuring a woman and child, and "Fables" showing a fox reading to forest animals.

All-green on EdReports
Una chica con una camisa azul se sienta en una mesa con un libro abierto. Las características del fondo incluyen un oso, una pagoda, plantas, gemas y un pájaro, todo en un estilo ilustrado.

Program effectiveness
Cover page displaying "Amplify Science / Amplify CKLA Crosswalk" with simple line art of a hand holding a pencil and text indicating grades K–5.

Amplify Science and Amplify CKLA Crosswalk

How it works

Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos, our authentic elementary Spanish language arts program, teach both foundational skills and background knowledge in K–2 and combines them in 3–5, as required by the Science of Reading.

  • 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 complete one integrated lesson that combines skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.

See pages 30-65 of the CKLA Program Guide and pages 18-33 of the Caminos program guide below to learn more.

 

How it works
Illustration of a diverse group of people enjoying a park in autumn, with trees, a creek, and a sleeping fox.

CKLA Program Guide
Illustration featuring diverse characters and elements such as frida kahlo with flowers, children on planets, maya pyramid, a bee, and a cricket on nature-themed background.

Caminos Program Guide
Cover of the "Amplify CKLA Grades K–5 Assessment Sampler" featuring colorful illustrations of animals, a woman, plants, and abstract shapes at the bottom.

Assessments

How it Works

Amplify CKLA teaches both foundational skills and background knowledge in grades K–2 and combines them in 3–5.

  • In grades K–2, students complete one full lesson that builds foundational reading skills and one full lesson that builds background knowledge.
  • In grades 3–5, students complete one integrated lesson combining skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater emphasis on writing
Illustration of ancient civilizations featuring pyramids, a pharaoh’s head, farmers plowing with oxen, animals, and traditional structures under a sunny sky.

CKLA Program Guide

Illustration showing a person painting by a window, bees and a grasshopper among sunflowers, a pyramid, and two children floating on a globe with books and planets.

Caminos Program Guide

Cover of a booklet titled "Assessment sampler Grades K–5" with colorful illustrations of animals, a woman, and nature at the bottom.

Assessment

What students explore

Amplify CKLA builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Students make connections from year-to-year by exploring grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Download the at-a-glance resources below to learn more.

What students explore
Illustrative circles depicting educational stages from prek to grade 5, each showing children engaged in age-appropriate activities or learning themes.

Units by grade
Ilustración de una galleta con leche, un primer plano de la boca de una persona, un texto que dice "¡Digámoslo juntos!" en un bocadillo y dos círculos azules uno al lado del otro sobre un fondo verde.

Skills by grade

What students read

Amplify CKLA puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day to build and strengthen background knowledge and vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and decoding and fluency skills.

A comprehensive approach to literacy instruction requires that students have a wide range of text experiences that include reading, listening, discussing, and writing. Check out our text complexity guide to learn more by clicking here. The overwhelming majority of questions, tasks, and assignments in CKLA materials are text-dependent. See how we use questioning and analysis skills to help students understand text in CKLA here.

More than that, we ensure the texts students read represent the world around them. With a diverse range of authors, topics, and characters, all students have ample access to both windows and mirrors. Our texts include:

  • Authentic books.
  • Authentic text passages.
  • Student Readers.
  • Novel Guides (grades 3–5).

Download the lists below to explore specific grade-level texts.

What students read
A boy sits at a table drawing while smiling at a large blue elephant floating outside the window in a bright, colorful room.

Grade K Text List
A boy sits on brownstone steps as a pink ice cream truck labeled "Yummy" emits colorful, wavy streams on a residential street with three row houses.

Grade 1 Text List
A rocket launches from a pad, releasing smoke, while a peregrine falcon perches on a branch in the foreground, watching the scene.

Grade 2 Text List
Three people are at a playground, with two children singing while sitting and standing on playground equipment, and an adult directing or encouraging them. Musical notes are illustrated around them.

Grade 3 Text List
Cartoon people of varied ages and backgrounds enjoy a city park; some play music, others relax or interact, with buildings and trees in the background.

Grade 4 Text List
A girl writes at her desk, imagining herself graduating in cap and gown, with a thought bubble showing her smiling and holding a diploma.

Grade 5 Text List

Access and equity

We believe we have a responsibility to provide literacy instruction that gives every student the same opportunity to succeed and excel.

We know that early reading affects achievement throughout school and beyond—well into college and career. Yet most literacy programs continue to fall short of supporting early literacy success. That’s why we’re so proud that CKLA is helping close the reading gap between students within diverse communities.

Explore how we make learning equitable for all learners with the resources below.

Un grupo de jóvenes estudiantes se sientan muy juntos y miran atentamente hacia arriba. Algunos de los niños visten atuendos coloridos, incluida una niña con un hijab azul. Parecen estar en un salón de clases.

The four pillars of equity

Two boys sit at desks with open books, talking to each other. A paper model shaped like a lightbulb stands between them in a classroom setting.

Equity and diversity overview
Un grupo de jóvenes estudiantes se sientan muy juntos y miran atentamente hacia arriba. Algunos de los niños visten atuendos coloridos, incluida una niña con un hijab azul. Parecen estar en un salón de clases.

Grades K–2: Supporting all learners
A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

Grades 3–5: Supporting all learners
Cover of "Amplify CKLA Skills Decodable Readers 2022" for Grades K–2, featuring cartoon characters and a badge stating "Built on the Science of Reading.

Skills Decodable Readers Grades K-2

Built on the Science of Reading

Watching students learn to read: magic. Knowing how they get there: science.

As you consider your next core ELA program, it’s critically important to understand what the Science of Reading really means and what it tells us about how to teach more effectively. Unlike other programs, Amplify CKLA was built upon these insights and practices, making it easier for teachers to implement this proven approach.

Download the resources below to dive deeper into the Science of Reading.

Built on the Science of Reading
Cover image of the book Science of Reading: A Primer, Part One by Amplify, showing a person flying a kite with multicolored ribbons in a green landscape with trees and clouds.

Science of Reading Primer: Part 1
Cover of Science of Reading: The Primer Part Two by Amplify, featuring an illustration of a person standing atop a large stair pyramid holding a staff with a glowing symbol, with trees and clouds in the background.

Science of Reading Primer: Part 2
Three children read books together on the floor with a small table and a stack of books in the background.

Science of Reading: Look Fors
Orange outline of headphones with a sound wave symbol in the center, set against a black background.

Science of Reading podcast

Gain insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading.

Supports LETRS

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines.
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence.
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex.
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly.
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways.
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement.
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for K–2
Diagram showing parallel strands labeled with reading skills and knowledge merging together into a single twisted line labeled "Integration.

CKLA Skills sequence for 3–5
Title page with the text: "Crosswalk for Core Knowledge Language Arts and LETRS Suggested Scope and Sequence," with some headings in orange and gray.

Amplify CKLA and LTRS Crosswalk

A comprehensive and cohesive solution

A strong literacy program is not just about a reading program or an assessment tool: it brings together curriculum, instruction, regular practice, intervention, and assessments.

Amplify has brought these components together in our early literacy suite of curriculum, to ensure that you have what you need for multi-tiered support.

 

Un adulto y un niño se sientan en una mesa y usan juntos una tableta. El adulto viste un top floral amarillo y el niño, vestido con un traje azul marino y blanco, señala la pantalla.

CKLA and mCLASS

CKLA connects to our comprehensive diagnostic universal screener called mCLASS.
Two young girls, one with braided hair and the other with blonde hair, smiling and looking at a laptop screen in a classroom.

CKLA and Boost Reading

CKLA connects to our adaptive reading practice program called Boost Reading.
A diverse group of young students and a teacher laughing together around a laptop in a colorful classroom, engaged with an online language arts curriculum.

CKLA and Language Studio

CKLA aligns with Language Studio–our ELD companion program for grades K–2.
Un niño con la cabeza rapada está sentado en un escritorio, escribiendo en un cuaderno con un bolígrafo blanco.

CKLA and Writing Studio

CKLA aligns with Writing Studio–our writing companion program for grades K–5.

Access demo

Ready to explore on your own? Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Explore as a teacher

First, watch the quick teacher navigation video to the right. Then, follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

  • Go to my.amplify.com
  • Select Log in with Amplify
  • Enter this username: t1.allentown.literacy.science@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter this password: t1.allentown.literacy.science
  • Select the CKLA icon and your desired grade level

Additional Resources

Check out the information below to learn more about Amplify CKLA and see how Amplify CKLA is impacting classrooms all over the country.

Scope and sequences:

Grade K Skills and Knowledge

Grade 1 Skills and Knowledge

Grade 2 Skills and Knowledge

Grade 3 Integrated

Grade 4 Integrated

Grade 5 Integrated

 

Writing resources

CKLA Writing Continuum for Grades K–2

CKLA Writing Continuum for Grades 3–5

Grade 3 Grammar and Morphology Scope & Sequence

Grade 4 Grammar and Morphology Scope & Sequence

Grade 5 Grammar and Morphology Scope & Sequence

 

Newsworthy reads

Lincoln Public Schools, NE

Should we teach students at their reading level?

 

Other helpful resources

Amplify Science and CKLA Crosswalk

Remote and hybrid learning with CKLA

Research and Case Studies

The Digital Experience

CKLA Professional Development

 

Contact us

Interested in speaking directly with your representative?

Janet Barry

Account Executive

(630) 946-4157

jabarry@amplify.com

S3-03: Instructional strategies for integrating science and literacy

A graphic with the text "Science Connections" and "Amplify" features colorful circles and curved lines on a dark gray background.

We’re continuing our investigations around science and literacy with Doug Fisher, Ph.D., professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University. We talk about the importance of integrating science and literacy, as well as practical guidance for teachers who want to unite the two disciplines in their own classrooms.

Listen as we discuss how science and literacy can be powerful allies and specific strategy areas to focus on when integrating the two disciplines. And don’t forget to grab your Science Connections study guide to track your learning and find additional resources!

We hope you enjoy this episode and explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page!

DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT

Douglas Fisher (00:00):

It’s not that you have to become a reading specialist to integrate literacy into science. It’s how our brains work.

Eric Cross (00:10):

Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. This season, we’re making the case for our favorite underdog, which of course is science. Each episode we’re showing how science can be better utilized in the classroom, and making the case for why it’s so important to do so. In our last episode, we examined the evidence showing that science and English instruction can support each other. And now on this episode, we want to give you some more strategies for really making that a reality in your own home or classroom or community. So to help me, I’m joined on this episode by Dr. Douglas Fisher, Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University. Dr. Fisher is actually someone who has conducted literacy training at my own school, so I’m excited to be able to share some of his wisdom with all of you. Oh, and just a heads up, Dr. Fisher dropped some gems about the ways teachers can integrate literacy and science in their classrooms. So you may want to have a notepad. Ready. And now here’s my conversation with Dr. Douglas Fisher.

Eric Cross (01:12):

Well, Doug, thank you for your time and for being willing to come and talk about literacy and science. I know you’re busy, all over the place, and so I was super-excited that we were able to lock you in and talk about this. And, on this episode, we’re gonna talk about the ways that science and literacy can support each other. And one of the reasons why I’m really excited for you is because you said some really key things for me as a science teacher, when you talked about literacy and supporting students. That just resonated so deeply in me. And I was like, “I need more Doug!” Because we’re on that same frequency. And I know it’s a subject that you’ve spent a lot of time writing about. So can you tell us a little bit about how this became an area of interest or a passion for you? Just literacy, and all of the work that you’ve put into it?

Douglas Fisher (01:54):

Yeah. So I’ve wanted to be a teacher for a really long time. And I went to San Diego State as an undergraduate, and I was taking English class and we were assigned topics. You know, like, you’ll do an assignment, you’ll write a paper for this English class. And I got the topic “illiteracy,” and I was a freshman at San Diego State reading all of these things about adults who don’t read very well or not at all. And I ended up writing my very first college essay on illiteracy — at the time, you know, called illiteracy, at the time. And so I got super interested in this. And so as I moved through college and into my teaching career, literacy became a really important thing for me to think about, because it’s the gatekeeper. You know, you can be taken advantage of, if you’re not very literate. People can use vocabulary against you, if you’re not very literate. We know that people who have higher levels of literacy have better health outcomes. They have better lifespans, longer lifespans. I mean, there’s just — literacy impacts so much more than “Are you reading your fourth-grade textbook?” It really has lifelong implications.

Eric Cross (03:01):

That part that you said about being taken advantage of … I just got a flyer in the mail yesterday. It was one of these mailers that looked like it was an authentic debt-reduction type of thing, but it was really just like a marketing email. If you read the fine print at the very bottom, it had all of this jargon about “This is a paid, you know, for-profit company.” But when you look at it, it had official stamps all over it. And I could imagine if someone’s receiving that, that probably fools a lot of people. Is that kinda like what you’re talking about, like being taken advantage of?

Douglas Fisher (03:28):

Yes. I had a student turn 18, got a letter from a “credit card company” that was offering her daily compounding interest. And if you don’t know what that means — at 23 percent! — if you dunno what that means, you are gonna be a victim. Literacy really influences a lot of our life. It’s also how our brain works. We have a language-based system in our brain. We read, write, speak, listen, and view. And the things we learn, we learn through speaking, reading, writing, listening, and viewing. From what we know, we are the only species that has an external storage mechanism. Like, we have the ability to store complex information outside of our body, in the form of notes. We can type them. We can write them. And we can then go back and retrieve that information, that complex orthographic information later. And it means the same thing. We can say we have a storage system and we’ve been doing this for a really long time. Way back to, you know, hieroglyphics and messages on cave walls. And throughout the ages of humans learning, how to store information that they can re-access again later. That’s become a super-complicated system. It’s how computers operate. And we send messages to each other and we text each other and we write things down, and we’re really good at putting ideas, information out there. Now, if it’s just speaking and listening, then we can forget it. We can say, “No, you said this,” or “I said that.” But when it’s written, and it’s print literacy, you know, it’s the orthographics there, you can go back to the same message and over and over again. Now, you might change the interpretation of it, but the message is still there.

Eric Cross (05:16):

Right. And that is such a key element, at least of modern education, is this written element of it. It’s what many schools live and die by. They’re quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed by it. It’s public. They can see it. And so there’s this heavy emphasis. And why do you think science and literacy can be powerful allies together?

Douglas Fisher (05:38):

Awesome. Well, it’s hard to learn science if you’re not literate.

Eric Cross (05:42):

This is true.

Douglas Fisher (05:42):

But that’s a one-way direction. And yes, science teachers and scientists do a lot of reading, writing, speaking, and listening and viewing. They use the five literacy processes all the time. When we interview scientists, they spend a lot of their time reading the work of other scientists and writing their findings, writing grant proposals, presenting at conferences, you know. So a huge part of the work of a scientist is not just at a bench conducting experiments. But even if you’re conducting experiments, you’re using your literacy processes to think about what you’re seeing in your experiment. So that’s a one-way direction. And I do think literacy has an influence on science. But since science goes the other way, it influences literacy. As you learn more and you understand more about the world, your background knowledge grows, your vocabulary grows, you become more literate in those different areas. And how you think. So if I’m learning about life science; I’m learning how the world works in a more, biologic physical world. And that knowledge helps me think about when I’m reading a novel, and there’s an appeal to some science knowledge or a concept that gets played with, you know, perhaps time-space continuums … well, if I don’t have the science knowledge of how I think the world works, it’s hard for me to understand what this author is doing. So it does go both ways. They feed each other. And the more literate we become, the more complex science information we can understand. ‘Cause our background knowledge and our vocabulary influence how much we understand about what we read. And as we access more complex science information, it starts to change the way we think about other things in our world.

Eric Cross (07:23):

There was a couple of things that you said in that, but one of the first things that kind of perked my ears is when you said grant proposals. Because I have friends that are scientists — and this is one of the things that when I was in school, they don’t talk about — but how much of their research is reliant upon getting funding —

Douglas Fisher (07:37):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,

Eric Cross (07:38):

— which you don’t think about if you’re becoming a chemist or a physicist or a biologist or working in the field, is that that funding, coming from the NSF or anywhere else. And sometimes students ask in class like, “Why am I writing so much? Like, I want to go into science!” Or “I wanna do this!” And this is a real-life example of how the writing could actually apply, in addition to all of the things of collecting data and conclusions and results. But that grant proposal thing just really perked my ears, yeah.

Douglas Fisher (08:01):

And if you can’t write a grant proposal, your ideas and experiments are not gonna get funded. And if you can’t write a strong proposal, that compellingly convinces your readers to fund you, you’re not gonna get funded. But then once you get the grant, you have to write publications. You have to share your work with other people. Make PowerPoint presentations and write journal articles or books or whatever. So it’s a cycle that literacy influences the things we do, including the things we do in science.

Eric Cross (08:31):

Now to get in maybe some data, if you were trying to convince someone that like this happy marriage can exist, what would be like your number one piece of evidence to support this, this back and forth of supporting each other?

Douglas Fisher (08:44):

Awesome. So the quote I’ll often say — and this is from studies from more than two decades ago now — but in general, in high school science, students are introduced to 3000 unfamiliar words, 3000. Each year! Because there are words that are used in a scientific way that are used commonly in other places. And there are discipline-specific words. So 3000 words a year in high school science. The Spanish 1 textbook only has 1500 words in it. So science teachers have double the academic-language vocabulary demand that a typical introductory world-language class has. So just the vocabulary alone should say to us, literacy is gonna be important if you’re gonna learn science. And if you don’t understand these technical words, and you don’t understand the way science uses this particular word in this particular way… . When you say the word “process,” it means something very specific In science. “Division” — cellular division is not the way we think about it in mathematics; there’s a similar concept, but cellular division is different than dividing numbers. And those are words that get used in multiple areas. Then you have all these technical terms that you have to be able to use, to understand the concepts. To share the concepts. To talk to other people. Whether you’re in, you know, fifth grade and talking science, or you’re a university professor, there’s a shared language, appropriate for our grade level, that we have shared meanings of.

Eric Cross (10:22):

And we’re essentially … what I’m hearing you say is … most of the people that are listening to this are science teachers. We’re we’re also language teachers. In a sense.

Douglas Fisher (10:29):

So my frustration is when people say, “Every teacher’s a teacher of reading.” And I don’t like that. I’ve written against that phrase. I don’t think all teachers are teachers of reading, any more than all teachers are teachers of chemistry. Or all teachers are teachers of algebra. But what I will say is the human brain learns through language. And all of us — every teacher that I’ve ever met understands that language is important in my class. If my students don’t have strong listening skills and speaking skills; reading, writing, and viewing skills; I’m gonna have a hard time getting them to learn things. If I can help them grow their speaking, listening, reading, writing, and viewing in my content area, I’m gonna do a service for my learning of my subject and also their more broad literacy development.

Eric Cross (11:16):

  1. So, at a high level, what does it look like to integrate science and literacy? We’ve done education for the last, what, hundred years?

Douglas Fisher (11:24):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Eric Cross (11:25):

—kind of pretty similarly, right? Kind of siloed way. What does this look like at the 30,000-foot level? You’re a professor, department chair. Run schools. Speak everywhere. Like, when you think about this from that high level, what does it look like?

Douglas Fisher (11:39):

A high level? Every time I meet with students in a science class, you know, biology or fifth grade or whatever? They should be reading, they should be writing, they should be speaking and listening. Every class. So what print do you want them to access? And it can be a primary source document, it can be an article, it can be from a textbook. Are they reading something? Are they writing to you? Because writing is thinking. If they are writing, they are thinking. As soon as their brain goes somewhere else, they stop writing. The pen won’t move or the fingers don’t type. And then speaking and listening, of course, is the dynamic of our classes. So every day we should see some amount of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, viewing in our classes. That’s at a high level. There are some generic things that seem to work across the literacy. So, learning how to take notes. Focusing on vocabulary. Using graphic organizers. These are generic things that as educators we can use in our classes. Then there’s more specialized things. So, scientists and science teachers think differently than historians and literary critics and art critics. So scientists, if you look at the disciplinary literacy work, there’s a whole body of research where they interview and study high-end experts in their field: chemistry, physics, biology, et cetera. And there are some characteristics that were more disciplined, specific. Scientists like cause and effect relationships. They look for them when they’re reading. They like sourcing information. “Where this come from?” “What’s the history of this idea?” Scientists have a long view in terms of time. Historians have a shorter view of time. English teachers have even shorter view of time. Scientists tend to think in long periods of time. And so all of that influences how a scientist reads and how we should apprentice young people after they get past the generic “I know how to take notes. I know how to study my vocabulary. I know how to do summary writing for my teacher in my notebooks and things,” there’s some generic tools. Once we get past those, we need to be looking at specifically how do people in science use literacy.

Eric Cross (13:52):

I’ve never had my thought process of reading deconstructed just now, but we just described how scientists read. I was like, “Yeah, that’s pretty much how I read, right there.” I also like how you said how we should apprentice young people. And I feel like you as the literacy guy, you chose that word very specifically, as far as apprenticing young people. That is a view, I think, that’s really important to hold. ‘Cause that’s what we’re doing essentially … is, if we’re doing what we should be doing, we are apprenticing these young people.

Douglas Fisher (14:18):

Yes.

Eric Cross (14:18):

And helping them develop. Now, let’s imagine there’s a listener out there and they’re interested in getting better at integrating science and literacy instruction. They want to start somewhere. Before we dive in, do you have any initial words of encouragement for the person who’s like, “Everything is like a priority right now,” in their classroom or in their world?

Douglas Fisher (14:37):

Yeah. So I’ll talk about elementary for just a moment. When we’re reading informational texts in our literacy block, we should be reading information that is aligned to what kids need to learn in science and history in, in that grade level. Why are we reading things that are gonna be in conflict with what they’re gonna learn in science later that day in fourth grade, for example? So when we look at our standards, our expectations, what is it that third graders need to know in history, science, mathematics, language arts? And when we’re reading text and we’re learning to apply our reading strategies during our literacy block, why aren’t we reading topics that build our background knowledge for our science time? So we’re seeing some synergy there. We should be looking at life cycles in grades that are appropriate for life cycles and knowing there’s more to life cycles than the frog and the plant or the seed. There are all kinds of life cycles. And we call ’em life cycles for a reason. That’s a general concept. Now in science, we’re looking at this particular lifecycle right now. And so that’s a high level. If we could get more connection to the content standards during our literacy blocks, it would be very good. When we talk about the time at which we call “science” in the day, in more of the K–8 continuum, the science needs to include some primary source documents. Some real things that students are reading. Read about a scientist; read about a scientist’s discovery; read about what they discovered. So that we’re building our background knowledge. So when we go to do things, activities, labs, simulations, we have background knowledge and we understand what we’re experiencing. It can’t be like—I watched this awesome lesson on lenses and the teacher had all these different lenses in the room and the students came in and they were brand new. They don’t know anything. They were picking ’em up. They’re exploring them. They’re trying to figure out, and they’re trying to come up with theories about what this is and how it works. And then the teacher gave them a reading, a short reading, on refraction of light. And they read this thing. And the clarity that they had about what these lenses must do, well! All of a sudden they’re putting them up to the lights! They’re asking if they can go get the lights out of the storage unit! ‘Cause there’s — and they’re shining different lights through the lenses to see what happens to the light. Because that little bit of reading turned some focus on for the students. And it allowed them to take what I’m thinking about, what I’m trying to figure out, how this thing works in another direction. That’s the power of using literacy in our classes.

Eric Cross (17:20):

And what I’m hearing essentially is transfer across disciplines, across content areas, ultimately. And in an elementary school classroom, would it be fair to say, probably the teacher has more autonomy to be able to do that, since they’re teaching all the subjects? But secondary, logistically, planning and those types of things … from what you’ve seen, is it fair to say this kind of needs to be like a top-down, full vertical alignment, to teach like this?

Douglas Fisher (17:45):

I think that would be awesome to do that. But if I’m a sixth grade English Language Arts teacher and I’m working with my sixth grade science teacher, the conversation should be, “What units are you teaching?” Because I’m choosing informational text. My job is to teach them how to find central ideas. My job is to teach them how to find the details in the text. My job is to have them make a claim and support that claim with evidence. The stuff I use is generic. Yes, we do read some literature and some narratives, but we also read about 50% of the text in English around informational text. So if I can help you and accomplish my standards as well, fantastic. So let’s have this conversation and say, “Oh, this is what you’re teaching in science in the next three weeks? I’m gonna choose some texts and we’re gonna analyze ’em for central idea. We’re gonna analyze ’em for details. We’re gonna, for mood or tone or whatever that we’re teaching. And by the way, I’m building background knowledge. So when they come to you, they know some stuff about what you’re going to be teaching next.” So I don’t think it’s impossible to say teams of teachers could come together and say, “What do we believe that our students need to know and learn and be able to do? And then how do we choose things that are gonna help them accomplish exactly that?”

Eric Cross (19:01):

And that’s empowering. Because that’s one thing that we can control maybe is this East-West, peer-to-peer, different content areas. A system may not be able to change as quickly, but I can definitely go talk to my English team or math team and check in and kind of see, “Hey, where do we have overlap in that?” And I know the times that I’ve accidentally had overlap with the teams, it’s super-exciting. And the students have been more bought in! Because it’s like, we’ve done something on the human microbiome and we’ve talked about genetics and all these different things, and then when they read The Giver, or they read some book about genetics, they have all this knowledge. And they’re excited. And they talk about colorblindness or they come to my class and they’re like, “Hey, we read about this!” It’s almost like they saw a magic trick, the fact that these things linked up. And the engagement has been so much higher when it’s the same content in different classes, but through different lenses. At least, that’s what I’ve seen in my years of teaching.

Douglas Fisher (19:54):

I saw a lesson on space junk that was so cool. Middle-school students learning space junk. And the history teacher had a part of it, science teacher had a part of it, English Language Arts teacher had a part of it. And these students, I mean, you watch them look up all the time, ’cause there’s space junk up there. Where’d it come from? Why is it there? What are the politics of this? How do we clean it up? I mean, it was just so interesting to watch them when the teachers came together. And the teachers met their standards in this couple-week-long space-junk exploration. Investigation was met. Politics was met. All these different things. Economy. You know, how much does it cost to clean up this problem? So there’s really cool opportunities when teachers come together and realize we can work together and improve the literacy and learning of our students.

Eric Cross (20:50):

Absolutely. So before this recording, we picked your brain a bit. And I know that there were three specific strategy areas that you wanted to touch on. And one of those — which is kind of coming back to the 3000-words language teachers — was vocabulary. So what are the opportunities that you see, as far as the way of educators to approach vocabulary? Because, you know, there’s a lot. We got a lot of it. The 3000 words.

Douglas Fisher (21:14):

Yeah. There’s a lot of it. So the worry is, we make a vocabulary list and have students look up the words in definitional kinds of things. That’s not really gonna help. Students need to be using the words. They need to be using the words in their conversations, in their writing, in how they think about your content in science. So vocabulary is a huge predictor of whether or not you understand things. Vocabulary is also a pretty good predictor if you can read on grade level. So when we think about vocabulary, there’s something called word solving. You show students a piece of text and you’re reading it, you’re sharing your thinking, and you say, “Oh, here’s a context clue!” Or “I know this prefix or suffix or root!” And in science, a lot of the words are prefixed, suffixed, or root words. We tend to add things together with a lot of prefixes and suffixes and have roots and bases in science. So we can help students think about, “Oh, what does geo- mean? We already know what geo- means here. It means the same thing in this word. Let’s apply that knowledge.” So word solving is part of it, showing students how we think about words that we might not know. The second is more direct instruction of vocabulary. As students encounter the words, we work on what it means, how we say it. We practice it a few times. The process is called orthographic mapping. It’s kind of a scientific idea here. But you have the sound and the recognition of by-the-word, by sight, and what it means. And your brain starts to automatically recognize that word in the future. So I don’t have to slow down, disrupt my fluency, and try to figure out what the word is saying. ‘Cause I’ve seen it enough. I’ve heard it pronounced enough, I’ve pronounced it enough, and I know what it means. So teachers should be saying, “What words in sixth grade science, what words in third grade science, do my students really need to know?” And I’m gonna have them encounter those words over and over. I’m gonna have them use the words. I’m gonna have them see the words. I’m gonna have them say the words. I’m gonna say the word and we’re gonna be over and over with these terms, so that students incorporate them into their normal view of, “These are the things I know about the world.” By the way, when they go to read that next thing, and they understand “geology,” you know, for sixth graders, for example, they know how to say it. They don’t stumble on it. And it activates a whole bunch of memories in their brains. “This is what geology is.” There are branches of geology, there’s physical geology, there’s all this thinking that activates as they read.

Eric Cross (23:35):

There was a practice that I participated in and am trying to incorporate — I don’t know what the name of it is. But essentially what happened was we were dissecting a flower. And the instructor had us name parts of the flower. But we got to come up with our own names for it.

Douglas Fisher (23:49):

Ah.

Eric Cross (23:50):

So, for instance, the stamen we call “the fuzzy Cheeto.” And we all used our own words and then everything was legitimized. And so we went through and learned the whole activity using our own vocab words. But then, in the end, after we presented and talked about it, then the words, the actual academic language was attached to our word. And we were able to say, “OK, the fuzzy Cheeto is the stamen,” and this, this, this, and this. But it was such an interesting practice, because it kind of legitimized all of our definitions. But we weren’t stumbling on these long Latin terms and things like that. Is there a name for that? Or. … ?

Douglas Fisher (24:29):

Yes. I don’t know the name for that. I think it’s really smart. So here’s what I would say about that, is: we don’t learn words, we learn concepts. Words are labels for our concepts. So what that teacher did for you was allow you to develop concept, a concept knowledge. “There’s a part of this plant, it goes like this, we’re gonna call it fuzzy Cheeto. Now I have this concept. And look, it occurred in all these plants. And those people called it that and that other group called it that. We called it a fuzzy Cheeto. Here’s the part of it.” And then the concept is in your brains. And the teacher said, “It’s really called stamen.” And it’s an instant transfer, because you already had the concept. What we often see is students are trying to learn a really hard academic word and the concept for the word at the same time. And so it slows down the whole process. And there’s higher levels of forgetting. Because human beings, we don’t learn words; we learn concepts. If you don’t have the concept, if I gave you a word out of the blue that you’ve never seen, never heard, and a week from now I asked you to remember it, you probably would not, because it didn’t register. It wasn’t part of your schema. You didn’t have a way to organize the information. You don’t have a concept. So that teacher? It’s a great idea. Got you to develop concept knowledge. And then said, “Here’s a real label for it: What some other people called it when they had the chance to come up with their own names.”

Eric Cross (25:50):

Shout out to my teacher, who was—

Douglas Fisher (25:51):

Right.

Eric Cross (25:52):

It was learned then. It was a great practice. And the fact that you’re right, like, I just mean from my own personal experience, I agree that learning concepts versus complicated words. And it’s interesting that you said higher levels of forgetfulness, you know. And you often hear that complaint about it: “Students forget! Students forget!” But this complex topic and this complex word that’s new to me, and I have to remember both of those things.

Douglas Fisher (26:12):

That’s right.

Eric Cross (26:13):

And the other neat thing that it did, is it actually honored the background and like the founts of knowledge of all the different groups in the classroom. You just said something about “this group called it this and this group called it this,” and so by letting different groups share all of those names, now we’re starting to build these kind of interesting connections. That’s at least what I remember experiencing. And so this, even this practice of this approach is very layered, beyond just kind of generating new knowledge of things. So I appreciate that aspect of it. Now another area that you mentioned was complex text.

Douglas Fisher (26:41):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (26:42):

And how we can get students into complex text. So what can we do there?

Douglas Fisher (26:46):

I think science is an ideal place to get students reading things that are hard for them. And I do believe that some parts of school should be a struggle. Not all day, every day. But there should be doses of struggle, which are good for our brains. And these complex pieces of texts that don’t give up their meanings easily allow students to go back and reread the text and maybe mark the text and talk to peers about the text and answer questions with their groups. And the whole point of complex text is to say, “We persevere through it. We may not understand it fully on our first read. But we go back and we might underline, we might highlight. We might write some margin notes. Our teacher might say, ‘What did this author mean here?’ And we go back and look at that part and we take it apart. What do we think about that? And we talk to each other. It’s showing that when we read things, we work to understand. We work through our thinking, often in the presence of other people. And our understanding grows as we go into the text over and over and over again.” So I said geology earlier. There’s about a two-page article on “what is geology” that sixth graders often read. And some kids find it super boring. It’s a once-read, “OK, geology, I don’t really understand it. There’s a bunch of words in here that I don’t understand.” But if you go back to it a few times and you start taking apart, “What are the branches of geology? Oh, I’m gonna go reread that.” How are these two branches related to each other?” “What are the subtypes of each branch of geology?” “How do geologists do their work?” You start asking questions where students are going back into the text. You spend a little bit of time. Now, the introduction to geology, the students know so much more. So whatever you do next— video experiments, whatever—they have a frame of reference, because of that deep, complex read. It’s probably better than simply telling them, “Here’s the information.”

Eric Cross (28:45):

Right. And I even feel like as an educator, when I reflect on my own learning in the classroom, and then looking at it through the perspective of an educator <laugh>, you find this difference between how you were taught and then what the data says good teaching is.

Douglas Fisher (28:59):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Eric Cross (29:00):

It’s so easy to slide back into how you were taught!

Douglas Fisher (29:02):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (29:02):

Even though, you know, you mentally assent to, “This is the best way. This is the data shows.” And you find yourself kind of sliding back at times.

Douglas Fisher (29:10):

Yep. And there’s good evidence to support what you just said, that most people teach the way they experienced school. And it is very hard to change that. And people have studied this. And it’s very hard to change that. Because it worked for us. And we have an n of 1, and it worked for us. Now, remember, there were a whole bunch of other kids in the class that it may not have worked for. And we chose to be in school the rest of our lives, and some of your peers did not choose to be in school the rest of their lives. In fact, some of them hated school and found no redeeming qualities of their experience. So just because it worked for us in a case of one, n of 1, doesn’t mean it worked for all of the kids, or even the majority of them.

Eric Cross (29:57):

Very well said. It’s that, what is that, the survivor bias? Survivorship bias? Where you were the one that made it. But you don’t think about all the other folks. ‘Cause we’re thinking about ourselves.

Douglas Fisher (30:05):

That’s right.

Eric Cross (30:06):

Great case for empathy too, is thinking about the people left and right. Because my friends are like, “I hated science.” And I say, “Who hurt you? Like, what did they do? It’s so amazing, so much fun!”

Douglas Fisher (30:16):

“What happened to you? Science is the coolest. Right? It’s so amazing!”

Eric Cross (30:21):

But I also had a unique experience in seventh grade with my teacher who did some of these things, and made it accessible for so many of us, in opening opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. But you’re absolutely right. That was my story. That wasn’t the story of everybody that was around me. And I think that’s really important. Now, I know this is also a big one for you, but I wanna talk about writing. What are the opportunities that you see in terms of writing specifically?

Douglas Fisher (30:51):

So would love it if science teachers had short and longer writing tasks in the science time. Of course, you can integrate some of the science writing, the longer ones, in the English language arts time, especially if you’re the elementary teacher and you can have control of the whole day. But I said this earlier; I’ll say it again. Writing is thinking. While you are writing, there’s nothing else you can do but think about what you are writing. Your brain cannot do something else. So if a science teacher wants to know, do their students really understand the concepts? Have them write. Now some of the shorter ones, I like something called “given word” or “generative sentences”: “I’m gonna give you a word: CELL. C-e-l-l. We’re in science. I want you to write the word ‘cell,’ c-e-l-l, in the third position of a sentence. So it’s gonna go word, word, cell, and then more words.” You could also say, “I want the sentence longer than seven words,” or whatever. But the key is, I’m telling you where I want the word. You will know instantly if your students have a sense of what the word “cell” means in the context of science. If they write “my cell phone,” they don’t get it. If they write about spreadsheet cells or jail cells or whatever, they didn’t get it. But if they talk to you about plant cells and animal cells and the components of those cells, and then once they have that sentence down, you can say to them, “Now write three or four more sentences that connect to that sentence.” It’s super simple. So whatever concepts you’re teaching, put ’em in a specific position. Now you don’t have to only put it in the third position. You can say the first position, the fifth position, the fourth position. But it forces them to think about what they know about the word and then how to construct a sentence for you. That’s a very simple way to get some writing from your students that helps you think about what they understand. Other kinds of writing, you can have quick writes, you can have exit-slip writes. There’s something in the research space called the muddiest part, where halfway through the lesson you have them write so far what has been the least understood or the most confusing part of this lesson. And they do a quick write, right there, at the muddiest part. And as a teacher, you flip through these and you start to say, “Oh, these are the points that are confusing to my students.” So if 80% of them all have the same thing, I gotta reteach that. If these five got, “This is the muddiest part,” If these five thought, “This is the muddiest part,” these seven, “I thought this was the muddiest part,” what do I need to do? Because it’s gonna be hard to move forward if this is their area of confusion. There are also all kinds of writing prompts that have a little bit longer. My favorite one is RAFT. What’s your Role? Who’s your Audience? What’s the Format? And what’s the Topic we’re writing about? Super flexible writing prompt. When you teach something, we don’t want students to only think they write to their teacher. So your role is an atom. You are writing to the other atoms. What do you wanna write about? What’s the topic? What’s the format of it? Is it a love letter? Is it a text message? Is it … so we, we mix it up with students in saying, how do they show some knowledge through a prompt that we give them? And then of course, longer pieces as they get older. More opinion pieces through fifth grade. More claims and arguments starting in sixth grade. So that they’re starting to see, “I have to use the evidence from things I’ve learned, read, listened to, watched, and construct something: an opinion, an argument where I back it up with reasons or evidence.” And those longer pieces, you know, less frequently. The shorter pieces, pretty regularly. So the teacher sees the thinking of the students.

Eric Cross (34:29):

When you were speaking about these really creative writing prompts, there were specific students coming into mind, that were coming into mind … they’re, they’re great science students, but they also have this really strong artsy side drawing, creative writing, and things like that. And when you said something about atoms talking to each other, it elicited, in my brain, certain students that would really love this aspect of creativity in the sciences. And it’s not how we’re typically trained as science teachers, to kind of incorporate this, like you said. A book of props. But I’m imagining, like, as a science teacher, if I took this, this would be a great way to reach more students to be able to show what they know, in a way that might resonate with their own intrinsic “Oh, I get to write creatively!” So I was kind of writing furiously as you were sharing all that information there.

Douglas Fisher (35:12):

So here, I’ll give you another example for elementary people. Again, with RAFT. There’s a book called Water Dance. It’s a pretty popular book for elementary teachers. It’s really about the life cycle of water. For example, you are a single drop of water. You are writing to the land. The format is a letter. And you’re explaining your journey. Now, if they can do this, they’re essentially explaining to you the cycle of water. But you got it in a way that people are now, “Oh, I’m a drop of water. So it’s me. My perspective. Where do I go from? Where do I start?” Because you can start anywhere in the cycle, right? My drop could have started in the clouds. My drop could have started in the ground. My drop could have started in the lake. But it has to show you the journey. So there are many ways of showing you the right answers.

Eric Cross (36:02):

And that’s using the RAFT protocol.

Douglas Fisher (36:04):

That’s RAFT: Role, Audience, Format, Topic. It’s been around 20 or 30 years.

Eric Cross (36:09):

You just gave the name to something a teacher shared in our podcast community, Science Connections: The Community, on Facebook. Teacher shared a Google slide deck and on it were just three slides. And the role that the student had to have is they had to show, then tell, the story of a journey of a piece of salmon being eaten, a piece of starch from pasta being eaten, and then an air molecule in a child’s bedroom. And they had to give the path of travel and the experience from the mouth and then breaking down into protein and all those kinds of things. And this teacher shared it and I wish I knew the teacher’s name because I wanna give ’em credit, but they shared it. And so I used it with my students and then had ’em read aloud their stories and dramatize it. And they were so into it!

Douglas Fisher (36:49):

So cool.

Eric Cross (36:50):

But through it, I was able to see that they understood different parts of the body. They understood cell respiration. The whole thing. And it was fun! To watch them get so into this creative writing. And now I know the name of it. That’s been 30 years they were using RAFT. So you just talked a bit about complex texts and writing. And before we go, I wanted to circle back to something that you said, because I think it’s important, and if you could elaborate on it a little bit, about the value of struggle. Can you talk more about that?

Douglas Fisher (37:21):

Sure. I do believe in a lot of the U.S. we’re in an anti-struggle era of education. And it predates Covid. I think it made it worse during Covid. We front load too much. We pre-teach too much. We reduce struggle. We quote, “over-differentiate” for students. And there’s value in struggle. The phrase, “productive struggle” — if you haven’t heard it, Google productive struggle — it’s an interesting concept, that we actually learn more when we engage in this productive struggle. Now, productive struggle originally came from the math world, and it was this idea that it’s worth struggling through things to learn from it, that you’re likely to get it wrong, and then there was productive success. And there are times when we want students to experience success and we make sure we put things in place for productive success. But there are times where we want them to struggle through a concept. ‘Cause it feels pretty amazing when you get on the other side, when you know you struggled and you get to the other side. If you think about the things, listeners, think about the things in your life where you struggled through it and you are most proud of what you accomplished. I want students to have that. I don’t wanna eliminate scaffolding, eliminate differentiation. But I do want some regular doses of struggle. So if you look at the scaffolding, we have a couple choices. We have front-end scaffolds, distributed scaffolds, and back-end scaffolds. Right now we mostly use front-end scaffolds: We pre-teach, we tell students words in advance, that kind of stuff. But what if we refrained from only using front-end scaffolds, and we use more distributed scaffolds, when they encounter. So there’s a difference between “just in case” and “just in time” support for students. So we tend to plan on the “in advance, here are all the things we’re gonna do to remove the struggle before students encounter the struggle.” What if instead we said, “Let them encounter some struggle. Here’s the supports we’re gonna provide. We’re gonna watch; we’re gonna remove those scaffolds, and allow them to have an experience of success, where they realize, ‘I did it. I got it.’” Every science teacher I’ve ever worked with, when they do an experiment or a lab or simulation, they are looking for productive struggle. They don’t tell the answers in advance. They don’t tell if the answers are right. That’s your data. What does your data tell you? I mean, this is what you do. But then the other part of your day when you move into, like, reading, you don’t do that. You fall into the trap of removing struggle. And so allow them to grapple with ideas. Allow them to wonder what words mean. Allow them to say, “I’m not getting this, teacher! It’s really frustrating!” And you say, “Yeah, this is really hard. This is why we’re doing it at school. ‘Cause it’s really hard. If it was easy, I’d have you do it at home. But we’re doing it here, ’cause it’s really hard and it’s OK not to get it at first.” And create a place where errors are seen as opportunities to learn, and struggling through ideas and clarifying your own thinking and arguing with other people to reach an agreement or reach a place where we agree to disagree is part of the power of learning.

Eric Cross (40:38):

There’s a teacher, who I took this from. My master teacher when I was student teaching. And she said that there’s no such thing as failure in science, just data. And I took that same mantra. And I resonate with what you said about how science teachers, all of us, hold onto that productive struggle, because it’s part of being a scientist. It’s part of the experiments. That genuine “aha” moment. Or it didn’t work out? That’s great! That’s totally fine! Let’s write about it and let’s take photos and let’s publish it and let’s be scientists. That’s totally true. As we wrap up, Dr. Fisher, is there any final message that you have to listeners about bringing science and literacy together? I know you speak everywhere, but for everyone that’s listening, if you can put out your encouragement or message or suggestion … you’ve given so many great tips and practical applications. But, any final thoughts on the subject?

Douglas Fisher (41:32):

I think many science teachers are intimidated because they think they have to be reading teachers. And there’s a knowledge base to reading. And some teachers are reading teachers and science teachers, and I don’t wanna dismiss that. But it’s not that you have to become a reading specialist to integrate literacy into science. It’s how our brains work. And so as you think about the way in which you are learning and the ways in which you want your students to learn, what role does language play? What role does speaking, listening, reading, writing, viewing, play in your class? And then provide opportunities for students to do those five things each time you meet with them.

Eric Cross (42:12):

Dr. Fisher, thank you so much for being here and for your encouragement, and sharing your wisdom and experience. And then personally serving my city, here in San Diego, and my students, when they make it to your high school and ultimately the alma mater of San Diego State University.

Douglas Fisher (42:30):

That’s right.

Eric Cross (42:31):

Yeah. We really, really appreciate you in serving all kids and lifting the bar and making things more equitable for all students. And encouraging teachers. So thank you.

Douglas Fisher (42:39):

Thank you very much.

Eric Cross (42:42):

Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with Dr. Douglas Fisher, Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University. Check out the show notes for links to some of Doug’s work, including the book he co-authored titled Reading and Writing in Science: Tools to Develop Disciplinary Literacy. Please remember to subscribe to Science Connections so that you can catch every episode in this exciting third season. And while you’re there, we’d really appreciate it if you can leave us a review. It’ll help more listeners to find the show. Also, if you haven’t already, please be sure to join our Facebook group, Science Connections: The Community. Next time on the show, we’re going to continue exploring the happy marriage between science and literacy instruction.

Speaker  (43:26):

I had this moment of realization I felt a few months ago: I’m like, if I don’t teach them how to use the AI as a tool, as a collaborator, then they’re gonna graduate into a world where they lose out to people who do know how to do that.

Eric Cross (43:39):

That’s next time on Science Connections. Thanks so much for listening.

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What Dr. Douglas Fisher says about science

“There are really cool opportunities when teachers come together and realize we can work together to improve the literacy and learning of all our students.”

– Dr. Doug Fisher

Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership, San Diego State University

Meet the guest

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is professor and chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College having been an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is the recipient of an International Reading Association William S. Grey citation of merit, an Exemplary Leader award from the Conference on English Leadership of NCTE, as well as a Christa McAuliffe award for excellence in teacher education. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design as well as books, such as The Restorative Practices Playbook, PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, Building Equity, and Better Learning Through Structured Teaching.

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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. 

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What my wedding taught me about choosing curriculum

The right curriculum choice isn’t only about the product—it’s about who’s by your side from start to finish. Here’s how one district found that with Amplify CKLA.

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New data: early literacy readiness reaches post-pandemic high, but slowing momentum requires urgent focus on foundational skills

Brooklyn, NY (October 16, 2025) – Amplify, a publisher of next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, today released a research brief on the latest K–2 beginning-of-school-year literacy data. Findings reveal that at the beginning of the 2025–2026 school year, 48 percent of K–2 students were on track to learn to read, marking the highest literacy readiness level since the start of the pandemic. However, year-over-year progress has plateaued, and students have not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, highlighting the ongoing need for strong foundational skills instruction and support for struggling readers in the early grades.

The data also underscore the importance of early intervention. Longitudinal analysis shows that K-2 students who began the school year behind in reading readiness but managed to catch up by the end of the year were likely to remain on track through the end of third grade. The findings highlight how critical it is to intervene as early as possible to get students on track, as the likelihood of students achieving reading proficiency by third grade increases the earlier it happens.

“It’s encouraging to see nearly half of our youngest students ready for core instruction. This is a testament to the hard work of educators and the impact of evidence-based practices in the classroom,” said Susan Lambert, chief academic officer, elementary humanities, at Amplify. “However, the data point to a worrisome stall in year-over-year progress. This is a critical moment for a renewed, laser focus on early intervention. Our longitudinal findings make it abundantly clear: the earlier we get a student on track in K–2, the greater their likelihood of achieving reading success by the end of third grade.”

Amplify recommends that districts and schools consider administering a universal screener three times a year to follow student progress in early reading. With that information in hand, educators can make more informed decisions related to:

  • Identifying students who need additional support;
  • Ensuring all students receive quality instruction grounded in evidence-based practices, such as the Science of Reading;
  • Developing plans for addressing student needs and allocating resources to implement those plans; and
  • Regularly monitoring student progress and making adjustments as needed.

About Amplify

A pioneer in K–12 education since 2000, Amplify delivers next-generation curriculum and assessment on an intuitive, integrated platform that includes thousands of free lessons. Our high-quality programs in ELA, math, and science engage students in rigorous learning that inspires them to think deeply, creatively, and independently. Our formative assessment tools help teachers identify the instruction each student needs to build a strong foundation in reading and math. Across all programs and services, we equip educators with powerful tools to understand and respond to the needs of every learner. Today, Amplify serves more than 18 million students and teachers across all 50 states and in 6 continents worldwide. For more information, visit Amplify.com.

Media Contact: Kristine Frech; media@amplify.com

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Welcome, Program 3 reviewers!

We’re honored to introduce you to Amplify California Language Arts. We’re confident you’ll find this comprehensive program to be a powerful tool for bringing the vision of the California ELA/ELD Framework to life in classrooms across the state.

Please start with the video on the right to learn how to navigate the program and access key features referenced within our submission. Below you’ll find additional resources to support your review.

Your review samples

We’re excited for you to begin your review of Amplify California Language Arts, a comprehensive biliteracy program for kindergarten through grade 6.

Reviewer Binders (K–6)

Your physical samples should have arrived in grade-specific boxes with three Reviewer Binders.

  • The first binder will contain logistical program review information and the printed Evaluation Criteria Map.
  • The second binder will contain the printed Standards Maps for grades K–2.
  • The third binder will contain the printed Standards Maps for grades 3–6.

Physical samples (trade books)

Your review of the program will be entirely digital with the exception of the trade books that you will be receiving as physical samples. You can expect to receive 13 boxes of physical materials for your review. Twelve boxes of trade books, one for each grade K–5, in English and Spanish, and one box containing your Reviewer Binders.

As you begin the process of organizing your materials, please refer to the inventory checklist found inside each box as well as within your Reviewer Binder.

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  • Enter the username and password provided on your Digital Review Credential flyer.
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[Reviewer program navigation video] Grades K–5

[Reviewer program navigation video] Grade 6

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Category 1: English Language Arts (ELA) and English Language Development (ELD) content/alignment to standards

Evaluation Criteria Map

Linked below is the Evaluation Criteria Map. Please note that you will need to be logged into the digital platform to access the links in the Evaluation Criteria Map.

ELA Standards Maps

The links below provide the Standards Maps for Amplify California Language Arts for each grade level.

ELD Standards Maps

Category 2: Program organization

Amplify California Language Arts’ biliteracy program is a comprehensive curriculum provides a full year of evidence-based instruction for each grade level, with both integrated and designated English Language Development instruction designed to give multilingual/English learners the tools to thrive. Amplify’s biliteracy program for grades K–6 includes:

  • Core English language arts instruction: Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) California (grades K–5) and Amplify ELA California (grade 6) covering knowledge building and foundational skills.
    • Provides upper grade foundational skills instruction for grades 3–6.
  • Core Spanish language arts instruction: Amplify Caminos California, a fully parallel SLA program that works in tandem with English core instruction across all grades.
    • Provides upper grade foundational skills instruction for grades 3–6.
  • Designated English Language Development: Language Studio California is the designated English Language Development companion that directly aligns with and supports core English instruction. 
  • Newcomer Support: Amplify California Language Arts Newcomer Support to facilitate instruction for students who are new to both English and the United States.

Program structure

Amplify’s California Language Arts programs are built on what the research shows: Strong readers need both word recognition and language comprehension. Our comprehensive curriculum suite follows the Simple View of Reading bringing together foundational skills and knowledge building to deliver instruction grounded in the Science of Reading.

This model is integral to the structure of the Amplify biliteracy program, which directly aligns with the CA CCSS ELA and ELD standards by combining rigorous decoding and skills instruction with research-based knowledge and language development instruction. In its early grades, the Amplify biliteracy program uses a two-strand structure—Skills/Lectoescritura and Knowledge/Conocimiento—to effectively address this learning challenge while meeting standards expectations for both language development and academic content mastery.

Diagram with three orange squares labeled: "Language comprehension," "Word recognition," and "Skilled reading," connected by multiplication and equals signs, with Spanish headings above each square.

[Reviewer highlight video] Program organization for Category 2

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grades K–2

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grades 3–5

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grade 6

Amplify Caminos California lessons are designed to allow all students time to work toward learning objectives, including peer collaboration and discussion. Since each lesson activity is aligned to subsequent activities, students’ understanding and analysis develops progressively throughout the lesson.

Each lesson follows a predictable structure with clearly marked components, beginning with warm-up routines, progressing through explicit instruction with guided practice, and concluding with independent application activities. The program provides detailed teacher language, including question stems and discussion prompts, ensuring clear and consistent delivery of instruction.

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify Caminos California empower teachers to deliver effective instruction and keep students engaged with the following resources:

  • Teacher Guides
  • Assessment Guides
  • Authentic texts and trade books
  • Knowledge Image Cards
  • Knowledge Flip Books
  • Remediation and intervention resources
  • Decodable readers
  • Student Readers and novels
  • Student Activity Books
  • Dedicated ELD support with Language Studio California
  • Poet’s Journals
  • eReaders
  • Sound Library featuring articulation videos and songs
  • Instructional routine modeling videos
  • Assignable Practice Games
  • On-demand professional development

Amplify ELA California students stay engaged with the following resources:

  • Teacher Guides that include:
    • Detailed lesson plans
    • Standards alignment and exit tickets
    • Real-time differentiation strategies
    • Robust reporting
  • Student Editions that include:
    • High-quality narrative and informational texts
    • Videos, audio supports, and digital experiences that capture their attention
    • Personal Writing Journal to keep all student writing in one place
  • Dedicated ELD support with Language Studio California
  • Trade books

Core literacy philosophy

Support every learner. Meet all learning needs with a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) that brings together universal screening, scaffolded core instruction, support for multilingual/English learners, and data-driven intervention to ensure every student gets what they need to succeed.

Deliver consistent foundational skills instruction. Daily explicit, systematic skills instruction in grades K–2, with targeted yet flexible support for students still building decoding confidence in grades 3–6, ensures mastery of essential reading foundations.

Build lasting knowledge across all grades. Through coherently sequenced, content-rich instruction that revisits key vocabulary and concepts with increasing complexity, students build meaningful connections that deepen their vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Strengthen reading through writing at every level. Regular writing instruction grounded in the Science of Writing supports reading comprehension, improves sentence-level writing, and provides the foundation for high-quality composition. As students progress through the upper grades, they engage in increasingly complex analytical tasks—synthesizing ideas, drawing generalizations, and interpreting multiple textual layers through both focused quick-writes and comprehensive essays. 

Foster oral language development. Structured opportunities for academic conversation and evidence-based dialogue build students’ ability to express complex ideas with precision and allow them to participate confidently in classroom discussions.

Measure growth with comprehensive assessments. Assessments range from in-the-moment checks for understanding to summative assessments that measure progress toward skills mastery and standards proficiency, providing the data needed to drive targeted instruction.

Scope and sequence

Below you can view the scope and sequence documents for each grade level. 

Routines

Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, and Amplify ELA California include several structured instructional routines that provide predictable patterns for both teachers and students:

Discussion and collaboration routines:

  • Turn and Talk: Partners discuss text-specific content using sentence starters and frames
  • Think-Pair-Share: Students engage in individual thinking, partner discussion, and whole-class sharing
  • Partner reading: Students sit shoulder-to-shoulder, taking turns reading and listening

Foundational Skills routines:

  • Sound-spelling review: Warm-up activities that reinforce phonics patterns
  • Oral blending warm-ups: Teacher-guided practice progressing to independent application
  • Finger-tapping: Techniques for blending sounds
  • Chaining activities: Students manipulate letters to transform one word into another
  • Word Work: Daily short activities focused on domain-specific and academic vocabulary

Knowledge-building routines:

  • Teacher modeling: Demonstration of proper intonation, expression, and pacing
  • Choral reading: Whole-class reading practice
  • Partner reading: Paired fluency practice

Close reading routines

The program includes carefully structured close reading activities that guide students through multiple encounters with complex texts. These routines help students develop deeper comprehension through systematic analysis and discussion.

Each routine includes comprehensive instructional guides with clear-cut directions for implementation, straightforward explanations of concepts, and suggestions for discussion.

Cross-Linguistic Transfer routines

The Cross-Linguistic Transfer (CLT) routines are easy-to-implement, 10–15 minute mini-lessons designed to help bridge English and Spanish literacy and language development. These structured routines are organized by grade bands for K–2, grades 3–5 and grade 6, covering five skill areas:

  • Oral language
  • Reading
  • Vocabulary
  • Language
  • Writing

[Reviewer highlight video] Amplify’s program alignment to Cross-Linguistic Transfer criteria

Designated English Language Development materials

Language Studio California is a K–8 content-based companion for English language learners. Built on Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California’s carefully sequenced Knowledge Domains, it combines engaging content knowledge with targeted supports and research-based strategies to help students move swiftly toward language proficiency. This program includes:

  • Real-world content to provide authentic opportunities to practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
  • Scaffolding strategies and differentiated instruction to offer targeted support along five English proficiency levels.
  • Progress monitoring tools to help teachers provide consistent and effective support.
  • Teacher Guides that:
    • Provide impactful progress monitoring tools including formative and summative assessments, and Language Proficiency Assessment rubrics.
    • Offer varied differentiation strategies including Support, Challenge, and Access supports in each lesson segment.
    • Are organized into thoughtful lesson segments—Talk Time, Building Background, On Stage and more—that make learning objectives concrete.
  • Activities that:
    • Expand on domain knowledge from core content and read-alouds and prompt collaborative conversation to practice oral fluency.
    • Support hands-on language activities to promote authentic interaction in the classroom.
    • Help students bridge experiences and knowledge with images, vocabulary activities, graphic organizers, anticipation guides, writing space, and more.

Category 3: Assessments

Systematic MTSS alignment

In alignment with the additional 2025 Guidance 3.1.a, the assessment systems align with MTSS tiers, including universal screening, diagnostic assessments for students demonstrating a need for additional support, and progress monitoring tools that complement California’s required reading difficulties screening schedule per SB 114.

Tier 1:
Universal/ differentiated support		Tier 2: 
Supplemental/ targeted
support		Tier 3: 
Intensified/ intensive
support
Core instruction assessments





Frequency of administration		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, Amplify ELA California assessments

Daily, Weekly, Monthly		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, Amplify ELA California assessments

Daily, Weekly, Monthly		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, Amplify ELA California assessments

Daily, Weekly, Monthly
Universal screening assessments

Frequency of administration		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura


3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura


3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura


3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY
Formal progress monitoring assessments


Frequency of administration		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura



3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura



Monthly		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura



Bi-weekly
Informal progress monitoring assessments




Frequency of administration		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, Amplify ELA California core assessments

Daily		Intervention Toolkit progress monitoring assessments



When linked to a lesson in the toolkit		Intervention Toolkit progress monitoring assessments



When linked to a lesson in the toolkit
Diagnostic assessment







Frequency of administration		Amplify skill diagnostic assessment


Amplify Spanish skill diagnostic assessment

Optional after universal screening assessment is administered		Amplify skill diagnostic assessment


Amplify Spanish skill diagnostic assessment

After universal screening assessment is administered

Universal assessment system

Amplify’s mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition (K–8) and mCLASS Lectura (K–6) are universal and dyslexia screening assessments that should be administered three times per year (BOY, MOY, and EOY) to all students. The assessments evaluate student literacy risk, determine progress toward grade-level goals, and indicate the level of instructional  support a student may need. Beginning-of-year screenings require adequate instructional time before administration, particularly in grades K–1, while mid-year and end-of-year assessments evaluate instructional effectiveness and guide tier placement adjustments. These screenings also identify students at risk for dyslexia. Universal screening provides essential data for targeting instruction and measuring instructional system effectiveness.

Core instruction assessments

Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, and Amplify ELA California provide a comprehensive suite of assessments for grades K–6 that range from low-stakes, informal formative assessments to more formal summative assessments. These assessments incorporate a variety of methods and question types, including multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, and oral and written responses.

Formative assessments:

  • Checks for Understanding: Incorporated into each lesson segment throughout daily instruction. Quick pulse-checks that provide immediate feedback during lesson delivery (grades K–5). 
  • Daily formative assessments: Highlighted moments within each lesson for teachers to plan to track mastery of Primary Focus objectives and standards of each lesson to get a clear snapshot of individual and whole-class progress (grades K–5). 
  • Activity pages: Completed as part of lessons and can be used to assess lesson content understanding through various formats (grades K–5).
  • Exit Tickets: Located at the end of lessons, these provide a quick gauge of students’ ability to meet the lesson’s focus standards (grade 6).  
  • Writing Prompts: Prompts integrated throughout lessons during writing activities that provide skill snapshots within lessons and tracks patterns of skill development over time (grade 6).
  • Independent reading activities (Solos): At the end of every lesson, students complete an independent reading activity (“Solo”) with reading questions that are scored to measure comprehension (grade 6).

Summative assessments:

  • Skills end-of-unit assessments (grades K–2) 
  • Knowledge end-of-domain assessments (grades K–2) 
  • End-of-unit assessments (grades 3–5) 
  • Unit essays: A culminating end-of-unit set of lessons that guide students through crafting an essay with a rubric to score mastery of writing skills (grade 6)
  • Unit reading assessments: Auto-scored responses and two constructed response items evaluate comprehension, content understanding, and reading skills using the passages students read during the unit (grade 6)

Performance assessments

Student Performance Assessments are multi-day assessments administered in Grades K–5 at the beginning, middle, and end of year to help teachers gauge student mastery of grade-level Core content. These assessments provide critical data to help teachers set targeted instructional goals and monitor individual and class-wide progress towards core objectives.

Progress monitoring

Amplify’s mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura provide formal progress monitoring in the discrete skills that are indicative of reading growth and predictive of overall success to provide the most instructionally meaningful information to teachers.

Informal progress monitoring tools can be found within the Intervention Toolkit, including materials for teachers to record, track, and evaluate student progress.

Diagnostic assessment

Interventions within Amplify’s literacy programs are informed by a skill diagnostic assessment that provides detailed data on foundational literacy skill deficits. The Amplify Skill Diagnostic Assessment and Amplify Spanish Skill Diagnostic assessment serve as critical tools in this process, administered specifically to students identified as at risk for reading difficulty through universal screening assessments—particularly those demonstrating mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition or mCLASS Lectura composite scores in the Well Below or Below Benchmark ranges. These diagnostic assessments provide teachers with the precise skills to begin intervention and remediation.

Category 4: Universal Access

Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, and Amplify ELA California are developed using the Universal Design for Learning framework to proactively ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Universal Design for Learning

Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, and Amplify ELA California incorporate opportunities for engagement, representation, action, and expression based on the guidelines of Universal Design for Learning.

  • Multiple Means of Engagement: The programs incorporate interesting and motivating ways for students to interact with information and content. The Universal Access section in the introduction of each lesson provides specific lesson-level options based on the needs of individual classrooms and students. Scaffolding for students with various levels of need is incorporated into the design of each lesson.
  • Multiple Means of Representation: The programs provide multiple means of presenting content to maximize student understanding. This includes digital component files that allow for a range of presentations of images and text to support learning. Amplify provides access to universal supports such as point-of-use audio for all core texts, embedded definitions for critical vocabulary, and glossaries in multiple languages. The programs include clarification on language found throughout the program, with sidebars that include support on transition words and syntax, and illustrations to help students understand the concepts they are learning.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression: The programs include a range of methods for all students, including Multilingual/English Learners, to navigate and demonstrate learning. This includes physical actions, a range of methods for response, appropriate tools for composition, and varied scaffolding. Lessons provide multiple ways for students to interact with text, allowing their brains to process the language through distinct pathways. Activities harness multiple learning modes, using media tools, digital apps, and a variety of visual and physical experiences to strategically support and enhance student learning.
  • Accessibility: Universal access features include visual aids, enlarged materials, physical objects, and multiple learning modalities through activities like Push & Say and Wiggle Cards. The Universal Access section in the introduction of each lesson provides specific lesson-level options based on the needs of individual classrooms and students.

Embedded differentiation

Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, and Amplify ELA California provide built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students.

  • Pre-teaching supports include mini-lessons on:
    • Core vocabulary building
    • Core connections
    • Essential background information building
    • What Have We Already Learned?/What Do We Already Know?
  • Differentiated Support for Core Instruction tables, located in the overview of each K–2 Skills Teacher Guide, provide a list of specific opportunities for reteaching and additional support in each lesson based on skill.
  • Support and Challenge Sidebars in lesson margins offer educators immediate guidance in implementing point-of-use differentiation techniques.
  • Flexible Grouping within lessons provides opportunities for teachers to facilitate small groups, partners, or individualized support based on students’ needs. In the Skills Strand, teachers receive specific guidance for differentiated small group instruction, with targeted support and activities outlined for both Group 1 (students needing additional support) and Group 2 (on-level students) based on data. 
  • Amplify ELA California and Amplify Caminos California provide point-of-use supports embedded within key core lesson activities with six levels of differentiation. The goal of these supports is to fully enable access to grade-level content for all students, including students with disabilities, English learners, and students ready for an additional level of challenge.
  • The Universal Access section of Advance Preparation in each lesson includes varied strategies to ensure all students can access and engage in each lesson.
  • Frequent use of graphic organizers and visual supports in lessons provide opportunities for differentiation based on need. The program also includes a variety of technological supports, such as eReaders with audio.
  • Extension opportunities are suggested throughout lessons, often embedded in writing tasks, which include prompts to use more complex and descriptive vocabulary, figurative language,  multi-clause and complex sentences, and  informational text characteristics.

Assessment-driven MTSS resources

  • The K–6 Intervention Toolkit is available online and provides easy-to-use resources that assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ reading skills, with activities to support print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, and other key skills.
  • Fluency packets (Grades 2–6)
  • Foundational Skills Intervention Program for Grades 3–6 support students who would benefit from direct and explicit intervention instruction in the full continuum of foundational skills in the upper grades
  • Flexible Instructional Time including:
    • Pausing Points built into the curriculum that provide teachers with dedicated time to address specific student needs through targeted reteaching, remediation, practice, and extension activities 
    • Pausing Point activities designed to support multilingual/English learners’ competence and confidence through differentiated whole-group, small-group, or individual instruction
  • Boost Reading and Boost Lectura are student-led digital intervention programs that follow the scope and sequences of Amplify CKLA California and Amplify Caminos California respectively, to reinforce the same foundational skills taught in core instruction. It integrates easily into daily routines, while the robust data provided by mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition offers a detailed view of how students progress across all instructional tiers.

Category 5: Instructional Planning and Teacher Support

Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, and Amplify ELA California teachers are empowered to deliver effective instruction with various print and digital resources. The program provides comprehensive planning and support materials designed to help teachers prepare for and execute lessons effectively and fulfill the requirements of Category 5.

Implementation supports across K–6

Planning and preparation resources

  • Unit Overviews that provide important background and context for the texts students will read, including highlighted elements within the text and guidance for how students will work with those elements
  • Sub-unit Overviews (Grade 6) that provide an overview of Lesson Objectives and reading and writing assignments, as well as a list of any projections, multimedia, or digital apps that can be projected from the teacher’s included digital license
  • Lesson-by-lesson preparation checklists (Grade 6) accompanying each Sub-unit Overview
  • Lesson Briefs for each individual lesson providing important background and context
  • Content knowledge materials regarding topics that students will examine

Point-of-use instructional guidance

  • Teacher Editions that feature insets of the same text and activity instructions as the corresponding Student Edition, wrapping teacher instruction around these materials
  • Activity guidance at point of use
  • Lesson standards clearly called out
  • Discussion suggestions embedded in lessons
  • Differentiation tips at point of use
  • Detailed Instructional Guides in each activity that include sequencing and grouping suggestions, tips for facilitating discussion, possible student responses and exemplars
  • On-the-Fly supports (Grade 6)—quick call-outs to the identifying features of “on track” and “needs support” students accompanied by short models of student guidance to foster strong performance

Multimedia and digital support

  • Teacher tip videos provide modeling and guidance for implementing key foundational skills routines within the program
  • Digital platform access where teachers can access printable PDFs of differentiated support materials for multilingual/English learners and students struggling to read, including translated Unit Background and Context documents and Text Previews
  • Teacher Dashboard and reporting tools provide real-time visibility into student progress and work for immediate instructional response

Caregiver supports

Communication and overview resources

  • Caregiver Hub available in English and Spanish that provides an overview of the curriculum
  • Caregiver Letters for each K–2 Knowledge Domain and unit in Grades 3–5 that provide an overview of the content, the skills students learn, as well as practical methods that continue the learning and knowledge building at home
  • Unit-specific Caregiver Letters (Grade 6) that provide detailed information regarding what students will read and learn in each unit, including conversation starters that allow caregivers to ask questions and discuss specific aspects of a unit with their student
  • Welcome letters that explain the assessment and placement process while inviting parent involvement and offering support
  • Editable Home-School Communication letters available in English and Spanish
  • Editable Progress Reports for teachers to update parents and guardians on what their child is learning

Content and learning support materials

  • Unit Background and Context documents that provide an introduction and overview to the unit’s topic and themes, available in English and Spanish
  • Text Previews that provide a brief introduction to formative, independent reading assignments (called Solos in Grade 6), available in English and Spanish
  • Unit Overview and Support documents (Grade 6) designed for caregivers that provide information about important questions, assignments, and key aspects of the unit texts, available in English and Spanish
  • Conversation starters included in Knowledge Strand Caregiver Letters to discuss domain topics at home

Home practice and extension activities

  • Take-Home pages in the Skills Strand that include copies of decodable passages, enabling students to share their reading progress with families and continue practicing their skills outside of school
  • Take-Home Letters in the Skills Strand that provide specific guidance for parents to support skills practice at home, such as sound-sorting activities, with detailed instructions and materials for home practice activities
  • Take-Home pages in the Knowledge Strand that provide suggested activities families can do together to reinforce and extend learning beyond the classroom
  • Games and activities on Take-Home Pages that extend classroom instruction, including all the materials and instruction necessary to help families assist students in a fun and engaging way
  • Digital access to decodable texts through the Amplify Caregiver Hub, allowing students to practice their reading skills both in class and at home
  • Weekly spelling lists and directions to decoding activities that can be practiced at home

Welcome, K–8 Program 2 reviewers!

We’re honored to introduce you to Amplify California Language Arts. We’re confident you’ll find this comprehensive program to be a powerful tool for bringing the vision of the California ELA/ELD Framework to life in classrooms across the state.

Please start with the video on the right to learn how to navigate the program and access key features referenced within our submission. Below you’ll find additional resources to support your review.

Your review samples

We’re excited for you to begin your review of Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) California and Amplify ELA California, Language Studio California for grades K–8. Physical and digital review materials will vary by grade level.

Reviewer Binders (K–8)

Your physical samples should have arrived in grade-specific boxes with three Reviewer Binders.

  • The first binder will contain logistical program review information and the printed Evaluation Criteria Map.
  • The second binder will contain the printed Standards Maps for grades K–4.
  • The third binder will contain the printed Standards Maps for grades 5–8.

Physical samples (K–5)

You can expect to receive 15 boxes of physical materials for your review. As you begin the process of organizing your materials, please refer to the inventory checklist found inside each box as well as within your Reviewer Binder. Please note you will not receive any physical samples for grades 6–8 ELA or Language Studio for grades K-8. Your review of the program for grades 6–8 ELA and Language Studio for grades K-8 will be entirely digital.

Digital samples

In order to access your digital samples, you’ll need to log in to our platform using your unique login credentials found on a Digital Review Credential 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 Digital Review Credential flyer.
Digital Access

Navigation tips

Before you get started, please review these important functionality notes:

Criteria Map and Standards Maps must be opened on Microsoft Word on your desktop to function as intended. If you open the documents without Microsoft Word on your desktop, citations will be cut off at the bottom of most tables within the document.

Many of our citations are deep-links to PDFs, meaning they will take you to the right page or the first page in the sequence for the citation in question. To ensure this functionality works, please disable any PDF-viewing extensions or plug-ins such as Adobe Acrobat Pro Browser Extension.

[Reviewer program navigation video] Grades K–5

[Reviewer program navigation video] Grades 6–8

Click here for additional information on navigating the digital materials for grades 6–8.

Category 1: English Language Arts (ELA) and English Language Development (ELD) Content/Alignment to Standards

Evaluation Criteria Map

Linked below is the Evaluation Criteria Map for grades K–8. Please note that you will need to be logged into the digital platform to access the links in the Evaluation Criteria Map.

ELA Standards Maps

The links below provide the Standards Maps for Amplify California Language Arts for each grade level. Please note that you will need to be logged into the digital platform to access the links in the Standards Maps.

ELD Standards Maps

Category 2: Program Organization

The Amplify California Language Arts Program 2 submission includes Amplify CKLA California for Grades K–5, Amplify ELA California for Grades 6–8, and Amplify Language Studio California for Grades K–8. This comprehensive curriculum provides a full year of evidence-based instruction for each grade level, with both integrated and designated English Language Development instruction designed to give English learners the tools to thrive.

Program structure

Amplify’s California Language Arts programs are built on what the research shows: Strong readers need both word recognition and language comprehension. Our comprehensive curriculum suite follows the Simple View of Reading and The Reading Rope–bringing together foundational skills and knowledge building to deliver instruction grounded in the Science of Reading.

Flowchart illustrating skilled reading as the product of language comprehension and word recognition, grounded in the science of reading.
Diagram illustrating the interplay between language comprehension and word recognition in reading, as seen in early literacy stages. It highlights pathways through knowledge, vocabulary, and sentence understanding, reflecting principles from the CKLA reading program.

Each lesson follows a predictable structure with clearly marked components, beginning with warm-up routines, progressing through explicit instruction with guided practice, and concluding with independent application activities. The program provides detailed teacher language, including question stems and discussion prompts, ensuring clear and consistent delivery of instruction.

[Reviewer highlight video] Program organization for Category 2

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grades K–2

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grades 3–5

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grades 6–8

Amplify CKLA California empowers teachers to deliver effective instruction and keeps students engaged with with the following resources:

  • Teacher Guides
  • Assessment Guides
  • Authentic texts and trade books
  • Knowledge Image Cards
  • Knowledge Flip Books
  • Remediation and intervention resources
  • Decodable readers
  • Student Readers and novels
  • Student Activity Books
  • Dedicated ELD support with Language Studio California
  • Poet’s Journals
  • eReaders
  • Sound Library featuring articulation videos and songs
  • Instructional routine modeling videos
  • Assignable Practice Games
  • On-demand professional development

Amplify ELA California students stay engaged with the following resources:

  • Teacher Guides that include:
    • Detailed lesson plans
    • Standards alignment and exit tickets
    • Real-time differentiation strategies
    • Robust reporting
  • Student Editions that include:
    • High-quality narrative and informational texts
    • Videos, audio supports, and digital experiences that capture their attention
    • Personal Writing Journal to keep all student writing in one place
  • Dedicated ELD support with Language Studio California
  • Trade Books

Core literacy philosophy

Support every learner. Meet all learning needs with a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) that brings together universal screening, scaffolded core instruction, support for English learners, and data-driven intervention to ensure every student gets what they need to succeed.

Provide intentional ELD support. Honor students’ linguistic assets while building academic English through both integrated and designated instruction.

Deliver consistent foundational skills instruction. Daily explicit, systematic skills instruction in grades K–2, with targeted yet flexible support for students still building decoding confidence in grades 3–8, ensures mastery of essential reading foundations.

Build lasting knowledge across all grades. Through coherently sequenced, content-rich instruction that revisits key vocabulary and concepts with increasing complexity, students build meaningful connections that deepen their vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Strengthen reading through writing at every level. Regular writing instruction grounded in the Science of Writing supports reading comprehension, improves sentence-level writing, and provides the foundation for high-quality composition. As students progress through the upper grades, they engage in increasingly complex analytical tasks—synthesizing ideas, drawing generalizations, and interpreting multiple textual layers through both focused quick-writes and comprehensive essays. 

Foster oral language development. Structured opportunities for academic conversation and evidence-based dialogue build students’ ability to express complex ideas with precision and allow them to participate confidently in classroom discussions.

Measure growth with comprehensive assessments. Assessments range from in-the-moment checks for understanding to summative assessments that measure progress toward skills mastery and standards proficiency, providing the data needed to drive targeted instruction.

Scope and sequence

Below you can view the scope and sequence for each grade level. 

Routines

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California include several structured instructional routines that provide predictable patterns for both teachers and students:

Discussion and collaboration routines:

  • Turn and Talk: Partners discuss text-specific content using sentence starters and frames
  • Think-Pair-Share: Students engage in individual thinking, partner discussion, and whole-class sharing
  • Partner reading: Students sit shoulder-to-shoulder, taking turns reading and listening

Foundational Skills routines:

  • Sound-spelling review: Warm-up activities that reinforce phonics patterns
  • Oral blending warm-ups: Teacher-guided practice progressing to independent application
  • Finger-tapping: Techniques for blending sounds
  • Chaining activities: Students manipulate letters to transform one word into another
  • Word Work: Daily short activities focused on domain-specific and academic vocabulary

Knowledge-Building Routines:

  • Teacher modeling: Demonstration of proper intonation, expression, and pacing
  • Choral reading: Whole-class reading practice
  • Partner reading: Paired fluency practice

Close reading routines

The program includes carefully structured close reading activities that guide students through multiple encounters with complex texts. These routines help students develop deeper comprehension through systematic analysis and discussion.

Each routine includes comprehensive instructional guides with clear-cut directions for implementation, straightforward explanations of concepts, and suggestions for discussion.

Designated English Language Development materials

Language Studio California is a K–8 content-based companion for English language learners. Built on Amplify CKLA California’s and Amplify ELA California’s carefully sequenced Knowledge Domains and units, it combines engaging content knowledge with targeted supports and research-based strategies to help students move swiftly toward language proficiency. This program includes:

  • Real-world content to provide authentic opportunities to practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
  • Scaffolding strategies and differentiated instruction to offer targeted support along with five English proficiency levels.
  • Progress-monitoring tools to help teachers provide consistent and effective support.
  • Teacher Guides that:
    • Provide impactful progress monitoring tools including formative and summative assessments and Language Proficiency Assessment rubrics.
    • Offer varied differentiation strategies including Support, Challenge, and Access Supports in each lesson segment.
    • Are organized into thoughtful lesson segments—Talk Time, Building Background, On Stage and more—that make learning objectives concrete.
  • Activities that:
    • Expand on domain knowledge from core content and read-alouds and prompt collaborative conversation to practice oral fluency.
    • Support hands-on language activities to promote authentic interaction in the classroom.
    • Help students bridge experiences and knowledge with images, vocabulary activities, graphic organizers, anticipation guides, writing space, and more.

Category 3: Assessments

Systematic MTSS alignment

In alignment with the additional 2025 Guidance 3.1.a, the assessment systems align with MTSS tiers, including universal screening, diagnostic assessments for students demonstrating a need for additional support, and progress monitoring tools that complement the California’s required universal screening schedule per SB 114.

Tier 1:
Universal/ differentiated support		Tier 2: 
Supplemental/ targeted support		Tier 3: 
Intensified/ intensive support
Core instruction assessments





Frequency of administration		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, Amplify ELA California assessments

Daily, Weekly, Monthly		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, Amplify ELA California assessments

Daily, Weekly, Monthly		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, Amplify ELA California assessments

Daily, Weekly, Monthly
Universal screening assessments

Frequency of administration		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura


3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura


3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura


3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY
Formal progress monitoring assessments

Frequency of administration		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura



3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura



Monthly		mCLASS DIBELS and Lectura



Bi-weekly
Informal progress monitoring assessments




Frequency of administration		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify Caminos California, Amplify ELA California core assessments

Daily		Intervention Toolkit progress monitoring assessments




When linked to a lesson in the toolkit		Intervention Toolkit progress monitoring assessments




When linked to a lesson in the toolkit
Diagnostic assessment






Frequency of administration		Amplify skill diagnostic assessment

Amplify Spanish skill diagnostic assessment

Optional after universal screening assessment is administered		Amplify skill diagnostic assessment

Amplify Spanish skill diagnostic assessment

After universal screening assessment is administered

Universal assessment system

Amplify’s mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura are universal and dyslexia screening assessments that should be administered three times per year (BOY, MOY and EOY) to all students. The assessments evaluate student literacy risk, determine progress toward grade-level goals, and indicate the level of instructional  support a student may need. Beginning-of-year screenings require adequate instructional time before administration, particularly in grades K–1, while mid-year and end-of-year assessments evaluate instructional effectiveness and guide tier placement adjustments. These screenings also identify students at risk for dyslexia. Universal screening provides essential data for targeting instruction and measuring instructional system effectiveness.

Core instruction assessments

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California provide a comprehensive suite of assessments for Grades K–8 that range from low-stakes, informal formative assessments to more formal summative assessments. These assessments incorporate a variety of methods and question types, including multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, and oral and written responses.

Formative assessments:

  • Checks for Understanding: Incorporated into each lesson segment throughout daily instruction. Quick pulse-checks that provide immediate feedback during lesson delivery (grades K–5). 
  • Daily formative assessments: Highlighted moments within each lesson for teachers to plan to track mastery of Primary Focus objectives and standards of each lesson to get a clear snapshot of individual and whole-class progress (grades K–5). 
  • Activity pages: Completed as part of lessons and can be used to assess lesson content understanding through various formats (grades K–5).
  • Exit Tickets: Located at the end of lessons, these provide a quick gauge of students’ ability to meet the lesson’s focus standards (grades 6–8).  
  • Writing Prompts: Prompts integrated throughout lessons during writing activities that provide skill snapshots within lessons and tracks patterns of skill development over time (grades 6–8).
  • Independent reading activities (Solos): At the end of every lesson, students complete an independent reading activity (“solo”) with reading questions that are scored to measure comprehension (grades 6–8).

Summative assessments:

  • Skills end-of-unit assessments (grades K–2) 
  • Knowledge end-of-domain assessments (grades K–2) 
  • End-of-unit assessments (grades 3–5) 
  • Unit essays: A culminating end-of-unit set of lessons that guide students through crafting an essay with a rubric to score mastery of writing skills (grades 6–8)
  • Unit Reading Assessments: Auto-scored responses and two constructed response items evaluate comprehension, content understanding, and reading skills using the passages students read during the unit (grades 6–8)

Performance Assessments

Student Performance Assessments are multi-day assessments administered in Grades K-5 at the beginning, middle, and end of year to help teachers gauge student mastery of grade-level Core content. These assessments provide critical data to help teachers set targeted instructional goals and monitor individual and class-wide progress towards core objectives.

Progress monitoring

Amplify’s mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura provide formal progress monitoring in the discrete skills that are indicative of reading growth and predictive of overall success to provide the most instructionally meaningful information to teachers.

Informal progress monitoring tools can be found within the Intervention Toolkit, including materials for teachers to record, track, and evaluate student progress.

Diagnostic assessment

Interventions within Amplify’s literacy programs are informed by a skill diagnostic assessment that provides detailed data on foundational literacy skill deficits. The Amplify Skill Diagnostic Assessment and Amplify Spanish Skill Diagnostic assessment serve as critical tools in this process, administered specifically to students identified as at risk for reading difficulty through universal screening assessments—particularly those demonstrating mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition or mCLASS Lectura composite scores in the Well Below or Below Benchmark ranges. These diagnostic assessments provide teachers with the precise skills to begin intervention and remediation.

Category 4: Universal Access

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California were built on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and reviewed by CAST, a nonprofit education research and development organization. The program is developed using the Universal Design for Learning framework to proactively ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Universal Design for Learning

The programs incorporate opportunities for engagement, representation, action, and expression based on the guidelines of Universal Design for Learning.

  • Multiple Means of Engagement: The programs incorporate interesting and motivating ways for students to interact with information and content. In Amplify CKLA California, the Universal Access section in the introduction of each lesson provides specific lesson-level options based on the needs of individual classrooms and students. Scaffolding for students with various levels of need is incorporated into the design of each lesson.
  • Multiple Means of Representation: The programs provide multiple means of presenting content to maximize student understanding. This includes digital component files that allow for a range of presentations of images and text to support learning. Amplify provides access to universal supports such as point-of-use audio for all core texts, embedded definitions for critical vocabulary, and glossaries in multiple languages. Amplify CKLA California includes clarification on language found throughout the program, with sidebars that include support on transition words and syntax, and illustrations to help students understand the concepts they are learning.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression: The programs include a range of methods for all students, including English Learners, to navigate and demonstrate learning. This includes physical actions, a range of methods for response, appropriate tools for composition, and varied scaffolding. In Amplify ELA California, lessons provide multiple ways for students to interact with text, allowing their brains to process the language through distinct pathways. Activities harness multiple learning modes, using media tools, digital apps, and a variety of visual and physical experiences to strategically support and enhance student learning.
  • Accessibility: Universal access features include visual aids, enlarged materials, physical objects, and multiple learning modalities through activities like Push & Say and Wiggle Cards. The Universal Access section in the introduction of each lesson provides specific lesson-level options based on the needs of individual classrooms and students.

Embedded differentiation

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California provide built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students.

Throughout the Teacher Guides, point-of-use Differentiation icons provide targeted instructional strategies and supports. These icons indicate specific guidance for advanced learners, students who need additional support, and English learners, allowing teachers to easily identify and implement appropriate scaffolds and extensions during instruction. In addition, teachers are provided with recommendations for resources to use with each group of students.

  • Pre-teaching supports include mini-lessons on:
    • Core vocabulary words
    • Core Connections
    • Essential Background Information or Terms
    • What Have We Already Learned/What Do We Already Know?
  • Differentiated Support for Core Instruction tables, located in the overview of each K–2 Skills Teacher Guide, provide a list of specific opportunities for reteaching and additional support in each lesson based on skill.
  • Support and Challenge Sidebars in lesson margins offer educators immediate guidance in implementing point-of-use differentiation techniques.
  • Flexible Grouping within lessons provides opportunities for teachers to facilitate small groups, partners, or individualized support based on students’ needs. In the Skills Strand, teachers receive specific guidance for differentiated small-group instruction, with targeted support and activities outlined for both Group 1 (students needing additional support) and Group 2 (on-level students) based on data. 
  • Amplify ELA California provides point-of-use supports embedded within key core lesson activities with six levels of differentiation. The goal of these supports is to fully enable access to grade-level content for all students, including students with disabilities, English learners, and students ready for an additional level of challenge.
  • The Universal Access section of Advance Preparation in each lesson includes varied strategies to ensure all students can access and engage in each lesson.
  • Frequent use of graphic organizers and visual supports in lessons provide opportunities for differentiation based on need. The program also includes a variety of technological supports, such as eReaders with audio.
  • Extension opportunities are suggested throughout lessons, often embedded in writing tasks, which include prompts to use more complex and descriptive vocabulary, figurative language,  multi-clause and complex sentences, and  informational text characteristics.

Assessment-Driven MTSS resources

  • The K–8 Intervention Toolkit is available online and provides easy-to-use resources that assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ reading skills, with activities to support print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, and other key skills
  • Fluency Packets (Grades 2–5)
  • Foundational Skills Intervention Program for Grades 3–8 support students who would benefit from direct and explicit intervention instruction in the full continuum of foundational skills in the upper grades
  • Flexible Instructional Time including:
    • Pausing Points built into the curriculum that provide teachers with dedicated time to address specific student needs through targeted reteaching, remediation, practice, and extension activities 
    • Pausing Point activities designed to support English learners’ competence and confidence through differentiated whole-group, small-group, or individual instruction
  • Boost Reading is a K–5 student-led digital intervention program. Boost Reading follows Amplify CKLA California’s scope and sequence to reinforce the same foundational skills taught in core instruction. It integrates easily into daily routines, while the robust data provided by mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition offers a detailed view of how students progress across all instructional tiers.

Category 5: Instructional Planning and Teacher Support

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California teachers are empowered to deliver effective instruction with various print and digital resources. The program provides comprehensive planning and support materials designed to help teachers prepare for and execute lessons effectively and fulfill the requirements of Category 5.

Implementation supports across K–8

Planning and preparation resources

  • Unit Overviews that provide important background and context for the texts students will read, including highlighted elements within the text and guidance for how students will work with those elements
  • Sub-unit Overviews (Grades 6–8) that provide an overview of Lesson Objectives and reading and writing assignments, as well as a list of any projections, multimedia, or digital apps that can be projected from the teacher’s included digital license
  • Lesson-by-lesson preparation checklists (Grades 6–8) accompanying each Sub-unit Overview
  • Lesson Briefs for each individual lesson providing important background and context
  • Content knowledge materials regarding topics that students will examine

Point-of-use instructional guidance

  • Teacher Editions that feature insets of the same text and activity instructions as the corresponding Student Edition, wrapping teacher instruction around these materials
  • Activity guidance at point of use
  • Lesson standards clearly called out
  • Discussion suggestions embedded in lessons
  • Differentiation tips at point of use
  • Detailed Instructional Guides in each activity that include sequencing and grouping suggestions, tips for facilitating discussion, possible student responses and exemplars
  • Student Supports in all core lessons that provide teachers with targeted supports in daily core instruction, addressing which might serve the student best in the moment—support, strengthen, stretch—with additional call-outs for newcomers

Multimedia and digital support

  • Teacher tip videos provide modeling and guidance for implementing key foundational skills routines within the program
  • Digital platform access where teachers can access printable PDFs of differentiated support materials for English learners and students struggling with reading, including translated Unit Background and Context documents and Text Previews
  • Teacher dashboard and reporting tools (Grade 6–8) provide real-time visibility into student progress and work for immediate instructional response

Caregiver supports

Communication and overview resources

  • Caregiver Hub available in English and Spanish that provides an overview of the curriculum
  • Caregiver Letters for each K–2 Knowledge Domain and unit in Grades 3–5 that provide an overview of the content, the skills students learn, as well as practical methods that continue the learning and knowledge building at home
  • Unit-specific Caregiver Letters (Grades 6–8) that provide detailed information regarding what students will read and learn in each unit, including conversation starters that allow caregivers to ask questions and discuss specific aspects of a unit with their student
  • Welcome letters that explain the assessment and placement process while inviting parent involvement and offering support
  • Editable Home-School Communication letters available in English and Spanish
  • Editable Progress Reports for teachers to update parents and guardians on what their child is learning

Content and learning support materials

  • Unit Background and Context documents that provide an introduction and overview to the unit’s topic and themes, available in English and Spanish
  • Text Previews that provide a brief introduction to formative, independent reading assignments (called Solos in Grades 6–8), available in English and Spanish
  • Unit Overview and Support documents (Grades 6–8) designed for caregivers that provide information about important questions, assignments, and key aspects of the unit texts, available in English and Spanish
  • Conversation starters included in Knowledge Strand Caregiver Letters to discuss domain topics at home

Home practice and extension activities

  • Take-Home pages in the Skills Strand that include copies of decodable passages, enabling students to share their reading progress with families and continue practicing their skills outside of school
  • Take-Home Letters in the Skills Strand that provide specific guidance for parents to support skills practice at home, such as sound-sorting activities, with detailed instructions and materials for home practice activities
  • Take-Home pages in the Knowledge Strand that provide suggested activities families can do together to reinforce and extend learning beyond the classroom
  • Games and activities on take-home pages that extend classroom instruction, including all the materials and instruction necessary to help families assist students in a fun and engaging way
  • Digital access to decodable texts through the Amplify Caregiver Hub, allowing students to practice their reading skills both in class and at home
  • Weekly spelling lists and directions to decoding activities that can be practiced at home

A digital reading intervention that delivers growth across every tier of instruction

Boost Reading is a student-led K–5 digital intervention, built on the Science of Reading, that delivers systematic instruction. Students receive targeted, adaptive practice that meets them where they are, while teachers get simple and meaningful insights into student progress without extra work. Fully aligned to Amplify CKLA and mCLASS®, Boost Reading brings powerful support to every tier of instruction. Para la versión en español, haga clic aquí.

A young girl wearing headphones smiles while using a laptop, with colorful graphics and badges indicating "Moderate ESSA Evidence" and "Built on the Science of Reading," highlighting a K–5 personalized reading curriculum.

Proven impact for students who need it most

Boost Reading meets ESSA’s Moderate (Tier 2) Evidence criteria and consistently moves students who score below and well-below benchmark toward benchmark with just 30 minutes of use per week. Boost Reading provides extra support to students (including multilingual/English learners and students with dyslexia) struggling with reading, with practice that builds a strong foundation for future reading success from the ground up. Learn more about the program’s impact on the Boost Reading research page.

Nearly 65% of kindergarten students who started the year at risk and used Boost Reading reached benchmark by the end of the year, compared to 48% of the comparison group.

Learn more

English language learners who started the year below benchmark were 43% more likely to finish the year on track compared to those who did not use Boost Reading.
“My students love the program, and they don’t even realize they are learning some tough concepts. Their reading scores are improving even since the beginning of the year.”

Amber

Junior High ELA teacher, California

Critical to MTSS with differentiated support for every learner

Boost Reading adapts automatically, so students practice the right skills at the right moment. Tier 2 students get meaningful independent intervention support, while Tier 3 students receive additional skill reinforcement between their staff-led sessions with mCLASS Intervention. Boost Reading follows the same foundational skills sequence as Amplify CKLA, which means that students practice skills unique to them, making Boost Reading an effective part of a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS).

Split image: On the left, a girl uses a laptop with the label “Tier 2 Student-led intervention” featuring a K–5 personalized reading curriculum. On the right, a teacher assists two boys with laptops, labeled “Tier 3 staff-led intervention.”.

Data you can actually use in your classroom

Boost Reading shows you exactly what you need to know about student progress, through simple growth reporting on the Teacher Dashboard. See who’s improving, who needs support, and which skills to target next without having to spend time digging through complicated data.

Aligned to Amplify CKLA and mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition

Boost Reading follows Amplify CKLA’s scope and sequence, making it easy to integrate into your daily routines by reinforcing the same skills you’re already teaching. It uses mCLASS DIBELS® 8th Edition data to provide targeted support and placement, giving teachers a clear view of how students progress across all instructional tiers.

Three text boxes display the names of K–5 literacy resources: "Boost Reading," "Amplify CKLA," and "mCLASS," with the words "Boost," "Amplify," and "mCLASS" in orange font.
Oso de dibujos animados jugando al fútbol, pateando una pelota con la etiqueta "ma", con burbujas de discurso que dicen "¡hola!" en español e inglés, al lado de una portería con un letrero "Currículo de lectura personalizado para jardín de infantes a 5.º grado".

Closing the gap for
K–2 multilingual/English learners

Boost Reading’s Spanish literacy partner, Boost Lectura, strengthens early literacy for Spanish-speaking multilingual/English learners. When used together, the two programs give teachers side-by-side insight into skill progression in Spanish and English, helping accelerate learning across both languages.

Boost Reading efficacy study

Closing the literacy gap for K–5 students

Download now

What’s included

A dashboard section titled "Trouble Spots" lists students under "Early Decoding" by skill, showing names and resource links for decoding and spelling word skills from a K–5 personalized reading curriculum.

Pinpoint the skills that need your attention

The Trouble Spots section makes it easy to see which students are struggling and what skills they need to work on. Printable, ready-to-teach lessons allow you to pull together small groups in minutes.

Watch your students grow

Never miss a moment of your students’ literacy development, with monthly growth reporting! You’ll be able to track how students are developing skills month over month, and see their reading trajectory unfold.

Line graph titled "Monthly Growth" shows three risk categories—At Risk, Some Risk, Minimal Risk—from September to January. Visualize student progress using this K–5 personalized reading curriculum as your supplemental reading curriculum.
A chart compares Student 1, who demonstrates mastery in decoding blends, with Student 2, who needs targeted practice and reinforcement to decode words with blends using a K–5 personalized reading curriculum.

A program that grows with your students

Boost Reading continuously tailors instruction based on individual student performance. That means scaffolding foundational skills while building proficiency, one engaging activity at a time. There’s no stalled practice, and you’ll see steady progress across key reading skills.

Benchmark and growth assessments

Boost Reading combines built-in benchmark assessments with monthly skill scans to give teachers a holistic view of progress from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. The monthly skill scans act as check-ins between benchmark windows, so you’ll always know where students stand with a complete picture of their learning.

A chart titled "Benchmark Performance" shows equal 25% scores for four categories at the beginning and middle of the year when using a K–5 personalized reading curriculum; no data is available for end of year.
A flow chart shows language comprehension and word recognition strands merging into skilled reading, highlighting progression from basic to advanced skills—a clear visual for any K–5 literacy resource.

Science of Reading scope and sequence

Boost Reading introduces skills in the order research shows students learn best. Phonological awareness builds into phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension for a solid foundation and confident readers.

Administrator and caregiver reports

Administrators and caregivers are welcomed into the student reading journey with data on program usage, reading progress, and skill mastery.

Pie chart titled "Grades 2–5 Growth" shows 45% below, 31% typical, and 24% above. Legend explains growth percentiles for a K–5 personalized reading curriculum: above, typical, below.
Insignia de premio con el texto "Premios de excelencia en tecnología y aprendizaje 2023, regreso a clases, ganador del plan de estudios de lectura personalizado K-5".

Award-winning technology that drives student growth

Learn more

Explore more programs based on the Science of Reading.

All of the programs in our literacy suite are designed to support and complement each other. Learn more about our related programs:

An astronaut floats in space, surrounded by twinkling stars and distant planets. A speech bubble displaying oo/ adds a playful touch, reminiscent of a core knowledge language arts curriculum adventure among the galaxies.

Amplify CKLA

The leading K–5 Science of Reading literacy program that integrates foundational…

Teacher looking at tablet with student

mCLASS

Amplify’s mCLASS is the gold-standard universal and dyslexia screener grounded i…

Boost Lectura dog kicking soccer ball

Boost Lectura

Boost Lectura is a spanish literacy instruction program based on the Science of…

See all programs

Setting up your session for success

We know your time is valuable. This site is designed to help you quickly select the right professional development topics for your team and gather the step-by-step guidance you need for a successful session.

Quick Navigation Tips:

  • Find your program: Click any program in the sidebar to expand and explore its specific session topics and online courses.
  • Reset your view: To see the full list of programs again, simply click the “Return to Top” arrow in the bottom right corner or scroll past your current selection.

Preparation checklist

A circular arrow surrounds a checkmark inside a square, with a blue shadow on the right side, representing a completed or approved process.

To make the most of your learning plan, follow the directions below. They’ll guide you through preparing your participants, location, and support for your Launch and Strengthen sessions. (Your PLS will support you in building your Coaching session.)

Onsite sessions

Prepare your participants

Communicate session details with participants:

  • Session time & location
  • Session objectives and topics using the agendas on this page
  • Materials required:
    • A charged device that meets Amplify’s tech requirements
    • Personal Amplify login (if available)
    • Participant notebook (This will be shipped to you or you will receive a PDF attachment in your confirmation email.)

Prepare your space

  • Select a location with a strong internet connection.
  • Mark this location clearly for participants and your PLS.
  • Provide Wi-Fi details for participants and your PLS.
  • Set up a projector and screen with audio.

Plan your support

  • Designate a tech lead to address connectivity issues and provide login and navigation support during the session.
  • For your PLS, share your contact information in case of emergencies and any special directions for accessing the location.
  • Inform your PLS if you did not receive enough participant notebooks.
Remote sessions

Prepare your participants

Communicate session details with participants:

  • Session time & remote meeting link
  • Session objectives and topics using the agendas on this page
  • Materials required:
    • A charged device that meets Amplify’s tech requirements
    • Personal Amplify login (if available)
    • Participant notebook (This will be shipped to you or you will receive a PDF attachment in your confirmation email.)

Prepare your remote space

  • Plan for participants to join from individual devices from separate locations (highly recommended).
  • If participants share a room, they must still use individual devices to fully engage.
    • To prevent audio feedback join using Google Meet’s Companion mode.
    • If using another platform, use headphones or ensure all but one device in the room has its microphone and speakers fully muted.

Plan your support

  • For your PLS, share your remote setup plan.
  • Designate a tech lead to address connectivity issues and provide login and navigation support during the session.

Select your program

Use the sidebar to select your program and explore the objectives and topics covered in your session or online course.

Amplify Caminos

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationAmplify Caminos 1st Edition agendasAmplify Caminos 3rd Edition agendasAmplify Caminos California Edition agendas
Initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Grade 6
ELA + Caminos
Skills Strand initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2
K–2K–2
Knowledge Strand initial training for teachers6 hoursK–23–5K–2
Program overview for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Grade 6
Knowledge strand program overview for teachers3 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Skills Strand program overview for teachers3 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Program overview for leaders3 hoursK–5PreK–5TK–5
Skills supplement training for teachers1 hour3–53–6
Transition training for teachers to 3rd Edition1 hourK–2
3–5
Skills Strand
Knowledge Strand

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationAmplify Caminos 1st Edition agendasAmplify Caminos 3rd Edition agendas
Coming soon!		Amplify Caminos California Edition agendas
Coming soon!
Enhancing planning for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Grade 6
Enhancing practice for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Grade 6
Writing for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5
Student engagement for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Grade 6
ELA + Caminos Grade 6
Supporting all learners for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Pacing for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Grade 6
ELA + Caminos Grade 6
Enhancing observations for leaders3 hoursGrade 6
Grading and assessment for teachers1 hourGrade 6
ELA + Caminos Grade 6

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Amplify CKLA

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationAmplify CKLA 2nd Edition agendasAmplify CKLA 3rd Edition agendasAmplify CKLA Florida Edition agendasAmplify CKLA California Edition agendas
Initial training for teachers6 hoursPreK
K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		Transitional Kindergarten (TK)
K–2
3–5
Skills Strand initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Knowledge Strand initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Program overview for teachers3 hoursPreK
K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		TK
K–2
3–5
Skills Strand program overview for teachers3 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Knowledge Strand program overview for teachers3 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Program overview for leaders3 hoursPreK–5PreK–5K–5PreK–5
Transition training for teachers1 hourK–2
3–5
Skills Strand transition training for teachers1 hourK–2
Knowledge Strand transition training for teachers1 hourK–2
Skills supplement training for teachers1 hourGrade 3Grade 33–8

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationAmplify CKLA 2nd Edition agendasAmplify CKLA 3rd Edition agendasAmplify CKLA Florida Edition agendasAmplify CKLA California Edition agendas
Coming soon!
Enhancing planning for teachers3 hoursPreK
K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		TK
K–2
3–5
Enhancing practice for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
Maximizing impact: Data-informed remediation with the ARG for teachers3 hoursK–2K–2K–2
3–5
Maximizing impact: Data-informed remediation with the ARG/DERG for teachers3 hours3–53–5
Writing for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5		Coming soon!
K–2
3–5
Enhancing observations for leaders3 hoursK–5K–5K–5K–5
Student engagement for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Supporting all learners for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Pacing for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition + mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Data driven instruction for teachers3 hoursComing soon!

Amplify CKLA companion programs

Session topicDurationAmplify CKLA 3rd Edition agendas
Writing Studio companion training for teachers3 hoursK–5
Language Studio companion training for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5
Language Studio California Edition companion training for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Amplify CKLA + Caminos

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationAmplify CKLA 2nd Edition + Amplify Caminos 1st Edition agendasAmplify CKLA/Caminos 3rd edition agendasAmplify CKLA/Caminos California Edition agendas
Initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Skills Strand initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Knowledge Strand initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Program overview for leaders3 hoursPreK–5PreK–5TK–5
Transition training for teachers to 3rd Edition1 hourK–2
3–5
Skills Strand
Knowledge Strand

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationAmplify CKLA 2nd Edition + Amplify Caminos 1st Edition agendasAmplify CKLA/Caminos 3rd Edition agendas
Coming soon!		Amplify CKLA/Caminos California Edition agendas
Coming soon!
Enhancing planning for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Enhancing practice for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Writing for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5
Student engagement for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Supporting all learners for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Pacing for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Amplify Desmos Math

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationAmplify Desmos Math agendasAmplify Desmos Math California Edition agendas
Initial training for teachers6 hoursK–5
6–A1
High school
Program overview for teachers3 hoursPreK/TK
K–5
6–A1
High school		PreK/TK
High school
Program overview for leaders3 hoursK–5
6–A1
High school		High school

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationAmplify Desmos Math agendasAmplify Desmos Math California Edition agendas
Coming soon!
Supporting all learners for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–A1
Enhancing observations for leaders3 hoursK–A1High school
Enhancing planning for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–A1
High school
Enhancing practice for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–A1
High school
Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard for teachers1 hour6–A1
Teaching a lesson with digital student screens for teachers1 hourK–5
Unit-level planning for teachers1 hourK–5
6–A1
High school
Supporting and facilitating meaningful discourse for teachers3 hoursComing soon!K–5
6–A1/M1
High school
Assessment in action: Analyzing data, reports, and planning next steps for teachers3 hoursComing soon!K–5
6–A1/M1
Increasing engagement with instructional routines for teachers3 hoursComing soon!

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Amplify ELA

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationAmplify ELA 2nd Edition agendasAmplify ELA Florida Edition agendasAmplify ELA California Edition agendas
Initial training for teachers6 hours6–86–8Grade 6
ELA + Caminos
Program overview for teachers3 hours6–86–8Grade 6
Program overview for leaders3 hours6–86–8ELA + Caminos

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationAmplify ELA 2nd Edition agendasAmplify ELA California Edition agendas
Coming soon!
Enhancing planning for teachers3 hours6–86–8
ELA + Caminos Grade 6
Enhancing practice for teachers3 hours6–86–8
ELA + Caminos Grade 6
Writing: Improving through feedback for teachers3 hours6–8
Supporting all learners for teachers3 hours6–8
Data-informed instruction for teachers3 hours6–8
Enhancing observations for leaders3 hours6–86–8
ELA + Caminos Grade 6
Teaching with print and digital for teachers1 hour6–8
Lesson planning for teachers1 hour6–8
Pacing for teachers1 hour6–86–8
Increasing student engagement for teachers1 hour6–86–8
Grading and assessment for teachers1 hour6–86–8

Amplify ELA companion programs

Session topicDurationAmplify ELA Language Studio California Edition agenda
Amplify ELA California 6–8 Language Studio companion for teachers3 hoursAgenda

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Amplify Math

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationAmplify Math agendas
Initial training for teachers6 hoursGrade 6–Algebra 1
Geometry–Algebra 2
Program overview for teachers3 hoursGrade 6–Algebra 1
Geometry–Algebra 2
Program overview for leaders3 hoursGrade 6–Algebra 1
Geometry–Algebra 2

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationAmplify Math agendas
Enhancing planning for teachers3 hoursAgenda
Enhancing practice for teachers3 hoursAgenda
Addressing prerequisite skills for teachers3 hoursAgenda
Using differentiation supports for teachers3 hoursAgenda
Using data to drive instruction for teachers3 hoursAgenda
Orchestrating math discussions for teachers3 hoursAgenda
Enhancing observations for leaders3 hoursAgenda
Lesson-level planning for teachers1 hourAgenda
Unit-level planning for teachers1 hourAgenda
Increasing engagement with instructional routines for teachers1 hourAgenda
Building language with math routines for teachers1 hourAgenda

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Amplify Science

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationAmplify Science agendas
Initial training for teachers6 hoursK–5
6–8
Program overview for teachers3 hoursTK
K–5
6–8
Program overview for leaders3 hoursK–5
6–8

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationAmplify Science agendas
Enhancing planning for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8
Enhancing practice for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8
Supporting all learners with complex texts for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8
Supporting multilingual/English learners for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8
Writing in science for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8
Engineering Internship for teachers3 hoursGrade 6–Metabolism
Grade 7–Plate Motion
Grade 8–Force and Motion
Science Seminar for teachers3 hours6–8
Enhancing observations for leaders3 hoursK–5
6–8
Assessment system for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8
Enhancing the digital experience for teachers1 hourK–5
Planning with the Coherence Flowchart for teachers1 hourK–8
Planning an Amplify Science lesson for teachers1 hourK–8
Supporting all learners: Exploring the resources for teachers1 hourK–8
Supporting all learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse for teachers1 hourK–8
Supporting all learners: Multimodal instruction for teachers1 hourK–8
Analyzing student work for teachers1 hourK–8
Unit Materials Kits and prep for teachers1 hourK–8
Grading with Amplify Science for teachers1 hourK–8

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Boost Literacy

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationBoost ReadingBoost Close ReadingBoost LecturaBoost Reading/ Lectura
Getting started for teachers2 hoursK–56–8K–2K–2
Getting started for leaders2 hoursK–5

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationBoost ReadingBoost Close Reading
Maximizing data for teachers1 hourK–56–8

Online courses

Online courses prepare teachers to implement Boost Literacy programs.

Course topicBoost ReadingBoost Close ReadingBoost Lectura
Getting started for teachersK–56–8K–2
Getting started for leadersK–5

mCLASS® Intervention

mCLASS Intervention sessions

Session topicDurationmCLASS Intervention agendas
Initial training for interventionists and coordinators6 hoursK–6

mCLASS Intervention Universal sessions

Session topicDurationAgendas
Initial training + DIBELS 8th Edition:
Administration and scoring training for interventionists and coordinators		9 hoursK–6

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Online courses

Online courses prepare teachers to administer and score mCLASS Literacy programs.

Course topicCourse overviews
Program overview for interventionistsK–6

mCLASS Literacy

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationmCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition agendasmCLASS Lectura agendasmCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/mCLASS Lectura agendasLouisiana K–3 Literacy Screener agendas
Administration and instruction essentials for teachers6 hoursK–8K–6 English
K–6 Spanish		K–8K–3
Administration and scoring training for teachers3 hoursK–8K–6 English
K–6 Spanish		K–3
Administration and reporting training for leaders3 hoursK–8K–6K–8

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationmCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition agendasmCLASS Lectura agendasmCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/ mCLASS Lectura agendasLouisiana K–3 Literacy Screener agendas
Creating a data-driven classroom for teachers3 hoursK–8K–6K–8K–3
Building a data-driven culture for leaders3 hoursK–8K–6K–8K–3
Assessing with fidelity for teachers1 hourK–8K–6K–8K–3
Reporting and instruction basics for teachers1 hourK–8K–6K–8
Progress monitoring for teachers1 hourK–8K–6K–8K–3
Goal setting and growth outcomes for teachers1 hourK–8K–6K–8K–3
Reporting basics for leaders1 hourK–8K–6K–8K–3

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.PLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Online courses

Online courses prepare teachers to administer and score mCLASS Literacy programs.

Course topicmCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition overviewsmCLASS Lectura overviewsLouisiana K–3 Literacy Screener overviewsmCLASS Literacy North Carolina overviewsmCLASS Lectura North Carolina overviewsPaper DIBELS 8th Edition overviews
Administration and instruction essentials for teachersK–8K–6K–3K–6
K–6
Calibration training for teachersK–8
Coming soon!		K–8
Coming soon!
Transition training for DDS teachersK–8
Administration and scoring training for DDS teachersK–8
Administration and reporting training for leadersK–3

mCLASS Math & Boost Math

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationmCLASS Math 2nd Edition agendasCalifornia Edition agendas
Program overview for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8		K–5
6–8
Program overview for leaders3 hoursK–8K–8

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationmCLASS Math 2nd Edition agendasCalifornia Edition agendas
Student thinking and instructional next steps for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8		K–5
6–8
mCLASS Math + Boost Math: Understanding and using data to plan intervention3 hoursK–5
6–8		K–5
6–8
Leveraging assessment data to strengthen mathematical thinking for teachers1 hourK–5
6–8

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsResource
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching session.Coming soon!
2. If you select any PLC or grade-level meetings, select topics for those meetings.Coming soon!

Online courses

Online courses prepare teachers to administer and score mCLASS Literacy programs.

Course topicCourse overviews
Program overview and instructional next steps for teachersComing soon!

General sessions

Amplify Classroom

Amplify Classroom sessions build expertise in Activity Builder to design, organize, and facilitate engaging digital activities.

Session topicDurationAmplify Classroom agendas
Facilitating and building activities in Amplify Classroom for teachers6 hoursAgenda
Introduction to Amplify Classroom activities for teachers3 hoursAgenda
Building activities in Amplify Classroom for teachers3 hoursAgenda

Multilingual/English learners

Multilingual/English learners sessions align instruction with best practices for multilingual reading and writing development.

Session topicDurationMultilingual/English learners agendas
Build your knowledge of multilingual/English learners 90 minutesAgenda
Deepen your knowledge of multilingual/English learners3 hoursAgenda

Problem-based math

Problem-based math sessions identify actionable strategies that build students’ conceptual understanding while developing a sense of joy in learning math

Session topicDurationProblem-based math agendas
Build knowledge of problem-based math for teachers
90 minutesK–5
6–8
High school–Coming soon!
Deepen knowledge of problem-based math for teachers3 hoursK–5
6–8
High school–Coming soon!

Science of Reading

Science of Reading sessions examine the connections between literacy and the brain to align instructional practices with models that develop skilled reading and writing.

Session topicDurationScience of Reading agendas
Build your knowledge of the Science of Reading90 minutesK–5
Deepen your knowledge of the Science of Reading3 hoursK–5

Texas programs

Select your program from the sidebar to explore its sessions.

Amplify Desmos Math Texas sessions

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationmCLASS Math 2nd Edition agendas
Supporting and facilitating meaningful discourse for teachers3 hoursComing soon!
Assessment in action: Analyzing data, reports, and planning next steps for teachers3 hoursComing soon!

Amplify Texas ELAR & SLAR

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationAmplify Texas ELAR agendasAmplify Texas ELAR + SLAR agendasAmplify Texas SLAR agendas
Initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2
3–5
6–8		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Skills Strand initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Knowledge Strand initial training for teachers6 hoursK–2K–2K–2
Program overview for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5
6–8		K–2
3–5
Program overview for leaders3 hoursK–5
6–8		K–5
Skills Strand program overview for teachers3 hoursK–2K–2
Knowledge Strand program overview for teachers3 hoursK–2K–2

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationAmplify Texas ELAR agendasAmplify Texas ELAR + SLAR agendasAmplify Texas SLAR agendas
Enhancing planning for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5
6–8		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Enhancing practice for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5
6–8		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Writing for teachers3 hoursK–2
3–5		K–2
3–5		K–2
3–5
Enhancing observations for leaders3 hoursK–5
6–8
Supporting all learners for 6–8 teachers3 hours6–8
Data-informed instruction for teachers3 hours6–8
Student engagement for teachers1 hourK–5
6–8		K–5K–5
Supporting all learners for teachers1 hourK–5K–5K–5
Teaching with print and digital for teachers1 hour6–8
Lesson planning for teachers1 hour6–8
Pacing for teachers1 hourK–5
6–8		K–5K–5
Grading and assessment for teachers1 hour6–8

Coach sessions

Coach sessions can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning. Use the resources to build your coaching session.

DirectionsELAR resourcesELAR + SLAR resources
1. Select agenda items to build your coaching sessionCoaching agenda optionsCoaching agenda options
2. If you select any PLC or grade level meetings, select topics for those meetingsPLCs or grade-level planning meeting options

Boost Reading Texas sessions

Launch & Strengthen sessions

Session topicDurationTexas Boost Reading agendas
Getting started for teachers2 hoursK–5
6–8
Getting started for leaders2 hoursK–5
Maximizing data for teachers1 hourK–5
6–8

mCLASS Literacy Texas sessions

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationmCLASS Texas agendasmCLASS Lectura Texas agendasmCLASS Texas DIBELS 8/ Lectura agendas
Administration and instruction essentials for teachers6 hoursK–8K–2K–2
Administration and scoring training for teachers3 hoursK–8K–2
Administration and reporting training for leaders3 hoursK–8K–2K–2

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationmCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition Texas agendasmCLASS Lectura Texas agendasmCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura Texas
Creating a data-driven classroom for teachers3 hoursK–8K–6K–8
Building a data-driven culture for leaders3 hoursK–8K–6K–8
Assessing with fidelity for teachers1 hourK–8K–6
Reporting and instruction basics for teachers1 hourK–8K–6
Progress monitoring for teachers1 hourK–8K–6
Goal setting and growth outcomes for teachers1 hourK–8K–6K–8
Reporting basics for leaders1 hourK–8K–6

Online courses

Course topicmCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition Texas course overviewmCLASS Lectura Texas course overview
Administration and instruction essentials for teachersK–8K–6

mCLASS Math Texas sessions

Launch sessions

Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation.

Session topicDurationmCLASS Math 2nd Edition agendas
Program overview for teachers3 hoursK–5
Program overview for leaders3 hoursK–5

Strengthen sessions

Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of Amplify programs through targeted support.

Session topicDurationmCLASS Math 2nd Edition agenda
Student thinking and instructional next steps for teachers3 hoursK–5

Online courses

Course topicmCLASS Math 2nd Edition online agenda
Administration and instruction essentials for teachersComing soon!

Welcome, K–8 Program 1 reviewers!

We’re honored to introduce you to Amplify California Language Arts. We’re confident you’ll find this comprehensive program to be a powerful tool for bringing the vision of the California ELA Framework to life in classrooms across the state.

Please start with the video on the right to learn how to navigate the program and access key features referenced within our submission. Below you’ll find additional resources to support your review.

Your review samples

We’re excited for you to begin your review of Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) California and Amplify ELA California. Physical and digital review materials will vary by grade level.

Reviewer Binders (K–8)

Your physical samples should have arrived in grade-specific boxes with three Reviewer Binders.

  • The first binder will contain logistical program review information and the printed Evaluation Criteria Map.
  • The second binder will contain the printed Standards Maps for grades K–4.
  • The third binder will contain the printed Standards Maps for grades 5–8.

Physical samples (K–5)

You can expect to receive 15 boxes of physical materials for your review. As you begin the process of organizing your materials, please refer to the inventory checklist found inside each box as well as within your Reviewer Binder. Please note you will not receive any physical samples for grades 6–8. Your review of the program for grades 6–8 will be entirely digital.

Digital samples (K–8)

In order to access your digital samples, you’ll need to log in to our platform using your unique login credentials found on a Digital Review Credential 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 Digital Review Credential flyer.
Digital Access

Navigation tips

Before you get started, please review these important functionality notes:

Criteria Map and Standards Maps must be opened on Microsoft Word on your desktop to function as intended. If you open the documents without Microsoft Word on your desktop, citations will be cut off at the bottom of most tables within the document.

Many of our citations are deep-links to PDFs, meaning they will take you to the right page or the first page in the sequence for the citation in question. To ensure this functionality works, please disable any PDF-viewing extensions or plug-ins such as Adobe Acrobat Pro Browser Extension.

[Reviewer program navigation video] Grades K–5

[Reviewer program navigation video] Grades 6–8

Click here for additional information on navigating the digital materials for grades 6–8.

Category 1: English Language Arts (ELA) and English Language Development (ELD) Content/Alignment to Standards

Evaluation Criteria Map

Linked below is the Evaluation Criteria Map for grades K–8. Please note that you will need to be logged into the digital platform to access the links in the Evaluation Criteria Map.

ELA Standards Maps

The links below provide the Standards Maps for Amplify California Core Language Arts for each grade level. Please note that you will need to be logged into the digital platform to access the links in the Standards Maps.

Category 2: Program Organization

The Amplify California Language Arts Program 1 submission includes Amplify CKLA California for Grades K–5 and Amplify ELA California for Grades 6–8. This comprehensive curriculum provides a full year of evidence-based instruction for each grade level, transitioning from foundational literacy to advanced text analysis.

Program structure

Amplify’s California Language Arts programs are built on what the research shows: Strong readers need both word recognition and language comprehension. Our comprehensive curriculum suite follows the Simple View of Reading and The Reading Rope–bringing together foundational skills and knowledge building to deliver instruction grounded in evidence-based literacy practices.

Flowchart illustrating skilled reading as the product of language comprehension and word recognition, grounded in the science of reading.
Diagram illustrating the interplay between language comprehension and word recognition in reading, as seen in early literacy stages. It highlights pathways through knowledge, vocabulary, and sentence understanding, reflecting principles from the CKLA reading program.

Each lesson follows a predictable structure with clearly marked components, beginning with warm-up routines, progressing through explicit instruction with guided practice, and concluding with independent application activities. The program provides detailed teacher language, including question stems and discussion prompts, ensuring clear and consistent delivery of instruction.

[Reviewer highlight video] Program organization for Category 2

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grades K–2

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grades 3–5

[Reviewer highlight video] Program structure for grades 6–8

Amplify CKLA California empowers teachers to deliver effective instruction and keeps students engaged with the following resources:

  • Teacher Guides
  • Assessment Guides
  • Authentic texts and trade books
  • Knowledge Image Cards
  • Knowledge Flip Books
  • Remediation and intervention resources
  • Decodable readers
  • Student Readers and novels
  • Student Activity Books
  • Poet’s Journals
  • eReaders
  • Sound Library featuring articulation videos and songs
  • Instructional routine modeling videos
  • Assignable Practice Games
  • On-demand professional development

Amplify ELA California students stay engaged with the following resources:

  • Teacher Guides that include:
    • Detailed lesson plans
    • Standards alignment and exit tickets
    • Real-time differentiation strategies
    • Robust reporting
  • Student Editions that include:
    • High-quality narrative and informational texts
    • Videos, audio supports, and digital experiences that capture their attention
    • Personal Writing Journal to keep all student writing in one place
  • Trade Books

Core literacy philosophy

Support every learner. Meet all learning needs with a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) that brings together universal screening, scaffolded core instruction, support for English learners, and data-driven intervention to ensure every student gets what they need to succeed.

Deliver consistent foundational skills instruction. Daily explicit, systematic skills instruction in grades K–2, with targeted yet flexible support for students still building decoding confidence in grades 3–8, ensures mastery of essential reading foundations.

Build lasting knowledge across all grades. Through coherently sequenced, content-rich instruction that revisits key vocabulary and concepts with increasing complexity, students build meaningful connections that deepen their vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Strengthen reading through writing at every level. Regular writing instruction grounded in the Science of Writing supports reading comprehension, improves sentence-level writing, and provides the foundation for high-quality composition. As students progress through the upper grades, they engage in increasingly complex analytical tasks—synthesizing ideas, drawing generalizations, and interpreting multiple textual layers through both focused quick-writes and comprehensive essays. 

Foster oral language development. Structured opportunities for academic conversation and evidence-based dialogue build students’ ability to express complex ideas with precision and allow them to participate confidently in classroom discussions.

Measure growth with comprehensive assessments. Assessments range from in-the-moment checks for understanding to summative assessments that measure progress toward skills mastery and standards proficiency, providing the data needed to drive targeted instruction.

Scope and sequence

Below you can view the scope and sequence for each grade level. 

Routines

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California include several structured instructional routines that provide predictable patterns for both teachers and students:

Discussion and collaboration routines:

  • Turn and Talk: Partners discuss text-specific content using sentence starters and frames
  • Think-Pair-Share: Students engage in individual thinking, partner discussion, and whole-class sharing
  • Partner reading: Students sit shoulder-to-shoulder, taking turns reading and listening

Foundational Skills routines:

  • Sound-spelling review: Warm-up activities that reinforce phonics patterns
  • Oral blending warm-ups: Teacher-guided practice progressing to independent application
  • Finger tapping: Techniques for blending sounds
  • Chaining activities: Students manipulate letters to transform one word into another
  • Word Work: Daily short activities focused on domain-specific and academic vocabulary

Knowledge-building routines:

  • Vocabulary preview: Introduction of new words before reading
  • Read-aloud procedures: Established routines for introducing and discussing complex texts
  • Text discussions: Structured comprehension conversations with scaffolded questioning

Fluency routines:

  • Teacher modeling: Demonstration of proper intonation, expression, and pacing
  • Choral reading: Whole-class reading practice
  • Partner reading: Paired fluency practice

Close reading routines

The program includes carefully structured close reading activities that guide students through multiple encounters with complex texts. These routines help students develop deeper comprehension through systematic analysis and discussion.

Each routine includes comprehensive instructional guides with clear-cut directions for implementation, straightforward explanations of concepts, and suggestions for discussion.

Category 3: Assessments

Systematic MTSS alignment

In alignment with the additional 2025 Guidance 3.1.a, the assessment systems align with MTSS tiers, including universal screening, diagnostic assessments for students demonstrating a need for additional support, and progress monitoring tools that complement California’s required universal screening schedule per SB 114.

Tier 1:
Universal/ differentiated support		Tier 2: 
Supplemental/ targeted support		Tier 3: 
Intensified/ intensive support
Core instruction assessments




Frequency of administration		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify ELA California assessments


Daily, Weekly, Monthly		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify ELA California assessments


Daily, Weekly, Monthly		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify ELA California assessments


Daily, Weekly, Monthly
Universal screening assessments

Frequency of administration		mCLASS DIBELS and mCLASS Lectura

3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and mCLASS Lectura

3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and mCLASS Lectura

3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY
Formal progress monitoring assessments


Frequency of administration		mCLASS DIBELS and mCLASS Lectura


3 times per year – BOY, MOY, EOY		mCLASS DIBELS and mCLASS Lectura


Monthly		mCLASS DIBELS and mCLASS Lectura


Bi-weekly
Informal progress monitoring assessments



Frequency of administration		Amplify CKLA California, Amplify ELA California core assessments


Daily		Intervention Toolkit progress monitoring assessments


When linked to a lesson in the toolkit		Intervention Toolkit progress monitoring assessments


When linked to a lesson in the toolkit
Diagnostic assessment



Frequency of administration		Amplify skill diagnostic assessment


Optional after universal screening assessment is administered
Amplify skill diagnostic assessment


After universal screening assessment is administered

Universal assessment system

Amplify’s mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition (K–8) and mCLASS Lectura (K–6) are universal and dyslexia screening assessments that should be administered three times per year (BOY, MOY and EOY) to all students. The assessments evaluate student literacy risk, determine progress toward grade-level goals, and indicate the level of instructional  support a student may need. Beginning-of-year screenings require adequate instructional time before administration, particularly in grades K–1, while mid-year and end-of-year assessments evaluate instructional effectiveness and guide tier placement adjustments. These screenings also identify students at risk for dyslexia. Universal screening provides essential data for targeting instruction and measuring instructional system effectiveness.

Core instruction assessments

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California provide a comprehensive suite of assessments for Grades K–8 that range from low-stakes, informal formative assessments to more formal summative assessments. These assessments incorporate a variety of methods and question types, including multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, and oral and written responses.

Formative assessments:

  • Checks for Understanding: Incorporated into each lesson segment throughout daily instruction. Quick pulse-checks that provide immediate feedback during lesson delivery (grades K–5). 
  • Daily formative assessments: Highlighted moments within each lesson for teachers to plan to track mastery of Primary Focus objectives and standards of each lesson to get a clear snapshot of individual and whole-class progress (grades K–5). 
  • Activity pages: Completed as part of lessons and can be used to assess lesson content understanding through various formats (grades K–5).
  • Exit Tickets: Located at the end of lessons, these provide a quick gauge of students’ ability to meet the lesson’s focus standards (grades 6–8).  
  • Writing Prompts: Prompts integrated throughout lessons during writing activities that provide skill snapshots within lessons and tracks patterns of skill development over time (grades 6–8).
  • Independent reading activities (Solos): At the end of every lesson, students complete an independent reading activity (“Solo”) with reading questions that are scored to measure comprehension (grades 6–8).

Summative assessments:

  • Skills end-of-unit assessments (grades K–2) 
  • Knowledge end-of-domain assessments (grades K–2) 
  • End-of-unit assessments (grades 3–5) 
  • Unit essays: A culminating end-of-unit set of lessons that guide students through crafting an essay with a rubric to score mastery of writing skills (grades 6–8)
  • Unit Reading Assessments: Auto-scored responses and two constructed response items evaluate comprehension, content understanding, and reading skills using the passages students read during the unit (grades 6–8)

Performance Assessments

Student Performance Assessments are multi-day assessments administered in Grades K–5 at the beginning, middle, and end of year to help teachers gauge student mastery of grade-level Core content. These assessments provide critical data to help teachers set targeted instructional goals and monitor individual and class-wide progress towards core objectives.

Progress monitoring

Amplify’s mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura provide formal progress monitoring in the discrete skills that are indicative of reading growth and predictive of overall success to provide the most instructionally meaningful information to teachers.


Informal progress monitoring tools can be found within the Intervention Toolkit, including materials for teachers to record, track, and evaluate student progress.

Diagnostic assessment

Interventions within Amplify’s literacy programs are informed by a skill diagnostic assessment that provides detailed data on foundational literacy skill deficits. The Amplify Skill Diagnostic Assessment and Amplify Spanish Skill Diagnostic assessment serve as critical tools in this process, administered specifically to students identified as at risk for reading difficulty through universal screening assessments—particularly those demonstrating mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition or mCLASS Lectura composite scores in the Well Below or Below Benchmark ranges. These diagnostic assessments provide teachers with the precise skills to begin intervention and remediation.

Category 4: Universal Access

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California were built on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and reviewed by CAST, a nonprofit education research and development organization. The program is developed using the Universal Design for Learning framework to proactively ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Universal Design for Learning

The programs incorporate opportunities for engagement, representation, action, and expression based on the guidelines of Universal Design for Learning.

  • Multiple Means of Engagement: The programs incorporate interesting and motivating ways for students to interact with information and content. In Amplify CKLA California, the Universal Access section in the introduction of each lesson provides specific lesson-level options based on the needs of individual classrooms and students. Scaffolding for students with various levels of need is incorporated into the design of each lesson.
  • Multiple Means of Representation: The programs provide multiple means of presenting content to maximize student understanding. This includes digital component files that allow for a range of presentations of images and text to support learning. Amplify provides access to universal supports such as point-of-use audio for all core texts, embedded definitions for critical vocabulary, and glossaries in multiple languages. Amplify CKLA California includes clarification on language found throughout the program, with sidebars that include support on transition words and syntax, and illustrations to help students understand the concepts they are learning.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression: The programs include a range of methods for all students, including English learners, to navigate and demonstrate learning. This includes physical actions, a range of methods for response, appropriate tools for composition, and varied scaffolding. In Amplify ELA California, lessons provide multiple ways for students to interact with text, allowing their brains to process the language through distinct pathways. Activities harness multiple learning modes, using media tools, digital apps, and a variety of visual and physical experiences to strategically support and enhance student learning.
  • Accessibility: Universal access features include visual aids, enlarged materials, physical objects, and multiple learning modalities through activities like Push & Say and Wiggle Cards. The Universal Access section in the introduction of each lesson provides specific lesson-level options based on the needs of individual classrooms and students.

Embedded differentiation

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California provide built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students.

  • Pre-teaching supports include mini-lessons on:
    • Core vocabulary building
    • Core connections
    • Essential background information building
    • What Have We Already Learned?/What Do We Already Know?
  • Differentiated Support for Core Instruction tables, located in the overview of each K–2 Skills Teacher Guide, provide a list of specific opportunities for reteaching and additional support in each lesson based on skill.
  • Support and Challenge Sidebars in lesson margins offer educators immediate guidance in implementing point-of-use differentiation techniques.
  • Flexible Grouping within lessons provides opportunities for teachers to facilitate small groups, partners, or individualized support based on students’ needs. In the Skills Strand, teachers receive specific guidance for differentiated small-group instruction, with targeted support and activities outlined for both Group 1 (students needing additional support) and Group 2 (on-level students) based on data. 
  • Amplify ELA California provides point-of-use supports embedded within key core lesson activities with six levels of differentiation. The goal of these supports is to fully enable access to grade-level content for all students, including students with disabilities, English learners, and students ready for an additional level of challenge.
  • The Universal Access section of Advance Preparation in each lesson includes varied strategies to ensure all students can access and engage in each lesson.
  • Frequent use of graphic organizers and visual supports in lessons provide opportunities for differentiation based on need. The program also includes a variety of technological supports, such as eReaders with audio.
  • Extension opportunities are suggested throughout lessons, often embedded in writing tasks, which include prompts to use more complex and descriptive vocabulary, figurative language,  multi-clause and complex sentences, and  informational text characteristics.

Assessment-driven MTSS resources

  • The K–8 Intervention Toolkit is available online and provides easy-to-use resources that assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ reading skills, with activities to support print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, and other key skills
  • Fluency Packets (Grades 2–5)
  • Foundational Skills Intervention Program for Grades 3–8 support students who would benefit from direct and explicit intervention instruction in the full continuum of foundational skills in the upper grades
  • Flexible Instructional Time including:
    • Pausing Points built into the curriculum that provide teachers with dedicated time to address specific student needs through targeted reteaching, remediation, practice, and extension activities 
    • Pausing Point activities designed to support English learners’ competence and confidence through differentiated whole-group, small-group, or individual instruction
  • Boost Reading is a K–5 student-led digital intervention program. Boost Reading follows Amplify CKLA California’s scope and sequence to reinforce the same foundational skills taught in core instruction. It integrates easily into daily routines, while the robust data provided by mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition offers a detailed view of how students progress across all instructional tiers.

Category 5: Instructional Planning and Teacher Support

Amplify CKLA California and Amplify ELA California teachers are empowered to deliver effective instruction with various print and digital resources. The program provides comprehensive planning and support materials designed to help teachers prepare for and execute lessons effectively and fulfill the requirements of Category 5.

Implementation supports across K–8

Planning and preparation resources

  • Unit Overviews that provide important background and context for the texts students will read, including highlighted elements within the text and guidance for how students will work with those elements
  • Sub-unit Overviews (Grades 6–8) that provide an overview of Lesson Objectives and reading and writing assignments, as well as a list of any projections, multimedia, or digital apps that can be projected from the teacher’s included digital license
  • Lesson-by-lesson preparation checklists (Grades 6–8) accompanying each Sub-unit Overview
  • Lesson Briefs for each individual lesson providing important background and context
  • Content knowledge materials regarding topics that students will examine

Point-of-use instructional guidance

  • Teacher Editions that feature insets of the same text and activity instructions as the corresponding Student Edition, wrapping teacher instruction around these materials
  • Activity guidance at point of use
  • Lesson standards clearly called out
  • Discussion suggestions embedded in lessons
  • Differentiation tips at point of use
  • Detailed Instructional Guides in each activity that include sequencing and grouping suggestions, tips for facilitating discussion, possible student responses and exemplars
  • Student Supports in all core lessons provide teachers with targeted supports in daily core instruction, addressing which might serve the student best in the moment—support, strengthen, stretch—with additional call-outs for newcomers

Multimedia and digital support

  • Teacher tip videos provide modeling and guidance for implementing key foundational skills routines within the program
  • Digital platform access where teachers can access printable PDFs of differentiated support materials for English learners and readers struggling with text, including translated Unit Background and Context Documents and Text Previews
  • Teacher Dashboard and reporting tools (Grade 6–8) that provide real-time visibility into student progress and work for immediate instructional response

Caregiver supports

Communication and overview resources

  • Caregiver Hub available in English and Spanish that provides an overview of the curriculum
  • Caregiver Letters for each K–2 Knowledge Domain and unit in Grades 3–5 that provide an overview of the content, the skills students learn, as well as practical methods that continue the learning and knowledge building at home
  • Unit-specific Caregiver Letters (Grades 6–8) that provide detailed information regarding what students will read and learn in each unit, including conversation starters that allow caregivers to ask questions and discuss specific aspects of a unit with their student
  • Welcome letters that explain the assessment and placement process while inviting parent involvement and offering support
  • Editable Home-School Communication letters available in English and Spanish
  • Editable Progress Reports for teachers to update parents and guardians on what their child is learning

Content and learning support materials

  • Unit Background and Context documents that provide an introduction and overview to the unit’s topic and themes, available in English and Spanish
  • Text Previews that provide a brief introduction to formative, independent reading assignments (called Solos in Grades 6–8), available in English and Spanish
  • Unit Overview and Support documents (Grades 6–8) designed for caregivers that provide information about important questions, assignments, and key aspects of the unit texts, available in English and Spanish
  • Conversation starters included in Knowledge Strand Caregiver Letters to discuss domain topics at home

Home practice and extension activities

  • Take-Home pages in the Skills Strand that include copies of decodable passages, enabling students to share their reading progress with families and continue practicing their skills outside of school
  • Take-Home Letters in the Skills Strand that provide specific guidance for parents to support skills practice at home, such as sound-sorting activities, with detailed instructions and materials for home practice activities
  • Take-Home pages in the Knowledge Strand that provide suggested activities families can do together to reinforce and extend learning beyond the classroom
  • Games and activities on Take-Home Pages that extend classroom instruction, including all the materials and instruction necessary to help families assist students in a fun and engaging way
  • Digital access to decodable texts through the Amplify Caregiver Hub, allowing students to practice their reading skills both in class and at home
  • Weekly spelling lists and directions to decoding activities that can be practiced at home

Welcome to the Amplify Science classroom showcase!

The Amplify Science K–8 curriculum blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists.

Discover inspiring classroom examples and teacher resources from educators nationwide who are bringing Amplify Science to life.

Want to showcase your classroom?

We love seeing how you bring learning to life! Share photos to inspire fellow educators.

A collage of four images: a Classroom Wall with a science board, a night sky with constellations, birds flying in the sky, and a classroom display about a gecko inspired by Amplify Science.
A collage of three classroom science boards on animal adaptations, rainforests, and force & motion—each featuring small cartoon animals—brightens the Classroom Wall and highlights hands-on activities inspired by Amplify Science.

Classroom Wall

Every Amplify Science unit includes a Classroom Wall that grows and evolves as students build understanding. Here are a few examples from real Amplify Science classrooms!

Grades K–5

Credit: Shannon Cox, Sabine Parish School District, LA

Credit: Rebecca Steindler O’Brien, P.S. 051 The Elias Howe School, NY

Credit: Veeh Nguyen, Belle Chasse Academy, LA

Credit: Brittney Gooden, LaSalle Parish, LA

Credit: Buffy Scott Marcantel, Maplewood Elementary, LA

Credit: Chrissy Campenni, Wyoming Area School District, PA

Credit: Christy Flynn, Grant Parish School Board, LA

Credit: William Howard Taft Elementary School, OH

Credit: Cristina Cullen, Glendora Unified School District, CA

Grades 6–8

Credit: Erica Fernandez, Elsinore Middle School, CA

Credit: Sheyenne Cahalan, Knox County R-1 School District, MO

Credit: Joshua Ryan Abellera, Fertitta Middle School, NV

Credit: Karen Wynne, Portola Middle School, CA

Credit: Crystal Cuaron Baker, Las Cruces Public Schools, NM

Credit: Natalia Seoane, Heritage Intermediate School, CA

Credit: Lisa Anglim, Elizabeth Ustach Middle School, CA

Credit: Maria Katsanos, New York City Public Schools, NY

Credit: Lindsey Hampf, Upper Township School District, NJ

Credit: Anna Radef, Cadwallader Middle School, NV

Credit: Jessica Kruger, Gardner International, MI

Credit: Albert Hutchful, Clark County School District, NV

Credit: Kim Eich, Anoka-Hennepin Public School District 1, MN

Credit: Shannon Cox, Sabine Parish School District, LA

Credit: Anna Radef, Clark County School District, NV

Hands-on science activities

Students engage in hands-on science activities throughout Amplify Science. These photos capture curiosity in action and showcase real students exploring, building, testing, and investigating in Amplify Science classrooms.

Students engage in hands-on activities and experiments with liquids and solids, reading, and preparing materials, enhanced by illustrations and abstract art around the photos, supporting the Amplify Science curriculum.

Grades K–5

Grade 1: Animal and Plant Defenses
Designing animal defenses during the Animal and Plant Defenses unit
Credit: Veeh Nguyen, Belle Chasse Academy, LA

Grade 1: Light and Sound
Exploring shadows for the Light and Sound unit
Credit: Brittney Gooden, LaSalle Parish, LA

Grade 1: Light and Sound
Investigating vibrations during the Light and Sound unit
Credit: Jennifer Baker, Rapides Parish School Board, LA

Grade 1: Light and Sound
Puppet show for the Light and Sound unit
Credit: Anna Dardar, Rapides Parish School Board, LA

Grade 2: Changing Landforms
Exploring sand samples for the Changing Landforms unit
Credit: Rebecca Steindler O’Brien, P.S. 051 The Elias Howe School, NY

Grade 3: Balancing Forces
Exploring forces with magnet tricks for the Balancing Forces unit
Credit: Maureen Patt, Broad Street Elementary School, NH

Grade 3: Inheritance and Traits
Imaginary clay creatures to investigate traits in real organisms for the Inheritance and Traits unit
Credit: Maribel Ramos, Esperanza Academy Charter School, PA

Grade 3: Inheritance and Traits
Students showing off their knowledge for the Inheritance and Traits unit by creating their own drawings.
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 3: Inheritance and Traits
Determining which offspring belong to which set of parent pigeons based on similar traits for the Inheritance and Traits unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 3: Inheritance and Traits
Using celery as a real-life example of how the environment can impact traits, during the Inheritance and Traits unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 3: Environments and Survival
Modeling how ruby-throated hummingbirds with different traits meet their need for food during the Environments and Survival unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 3: Weather and Climate
Learning the best ways to collect, measure, and compare rainfall data for the Weather and Climate unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 4: Energy Conversions
Students created their own simple systems using a solar panel, alligator clips, wires, an LED light, and a buzzer during the Energy Conversions unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 4: Energy Conversions
Designing wind turbines during the Energy Conversions unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 4: Vision and Light
Planning vision models for the Vision and Light unit
Credit: Maribel Ramos, Esperanza Academy Charter School, PA

Grade 4: Vision and Light
Writing a scientific explanation for the Vision and Light unit
Credit: Chrissy Campenni, Wyoming Area School District, PA

Grade 5: Patterns of Earth and Sky
Investigating daytime and nighttime during the Patterns of Earth and Sky unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 5: Patterns of Earth and Sky
Hands-On Flextension: Making artifacts for the Patterns of Earth and Sky unit
Credit: Adriana Barrera, J.W. Bishop Elementary School, TX

Grade 5: Modeling Matter
Flavor ingredients test for the Modeling Matter unit
Credit: Kevin Butters, Grand Island Public Schools, NE

Grade 5: Modeling Matter
Testing ingredients to make salad dressing during the Modeling Matter unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 5: Modeling Matter
Discussing solubility and attraction during the Modeling Matter unit
Credit: Cristina Cullen, Glendora Unified School District, CA

Grade 5: The Earth System
Designing freshwater systems for The Earth System unit
Credit: Sandi O’Brien, Parkmead Elementary School, CA

Grade 5: Ecosystem Restoration
Building terrariums for the Ecosystem Restoration unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 5: Ecosystem Restoration
Leaves and Roots game board from the Ecosystem Restoration unit
Credit: Cyndi Thompson Crouch, Smithville School District, MO

Grade 5: Ecosystem Restoration
Food web models with students’ favorite stuffed animals for the Ecosystem Restoration unit
Credit: Halli Trinker, Boonton Township School District, NJ

Grades 6–8

Grade 6: Microbiome
Drawing scale models of microorganisms for the Microbiome unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 6: Microbiome
Hands-On Flextension: Investigating microscopic evidence of life for the Microbiome unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 6: Metabolism
Investigating chemical reactions with water, phenol red, baking soda, and calcium chloride for the Metabolism unit
Credit: Jessica Kruger, Gardner International Magnet School, MI

Grade 6: Metabolism
Introducing the classroom body systems model for the Metabolism unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 6: Metabolism Engineering Internship
Healthy bars for the Metabolism Engineering Internship
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 6: Thermal Energy
Simulating hot and cold water during the Thermal Energy unit
Credit: Whitney Stewart, Rapides Parish School Board, LA

Grade 6: Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate
Playing the Ocean Currents game for the Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 6: Weather Patterns
Modeling a warm air parcel for the Weather Patterns unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 7: Geology on Mars
The Flowing Water Model for the Geology on Mars unit
Credit: Kim Eich, Anoka-Hennepin Public School District 1, MN

Grade 7: Plate Motion Engineering Internship
Modeling a tsunami wave for Plate Motion Engineering Internship
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 7: Chemical Reactions
Investigating substance changes for the Chemical Reactions unit
Credit: Ashlie Beals Arkwright, SCAPA at Bluegrass, KY

Grade 7: Populations and Resources
Conducting a yeast experiment during the Populations and Resources unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 8: Harnessing Human Energy
Investigating energy systems for the Harnessing Human Energy unit
Credit: Lisa Anglim, Elizabeth Ustach Middle School, CA

Grade 8: Force and Motion
Investigating forces on different objects for the Force and Motion unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 8: Force and Motion Engineering Internship
Designing an Egg Drop Model during the Force and Motion Engineering Internship
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 8: Magnetic Fields
Hands-On Flextension: Exploring electrostatic force for the Magnetic Fields unit
Credit: Melanie Wenger, Lincoln Park Middle School, NJ

Grade 8: Light Waves
Students observing that light can cause materials to heat up, change color, and move for the Light Waves unit
Credit: Gloria Davis, Panama-Buena Vista Unified School District, CA

Grade 8: Light Waves
Students discover what happens to light as it travels for the Light Waves unit
Credit: Gloria Davis, Panama-Buena Vista Unified School District, CA

Grade 8: Light Waves
Students participating in a fishbowl discussion to share observations and evidence for the Light Waves unit
Credit: Gloria Davis, Panama-Buena Vista Unified School District, CA

Grade 8: Earth, Moon, and Sun
Paper model of the Moon’s phases for Earth, Moon, and Sun unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

Grade 8: Evolutionary History
Hands-On Flextension: Reconstructing owl pellet skeletons for the Evolutionary History unit
Credit: Elizabeth DeBoo, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, MO

What is the Science of Reading?

Diagram illustrating the pathways of language comprehension and word recognition merging into skilled reading, with processes becoming increasingly strategic or automatic.

The Science of Reading is a large body of research that helps answer a key question about the human experience: How do people learn to read?

It also helps answer a fundamental question for educators: How should we teach reading?

The Science of Reading draws on decades of research from fields like cognitive science, neuroscience, linguistics, psychology, and education. This vast (and still growing) body of research describes our up-to-date understanding of what reading requires, and therefore shapes our approach to effective literacy instruction.

Two frameworks are widely used to capture and communicate those core takeaways:

  • The Simple View of Reading
  • The Reading Rope

In this overview, we’ll walk you through both.

Why reading needs science

Spoken language develops naturally. Children typically learn to understand and use language simply by being around other people who talk.

Reading, on the other hand, works differently. Written language is a human invention; our brains did not evolve to read. When we are born, the parts of our brain that see letters are completely separate from the parts that hear sounds. So to become readers, students require explicit instruction. They have to be taught specifically to build new connections between what they see on the page and the language they already know.

For a brain to read words, it needs to create new pathways that connect letters with sounds. For example, when a child sees the letter “f” and connects it to the /f/ sound in “funny,” their brain builds a new bridge between the areas that handle sight and sound. Reading actually rewires the brain, bringing together the regions for vision, speech, sound, and meaning into one coordinated reading system.

The Science of Reading explains what those new connections involve—and why some students need more support than others to build them.

The Simple View of Reading

At the heart of the Science of Reading is one of the most widely accepted frameworks in reading research: the Simple View of Reading, first proposed by experts Philip Gough and Bill Tunmer in the 1980s.

The Simple View answers a basic question: What has to be in place for a reader to understand a text?

According to the Simple View, reading comprehension depends on two essential components:

  • Decoding: the ability to turn written words into spoken language
  • Language comprehension: the ability to understand the meaning of that language

Both are necessary, and neither works on its own. One reader may decode words accurately but struggle to understand what they read, while another may understand spoken language well but be unable to read the words on the page. In either case, comprehension breaks down.

The Simple View captures this core finding of reading research: Skilled reading depends on both word reading and language understanding working together.

Decoding: Reading the words on the page

Decoding involves learning how letters and letter patterns represent sounds. This task is complex in alphabetic writing systems like English, where many letters represent more than one sound, and many sounds can be spelled in different ways.

When children begin learning to read, they already understand a great deal of spoken language. What they don’t yet understand is written language. Letters and printed words are unfamiliar in a way that speech is not.

As students practice decoding, they become more accurate and more fluent. Over time, decoding becomes increasingly automatic.

And this automaticity matters—when students no longer have to focus most of their attention on reading the words, they can devote more mental energy to understanding what the text means.

Language comprehension: Understanding what you read

Language comprehension includes vocabulary, knowledge about the world, and an understanding of how language works across sentences and texts.

Research shows that what readers already know plays a major role in comprehension. As shown in the baseball experiment, students understood and remembered more when the text described a familiar activity—even when their reading skills were relatively weak.

When students read about unfamiliar topics, comprehension becomes more difficult. This is true even for students who can read the words on the page accurately.

So what’s the best way to teach reading comprehension? Combine both elements of the Simple View. In other words, reading comprehension grows alongside vocabulary and knowledge, and exposure to a wide range of topics supports reading development.

The Reading Rope

The Simple View of Reading identifies what reading requires, while the Reading Rope reflects how those requirements develop and become integrated over time.

The Reading Rope organizes reading into two broad strands:

  • Word recognition, which includes phonological awareness, decoding, and fluent word reading
  • Language comprehension, which includes vocabulary, background knowledge, and the ability to make meaning from text

Each strand of the Rope is made up of multiple interconnected skills. With effective instruction and practice, these skills become more coordinated and more automatic. As that happens, reading becomes smoother and less effortful, allowing readers to focus more fully on meaning.

The Reading Rope builds on the Simple View by showing how skilled reading emerges as these components strengthen and work together.

Instructional practices: Putting it all to work

The Science of Reading is the broad body of research on how reading develops, and the Simple View of Reading and Reading Rope capture the core takeaways of that research.

Together, they show that skilled reading depends on both accurate word reading and strong language comprehension, and that these abilities develop through explicit and systematic instruction, practice, and growing knowledge over time.

For educators, this understanding provides the strongest possible foundation for reading instruction. When students become skilled readers, new possibilities open up—in their classrooms today, and for the rest of their lives.

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S4 – 02. Bethany and Dan share their math biographies

Promotional graphic for "math teacher lounge," season 4 episode 2, featuring photos and names of math teaching guests Bethany Lockhart and Dan Meyer.

In this episode, co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer get personal and share their “math bios”—their early experiences with math and how those experiences turned them into the educators they are today.

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page. 

Download Transcript

Dan Meyer (00:00):

We’re recording. What’s up, everybody. This is Dan Meyer with Math Teacher Lounge.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:08):

And I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson. We are so excited to be back. Season Four, Episode Two. Hi, Dan.

Dan Meyer (00:16):

Hey, Bethany, how are you doing today?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:18):

I’m so excited to be talking with you! You know, as we record this, our reunion at NCTM is getting closer and closer.

Dan Meyer (00:28):

The NCTM live show is gonna be bonkers. I don’t think people are ready for it. You think you know what we’re about on MTL from listening to us, but the live show is gonna be outta control. You cannot imagine how many clowns and elephants Bethany wants to have at the live show. We’re still—we’re trying to talk her down from like three to one, but we’ll see.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:44):

All I want is the t-shirt cannon. Because I used to go to these baseball games and they would have a t-shirt cannon. And I thought, I wanna operate a t-shirt cannon! So like, if I could be standing on stage aiming t-shirts at people who are jumping up and down requesting a t-shirt? I don’t know. Doesn’t that sound fun?

Dan Meyer (01:01):

Sounds awesome. High point of my college education was catching a t-shirt. No, it was—it was a burrito. It was a burrito cannon. But I think it was just a t-shirt cannon, but it was a burrito cannon. And I caught a burrito at a game and it was probably the most memorable moment of all of college education for me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:16):

Was the burrito still warm?

Dan Meyer (01:18):

Oh yeah. I think it got—like, I think it might’ve been warm at one point and then it got warmed back up through the muzzle velocity of the cannon. So it was a pretty great system they had going on there. <Laugh> Yeah. <Laugh> Anyway, I’m off topic, but, we’re thrilled to—I’m thrilled to chat with you and we’re thrilled to be listened to by you folks out there in MTL land. In the lounge itself. We got a fun show today.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:40):

So if you listen to Episode One—which if you haven’t, hope you go back and listen to it—if you listen to Season Four, Episode One, you’re gonna hear—we asked Huon, KT, who is this delight of a joyful teacher. We asked her to talk to us about what’s her math bio. And we want to ask all of our guests—like, I wanna go back and ask every single guest we’ve ever had to tell us their math bio.

Dan Meyer (02:06):

Yep.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:06):

Because, while seemingly simple in nature, our students enter our math classroom already having had this relationship with math and these notions about their role in math or what they think about math. And it impacts our school year with them if we’re a teacher. And it impacts our relationship with math as we move through our education and beyond. Right? And I I’m so excited about this question, ’cause I think it also ties into this theme for Season Four, which is joyful math, and diving into “When has math felt joyful? When has it not? Does it feel like—how do we think about how our math bio, our relationship with math, has evolved into a joyful or less joyful place?”

Dan Meyer (02:54):

I get it. And what’s really key here, I think, is that teaching more than other professions is a generational profession. You know what I’m saying? Like, no one is like, “Well, you know, I sold insurance to you and now you’re selling insurance to, you know, my grandkids; that’s amazing!” But people are always posting photos when, like, you teach someone who then becomes a teacher later. Teaching is a generational sort of thing. So the kinds of joyful experiences that we offer or don’t offer students now affect the experiences that students who haven’t even been born yet will have, you know, some 20, 30 years later. That, to me, is a trip. And well-worth exploring, you know, how we got here, mathematically speaking.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:39):

I remember a friend had sent me this image of an assignment that her son got that was asking for their Mathography. They wanted to know about their history of mathematics. And this was their first assignment. And this teacher, I would like to imagine, read them all and used it to inform conversations about students’ relationship with math. And, you know, some of the questions they asked were thinking about whether you consider yourself, quote, unquote, “good at math.” Like “what kind of experiences have you had? What do you like or dislike about math? What is, you know—what do you expect to learn in math this year?” Just asking students to actually pause and examine and reflect on their relationship and then also looking forward to, like, what kind of a classroom community do we wanna create? And I loved that assignment. And yeah, so today’s episode Dan, guess what?

Dan Meyer (04:32):

What’s going on? What’s happening?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (04:33):

I figured we should ask each other about our math bio.

Dan Meyer (04:39):

I think the people out there would love to know this about us. ‘Cause you know, we’re both awesome. But also what’s really cool here is that like, I don’t know this about you. Like not, not a lot. You know, the folks at Amplify, they kind of assembled me and Bethany together in the same way that record labels assembled pop boy bands, girl bands, that kind of thing, back in the day. You know, grabbing some stars from screen or film and just like throwing ’em together and saying, “All right, now you’re here to perform together.” And so it’s just a really good moment for us to, like, settle back and just know who we’ve been working with for the last three seasons and change here. I love it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:15):

Well, I don’t know. I don’t actually agree with that, Dan. Because don’t you remember? We knew each other beforehand. And while I would like to think of us as…oh, I’ll say One Direction—well, no, One Direction is now defunct. Who’s another band that got formed by one of those shows and is still together and still—

Dan Meyer (05:33):

BTS! K-Pop, you know! Let’s go!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:35):

K-pop. BTS.

Dan Meyer (05:38):

Let’s go, Bethany <laugh>.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:39):

So can we incorporate some K-pop into the NCTM Math Teacher Lounge live episode? Don’t answer now. Don’t answer now. OK. So not only are we gonna share our math bios, but we want to encourage you listeners to share your math bio with somebody in your life. It could be a child in your life, maybe talking to your kiddo about what was it like. What was math like for you? It could be a student that you have. It could be a partner, a friend, a parent. I mean, the sky’s the limit. Share your math bio. And most of all, share with us. We wanna hear about your math bio and you can share it with us at Twitter, at MTLShow, or in our Facebook group, Math Teacher Lounge.

Dan Meyer (06:26):

Stop on by, please. All right. I’m gonna just share like, just a couple of quick, signposts. Not the full bio. Gotta leave them wondering about something here. But here’s a few quick highlights and lowlights of my math bio and how, maybe, it made me the teacher that I was and the educator I am. Is that cool?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:44):

Wait, I didn’t even, I didn’t ask you yet.

Dan Meyer (06:46):

Ask me what?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:47):

Hey, Dan!

Dan Meyer (06:49):

Is there like a magical word? Like, what’s your math bio? <Laugh> Oh, go for it. No, no, that’s right. They won’t know what I’m talking about. Why is he talking about his math bio? Bethany—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:57):

That whole lead-in that we just gave? They might not know.

Dan Meyer (07:00):

Yeah. We just talked about math bios for the last 20 minutes. But yeah, they might not know what we’re—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:04):

<laugh> So Dan, why don’t you go first? ‘Cause I know you were gonna ask me to go first, but why don’t you go first? Dan? What’s your math bio?

Dan Meyer (07:12):

Oh, wow. Well, thank you for the formal invitation to share my math bio, Bethany Lockhart Johnson. So, I’ll just share—I just wanna share a couple items here, not the full history. Gotta leave ’em—leave a little mystery in there, you know what I’m saying? But here’s a few highlights and lowlights, and I think what it means for me as an educator. So, I was homeschooled for eight years. That was big—did a lot of math learning on my own. Couple of lowlights from that, a lot of highlights, in terms of just like being able to, like, learn at my own rate and just jump on ahead and pursue different wacky things. But I tried to switch into public school in fourth grade and I lasted, um, four hours. I didn’t even go to class. I enrolled and then it was like, boom, I was out of there. Because we went to the school; we met the teacher, saw the room, very nice person and place. But I got the homework assignment and the homework assignment was gibberish. I had no idea what to do and such was this feeling of just, like, despair and hopelessness, I was like, I cannot be a part of this. I remember the assignment. It was about identifying scalene, isosceles, and equilateral triangles. I’ll tell you this: I am quite good at that now. But at the time, like, I didn’t know what those words meant. And you know, at that moment we had Encyclopedia Britannica, could not Google this or even Ask Jeeves or AltaVista this so well back then. It just—it was an entry moment of failure and realizing that so much of math is like a, kind of a social kind of construct. And if you’re not part of that social circle, what can you do? So that was a bummer. Another bummer was eighth-grade math, learned it all by way of videotape. You know, put in the tape and watch—not gonna say the person’s name and not this person’s fault—but it was just like watching someone work on a whiteboard. Kind of a precursor to Khan Academy, kind of a drag. Went to high school—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:02):

Wait, wait, wait, wait. We were—I’m not ready to jump to high school. Wait. Can you pause for just a second?

Dan Meyer (09:06):

Yeah. Rock on.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:07):

I just need you to go back to the triangle thing. So in that moment, what did that mean for you that you had had all these experiences with math and then you encounter math in a completely different sphere, a public school, and it did not have a connection or meaning to you because prior to that, it sounds like it was pretty positive. Right? Explore these things you’re curious about; there’s not, like, a level you need to stick with…

Dan Meyer (09:33):

Yep, yep. Yeah. I think that’s right. Maybe it was a little bit of a classic, like, “Oh, I didn’t have a growth mindset; my mindset was like, ‘Oh, I’m good at math because I am, you know, born that way,’” and all of a sudden, that identity was, you know, thrown into question. And, you know, my foundation was all of a sudden quite shaky. And yeah, that’s—you know, I think I taught a lesson recently where I was like, “Hey, this whole thing with a less-than or equal-to sign and a greater-than or equal-to sign, like what those signs are: it’s just, it’s language. And if it’s confusing to you, it’s not because you’re bad at math; it’s ’cause language is oftentimes confusing ’cause people have to agree on it.” So I dunno, that sort of thing is kind of filtered in, filtered back in periodically, some sympathy for like how a lot of math is like just socially agreed upon ways of working with, you know, numbers, shapes, patterns, that kind of thing.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:20):

OK.

Dan Meyer (10:21):

Anyway.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:21):

  1. And in this home school—I have a lot of questions about that, but I’ll stick to one—were you in a community of people that you talked about these math ideas with? Were you homeschooled solo? You have a sibling, so I think you were together, right?

Dan Meyer (10:39):

Yeah. Yeah. I’ve got a twin sister. So we were, you know, like, right on with each other the whole way through there. And yeah, so we had—but it wasn’t, it wasn’t like a—it was a lot of individual work, with my flavor of homeschooling.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:54):

  1. Got it. And the tapes—wait, before you go to high school, the tapes, the VHS tapes, which I’m just loving this image—

Dan Meyer (11:02):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:02):

Was that a positive experience? Was that because that was an area of math that whoever was homeschooling you wasn’t that comfortable with? Why was it that route for the tapes, and what was that? Was that joyful for you?

Dan Meyer (11:15):

Yeah, definitely not joyful. Yeah, it was like, if you had questions, you couldn’t really ask them of the VHS tape. It didn’t work out so well in that way. And it was a lot of operational-type math. It was, you know—there was no give and take; it was all kind of take. From the video teacher. And yeah, I was doing that because my homeschool teacher, my mom, who is very smart in lots of areas, did not have the math knowledge or confidence, especially to help with math at eighth grade. And that was a big reason why, flash-forward to the next year, went to high school.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:48):

Nice segue. OK.

Dan Meyer (11:50):

<laugh> You caught up to high school…I encountered just like four years of just crazy-good, just bonkers-good math teachers who just really changed a lot for me. Especially, Mr. Bishop and Mr. Cavender, very cool folks who did a lot. And especially, I think Mr. Bishop and Cavender both modeled for me what curiosity from a knowledgeable adult looks like. Like someone who, you know, now I can say to myself, “Oh, they were kind of like putting on an act of being very curious about answers they were hearing for the 2000th time from a student,” let’s say, but what a powerful experience that was for me to feel like, “Oh, wow, my thoughts are interesting to someone besides myself.” I got like, maybe it’s two real highlights that I’ll just point to, from my math bio that made me the math teacher and person that I am. Let’s see here. Maybe three, if you you’ll indulge me. One is just like the idea that you could do math wherever you have your brain, a pencil and a paper. And so I remember like in high school, I was in church with my family and kind of a little bit bored of whatever’s going on. And I just had the Bolton and I like drew a pentagon, a regular one, then a hexagon, a regular one, and kept on drawing, like adding sides to the shape. And it was like, it was becoming a circle. And, you know, I was able to take the area of each of those shapes and say, you know, “What happens as you send the number of sides to infinity?” And watch as the formula for area of a circle, Pi R squared, popped out. And it was kind of a literal religious experience, in that moment, just like, “Wow, like my brain’s so cool and math is so cool and paper and pencil’s so cool.” And so there’s that. Just that kind of experience was pretty awesome. And then I would just say like, I’ve had some really fantastic experiences with math in the world itself. Stuff like—let’s see, this is gonna invite more questions from Bethany, probably, maybe I should avoid—I got, I have a Guinness—I have a Guinness world record that’s almost 20 years old. This Guinness world record is—it’s old enough to drive basically at this point. And almost old enough to drink. But like it was—it was a record for chaining the longest paper clip chain together in 24 hours. And the only way I was able to break that record was through mathematics. Where, like, I would be finishing a box of clips. And I would say to my buddy who was there, “I just finished a box of clips.” And that person would type in the number of clips that I had just done. And then a mathematical formula that I had created would tell me how many—how long the chain was at that point. It was being rolled around a spool. And like, it’s just like, wow. So math just made this possible. You know, math revealed that the record I was trying to beat was beatable, because I did the math on it. It was, like, thousands of feet long in 24 hours. And other folks might be like, “Oh, like, that’s that’s huge!” But me, I was like, “All right, let’s divide this out. You know, divide by 24 hours in a day, divide by 60 minutes an hour, 60 seconds in a minute. Oh, that’s like one clip every four seconds. That’s really slow.” You know, think about that <counts aloud>, “Clip, two, three, four. Clip two, three…” It was just slow. So math helped me, you know, wreck that record. Which to my knowledge still still stands. Don’t get any ideas, Math Teacher Lounge Folks! Is this news to you, Bethany? You haven’t blinked in the last, like, five minutes. I’m curious if this is new.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:20):

It is news to me. And I have so many questions. Because OK, if four seconds was slow, so then what was your like—so then I’m assuming a hundred clips per box? Like, what was the rate, you know, per box? How long did it take you to complete a box? What did this friend like? Did this friend stick with you for the whole 24 hours? Did you really do it for 24 hours? Or once you beat the record, did you rest? How did you account for biological function? Like, needs? Like a restroom?

Dan Meyer (15:51):

<Interrupting> Like what?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:51):

Eating.

Dan Meyer (15:51):

Like what, Bethany? OK.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:52):

Um, Sleep.

Dan Meyer (15:55):

So yeah, maybe we dive into some of the specifics in a different time.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:59):

Just tell me one of ’em. Tell me one.

Dan Meyer (15:59):

I’ll just say. So as to discourage other Math Teacher Lounge listeners from taking this on—back off of the record, folks!—this was back in college, so I was a little more limber back then. But I did one—I think it was 1.8 seconds per clip. For an entire 24 hours. Just like, so just like think about it, would you? If you’re gonna step to me on this one, just think about that, OK? And then, and then, you know, make an informed decision.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:28):

Wait. Wait, wait, I just wanna tell you one thing. I’m picturing somebody with a straw, and like, giving you water as you keep clipping. I’m picturing, like, music, I…

Dan Meyer (16:37):

That’s not far. That’s not far. That’s not far from—yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:40):

So many questions! OK. Go on. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Go on. This is your bio.

Dan Meyer (16:44):

We gotta, I gotta wrap this up. I wanna hear your bio. But, like, I would just say like this move to this sense that math is actually a thing that’s useful for more than just a grade; it’s useful for more than just, you know, the societal, you know, adulation that comes from being a math nerd. That kind of thing. And so that, I think that affected a lot of math teaching for me. And, if I gotta, like, summarize math teaching itself in a journey, it went from like, “Hey kids, aren’t I awesome?” to, “Hey kids, isn’t math awesome?” to “Hey kids, aren’t you awesome?” And like that journey was facilitated by lots and lots of people, you know, a lot of personal growth, but at this point, at one point I was like, “Hey, math can help you get records and whatnot. It’s really useful.” And now I’m like, “Wow, your brain’s just doing just really interesting things. I can help you understand how interesting those things are, and maybe make them more interesting, or interesting in a different way, with some help here.” Let’s put a pin in that. That’s the math bio.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (17:50):

  1. So I have no doubt that if you ask someone in your life, listeners, for their math bio, that you will discover things about them that you never knew. Literally the questions that I have…I have so many question. And Dan is very good at, you know, bringing me back. Bring me back, like, come on, come on. But I just wanna say, overall, your journey seems pretty joyful. It seems pretty joyful. It seems pretty full of confidence. I don’t wanna say “ego” in a negative way, but I wanna say you were buoyed by these experiences that allowed you to feel like math was a place for you to thrive.

Dan Meyer (18:36):

Right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (18:36):

Where you could try out things. You could try it out and just, “I could do that!” Right? Like…your relationship just felt very, like…you felt like you had autonomy, agency, perhaps much like you, you operate in this world. Dan, is that, is that right <laugh>?

Dan Meyer (18:54):

Yeah, I think it’s fair to say. And without telling too much of her story, my twin sister with whom I share most things, including genetics, you know—she had a very different experience in math early on. She’s brilliant. She’s a doctor. And not, you know, the book kind of doctor that I am, but like a real, you know, medical doctor. She’s brilliant. But we were—we encountered different messages about who math was made for, early on in, you know, in our entire math learning. And she—we both digested the messages that we were sent, and took, you know, different, different paths because of them, for sure.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:31):

Funny how that works. I thank you, Dan. I do. For in all sincerity, I appreciate you sharing that. And I think that it’s exciting to hear how it influenced your teaching. It feels like you want to cultivate those experiences for your students. And I’ve been in the room when you’ve presented; I was in a room where you taught a class live. It felt like you were making space for the students to have these aha moments. And it feels like in your work at Desmos, and now Amplify, you’re trying to create these products that allow folks to recreate these amazing math moments. Right? And that it’s for everyone and that it’s accessible and it can be very positive. I feel like I have this new perspective on kind of the energy you bring to your teaching. So thank you for sharing that.

Dan Meyer (20:24):

Yeah. Been a pleasure. Thanks for your questions here, Bethany. And it’s been—it’s been fun to reflect on it. And I do—I do feel very lucky in lots of ways. Privileged. Lucky. I know, like—I think the world has been set up for my success in lots of ways, as who I am. But I do just…yeah, I feel—I want more people to experience what it’s like when you walk into a math classroom and it’s like, “Hey, this place is for you. You have interesting thoughts about this. Let’s get ’em out.” So that’s awesome. I would love to hear about you and how you…I mean, we have taught different kinds of kids. You know, I taught kids who I think were somewhat set in, they’re a little bit more solid at secondary in who they are as a math learner. Like “I know who math is and who I am with math.” And I’m really excited to hear what your math bio allowed you to do with students who were perhaps open to the idea that they are very mathematical or at least not yet closed off to those possibilities. So, yeah. What are some of the high, the, you know, the high and low water marks of the making of Bethany Lockhart Johnson, math teacher? <Laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:24):

Thanks for asking, Dan. <Laugh> I’ve shared aspects of my math bio because I think it really informs the way that I talk to people about math and think about math. And I like to share it because I want folks to consider their own journey with math, as we like engage with problem-solving and sense-making and thinking about the students in our classroom. My dad is a math and computer science major. So he had a computer very early on. I wish he had invested in Apple early on when he had like one of the first Apple computers ever. And, sorry, dad, but it’s true. I do wish you had done that.

Dan Meyer (22:10):

I’m sure he does too.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (22:11):

Oh, he does. So math and computers and conversations about counting, you know, it felt like it was kind of just normal. Like it was around me. And I went to Montessori, which is a private school that—oh, they have some public Montessori—but it’s very self-directed. And so we would have these kind of charts, these goals for the day that you explored. And so we would explore math in very, I don’t know, very organic ways, with these natural materials. And I feel like I excelled at math, but it wasn’t something that I was conscious of. It was just like, “Oh, well, yeah. Math, it’s, you know, something we do.” And then when I went to—when I left Montessori in fourth grade, I remember that year being a lot of like repetition. I was like, well, we did this. We covered this. And except for the mission project that we hadn’t done, that was all new. And that’s it. For another time I’ll share about that. But <laugh> then, they actually, I was moved with a group of students to the fifth grade math class, ’cause we had already done the work that we were doing. And so, it wasn’t that it felt like it came easily, but it did make sense. What we were doing made sense. And then it all kind of changed. There was a lot of change in my family. There was, like, missed school time. And we moved and I went to a new middle school and I was in this environment with students who—it was like an accelerated program. And so I was in this environment with students who were pretty competitive with each other. And I remember going—and I was not from of a competitive environment; like Montessori is not competitive. It’s not about that.

Dan Meyer (24:02):

Right. Right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:02):

It’s—it was very strange to me that I would be competing against anyone, even competing against myself. And I, you know, knew how to set goals. But it was a different level of energy. And I felt like, because I wasn’t competitive in that nature, I felt like that kind—I felt on the outside of a lot of the energy. Besides the regular, like, middle-school feeling outside of things. And I remember the first friend that I made. Hi, Susan! She had said to me, this was like maybe our second week of school, she’s like, “Oh, at lunchtime, come with me to math club.” And I was like, “OK.” And I remember walking into that room and I had no idea what was going on. And so that was one of the first times where I was just like, “Whoa, I have absolutely no concept of what they’re talking about or what.” These are my peers. I felt very—it was very—it was strange. It was strange. I was like, “This doesn’t feel like a space for me at all.” When I think ordinarily I was kind of excited about the idea of going to math club at lunch, you know? And over middle school, I kind of just got progressively more and more behind. It started with missing some work and then missing more and then checking out. And, you know, the problem was that I really made it about myself. That, like, it wasn’t something that I was then good at or could do. When really it was that well, pre-algebra, I was having a really hard time in like the rest of my life. And so I wasn’t real present in that class. And so when I got to algebra, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And then if I missed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, well, Thursday is gonna be hard, you know? And, it just got progressively harder and harder. So I had this great idea that between eighth grade and ninth grade, I was going to take this accelerated geometry class. ‘Cause that was the ninth grade class, it was geometry. And I would take it. It was like geometry in three weeks or something. So then when I entered high school, I would’ve gotten this like jumpstart. But I wish I had said, “Oh, I’ll take this, and then in ninth grade I’ll take geometry.” So like I’ve already kind of gotten a preview of the material. But instead I went to the 10th grade math, which was like intermediate algebra, trigonometry. I had absolutely no clue what was going on. And I had a very, very difficult time and I wasn’t ready for that class. But it was exacerbated by the fact that this teacher felt very free to let the freshmen in that class know that they shouldn’t be in that class. That this class was for 10th graders.

Dan Meyer (26:49):

Oh wow. Oh, wow.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:51):

And we had a rather contentious relationship. And I will never forget that we were in the hallway, and he says to me, “You don’t belong here.” And I’ve talked to—I’ve talked to a girlfriend of mine about her experiences with this teacher and she has the fondest memories.

Dan Meyer (27:13):

Wow.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (27:14):

She—in fact, almost everyone I’ve spoken with, you know, if we are talking about past teachers or, “Oh, what was that class like?” I mean, they just have these wonderful memories! And for me, my sense of like belonging was already so on a tight rope anyway, that to have this adult, this teacher, tell me, “You do not belong here,” just crushed me. And in hindsight, I think he was saying like, “This class is too hard for you.” I mean, maybe. <Laugh> But all I heard was “You don’t belong here.” And I extrapolated it to connect to math and to anything having to do with math in general. And it just got worse and worse through high school in the world of math. My next math class was even—I had to repeat that class, and still didn’t understand what was going on, and felt more out of place, and, you know, it’s one of those things that I just kind of had started to accept that, I guess, math isn’t for me. I guess I’m just not a math person. Or whatever these stories are that I started to create and build and find evidence for around me that was informing that this wasn’t for me. And I had always done well in school. I was in, you know, accelerated classes. I felt like I was capable of problem solving. And yet in math, I just felt like I had all of this evidence saying that I didn’t belong there. And so when I went to college, I took whatever two math classes were—you know, I was in performing arts and then I did ethnic studies as well. And I remember you had to take two math classes that were GEs. There were these classes that if you don’t wanna deal with math, you go take those classes. And I was like, “Oh yeah, I’ll take that. I’ll take that.” The gulf widened, you know? <Laugh> And I didn’t feel like anxiety when I had to do things like balance my checkbook or navigate math in everyday spaces. It was just, it would never occur to me that I would like seek out opportunities to engage with math or think about it or talk about it.

Dan Meyer (29:35):

That is—yeah, that’s just so wild, how, I don’t know, like it’s often, from the student’s perspective, it is them in a vacuum with math, and the two of them interact and decide if, you know, if they’re right for each other. But from the grown-up perspective, it’s just, you know, it’s a little bit clearer that your story with math was not just you in math, but you with, you know, various external things happening. With family, various teachers playing their different roles—sometimes, you know, really tragic and horrible roles—and then like the compounding mathematical debt that it feels like you were kind of building up, as challenges in one year didn’t get resolved and moved into the next year and so on. And all that makes me wonder—it makes me, like really, really scared, first of all, because I would bet that your teacher might not even remember that moment, that for you is part of just a pivotal moment in your math story, and how many kids have I played—have I been a part of their story in that way and wouldn’t even recall? You know what I’m saying? So that’s a scary part. And then also I’m just wondering, like, how can we, how can we help kids who are in those moments recognize that, “Oh, this kid is like absent a bunch,” and give them more resources to be successful rather than say, “Well, you just gotta try harder now.” Those are things I’m wondering, hearing your story. Thank you for sharing that. I’d love to know more about how you then became a teacher and what all that did for you as you helped students.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:06):

Well, but to answer what you were saying, it wasn’t that I wasn’t—I was always absent physically, but at least like mentally at that point, because it had become so difficult. It didn’t make sense to me. So I was just really checked out in math class, you know? So in hindsight, you know, as a teacher, for sure I can look back, and especially hearing these stories and these experiences my friend had with this teacher and just like chalks up as one of like her most favorite teachers ever! And you know, he clearly did a great job for so many students. But for me, and I think for some people, they would’ve taken those challenges and, you know, it would have fortified them in a different way or something. But for me, I took it upon myself to mean certain things about myself and about my ability and what I was capable of. And so I think, I think in some ways, you know, yeah, it’s all, it’s all interconnected. You know, when your students walk in the door, they’re not this—the things that are impacting them in their life are coming into the room with them. And I don’t think we can take that for granted and think, “Well, if they just focus hard enough…”

Dan Meyer (32:21):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:23):

So let’s go back to my love of Oprah. You know, Oprah talks about living your best life. And something I really appreciate about Oprah is that she encourages you to examine, like, sticking points, right? Like she doesn’t just say, “Well, this…just pretend nothing ever happened, and everything’s fine!” You know, she really talks about making time for reflection. And I kind of got mad that anytime I thought about math, or math schooling came up. Or, you know, whatever, any time that came up that I just felt UGH about it. And I felt like a failure. And I’m like, “You know what, what if I took a math class? And I’m an adult at this point. I’ve graduated. I have—I’ve left college. I have my degrees. But I said, “What if I took a math class?” So I went down to, the city college and I found out that you have to take this exam, like a placement exam. And I went and took the placement exam. And I remember it’s one of the responsive tests where if you get it right, the next question’s a little harder. And so I’m taking it, panicking, because it’s getting more like…I just, you know. And I remember it placed me in like, whatever, Algebra Something, this class that was far more advanced than I thought I should be in. And I was like, there’s been a mistake! You know, and I went to the counselor and said, you know, “I got these results, but I couldn’t answer a lot of the questions on the test.” She’s like, “No, no, no, that’s how it works.” So I go take this class and the class was hard. And I decided that I was just gonna keep showing up. And every day before class, I kid you not, they had a little math…it was like a math center where you could go in and they had a bunch of tables and you’d sit at the table and you could sit and do your work or whatever. If you had a question, you walked up and put your name on a clipboard and then somebody would come and help you. So I did that, every single—like before every single class I would go in. I’d sit there. I’d do the work. I’d go. And I’d get help. Like somebody would walk over and you know, some kid for whom they’re like this…you know, they’re math—it might be you, Dan! It could be you! It could have been you! You know, would walk over and be like—

Dan Meyer (34:38):

Yeah, I was in Help like that. Naw, it’s awesome. Love, love those people. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:42):

And you know, I did it. And I did so well in the class. I did exceedingly well in the class. And I said—

Dan Meyer (34:50):

Take that! Take that, everything! Every other math experience!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:53):

I said, what?

Dan Meyer (34:55):

Yeah!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:55):

Wait a second.

Dan Meyer (34:56):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:57):

And it was that I was present. I was not afraid to look at what didn’t make sense. And if something didn’t make sense, it didn’t mean there was something wrong with me. Whaaaaat?

Dan Meyer (35:10):

Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:10):

So I was just in such a different space. And then I took another math class and that class was even harder. And I did the same thing where I went to the little lab and, you know, and it just buoyed me. And it made me realize that, like, this story, that my experience with it was very powerful and that was a real lived experience, but that it didn’t have to define my relationship with math. But then! I decided I wanted to go back to school to become a classroom teacher. And I totally—this was a couple years after that math class experience. So now, you know, I’m healing my relationship with math through basic positive experiences, da, da, da, you know, doing other work. But fast-forward, for a whole number of reasons, decided to become a classroom teacher. And I freaked out. All of my—like, I’m studying for the GRE and the CSET and all the things you have to the hoops you have to jump through to apply to the masters program and the credential program. And I freaked out. I was so close to quitting, Dan. Because I was convinced that the reason I couldn’t be a classroom teacher is because I wasn’t capable in math. Like I was—it was all that resurfaced. And even though I now had evidence to say something different, to the contrary, it was still so visceral. And I was so scared. But I passed that Math CSET.

Dan Meyer (36:47):

Get it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:47):

I did well enough on the GRE—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:50):

Yes!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:50):

You know, I finished my credential. I worked really, really hard. I had to work so hard in my student placement, when I was student teaching for a fifth-grade class, ’cause I felt like, “Oh my God!” I mean, now I could do the mathematics, but I couldn’t TEACH it to someone, you know? But I had amazing professors at UCI, and my math professors really like just—and my mentor teacher! shout out to Jennifer! shout out to Phil!—these amazing mentor teachers who just loved teaching and who loved—like you said, you have these teachers in your life who you got to see the way that they listened to students. They taught me about that love of listening to students. And then I fell in love with, you know, CGI, cognitively guided instruction, and started learning all about all of these educators who just wanna learn from students’ thinking. And it was just so powerful. And I realize as a kindergarten teacher that I have this really special role in helping to create space for a positive school experience. Like we get to talk about—I talk about my students as mathematicians; they’re writers; they’re thinkers; they’re problem-solvers. And I also want to make space for parents. Some of them, this is their first kid in kindergarten, and they brought all of their experiences, a lot of it negative, that they had had with mathematics. So I felt like it was such an exciting opportunity to help show parents how they could have conversations about math with their students. That also, I hope helped heal their own anxiety with mathematics.

Dan Meyer (38:41):

Right, right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:42):

Like, I’ve not even scratched the surface of math learning. But I just have such a changed perspective and relationship with math. And I just fell in love with the sense-making. And I fell in love with the journey of it. I still experience math anxiety about a wide variety of things, but I do love it. And I feel like there’s a space for me in relationship with math. And that really excites me.

Dan Meyer (39:09):

Yeah. Wow. Listen to that folks. We, we don’t deserve her! Bethany Lockhart Johnson! She got some math game and could have gone off there and, you know, become an accountant or something. And she chose to hang with kids and their parents. That’s so wild that you’re like rehabbing parents and their self-conception about mathematics at the same time. I think that is so cool.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:32):

Well, thanks Dan Meyer. I gotta tell you, I don’t know when or if I’ve ever shared that much of my math story. So there is a certain amount of vulnerability there. But thanks for listening. And I’m glad that, you know—I think there’s space for us to talk about these things that we care deeply about, but that can be really complicated.

Dan Meyer (39:56):

Yes. Yes. And I love how you you’ve really sharpened the point on what I feel like I know in my brain, but not my body all the time: That individual teachers are huge. Like, individual teachers, and individual moments of teaching, are just not something to play with. You know, like that kid that’s in fifth grade having a tough time, like there could be a month or a day-long period where all of a sudden, like, you’re just like, “Oh yeah, I’m back in the mix; like, me and math are still buddies.” And there’s also like moments that you had, where like one casual word from a teacher can just really put a huge wedge between you and a discipline that needs and wants you and your intellect in it.That’s a really powerful testimonial. Not just for math, but for teaching, your teaching bio.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:43):

I agree with you. And I also, I also…you know, I think we can’t put this—we are human. Teachers are human. And so I’m sure there’s things I’ve said to students. Twenty-second story: a student stapled his finger in my class. <Laugh> And I remember holding his hand and saying, “Why did you do that?” And I wasn’t yelling at him, but it was like, I am sure the panic in my face…like, that’s what he’s gonna remember about kindergarten. Right? <Laugh>.

Dan Meyer (41:19):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:20):

That. He will remember that. He won’t remember the really cool city project we did. He’s gonna remember his teacher holding his hand, in his face: “Why did you do that?”

Dan Meyer (41:30):

Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:30):

You know, so we’re human. And yes, it was awful that that teacher said that to me. There were a thousand other ways that he could have said whatever it was he was thinking. And that did deeply wound me. But despite his influence—because teachers do have a lot of power and I think they need to examine that power, ongoing—it still doesn’t have to define us. So I don’t wanna put this pressure, like—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:55):

Sure.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:56):

“So never ever say anything negative!” You know, we’re human.

Dan Meyer (42:00):

I feel like that kid is currently on some office-supply podcast talking about “your office-supply bio” and saying, “Let me tell you how I first got really freaked out by staples. Here’s the deal: I only use paper clips. And here’s why.”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:15):

“Here’s why.” But then—callback!—he’s going to stumble upon THIS podcast and think, “And because I’m so adept with paper clips, I can beat that record!”

Dan Meyer (42:30):

Though—aaay! whoa! Settle down!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:31):

BOOM.

Dan Meyer (42:31):

Don’t get any ideas, kid. No way. Uh-uh. I don’t like that at all. That’s not what—that’s not what I want to have happen here. No, thank you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:41):

Well, I’m spent, Dan. I need a nap.

Dan Meyer (42:45):

Yeah. I need a box of Kleenex. I need a nap. I need a—yeah, for sure, a baba. Uh-huh. Definitely. Hey, so look, I’m not expecting you folks out there in the lounge to kind of give us the same depth or breadth. You know, we are here, of course, for your entertainment. Feast on our stories and dramas. But I would love to know at some point, like, what are a few, a few moments that really came to define you mathematically? Came to influence you as a teacher? I think we would do really well for each other to understand that about all of our processes. So yeah, I would just toss in a plug in for Twitter, @MTLShow, or Facebook, Math Teacher Lounge; it would be fantastic to hear from you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (43:24):

Thanks so much for listening.

Dan Meyer (43:25):

Thanks, folks. Bye now.

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What Dan Meyer says about math teaching

“Teaching, more than other professions, is a generational profession. The kinds of joyful experiences we offer, or don’t offer, now affect the experiences students that haven’t even been born yet will have years later.”

– Dan Meyer

Meet the guests

Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer taught high school math to students who didn’t like high school math. He has advocated for better math instruction on CNN, Good Morning America, Everyday With Rachel Ray, and TED.com. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in math education and is currently the Dean of Research at Desmos, where he explores the future of math, technology, and learning. Dan has worked with teachers internationally and in all 50 United States and was named one of Tech & Learning’s 30 Leaders of the Future.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson

Bethany Lockhart Johnson is an elementary school educator and author. Prior to serving as a multiple-subject teacher, she taught theater and dance and now loves incorporating movement and creative play into her classroom. Bethany is committed to helping students find joy in discovering their identities as mathematicians. In addition to her role as a full-time classroom teacher, Bethany is a Student Achievement Partners California Core Advocate and is active in national and local mathematics organizations. Bethany is a member of the Illustrative Mathematics Elementary Curriculum Steering Committee and serves as a consultant, creating materials to support families during distance learning.

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About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

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S5-02. Uncovering the causes of math anxiety

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We’re continuing our season theme of math anxiety, going beyond the basics, diving deeper into what causes it, and how we can help students move forward. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Erin Maloney from the University of Ottawa to better understand what’s actually happening in the brain when a person experiences math anxiety, and how we can take steps to shift student mindsets in a positive direction.
 
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Download Transcript

Dr. Erin Maloney (00:00):

It’s the anxiety itself in many ways that can cause people to underperform.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:06):

Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson.

Dan Meyer (00:10):

And I’m Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:11):

This is episode two of our new season, all about math anxiety. Who has it? What is it? What do we do about it?

Dan Meyer (00:20):

I’m learning so much, learning a ton.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:22):

I loved our first conversation with Dr. Gerardo Ramirez, episode one, our first episode of the season. Really, our goal with that conversation was just to—we need to talk about the basics of it, for reals. Like, what is math anxiety?

Dan Meyer (00:36):

What is it? How do you measure it? How’s it defined? Super-helpful stuff.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:40):

There’s not only one way that it’s measured. But it’s like, in active research right now, how are folks making sense of it? And I think Dr. Ramirez did such a fantastic job of sharing that with our listeners. And I learned a lot. You learned a lot, Dan?

Dan Meyer (00:56):

I did. And I’m also super-excited to take that knowledge that we have developed together and go and build on top of it and keep on climbing up up the mountain here, and learn more about math anxiety. Which is why we’re super-excited to have a guest on, Dr. Maloney, who is going to help us learn more—especially about what happens to the brain when it’s experiencing math anxiety. There’s some really complex stuff that happens there, including the role of parents and educators in creating and resolving math anxiety. And I think we’ll also learn that the whole situation is a bit of a hot mess. And we’ll try to make it a little bit less messy together.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:34):

Little bit less messy. Dan, if we do nothing else, can we make it a little less messy?

Dan Meyer (01:41):

I sometimes prefer more mess, but in this case I prefer less. So.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:45):

I have a two-year-old, so everything is a mess.

Dan Meyer (01:47):

Your life is mess. Yes. <laugh> Right. Well, I’m excited for you folks to hear this. It was a delightful conversation, so yeah, tune in. We are joined by Dr. Erin Maloney.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:56):

Let’s go. We are joined by Dr. Erin Maloney, associate professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, where she directs the Cognition and Emotion Laboratory, as well as serving as the Canada Research Chair in Academic Achievement and Well-being. Welcome to the show, Dr. Maloney. We’re so excited to have you in the Lounge.

Dr. Erin Maloney (02:20):

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This is fantastic.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:24):

So our last season was all about math and joy. And even when I read your title, I felt more joyful. Like, somebody is thinking about academic achievement, but with well-being in mind. I love it.

Dr. Erin Maloney (02:39):

Aw, thank you.

Dan Meyer (02:40):

Cognition and emotion!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:42):

E-mo-tion!

Dr. Erin Maloney (02:43):

I don’t think they can be separate. I think that you have to think about them together, ’cause they’re so intricately connected.

Dan Meyer (02:49):

Love that. People try, but we love that. Yeah. That’s our vibe here, too.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:52):

People try. That was a big problem with my math anxiety. They just wanted…there was no room for my emotion. They’re like, stop weeping at your desk—

Dan Meyer (03:00):

It’s rearranging neurons….

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:01):

—you’re distracting the other children. So would you mind telling us the story of how you even got interested in this topic? You know, when you tell people that you study math anxiety—or, actually, I don’t know how you describe it to them; I’m hopeful you bring in that well-being part—but how did you get here? What do you, what do you, what do you…yeah, tell us! We love it!

Dr. Erin Maloney (03:23):

<laugh> I feel like what you’re actually asking is, “How did you make life choices that got you to here?” <Laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:29):

Justify your life choices! Ready? Go!

Dr. Erin Maloney (03:32):

<laugh> Whoo. OK. So, all right. So we often, in psychology, we joke that instead of doing research, we do “me-search.” And that’s, that’s admittedly true in my case. I was a student who absolutely loved math up until about eighth grade, and then something changed, and all of a sudden I was terrified of math and I had absolutely no sense of self-efficacy in it. Despite trying really hard, I was extremely anxious about it. And so I initially, I set out…my parents were completely convinced that I was absolutely capable of doing mathematics and that I was getting in my own way. And when I went to university, I decided to prove them wrong. So I set out to prove that some people just can’t do math, and that’s the end of it. And, you know, 20 plus years later, my parents were right. And it turns out that many people—well, I would argue virtually everyone—can do math. And that if you are really anxious about it, it can get in the way. And interestingly, you know, in, in the years that we’ve been doing this research, there’s really good strategies that can be used—that hopefully we get a chance to chat about—that can really help reduce the amount of anxiety that students are experiencing. But I really did set out, like the bold teenager that I was, to prove my parents wrong. And that backfired <laugh>. So I know it’s kind of a strange answer, but it’s the truth. So I was really interested in understanding why it was some people just could not do math.

Dan Meyer (05:10):

That makes two for two so far, on guests for this season who did a version of me-search. And I feel like this is pretty common for a lot of researchers. Like, I wanna figure out…my experience as a teacher, the part where you, I think, diverge from a lot of people I knew in grad school, myself included, is that you actually let counter evidence change your perspective on things. Whereas I feel like a lot of us go in: “I know this is true and I’m gonna gather data!” and lo and behold, I’m true! But only now, with the research TM, you know, trademarked research, attached to it. So that’s, really exciting. Thanks for sharing that.

Dr. Erin Maloney (05:43):

No, you’re welcome.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:44):

But don’t people say that the more personal you get, the more universal it is? Right? So if you go and get your doctorate about something that you think is just your experience or in your brain, then people are gonna be gonna be like, “Wait a second; you think that too?” “Wait, that math anxiety isn’t just you?” I don’t know, it sounds like a pretty great path to me. When you tell folks that you study math anxiety or when you’re speaking to folks about your research, do you find that there is a lot of folks who relate to what you’re studying? Or how does that conversation typically go?

Dr. Erin Maloney (06:20):

Yeah, so it is I think an extremely relatable topic. Not in the sense that everyone experiences anxiety about math, but everyone seems to know somebody who’s really anxious about math. Or everyone’s at least aware of the stereotype that like some people are math people and some people aren’t, and that’s just the way it is. So it feels like everyone has feelings about math and everyone seems very happy to share those feelings. So one thing I’ve always found really interesting, and actually, so I, I know you mentioned that you had Gerardo on recently. Gerardo and I have had really interesting conversations about how people are really quick to tell you that they hate math and they can’t do math, and they’re anxious about math. And I’ve yet to have anyone ever tell me they hate reading, they can’t read, they’re really anxious about reading as an adult. So for some reason math seems really different. And in that sense people always seem to be pretty excited to talk about their feelings towards math.

Dan Meyer (07:23):

Yeah, definitely. Been on an airplane or two myself and had those conversations. You know, people asking to be reseated because they found out that I do math for a living or whatever. Or just unburdening themselves, for sure. I’m super-curious: I think that the fact that you are doing the me-search is reason enough to want to dedicate your life to this study. But I am curious: If you were gonna justify to someone else, why is math anxiety important to study? What are its consequences, even outside of math education? What would you say to that?

Dr. Erin Maloney (07:57):

So I think it’s probably not hard to convince people that success in math is important, right? So we know that children who start elementary school behind in mathematics tend to stay behind in mathematics, unless they have any kind of very targeted intervention. We know that children who do worse in mathematics throughout K to 12 education in general get lower-paying jobs when they’re older. We also know that when they do worse than mathematics relative to their peers, there’s fewer jobs that are open to them, relative to if they excelled in math. Right? And so I think in many ways there are really clear consequences for students who are not comfortable with math and who avoid it. But I think one of the really, really interesting things about math anxiety, and maybe part of why I’ve fallen in love with it as a research topic is that it’s the anxiety itself in many ways that can cause people to underperform. So it’s not just the case that people who are bad at math are anxious about it. It’s actually that the anxiety itself can cause you to do worse in math. And that for me is really exciting, ’cause it means that if we can change your mindset, then we can really set you on a path with several more options available to you career-wise. And I think that is really empowering.

Dan Meyer (09:18):

Hmm. Yeah, definitely. And I’d love for you to explore — your laboratory is the cognition and emotion laboratory, which I love, how you’re creating those linkages between how you feel about a thing and what your opportunities or your aptitude for learning it. I’m really curious, can you say more about the, the relationship there? How does feeling anxiety impair your ability to do mathematics?

Dr. Erin Maloney (09:41):

Yeah, so feeling anxiety, typically what you tend to experience is these negative thoughts and ruminations. So you can imagine, you’re somebody who doesn’t really love math, you’re pretty anxious about it; you know, Bethany, maybe you’ve had this kind of experience before. I’m gonna call you out on it. I’ve had it many times, where you sit down to do a math test and all of a sudden you’re not focusing on the actual math test in front of you. You’re focusing on things like the consequences of not doing well on this. Right? Or “my parents are gonna be really disappointed if I don’t pass this test,” or “my teacher is gonna think negatively negative of me,” or sometimes we see things like, “I’m a girl, girls don’t do math.” These types of stereotypes. And what happens is that those thoughts actually tie up really important cognitive resources, like, really important memory resources, that you need to do the math test. And so if you are trying to essentially do two things at once, right? You’re trying to deal with all these negative thoughts that are distracting you and you’re trying to do the math test, then you’re not going to do as well as someone who’s sitting down and doesn’t have all of these distracting thoughts to deal with. And we actually know that from research that we have in our lab right now, where we just ask people like, “Hey, when you did this math test, what kind of stuff are you thinking about?” what we find is that the people who are really anxious about math report a whole bunch of thoughts that are unrelated really to the math test, per se. It’s more about the consequences of doing poorly. And as a result of those thoughts, they actually end up doing worse.

Dan Meyer (11:14):

This has been really helpful to figure out, how the emotional state of doing math affects the ability to do math. And it’s really interesting how you’re saying that the direction of the causality can go from the emotions to the cognition. And I’m just curious then, what is the source of the bad emotions about math? Where does that come from? Is it nature? Is it nurture? Some combination? How do you see it?

Dr. Erin Maloney (11:39):

Yeah, so one, that’s a fantastic question. And there’s been a whole bunch of people all around the world that have been spending a lot of time really trying to pinpoint that down. And I think the answer is that it’s, you know, it’s complex. So most of what it’s looking like right now is that it is a combination of both. So essentially what we find is that kids who start elementary school who are a little bit behind in math—and for the question of why they’re behind, that’s also complex; it could be genetics, it could be just environmental input, before the child ever entered formal schooling kind of thing—but in essence, what we find is that kids that start school behind in mathematics, those are the children who are most likely to develop anxiety about math by the time they’re finished first grade. OK? But we also know that once they’ve developed the anxiety about math, then that’s when they get these thoughts and ruminations that kind of tie up those memory resources, that then is gonna make it harder for them to succeed in math tests. So you get into this sort of vicious cycle, right? Where maybe you start behind a little bit and then you develop the anxiety, the anxiety causes you to underperform relative to what you should be able to, so now you’re even further behind, you get more anxious because you’re not doing as well as you’d like to…but again, kind of coming back to the “Why are the children starting behind in the first place?” Some of that seems to be the role that parents are playing in the household. So some kids come from a household where parents are playing a lot more math games with them, talking about mathematical concepts on a regular basis. Maybe they have older siblings who are, you know, practicing arithmetic and, and mathematical processing in front of them. And so those kids are exposed to more math before they ever even start formal schooling. Those kids seem to do better. And then we also know that the parents’ attitudes matter a lot too. So what we find is that when parents are high in math anxiety themselves, especially when they help their children a lot with their math homework in really early ages, we find that those kids end up being more anxious about math by the end of the school year, and they also end up doing worse in mathematics. So it really does seem to be, you know, kind of a complex set of factors that have something to do with both maybe genetic predisposition to success in math and genetic predisposition to anxiety, but then also the social attitudes and stereotypes about math to which you’re exposed at home that really seem to be coming together to create this anxiety in young children.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:24):

I feel like everything you’re saying is <laugh>…it makes so much sense and yet it’s so often not talked about, right? Because it’s just more like, it gets boiled down to, “Oh, they’re just not a math person,” instead of all these other factors that are at play. And I completely remember the anxiety I felt, whether it was a test or not, walking into my math classroom when I was in ninth grade. And there’s no way I was set up and ready to learn. Right? <Laugh>. And something with—we mentioned Dr. Ramirez, he was talking about validating that anxiety. If teachers validate that like, “Oh, you know what, sometimes you might feel stumped, or this might feel overwhelming.” Even the power in creating space for that in the classroom, right? And acknowledging that it doesn’t—math doesn’t have to “come easy” to you in order for you to have access or make sense, is such a powerful concept. And I love the way that you are looking at all these different factors and saying, “Hey, it’s both simple and also a lot more complicated than we’re we’re making it.” Right?

Dr. Erin Maloney (15:36):

No, and I agree with that sentiment so much. Like, I think, though—one thing I will sort of caution is that I think when teachers are validating the anxiety, or when parents are validating the anxiety, I think there’s a very fine line that needs to be walked where we need to be able to say, you know, “It’s OK to struggle with something. That’s, that is completely OK.” And as we’re, you know, as we’re working towards something that’s really valuable, right? We can, we can work hard at something and by working hard at it, we’re going to get better. And I think that type of validating is really, really important and valuable. I think what we wanna be careful of is not to say things like, “Oh, it’s OK. I also never loved math.” And, you know, “Oh, I was never a math person either.” And so even though we might be bringing comfort to the the child, I think that that’s sending the wrong message. And so sometimes it’s really well intentioned and really not great—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:37):

A hundred percent.

Dr. Erin Maloney (16:38):

—in terms of the messaging. So that’s the only…so just for people listening, the only sort of caution that I would give there is that I think there’s nuances to the validating of the feelings that are important.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:50):

I am so glad you said that because as a kindergarten teacher, I vividly remember—and this is as early as, you know, the kids are five years old, right?—and I remember in a parent-teacher conference, a parent saying, “Oh, I wasn’t a math person either,” or, “Oh, no, ugh.” And they were so quick, like you said, they wouldn’t say that about reading, but they were so quick to talk about their lack of natural math aptitude, right? And, and it was really interesting because you know that even if they’re not saying that specific thing at home, those attitudes are absolutely carrying over at home. And they’re absolutely carrying over to, to how they interact with their kiddo around math and around what’s happening in the conversations about math. And I felt like a lot of times my work as a teacher was also to help support parents through their own math anxiety, and help give them some new language for how they can talk about math. And that math is more than just getting to an answer quickly. Like, let’s talk about, let’s go on math walks, let’s go on number walks, what numbers are around the home? Or oh, is that bigger than this? Do you have more of this? And even those little things, I, my hope was that it was starting to shift the conversation around what math was possible in the home, particularly when you saw that it was the parents who had palpable math anxiety. Right? And how much you know that that’s gonna impact what’s happening when you sit down to do homework together.

Dr. Erin Maloney (18:22):

Yeah. And I love that you have worked to encourage parents to do that. So we do similarly. Like even from a research perspective, where I will often give talks to parents and teachers and we talk about the idea of trying to mathematize everything, right? So just the idea that math is absolutely everywhere, and you know, whether it’s a matter of playing games in the car with your kids where you’re thinking of a number and it’s “My number is higher than 42, but lower than 80, and what number do you think I might be thinking of?” And, and gradually trying to get the child to that number. Or, you know, asking questions like, “What’s your favorite even number and why?” And just little things like that that, that I think can make math fun for kids, that help—I don’t even know how to explain it, but just that idea of bringing joy into it, so it’s not always this heavy subject that kids have to come to. So we definitely try to talk to parents about the idea of, like I said, mathematizing everything. And usually it’s well-received, ’cause often parents find it empowering, right? They’re like, “Oh, well, I could do that! But like, that’s not math!” And you’re like, “No, but it is.”

Dan Meyer (19:33):

Yep.

Dr. Erin Maloney (19:34):

Like, it is! And sometimes parents will say like, “Well, I don’t know how to do fractions.” And you’re like, “OK, but how do you bake?” “Well, I don’t know! I just, like, I know how to do those fractions!” And you’re like, “OK, but that’s the starting point. Let’s work with that.” Like, let’s, you know. And I think a lot of times, it’s reminding the parents that they’re actually far more capable than what they think they are, despite the fact that maybe they struggled with math when they were younger.

Dan Meyer (19:58):

Yeah. This is so interesting. And I feel like part of the challenge around conversations about anxiety and math and how to, how to resolve it and where it comes from, is that it, like, it presupposes a single definition of math. And so, you know, we’re talking about like how to be more mindful about math. But you know, like if kids were walking every day through a treacherous street, you know, the solution might not be become more mindful about that street. It’s just like, we gotta fix the treacherous nature of the street, really. You know, I love that we’re talking also about redefining what math is, making it more playful. That feels like a super-important component here. I’d love to know more about what you know about the role of gender in all of this. Are there differences in the way boys and girls experience math anxiety and how it relates to achievement in math?

Dr. Erin Maloney (20:48):

Yeah, so, there’s really, really interesting research on gender in math anxiety. So in general, we find that girls tend to experience more anxiety about math than boys do. So one hypothesis is that it has to do with just social stereotypes that, you know, girls are, are good at reading; boys are good at math, kind of thing. So there’s some evidence to suggest that that might be playing a role. There’s other evidence to suggest as well that maybe boys actually do experience as much anxiety, they just don’t really own up to it.

Dan Meyer (21:20):

Ooh, yikes.

Dr. Erin Maloney (21:21):

So thoughts are, you know, there’s a bit of an apprehension for males to admit experiencing the anxiety. But I think one of the things that is extremely interesting about it—at least to me—is that we don’t tend to see gender differences in young children. So in early elementary school, even though we’ll see that kids as young as six years old will experience anxiety about math, and that that anxiety is related to how well they do in math and how much they enjoy math, it doesn’t seem to vary as a function of gender at that young age. It doesn’t seem to be related to gender until kids are at about sixth, seventh grade that we really start to see this gender difference coming online. And so that, to me, suggests that it’s probably something more social than biological at play. It probably has something more to do with these stereotypes and stuff. But another really interesting—or at least, I’m biased, but to me—another really interesting line of research that comes into play—and some of this is stuff out of my own lab—so we know that boys in general tend to do better at spatial processing than girls. And we know that spatial processing is really important for math, right? So math and space are pretty connected. And by spatial processing, I mean things like being able to picture something rotating in your mind or, you know, envisioning how these puzzle pieces might fit together. And so we know that boys tend to do better at that type of processing. And the gender difference there seems to be related to gender differences in math anxiety. So there’s some speculation, too, that it might be that as the math starts to become more reliant on spatial processing, that that’s when we see this separation between boys and girls with respect to how much anxiety they feel about math. So a lot of this is to say, I think the answer to the gender question right now is what I think what we would officially call a bit of a hot mess, <laugh> where I think there’s probably more questions than answers. But I think that there’s definitely something going on. And it really seems to be coming on later in elementary school.

Dan Meyer (23:32):

That’s a refreshingly honest admission from a social scientist, that it’s a hot mess and not perfectly clear, <laugh> so I appreciate that. It’s interesting what you said about the spatial reasoning. In our work creating curriculum at Amplify, I find we lean a lot on trying to tie abstract math towards spatial topics. Like, can you estimate a quantity before you calculate it? Can you identify a pattern and where it breaks before you prove it abstractly? And, I dunno, it’s just interesting to me. I’m just thinking out loud about how I feel like math becomes more abstract rather than more spatial. The farther you venture into secondary math…I’m wondering if I misunderstand what you’re meaning by spatial, and the progression of math from K–12.

Dr. Erin Maloney (24:20):

Yeah, so I think you can still have—you can have math be abstract, but still really relying on spatial processing. Right? And I think part of that is maybe a bit of us having different definitions of when we say “spatial.” So in cognitive science, when we talk about spatial representations or spatial reasoning, it’s really like anything you’re picturing in your mind, any time you’re really picturing these things in your mind and manipulating those images at all. So if you imagine, even like at a simple level, but it’s gonna hold when you’re going more complex as well. So doing like equivalence problems, for example, where you have to balance the equations.

Dan Meyer (24:58):

Yeah.

Dr. Erin Maloney (24:59):

Even just being able to envision things kind of moving around that equal sign and bringing one piece of the equation from this side to the other is actually an extremely spatial kind of reasoning. Right? Or when you’re expanding, that’s actually extremely extremely spatial, despite the fact that it might not feel like it initially. Obviously anything in geometry is going to be very spatial. So I think, in that sense, we would argue that the spatial processing is still playing a pretty important role. But it’s maybe a different type of spatial processing than what we’re seeing at a very early level in elementary school. That said, you can completely disagree with me too. ‘Cause I could also just be wrong, and that’s fair. My kids tell me I’m wrong all the time. So I’m used to <laugh> being told that I’m wrong.

Dan Meyer (25:47):

Well, we’re a bit more deferential on this here show, with our guests. So I would not do that. But it makes sense, what you’re saying about how these are things that you manipulate in your mind, whether they are Xs and Ys or numbers and fractions. These are all things that we manipulate. That ties into differences in this spacial reasoning category, it sounds like, which then contributes to math anxiety. And it does start to feel like there’s a lot going on here, is what it feels like.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:14):

You mean hot mess?

Dan Meyer (26:16):

I meant hot mess.

Dr. Erin Maloney (26:17):

Yeah. <laugh>, I think that’s the technical term, right? I’m pretty sure that’s the technical term for it.

Dan Meyer (26:21):

I didn’t know the citation for it. So I didn’t say it. But I knew who in literature named that. But yeah.

Dr. Erin Maloney (26:28):

I’ll write something at some point.

Dan Meyer (26:30):

We’ll cite Maloney, 2022. Yeah. Yes.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:34):

So I will say that one of my dreams in thinking about this season and last season, but particularly this season, since we’re really getting to talk to some researchers who get to think about this, and have really interesting conversations about it all the time…one of my dreams is that we’re bringing—’cause we do have some folks who are researchers that are listening, right? But then we also have teachers and folks who are in the classroom every day, and parents and caregivers listening. And so I think one of the beautiful things about the way that I hear you talking about it is you’re thinking about the research, but it’s so applicable. Right? And I wonder if there’s anything else you can say around it. I wanna reduce that divide, that gap, between the research that’s happening and then what’s happening with the kiddos and in the classroom and at home. And I don’t know if it’s like a magic wand thing where like <laugh> if there were changes you’d wanna see at a societal level, to try to combat math anxiety, but you see where I’m going. You know, it’s like <laugh>….

Dr. Erin Maloney (27:39):

  1. So I’m gonna answer maybe in two ways. So I think the first thing that I’m hearing from you is that idea of diminishing this divide, right? And so one thing I try to keep in mind, as someone who’s a researcher and working in the lab, I will often be called in to talk to teachers and give professional development sessions. And they often want the sage-on-the-stage academic, that stands up there and tells you the answers to things. And one of the first things that I’m gonna admit when I get up there is, “I am not on the front lines.” So what I do in the lab, for me to tell you that that’s gonna work in a classroom of 30 kids who may or may not have eaten dinner that day, and may or may not have snow pants, and may or not…like it’s–

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:23):

Mmm, yes.

Dr. Erin Maloney (28:24):

You know, I think we also need to be a little bit reasonable. So I try really hard in my own program of research to make sure that I’m always talking to teachers and to principals and to curriculum designers to make sure that the ideas that I have make sense. In fact, one of the most recent book chapters that I wrote, I wrote in collaboration with a really good friend of mine who’s a principal, an elementary school principal, and a former math consultant. And we wrote it together, to really say like, “Hey, here’s how we can help each other inform how research can inform practice and how practice can also inform research.” ‘Cause he can come to me and say, “I’m doing this. I can’t find anything in the literature to support this, but I’m sure it works!” And we can design something in the lab to test whether or not it seems like it’s gonna work.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:11):

That’s huge. Yeah.

Dr. Erin Maloney (29:12):

Empirically. And so I think that open communication is massive. One thing that we’re doing in my own lab to try to keep that open communication available. So to anyone listening who’s ever tried to get access to a journal article, they’re held behind paywalls, right? So one, the way it works, my understanding of this anyway, is that the journal owns the formatted version of the paper. So what we do is we put up audio recordings of all of the research papers that we ever publish. So I’m pretty sure I own the words as the author, and the journal owns the prettified version that you can buy. So we audio-record all of our papers, so that if teachers or parents ever want to hear the actual science that’s going into some of these decisions, they have access to at least the stuff that we do in our lab. And we also put up an infographic for every paper, just highlighting kind of the main questions and main findings. And we do that because I think that the only way for the information to actually be useful is if it gets into the hands of the stakeholders that actually need that information.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (30:21):

And is accessible. That’s huge. That’s huge!

Dr. Erin Maloney (30:24):

Yeah. Yeah. So that’s one way that we try to do it. And like I said, the other thing, we try to always be working with principals and with teachers. I joke that the way that I remedied this in my own life…so my husband’s a teacher; it’s like, I just married one! It’s fine! <laugh> I can grill him on a regular basis, and be like, “I wanna try this experiment. Do you think it’s gonna work?” And he can say, like, “It’s not going to. Here’s why.”

Dan Meyer (30:47):

That’s awesome. Marrying a participant—you know, a research participant—is unethical, of course. Would not clear IRB. But turning your partner into a participant? Like, what are you gonna do? That’s great.

Dr. Erin Maloney (30:57):

Yeah, no, that’s fair game.

Dan Meyer (30:58):

Yep.

Dr. Erin Maloney (30:59):

Yeah. So that’s—I think we we compensate each other <laugh>. So, no…so I do joke a little bit about that. He was a teacher simply ’cause he wanted to be one. Not ’cause I needed him to be one. But, I think that communication part is, is really key. That’s one thing. Then the other part of the question or the other sort of piece of the question that I was hearing is that idea of, how do we fix math anxiety. Right? Like, what’s the great, “I’m glad that there’s a whole bunch of time and effort and energy going into trying to understand this, but what, where are we at?” And I think with that, it’s really, really promising. So there’s been a lot of research coming out looking at how best to help children or even adults manage their own anxiety about math. And there’s a few really interesting strategies that seem to be quite effective. So one, and I don’t know if—um, it feels weird calling him Dr. Ramirez, just ’cause I know him well!—but I don’t know if Dr. Ramirez would’ve talked about this when he chatted with you, but he has some really interesting work on expressive writing. Did he chat about that at all?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:07):

He didn’t, but I’ve read some of his work about it and I think it’s so fascinating.

Dr. Erin Maloney (32:11):

Yeah! So, OK, well, I’ll tell you about his work on it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:13):

Yes, please. Please.

Dr. Erin Maloney (32:14):

Because it’s super-useful. So when we talked about that idea of how anxiety causes these thoughts and ruminations, and they tie up the memory resources that you need, what Gerardo has found is that when you get students to write about their anxiety for about 10 minutes before they do a test, what ends up happening is they end up doing better on the test, relative to if they would not have written about their anxiety at all. And this is particularly true for students who are really high in anxiety. OK? And the idea is that all of those thoughts that they were going to have about the test or the consequences of the test, et cetera, you just kind of get ’em…it’s like a mind dump where you get ’em all onto the page at first before you even go to do the test. And now when you go to do the test, you’re not having to do two things at once. You’re no longer dealing with these thoughts ’cause you got ’em all out on the paper beforehand. And so Gerardo has some really interesting work showing that that works for math anxiety. And then it also works for just testing anxiety in general. And so that’s a strategy that I love. I also—part of what I really love about it is it’s so low-cost, right? You need a paper and a pencil and it’s great. So those are always my favorite strategies, the ones that don’t really cost us anything. So that’s one way of dealing with like the cognitive part of the anxiety. The other thing you can do is try to deal with the anxiety part of the anxiety. So for that, what we find is that the typical strategies that you’re gonna see for anxiety tend to work for math anxiety. So things like focused breathing. Right? Making sure you’re doing deep inhales and exhales. That really diaphragmatic breathing seems to be quite helpful. We know that what we call progressive desensitization is really key. That’s the idea of doing things, you know, starting with the questions that you know how to handle. And then gradually working up to the more difficult questions. So you’re sort of gradually exposing yourself to the more complex stuff. And how that can play out on an actual test at school is, you sit down, and instead of just starting with question number one, you actually read the whole test, see which questions you feel like you know the best, start with those questions, and that helps build your confidence so that you’re better able to tackle the questions that are maybe a little bit outside of where you’re currently at. So that seems to be really helpful. The other part that I will say, too, that’s extremely helpful: So we know that anxiety really ties up those memory resources. And so the more you can make the math automatic, the more immune it’s going to be to anxiety in the moment. And so I know that this part can be a little bit controversial, because we don’t wanna necessarily demotivate children, and kill the enthusiasm for math that we’re trying to cultivate…but really, you know, really committing your arithmetic facts to memory can be extremely helpful. So really learning those times tables, really learning your addition and subtraction facts. ‘Cause what happens is, then when you’re in a situation where you need that information, even if you’re anxious and you’re working with fewer cognitive resources than what you would normally have, you actually don’t need that many cognitive resources to be able to pull something from memory that you’ve memorized. So it really helps to kind of protect you against some of the negative impacts of the anxiety while you’re doing that test.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:37):

And you’re not using all your cognitive resources to figure out seven times eight, because you can really focus on what you’re trying to do with that. Oh, that’s fascinating. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Erin Maloney (35:47):

Yes. No, a hundred percent right. And so I know that’s one that, like I said, I know it can be somewhat controversial because it’s…you know, we’ve talked about—or we haven’t talked about in this conversation, but we often talk about—the idea of drilling and killing. Right? So you drill the facts, you kill the, the enthusiasm. But I think that there are ways that we can drill arithmetic facts, or help make them automatic, but still fun, right? It doesn’t have to always be in a high-pressure kind of way.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:16):

Totally. And we’ve talked about fluency, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it more in the Lounge. And that is interesting, that link between anxiety when the fluency isn’t there, that—or, of course we hear about anxiety with timed tests, but the idea of that IS something you can do to reduce it, because you have those facts just at your ready. Right?

Dr. Erin Maloney (36:37):

Yeah. So I actually, again, I’m gonna be a little bit controversial. So I don’t hate timed tests in the way that a lot of people do. But I love time to practice. So I think once we’ve got to a point where children have a fairly decent understanding of skills, of a skill, once they’ve got a fairly decent grasp on it, then I love the idea of the timed practice. So it can be still in a low-pressure situation, where in many ways it doesn’t matter if you get the answer to the question correct. But we’re practicing doing it in a situation in which you might be feeling a little bit of pressure, but it’s not real pressure, if that makes sense. And I think that can be really, really useful for students. And again, it can be done in a fun way, right? It doesn’t have to be these super-intense ways. It can be fun. But I think that in life there are situations in which the time that it takes you to complete a problem matter. And I think that we have to make sure that we don’t get too far away from that.

Dan Meyer (37:40):

Yeah. It feels like we should do an entire other episode thinking about ways to develop that fluency and automaticity that don’t contribute to anxiety, or create further disparities between people who are high math anxiety and low math anxiety. Not a small question, I’m sure. And I appreciate you alluding to all of that. You know, this whole thing, as you said, is quite the hot mess. And I feel like you, Dr. Maloney, have helped us make this a little less messy, in our heads, and hopefully the listeners’ heads. I really appreciate that. I just love…you’ve mentioned lots of resources that you have. You’ve alluded to them: audiobook-style readings of your research, which I need ’cause I just finished, you know, Harry Potter, the seventh book, so I need a new thing to listen to like that. Also infographics. Can you tell our listeners where they can find this work of yours, and if there are any other kinds of resources that you wanna plug for our listeners here?

Dr. Erin Maloney (38:32):

Yeah, for sure. So all of our resources can be found on my lab website. So the address for that is www.ErinMaloney.ca. So there we have, like you said, the infographics and the audio articles and all that stuff. And then we also have a link to a new kids’ book out, actually, that a colleague of mine and I have published recently, that really walks through some of these strategies on combating math anxiety. The book is written as a children’s book, so it’s Peyton & Charlie Challenge Math. But it secretly is a book that would also work for adults. So if you are a parent that’s a little bit anxious about math, or a teacher that maybe is a little bit anxious, and you wanna see how some of these strategies can play out, in that book—we linked to it on the website, but it is available for purchase on Amazon. And the one thing I will say about the book, ’cause this is something that we were pretty proud of, so Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk, who is a school psychologist, and I wrote the book. And it’s available for purchase at our cost price, so we don’t actually make any money on the book. It was literally just a way of getting some of the science out to people who might be able to benefit from it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:45):

Reducing that divide!

Dr. Erin Maloney (39:46):

Yeah, well that’s what we’re trying to do! Right? So I think in the U.S., I think it’s like $6 on Amazon. And then in terms of other resources, we’re in the process right now of creating some informational videos and and stuff like that that hopefully will be useful for parents and for teachers, just in terms of understanding a little bit more about the anxiety and understanding how to deal with the anxiety in the classroom more, at home or wherever it might be coming up.

Dan Meyer (40:15):

Well, thanks so much. I really appreciate—we appreciate!—you coming on, and hearing about how you’re trying to bridge so many different barriers from research to practice, and school to home. It’s just really inspiring. And we’d love to have you back on sometime. So thank you so much for joining us.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:29):

I feel like we’ve just hung out! Don’t you, Dan?

Dan Meyer (40:31):

Are we rolling here? Oh my gosh, we’re rolling. I just thought we’re just hanging. Yeah,

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:34):

I thought we were just hanging!

Dr. Erin Maloney (40:36):

I know, I do, I really appreciate that it has a very kind of chill vibe to it.

Dan Meyer (40:41):

Chill vibe. Like a lounge.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:42):

It’s the lounge!

Dan Meyer (40:43):

Thank you. You get us; you get us. <laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:45):

Dan Meyer. I was shopping for children’s books, and there was this book, and it was talking about being at home with Mom. And it’s going through all the things that the child did that day with Mom. It’s like, “We played outside, we ran through the sprinklers, we even did some homework.” And it shows them sitting at the table with the homework, that’s clearly math homework, in front of them. And the mom is like, “Harrumph!” Like a very perplexed, anxious face. And there’s all these question marks above her. And it’s just like,

Dan Meyer (41:24):

“There should not be numbers on that paper!”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:25):

Exactly. And the child is like, “Ohhhh,” you know. And I mean, I have to give credit to the illustrator, because they really did capture the clear message of this interaction, which was sitting down to do math homework or think about math together is a source of angst. Right? According to this author and according to too many people. And so I think what’s really important is that we recognize those images when we see them out there and speak back to them, and say, “Hey, wait a second.” Yeah, it can feel like that, and it doesn’t have to. And what’s going on that that’s just the assumed way that it’s gonna feel, to sit down and math together. You know?

Dan Meyer (42:11):

Yeah. It feels like we all have a lot of work to do on the whole math-anxiety front. Dr. Maloney helped us see how parents play a part, educators play a part, society and how they create people plays its own part in how we all define math as a thing where we evaluate student thought or where students play it with their thoughts, has its own huge part as well. So yeah, it was a really fantastic conversation with Dr. Maloney. I hope you folks will check out the show notes, where you will find links to Dr. Maloney’s website. A lot of her work, which as you heard, is very geared towards practitioners and parents and even directly at kids, especially the new children’s book she co-authored, Peyton & Charlie Challenge Math.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:55):

Next time we’re gonna dive even more into the nitty gritty of combating math anxiety. To do that, we’re actually gonna be joined—I am so excited about this—by Dr. Rosemarie Truglio from Sesame Workshop.

Rosemarie Truglio (43:09):

Our core audience are two- to four-year-olds, and they love math. And what’s not to love? Children don’t come with this math anxiety. Math anxiety is learned.

Dan Meyer (43:23):

So excited.

Dr. Erin Maloney (43:24):

Sesame Street was a huge part of my childhood and my toddler doesn’t know it yet, but Sesame Street is coming. It’s coming. Like, we’re we’re gonna introduce Sesame Street to him. We just haven’t yet.

Dan Meyer (43:37):

Sesame Street straight raised me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (43:38):

Right?

Dan Meyer (43:39):

Yeah. Don’t tell my parents. But that’s, yeah, that’s true. I’m excited, too. It’s gonna be a blast.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (43:45):

I’m really excited. I think that the more we dive into this topic—which, again, we’re gonna look at math anxiety from a lot of different angles—and I’m excited to talk to Dr. Truglio about how we can take this research and these conversations that are happening about math and how it can actually impact what’s happening in homes. ‘Cause we wanna help create positive relationships with mathematics, with kids in math. I’m so excited. And I hope you folks keep listening. We love having you here in the Lounge. And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to Math Teacher Lounge, wherever you get podcasts. And if you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a rating and a review. It helps more listeners to find the show, and let other folks know about this show. Recommendations are great. Thanks so much for listening.

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What Dr. Erin Maloney says about math

“If we can change their mindset, then we can set students on a path to more opportunities and success.”

–Dr. Erin Maloney

Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, Director of the Cognition and Emotion Laboratory, and the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Academic Achievement and Well-Being, all at the University of Ottawa

Meet the guest

Erin Maloney is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Ottawa. Her research sits at the intersection of Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Education and focuses on cognitive and emotional factors that relate to academic achievement. She is a world-renowned expert on the study of math anxiety, conducting research in the lab, in homes, and in classrooms with children, parents, and their teachers. She is passionate about both knowledge mobilization and equity, diversity, and inclusion within education and science.

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About Math Teacher Lounge

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

You might also like:

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Free professional development cours…

Three on-demand professional learning courses for math teachers.  Earn your cert…

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Mathigon: the mathematical playgrou…

Math games and manipulatives for online and remote learning.

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Desmos Classroom Grades 3–12

Join Desmos Classroom to gain access to free classroom lessons, lesson-building…

Welcome to Amplify Desmos Math California!

California educators, welcome to math that motivates. Introducing Amplify Desmos Math California, a curiosity-driven TK–12 program that builds lifelong math proficiency. Each lesson poses problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals. Students encounter math problems they’re eager to solve, while teachers spend more time where it’s most impactful—creating a collaborative classroom of learners.

Keep reading to learn more about the program and explore sample materials.

About the program

Amplify Desmos Math California is a TK–12 core math program designed to meet the CA Math Framework and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Amplify Desmos Math California thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application through a structured approach to problem-based learning. Through engaging activities, Amplify Desmos Math California invites curiosity and math discourse into the classroom to create lifelong math proficiency.

Continue reading to learn more about the K–8, Algebra 1, and Math 1 programs and to explore sample materials. (Spanish, TK and high school materials are in development and will be available in the 2026–27 school year. Geometry and Algebra 2 beta pilots will be available in the 2025–26 school year.)

A powerful math suite

Amplify Desmos Math California combines the best of assessment, problem-based core lessons, personalized practice, and intervention into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers.

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Screening and progress monitoring

mCLASSⓇ Math benchmark assessments, along with the embedded program assessments, measure not just what students know, but how they think. The asset-based assessment system provides teachers with targeted, actionable insights, linked to core instruction and intervention resources. Unit- and lesson-level core assessments give teachers data at their fingertips to guide and differentiate instruction. In grades 3–8, core assessments and performance tasks are designed to prepare students for success on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) testing.

Core instruction

Amplify Desmos Math California core lessons pair problems students are eager to solve with clear instructional moves for teachers. Each lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals. With built-in differentiation and multilingual/English learner support, Amplify Desmos Math California enables every student to find success in the math classroom.

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Personalized Learning

Boost Personalized Learning activities help students access grade-level math through engaging, independent digital practice. Responsive Feedback adjusts to students’ work, providing item-level adaptivity to further support their learning.

Differentiation and intervention

Amplify Desmos Math views differentiation as an ongoing process where teachers are both reactive and proactive to student needs, ensuring that all students have clear pathways to proficiency. Through rich data and teacher support, Amplify Desmos Math uses flexible categories of intervention and enrichment that adjust daily according to student thinking.

In-the-moment differentiation supports are available for every lesson, both digitally and in the print Teacher Edition.

Learn more
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An approach that supports teachers

Clear, step-by-step instructional moves help teachers plan and teach student-centered lessons that use
student thinking to differentiate instruction and guide to grade-level understanding. They include:

  • Guidance on what to listen for and how
    to respond.
  • Clear learning objectives to keep learning on
    track for each activity and lesson.
  • Daily reinforcement activities to provide direct
    instruction when needed.
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Big Ideas

The CA Mathematics Framework encourages a shift from power standards to thinking about math as a series of connected Big Ideas. Each Amplify Desmos Math California lesson supports one or more Big Ideas and the connections between them. The grade-level diagram changes through the course based on the math concepts addressed within.

Please refer to the following Keeping the Big Ideas at the Center documents to review specific lesson designs and alignments with the Big Ideas for each grade level.

Click here to see how the Big Ideas are represented within the K–8 core lessons.

Focus, coherence, and rigor

Amplify Desmos Math California incorporates the Drivers of Investigation (DIs) and Content Connection (CCs) throughout the program. Throughout the year, students engage with open and authentic tasks of varying durations—from lesson activities to unit-level Explore lessons and longer course-level Investigations. Every lesson and investigation opportunity is grounded in the why, how, and what of the learning experience, and helps teachers bring mathematical concepts to life.

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Please refer to the following Amplify Desmos Math California alignments to the Standards for Mathematical Practice, provided by grade level.

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Built-in authentic tasks

Mathematics is not learning in isolation. Students are connected to each other’s thinking and can use math to understand the world. With accessible invitations to authentic tasks, all students can experience mathematical success. Amplify Desmos Math California provides these authentic invitations in a variety of ways:

Each unit begins with an “Explore” lesson, which allows students to engage with authentic exploration in low-floor, high-ceiling tasks. These tasks are designed to promote an inclusive and differentiated learning environment—allowing all students to access basic mathematical concepts, while offering advanced exploration and problem-solving for those ready for more complex work.

Our innovative course-level investigations are designed to facilitate multi-part exploration. Students grapple with Big Ideas, diving deep into key concepts that encourage comprehensive understanding. Data science is infused into the approach, giving students a solid foundation from which to interpret and apply data-driven solutions. They’re also encouraged to understand and appreciate the interrelatedness of Earth’s environmental systems via our lesson’s focus on the Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs).

Explicit support for multilingual/English learners

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Amplify partnered with the English Learner Success Forum (ELSF), a national nonprofit organization that advocates for high-quality instructional materials that are inclusive of multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs). ELSF reviewed Amplify Desmos Math California, and provided directional guidance and feedback to ensure that the program reflects their research-based instructional strategies for multilingual/English learners.

Amplify Desmos Math California recognizes the diverse language needs of our students and is designed to be inclusive. Each lesson in the program features a parallel language activity, designed to be available to all students, in the form of teacher guidance and student activities. The activities in the Math Language Development Resources have level ELD differentiation to support all levels of ML/ELs. This approach ensures that all students, regardless of their language skills, can participate fully, grasp the material, and excel in their mathematical journey.

Our Multilingual Glossary includes, in addition to Spanish, nine languages: Simplified Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, European French, Russian, Brazilian-Portuguese, Haitian-Creole, and Urdu.

Amplify Desmos Math California will include Spanish student-facing materials beginning in the 2026–27 school year.

Assessments

By starting with what students already know, Amplify Desmos Math helps build a strong foundation for success to guide and support future learning. Teachers are empowered to transform every classroom into an engaged math community that invites, values, and develops student thinking. With explicit guidance on what to look for and how to respond, teachers can effectively support students as they develop their understanding.

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Program assessments

A variety of performance data in Amplify Desmos Math provides evidence of student learning while helping students bolster their skills and understanding.

Unit-Level Assessments

Our embedded unit assessments offer key insights into students’ conceptual understanding of math. These assessments provide regular, actionable information about how students are thinking about and processing math, with both auto-scoring and in-depth rubrics that help teachers anticipate and respond to students’ learning needs.

Lesson-Level Assessments

Amplify Desmos Math lessons are centered around sense-making and in-the-moment feedback. Daily moments of assessment provide valuable evidence of learning for both the teacher and student.

Learn more

Data and reporting

Amplify Desmos Math provides teachers and administrators with unified reporting and insights so that educators have visibility into what students know about grade-level math—and can plan instruction accordingly for the whole class, small groups, and individual students.

A table displays students' performance levels across various items, with a detailed score distribution for a specific assessment shown in a separate overlay. Geometric design elements accented the background, providing an engaging visual touch ideal for any math classroom using Amplify Desmos Math.

Assessment reports

Reporting functionality integrates unit assessments, lesson assessments, personalized learning, Benchmark assessments, and Progress Monitoring for a comprehensive look at student learning.

Our reports show proficiency and growth by domain, cluster, standard, and priority concept using performance data from unit assessments. Then our reports highlight areas of potential student need to allow teachers to modify their instruction and target differentiated support.

At-a-glance views of unit-level assessment results inform your instructional planning, and you can also drill down to item-level analysis.

Standards reports

Our standards report allows you to monitor proficiency at the class and individual student levels. Proficiency and growth are shown by domain, cluster, standard, and priority concepts. Areas of potential student need are highlighted to allow teachers to modify their instruction and target differentiated support.

Administrator reports

Amplify Desmos Math provides a complete picture of student, class, and district performance, allowing administrators to implement instructional and intervention plans.

  • Track student, class, and district performance with usage, completion, and assessment data.
  • Accurately group students and classes with the Benchmark and Progress Monitoring data of mCLASS Assessments and allow teachers to reliably implement and track the progress of Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention.
  • Provide one data-driven solution that educators can rely on for high-quality math instruction.

Elementary review resources

To learn about the elementary program, please start by watching the Amplify Desmos Math California Elementary Program Overview video.

For additional program information and helpful navigation tips, download the Amplify Desmos Math California Elementary Program Guide.

View the Elementary Program Components Guide here. 

View the Hands-on manipulatives brochure here.

Middle School review resources

To learn about the middle school program, please start by watching the Amplify Desmos Math California Middle School Program Overview video.

For additional program information and helpful navigation tips, download the Amplify Desmos Math California Middle School Program Guide.

View the Middle School Program Components Guide here.

View the middle school manipulative kit components here.

The digital experience

In Amplify Desmos Math, embedded interactions and animations allow students to test predictions, get feedback, share ideas, and connect representations.

The digital interactions included in lesson activities are designed to elicit student thinking in a way that feels fun and inviting. As students play and explore math concepts, teachers can highlight the ideas that students share, connect those ideas to other students’ ideas, and build on their thinking through productive class discussion.

Watch the video to preview the digital experience and for helpful platform navigation tips.

A laptop displays a math activity about platform heights and tube length, while a worksheet titled "Hamster Homes" is visible in the background.

Explore grade level samples

All lessons in Amplify Desmos Math California include print materials and rich digital experiences. Every lesson is supported with Student Edition pages, teacher presentation screens, and interactive digital resources for practice and differentiation. Some lessons also enable students to use devices to interact with lesson content.

You’ll find sample materials by grade level in the following drop-downs. Please refer to your physical samples and the digital platform (accessed through the demo account provided by your account executive) for a comprehensive program review.

Screenshot of a kindergarten curriculum outline featuring units like Math in Our World, Numbers 1-10, Positions and Shapes, Understanding Addition, Making 10, and Shapes All Around Us. This comprehensive program utilizes New York Math standards to build foundational skills.
Scope and sequence
Cover of Amplify Desmos Math Grade K Teacher Edition featuring three children playing with math-related objects and a group of rabbits sitting nearby, aligning with the engaging curriculum seen in New York math classrooms.
Teacher Edition
Three children use large counters and a vertical frame to solve a math problem outdoors, with a fourth child sitting nearby. The cover is labeled "Amplify Desmos Math California, Kindergarten, Volume 1.
Student Edition
Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Grade K" featuring a 3D letter "L" and section about Math Language Development Resources.
Math Language Development Resources
A curriculum overview for Grade 1 with seven units listed, each showing a title, instructional days, assessment days, and total days. Suggested days for completion is 154.
Scope and sequence
Three children play a math game with orange counters and cards. Fish and turtles are pictured above them. The book cover is labeled "Amplify Desmos Math California, Grade 1 Teacher Edition.
Teacher Edition
Three children use counters and cards to solve a math activity underwater, with fish and seaweed in the background. The cover is for Amplify Desmos Math California, Grade 1, Volume 1.
Student Edition
Cover of a Grade 1 Amplify Desmos Math California resource featuring a yellow block letter "L" and a label for math language development resources.
Math Language Development Resources
Scope and sequence chart for Grade 2 shows eight instructional units with titles, illustrated icons, days per unit, and assessment days listed in a grid format on a white background.
Scope and sequence
Cover of a Grade 2 math textbook showing a teacher and two students measuring a number line and holding a sign that reads "120 in." with math visuals in the background.
Teacher Edition
Three children measure and mark a path on the ground with a ruler and tape, next to a large green base ten block and a 120-inch sign, on a math textbook cover.
Student Edition
Cover of Amplify Desmos Math California Grade 2 Math Language Development Resources, featuring a green geometric "L" and a list of included supports for language learners.
Math Language Development Resources
A table displays a Grade 3 math curriculum outline with six units, each showing unit topics, number of instructional and assessment days, and total days per unit.
Scope and sequence
Illustration of four children in a two-story house doing math activities; one holds "3 x 2," another “3 x 3,” another “3 x 5,” and one paints a wall. Grade 3 math teacher edition cover.
Teacher Edition
Illustration of four children in a house-like structure, one painting, one holding a book, one holding a math sign, and one reading, on the cover of a math textbook labeled "Grade 3.
Student Edition
Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Grade 3" featuring a 3D geometric shape, blue accents, and a section describing included resources for math language development.
Math Language Development Resources
A curriculum overview for Grade 4 showing seven math units with titles, illustrations, instructional days, and pacing details, organized in a grid layout.
Scope and sequence
Four children, one in a wheelchair, interact with math symbols and measurements outdoors, overseen by a teacher. The cover reads "Amplify Desmos Math California, Grade 4, Teacher Edition.
Teacher Edition
Four children stand and work around a large plant and number tiles outdoors, with one child in a wheelchair and another holding a clipboard. The cover reads "Amplify Desmos Math California 4.
Student Edition
Cover of the Amplify Desmos Math California Grade 4 Math Language Development Resources, featuring a blue geometric "L" shape and a description box in the bottom left corner.
Math Language Development Resources
A Grade 5 math curriculum overview showing six units, each with instructional days and assessment information, arranged in a grid on a white background.
Scope and sequence
Cover of a 5th grade math teacher edition book showing children interacting with math concepts outdoors, including measuring, drawing, and stacking cubes.
Teacher Edition
Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Student Edition 5, Volume 1" featuring students engaging in math activities outdoors and one standing on colorful cubes holding a "Grade 5" sign.
Student Edition
Cover of Amplify Desmos Math California Grade 5 Math Language Development Resources, featuring a 3D letter "L" and a brief description of included supports.
Math Language Development Resources
Grade 6 math curriculum chart showing eight units with titles, instructional days, assessment days, optional days, and icons for each unit. Suggested days: 143 out of 147 instructional days.
Scope and sequence
Illustration of children outdoors interacting with oversized math symbols and objects. Text reads "Amplify Desmos Math California Teacher Edition, Grade 6, Volume 1.
Teacher Edition
Illustrated cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Student Edition, Grade 6, Volume 1" showing students interacting with math symbols in an outdoor setting.
Student Edition
Cover of Amplify Desmos Math California Grade 6 book featuring a 3D geometric “L” shape and a description of included math language development resources.
Math Language Development Resources
Grade 7 math curriculum map with eight units, each showing topic, days per unit, and breakdown of instructional and assessment days. Suggested total days: 124.
Scope and sequence
Illustration of people interacting with geometric shapes, city buildings, and a crane on a cover titled "Amplify Desmos Math California, Grade 7, Teacher Edition, Volume 1.
Teacher Edition
Illustrated cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Student Edition 7, Volume 1," showing people constructing geometric shapes and mathematical tools in a cityscape.
Student Edition
Cover of the "Amplify Desmos Math California Grade 7" resource, featuring a purple 3D geometric "L" shape and informational text about language development resources.
Math Language Development Resources
Grade 8 math curriculum overview with nine units displayed in a grid; each unit lists instructional days, assessment days, and total days.
Scope and Sequence
Illustration of children at a playground with adults, working on math activities near water tanks and a slide. The cover reads "Amplify Desmos Math California, Grade 8, Teacher Edition, Volume 1.
Teacher Edition
Illustration of children playing on and around a slide with geometric shapes and graphs, on the cover of a math textbook labeled "Amplify Desmos Math California, Student Edition, Grade 8.
Student Edition
Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Grade 8" featuring a 3D geometric letter "L" and a list of included math language development resources.
Math Language Development Resources
A curriculum overview for Algebra 1 with eight units, each showing a title, number of instructional and assessment days, and simple illustrative icons. Total suggested days: 153.
Scope and Sequence
Illustration of people interacting with algebraic graphs, grids, and mathematical tools, with others exploring underwater and a map of California in the corner. Text reads "Amplify Desmos Math California.
Teacher Edition
Cover of a California Amplify Desmos Math A1 Student Edition book showing people interacting with mathematical graphs and underwater divers observing marine life.
Student Edition
Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Algebra 1 A1 Math Language Development Resources" featuring a 3D geometric "L" shape and text describing included resources.
Math Language Development Resources
A curriculum chart displays seven math units, each listing instructional and assessment days; the suggested total is 138 days, with titles like Patterns and Sequences and Linear Equations.
Scope and sequence
Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Teacher Edition, Math 1 Volume 1" with illustrated people interacting with geometric shapes and graphs.
Teacher Edition
Cover of the "Amplify Desmos Math California Student Edition Volume 1" featuring people interacting with math symbols and geometric shapes in a stylized, modern landscape.
Student Edition
Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Math 1," featuring a geometric L-shaped figure and a blue header labeled "Math Language Development Resources.
Math Language Development Resources

Scope and Sequence

Math 2–3 is currently being developed and will be available in the 2026–27 school year.

Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Teacher Edition GEO Volume 1" featuring abstract geometric illustrations and people engaged in mathematical activities.
Scope and Sequence (National Edition)

The Amplify Desmos Math Geometry Beta National Edition is available for piloting in the 2025–26 school year. Amplify Desmos Math California Geometry will be available in the 2026–27 school year.

Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Geo Volume 1 Student Edition" featuring geometric shapes and small illustrated people interacting with mathematical elements.
Geometry sampler

This sampler includes Teacher Edition front matter for program overview information, plus Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for Units 1–2.

Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California A2 Teacher Edition," featuring a Ferris wheel, math graphs, and students interacting with mathematical concepts.
Scope and sequence (National Edition)

The Amplify Desmos Math Algebra 2 Beta National Edition is available for piloting in the 2025–26 school year. Amplify Desmos Math California Algebra 2 will be available in the 2026–27 school year.

Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Student Edition A2 Volume 1" featuring mathematical graphs, a Ferris wheel, and students interacting with math concepts.
Algebra 2 sampler

This sampler includes Teacher Edition front matter for program overview information, plus Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for Units 1–2.

Contact us

For questions, samples, or more information, please contact your local Amplify account executive:

Erin King
Sales Director, CA
(512) 736-3162
eking@amplify.com

Northern CA
Wendy Garcia
Senior Account Executive
(510) 368-7666
wgarcia@amplify.com

Bay Area
Lance Burbank
Account Executive
(415) 830-5348
lburbank@amplify.com

Central Valley and Central Coast
Demitri Gonos
Senior Account Executive
(559) 355-3244
dgonos@amplify.com

Ventura and L.A. County
Jeff Sorenson
Associate Account Executive
(310) 902-1407
jsorenson@amplify.com

Orange and L.A. County
Lauren Sherman
Senior Account Executive
(949) 397-5766
lsherman@amplify.com

San Bernardino and L.A. County
Michael Gruber
Senior Account Executive
(951) 520-6542
migruber@amplify.com

Riverside and L.A. County
Brian Roy
Senior Account Executive
(818) 967-1674
broy@amplify.com

San Diego County
Kirk Van Wagoner
Senior Account Executive
(760) 696-0709
kvanwagoner@amplify.com

Under 2300 students in Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, and Northern Counties
Kevin Mauser
Lead Account Executive
(815) 534-0148
kmauser@amplify.com

Under 2300 students in Southern CA, Central Coast, and Southern Central Valley Counties
Charissa Snyder
Account Executive
(720) 936-6802
chsnyder@amplify.com

Welcome, Flowing Wells, to Amplify Desmos Math!

Amplify Desmos Math thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Each lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals.

Keep reading to learn more about the program and explore sample materials.

Jump to preview lessons
A collage of educational software screens, featuring Desmos Math with vibrant graphs and animations, amplifies mathematical comparisons alongside engaging plant growth simulations. Perfect for educators in New York math classrooms seeking dynamic learning tools.

About the program

Our structured approach to problem-based learning builds on students’ curiosity to develop lasting grade-level understandings for all students.  The program thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, fluency, and application, motivating students with interesting problems they are eager to solve. Teachers can spend more time where it’s most impactful: creating a collaborative classroom of learners.

Screenshot of an educational activity page using Amplify Desmos Math to present a function machine and a table for calculating outputs of ( h(x) = f(x + 2) ) with given inputs for ( x ), offering an engaging approach to New York math standards.
The geometry activity screen features a circle with intersecting lines and a shaded area. Instructions prompt users to explore Sam's construction and determine if a square was formed, all enhanced by the innovative tools of Amplify Desmos Math.

Structured approach to problem-based learning

  • Easy-to-follow instructional guidance
  • Robust assessments and reports
image of Amplify Desmos Math

Math that motivates

  • Powerful teacher-facilitation supports and tools
  • Students talking and building from each other’s ideas 
  • Every lesson has compatible print and digital materials for a collaborative classroom
Screenshot of a design challenge interface from Amplify Desmos Math, featuring overlapping purple circles. The left shows 3 circles, and the right displays 5. Task: match the two designs as if solving a New York math puzzle.

Student thinking is made evident

  • Curiosity-driven lessons that motivate students with interesting problems they are eager to solve
  • Explicit guidance for teachers on what to look for and how to respond
  • Technology that provides Responsive Feedback and is designed to reveal mathematical thinking
A chart titled "Scope and Sequence" for Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2, with colorful units and topics, overlaid by an illustration of lab equipment with a gauge and liquid.

Scope and sequence

Click the link below to view the program scope and sequence.

AGA Scope and Sequence

Preview lessons

Check out the links below to explore our interactive digital lessons. Download a navigation guide for tips on navigating the print and digital program components.

A laptop showcases a mathematical graph using Desmos Math, amplifying the learning experience. Behind it lie two papers with printed graphs and text, reflecting a bustling New York math classroom environment.
A graph with a red and a purple parabola on a grid, created in Amplify Desmos Math; three points are marked on the purple curve. Red and purple buttons with plus signs appear below, perfect for New York math classrooms.
Algebra 1

Lesson-level scope and sequence

Preview lessons

A geometric pattern of seven overlapping purple circles forms a flower-like shape on a light blue background with a rounded square behind it.
Geometry

Lesson-level scope and sequence

Preview lessons

Four square graphs with different blue line patterns: a curve downward, a V shape, a wavy line, and an upward curve, all on a light blue background.
Algebra 2

Lesson-level scope and sequence

Preview lessons

Looking for help?

We are dedicated to supporting you throughout your review. Get help at any time by getting in touch with your account executive directly:

Tommy Gearhart, Account Executive
tgearhart@amplify.com
(505) 206-7661

Welcome, Amplify Math families and community to Amplify Desmos Math High School (AGA, Integrated 1–3)!

Welcome to Amplify Desmos Math! Below, you’ll find links to sample lessons, scope and sequence, and more information about our AGA and Integrated high school math programs.

Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Integrated 1 are available for Beta implementations and pilots in 2025–26. Integrated 2–3 will be available for the 2026–27 school year.

Jump to preview lessons
A collage of educational software screens, featuring Desmos Math with vibrant graphs and animations, amplifies mathematical comparisons alongside engaging plant growth simulations. Perfect for educators in New York math classrooms seeking dynamic learning tools.

About the program

Our structured approach to problem-based learning builds on students’ curiosity to develop lasting grade-level understandings for all students.  The program thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, fluency, and application, motivating students with interesting problems they are eager to solve. Teachers can spend more time where it’s most impactful: creating a collaborative classroom of learners.

Screenshot of an educational activity page using Amplify Desmos Math to present a function machine and a table for calculating outputs of ( h(x) = f(x + 2) ) with given inputs for ( x ), offering an engaging approach to New York math standards.
The geometry activity screen features a circle with intersecting lines and a shaded area. Instructions prompt users to explore Sam's construction and determine if a square was formed, all enhanced by the innovative tools of Amplify Desmos Math.

Structured approach to problem-based learning

  • Easy-to-follow instructional guidance
  • Robust assessments and reports
  • Spanish student materials (available 2026–27)
A classroom dashboard displays student names and their progress in activities, with checkmarks indicating completed tasks and circles showing ongoing or incomplete tasks.

Math that motivates

  • Powerful teacher-facilitation supports and tools
  • Students talking and building from each other’s ideas 
  • Every lesson has compatible print and digital materials for a collaborative classroom
Screenshot of a design challenge interface from Amplify Desmos Math, featuring overlapping purple circles. The left shows 3 circles, and the right displays 5. Task: match the two designs as if solving a New York math puzzle.

Student thinking is made evident

  • Curiosity-driven lessons that motivate students with interesting problems they are eager to solve
  • Explicit guidance for teachers on what to look for and how to respond
  • Technology that provides Responsive Feedback and is designed to reveal mathematical thinking
A chart titled Scope and Sequence for Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2, with colorful units and topics, overlaid by an illustration of lab equipment with a gauge and liquid.

Scope and sequence

Click the link below to view the program scope and sequence.

AGA Scope and Sequence Integrated Scope and Sequence

Preview lessons

Check out the links below to explore our interactive digital lessons. Download a navigation guide for tips on navigating the print and digital program components.

A laptop showcases a mathematical graph using Desmos Math, amplifying the learning experience. Behind it lie two papers with printed graphs and text, reflecting a bustling New York math classroom environment.
A graph with a red and a purple parabola on a grid, created in Amplify Desmos Math; three points are marked on the purple curve. Red and purple buttons with plus signs appear below, perfect for New York math classrooms.

Algebra 1

Lesson-level scope and sequence
Preview lessons

A geometric pattern of seven overlapping purple circles forms a flower-like shape on a light blue background with a rounded square behind it.

Geometry

Lesson-level scope and sequence
Preview lessons

Four square graphs with different blue line patterns: a curve downward, a V shape, a wavy line, and an upward curve, all on a light blue background.

Algebra 2

Lesson-level scope and sequence
Preview lessons

A geometric graphic featuring four blue-edged triangles forming a pinwheel shape on layered green square backgrounds with a small multicolored circle at the center.

Integrated 1

Lesson-level scope and sequence
Preview lessons

A blue shield with the text "INT" above the number "2" on a light blue background, inspired by new york math and amplify desmos math themes.

Integrated 2

Coming in 2026–27!

A blue shield-shaped sign with "INT" in white letters above the number "3" on a light blue square background, reminiscent of visuals found in Amplify Desmos Math resources.

Integrated 3

Coming in 2026–27!

Looking for help?

Support is always within reach. Our team is dedicated to supporting you throughout your review and can be reached at any time by emailing or calling us directly.

  • Live chat: Click the orange icon while logged in to get immediate help.
  • Phone: Call our toll-free number: (800) 823-1969.
  • Email: Send an email to help@amplify.com. In the message body, please include your name and question. Provide as much detail as possible, so we can more quickly help you find a solution.
A laptop screen displays a curriculum dashboard with a list of core units and colorful thumbnails for a sixth-grade ELA program.

Ready to learn more?

Winter Wrap-Up 02: Mathematizing Children’s Literature

Promotional graphic for Math Teacher Lounge podcast, episode 2, featuring Allison Hintz and Antony Smith, discussing how mathematizing children's literature can build math fluency.

While we’re hard at work producing the exciting fifth season of Math Teacher Lounge: The Podcast, we’re continuing to share some of our favorite conversations from our first four seasons. This time around, we’re revisiting our popular episode that connected literacy and math!

In this episode, we sit down with Allison Hintz and Antony Smith, authors of Mathematizing Children’s Literature, to talk about what would happen if we were to approach children’s literature, and life, through a math lens–and how we can apply those same techniques to classroom teaching!

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page. 

Download Transcript

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:02):

Hi, I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson.

Dan Meyer (00:04):

Hi, I’m Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:05):

And we are so excited for another episode of Math Teacher Lounge. And as you know, podcast format; you’re listening now. I think one beautiful thing about the podcast format is that it gives us a little bit more time to have these rich conversations. And I promise I won’t do it, but I could talk to our guests for hours, hours! Authors Allison Hintz and Tony Smith have just released Mathematizing Children’s Literature: Sparking Connections, Joy, and Wonder Through Read-Alouds and Discussion. And today we get to talk to the authors. Allison, Tony, welcome. Welcome to the lounge.

Allison Hintz (00:53):

Thank you. We’re so grateful to be here.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:55):

We’re so excited to have you here. And I wanna say that my very first—was it my first math conference? Maybe it was my first math conference—up in Seattle, the CGI conference, and I’m all like, you know, wide-eyed and just like, “Can this be a place for me, this math community?” Re-envisioning my relationship with math and thinking about myself as a math teacher, what? And I went to your session on mathematizing children’s literature, and I was just so fired up. I was so wowed by your ideas, your energy, and your passion for students’ thinking. And I feel like as I read this book, I felt like I was hanging out with you. Like you were just so encouraging all the way through. Of educators, of other folks working with young people, and really guiding us how to listen with joy and with an open curious mind.

Dan Meyer (02:03):

Yeah. I would love to hear a bit about the genesis of this book for you folks. Like, I’m coming at this from a secondary educator lens. I’ve got small kids, so that’s also part of my interest here. But I love any book, any idea that seeks to merge what seems like two disparate worlds. Like it’s often the case that we feel like, well, there’s approaches for ELA and approaches for math, and they’re kind of separate disciplines. And these poor elementary teachers have to learn all of them and be experts at all of them. And here you both come along and say, “Hey, what if they are the same kind of technique?” Can you just speak to how this came about?

Allison Hintz (02:38):

Definitely. Tony, do you wanna take a try? Do you want me to start us off?

Antony Smith (02:42):

I can start. We oftentimes present and talk together and so we kinda switch back and forth. So that’s just how we are. So probably about eight or nine years ago, Allison and I, our offices were next to each other on our small campus. We’re both professors and we just happened to have a few children’s books that we looked at together and we were just thumbing through the pages. We really liked children’s literature. And we noticed that I would stop at certain points wondering about character motive or plot or sequence of events or language use. And Allison would stop at very different points in the book and notice number and concepts or something about mathematics. And that’s when we started to wonder, what would it be like if we were sharing a children’s book with a group of children and we put our ideas together? Where would we stop? What would we talk about? What would we ask children about in terms of their thinking and what they notice?

Allison Hintz (03:42):

And so we started playing with these questions that we had and started approaching stories with multiple lenses to see what kinds of things would children notice and what kinds of things might they say. And we were also on our own journey in trying to understand how to plan for and facilitate lively discussions and classrooms that surface really complex mathematics. And it felt like stories were a place where that might be a fruitful context for hearing children’s thinking. We’ve worked with a lot of teachers and students in our region. We live in the Seattle area and we’ve applied for some funding over time that’s really helped us be in a lot of community-based organizations and educational contexts and libraries and pediatricians’ offices and classrooms, various classrooms, and see what’s interesting about this and what might teachers and children do with stories that would surface complex mathematics to think about together.

Antony Smith (04:41):

Over time, we came to the realization that if we wanted to hear children’s ideas, we had to stop bombarding them with questions. <laugh> Yeah. And at first it made it worse that we were asking them math and literacy questions at the same time. And so we realized that what we needed to do was to back off and to ask children what they noticed and wondered.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:01):

Can you say more about that and how that kind of evolved into mathematizing children’s literature?

Antony Smith (05:07):

We did work with a number of very thoughtful, talented classroom teachers and children’s librarians in public library systems who were just so masterful at asking open-ended prompts and questions, rather than kind of like the de facto reading quiz, that a read-aloud can become, which I’ve always disliked as a literacy educator. And we realized in our observing these read-alouds or interactive read-alouds or shared reading experiences that given the opportunity in the space and an adult who was actually listening, that children came up with all of the ideas we would have asked them about and more. So we didn’t have to be bombarding them with questions. They were already much more thoughtful than what would’ve been sufficient to answer our questions.

Allison Hintz (05:58):

And much like mathematics, it was really an iterative process. You know, we had some clunky read-aloud discussions where we were trying to accomplish so much and toggling multiple chart papers and different colored pens and all sorts of “how do we capture these ideas” and “do we separate ’em? do we keep ’em together?” And so it’s really been over time that with partners, we’ve learned these ways of having multiple reads of the same story that allow us to hear what children notice and wonder, and then to delve more deeply into their questions and their ideas through multiple reads where we might spotlight literary ideas that they notice; we might spotlight mathematical ideas that they notice. We might make purposeful integrations between those. But we found it to be most productive—and Kristin Gray really help us think about this—to have an open Notice and Wonder, get everything out much like an open-strategy share. We welcome here, record all the ideas, and it goes all over everywhere. You know, it can be a really not math-y noticing! And those are amazing! So there’s a lot of, um, yes, there is a ladybug on this page! The grandma is wearing green triangle earrings! Oh, your grandma wears green earrings! I mean, it all comes out.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:27):

Wait, have you been in my classroom? ‘Cause that’s exactly— <laugh>

Allison Hintz (07:29):

<laugh> And then, you know, we think of it a lot like if math teachers might use the 5 Practices for selecting and sequencing, or if you might move from an open-strategy share to a targeted share, how can we get out all the questions that children are asking and then step back from them, take some time to really think about what they’re telling us they’re curious about, and plan some purposeful, intentional subsequent discussions that can delve more deeply into their ideas.

Dan Meyer (08:02):

I’d love to go into that a little bit more if that’s all right. Um, I’m gonna speak from someone who doesn’t have an elementary background and I’m gonna voice some worries that I had, some anxiety. One anxiety I have like in a classroom or a curriculum is when there’s no room for student ideas. Right? When it’s like, oh, there’s just room for the curriculum author or the teacher here. That is a sadness. But I when I see an instructional environment like you’re describing here, where there is openness to all kinds of different student ideas, of different levels of formality, from different kinds of cultural fonts of knowledge or wherever, I also get a little bit nervous because that, like, increases the risk that a student might come to understand that “my ideas are not good enough,” whereas in the class with no room for their ideas from their home or their language or their hobbies, like, they’re not gonna internalize the message that, “that wasn’t good enough.” And so I’m really curious as you move from the open Notice and Wonder where kids share all of themselves with you, and then you move to a targeted focus on some sort of disciplinary objective, how do you navigate that tension and help students feel like their contributions are valuable, even though we aren’t taking them up per se?

Allison Hintz (09:18):

That’s such an important question. I mean, I think we’ve grappled with this broadly in math education. I think any time we’re thinking about which ideas we choose to take up to pursue to consider, we have a responsibility to think carefully about whose ideas are being taken up and heard and considered. And so one of the tensions I hear you naming, I think, Dan, is when we engage in lively discussion where children’s thinking’s at the center, how do we make sure to upend and interrupt kinda status norms that run the risk of being deepened? Um, and I think by paying attention to whose ideas are taken up as much as which ideas are taken up, and what’s the mathematics we wanna explore is one tension. Um, another tension I might hear you naming is, you know, the complications that teachers face with time and pressure and coverage, and which mathematics ends up getting worked on. And, um, you know, it’s something we’ve really had to struggle with in mathematics education, where we move to more discussion-oriented classrooms that are really centered in sense-making to know that it takes a lot of time to do this thoughtful, thoughtful work. Um, does that begin to get at some of the tensions you’re raising? Is there, is there more you’re thinking about?

Dan Meyer (10:53):

I think it’s really helpful that you kind of broadened the scope of the question beyond your book to “this is an issue that we are, you know, really challenged by and focused on broadly in math education.” And, um, I appreciate you bringing the element in of whose idea—not just which idea is taken up, but whose idea is taken up—is an opportunity where, let’s say, multiple people raise an idea that is towards an objective the teacher has, they have the opportunity to disrupt certain kinds of status, like ideas about status, in that moment. From your perspective, like, are there techniques to say, I don’t know, parking-lot certain kinds of questions and say like, “Hey, like these are awesome”? I don’t know. I just know that I see kids at like ninth grade. They are very reticent, often. They’ve internalized totally this sense of like, “I’m not gonna just, like, share about the pants the grandma’s wearing, you know; that will not be received well.” And so I’m just kinda wondering how that happens and like, what are the ways we can disrupt that? That process?

Antony Smith (11:54):

So thinking about that, Dan, from the teacher’s perspective, in those kinds of scenarios where you wanna honor each child’s contribution, a couple of things that come to mind: One is that by, you know, initially by modeling what I as a teacher, something that I notice or wonder about, helps kind of set the expectation for what kind of response would be encouraged. And it’s broad, but it gives an example. And then also we really try to record or to chart all of the ideas that are shared so that we can revisit and honor those together. And then either later or on another day, if we choose one or two of those to explore in some way within a more focused read, then another thing that we do is have the idea investigation afterward that continues that thought, but goes back to being as open-ended as possible, so that those students or children who maybe didn’t have their idea as the one that was focused on by the group could go back to that or explore some other idea of their own, so that the idea investigation isn’t a lockstep extension activity, which is why we don’t call it that. So they could again bring in their own perspective. But I have to say from the teacher’s point of view, there is that moment of potential panic <laugh> because there is that power transfer when you’re asking children to help steer where this is going. And if you really mean it, you have to let them steer a little bit. And that can be terrifying. And, um, I always think of one teacher, Ashley, we worked with who read an adorable book, Stack the Cats, by Susie Ghahremani. And in that book, there’s a point where there are eight cats and they’re kind of trying to be a tower of cats and they fall and they’re sort of in the air on that page. And she asked her first graders—she stopped, and she asked, “How, do you think, how will the cats land?” And for about a minute and a half, the entire <laugh> class, was silent. They had their little papers; they had chart paper; they had clipboards; they had everything they needed. But that unusual phenomenon of a group of six- and seven-year-olds actually just sitting and thinking and not being peppered with activities was really stressful, but amazing. And then, after about the 90 seconds, they started out into their exploration of how the eight cats might land. They just needed a minute to think. And it’s so rare that we’re able to let children have that.

Allison Hintz (14:40):

In that same moment, Ashley, who’s a learning partner to us, she turned to us kind of quietly, like, “Should I pose a different question?” And <laugh>, we’re like, “No, let’s stick with it. Let’s see what happens.” So I think it creates this space too, this thinking culture, right? And this culture of “what does that mean to really pose a rich task?That’s open-ended, where there’s multiple access points?” Those eight cats could land in so many different ways. And there was broad access, there was a wide range of all the cats landing, and one’s on their feet, ’cause cats always land on their feet <laugh>, and there was every combination. And so, um, I think what’s really interesting—and to me, this brings back to your wonder, Dan—is, you know, “What’s the risk in openness?” And there’s always risk in openness. Um, it’s scary as a teacher, right? If I’m not the authority of knowledge and I don’t have control over where we’re gonna go, it might get into places that I didn’t anticipate. Or I don’t really feel as solid in the math as I want to. Or I don’t know what it sounds like to stick with silence and wait time, to know if my students are really in productive struggle or if that question was a flop. And so, um, I think this is some practice space for young mathematicians and teachers of mathematics, and just teachers, to explore with that openness and kind of the risk of the openness required for complex thinking to emerge.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:12):

You know, it feels like the way you’re both describing this, it really is a culture shift, right? I kept feeling like I was given permission to be a beginner as I read this book. Like I was really…I loved how you said, I believe it was you, Allison, when you were in the class, you had a couple index card that you kept on your clipboard and that as you walked around, you were like, “Hey, if I don’t know what to ask, I ask one of these questions.” You know? And just this idea that, that, like Dan was saying, there is that loss of control, but that’s also a way to create this culture where students ideas are valued and we are allowing students to really generate the questions, which I thought was such an important idea to explore.

Allison Hintz (17:00):

We started this work long ago, super-excited about math-y books. And we saw a lot of potential in them and we still do. But the limitation we saw is that math-y books, they, they put forth a certain mathematics to be curious about. In some ways they tell you what mathematics to think about. So we started asking ourselves what would happen if we considered any story a chance to engage as mathematical sense-makers. And we started playing with non-math-y books and we got to a place where we could consider every story an opportunity to engage in mathematical thinking. And so we started noticing things over times, oh, these books tend to be really math-y. We call those text-dependent. We’d have to pay attention to the mathematics to understand the story. Whereas this pile of stories, these, they’re not overtly math-y. You could really enjoy the story and not pay attention to mathematics and have an amazing conversation. But what would happen if we thought of about this story as mathematical sense-makers and how might it deepen our understanding of the story? And then this other teetering pile of books, these are books where, you know, children didn’t tend to engage as overtly as mathematicians in it, but there’s opportunities in this story to go back to something—to a moment, to an illustration, to a comment—and think as mathematicians. And those were more about illustration exploring. And so, as we notice these different kinds of books, we really broaden what we thought about. And I think one of the things we really wanna think about in community through this book is what happens if we approach any story, every story, as mathematical sense-makers, because stories are alive in children’s lives, in homes and communities and in schools. And it’s a broad opportunity that we wanna take up. I was thinking, as I stay in this strait for just a moment about book selection, before we move into that process, um, Bethany in a previous MTL, you talked about representation.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:12):

Mm, yeah.

Allison Hintz (19:14):

And do you remember when you shared the image of hair braiding?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:19):

Yes. Vividly, yes. <laugh>.

Allison Hintz (19:22):

Yeah. And can you say just what that meant to you? What that….

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:27):

Yeah. Well, it was from a conference; Sunil Singh had used it and was talking about the artistry in mathematics and beauty in hair braiding. And, um, particularly, he was showing this particular image of this Black woman with her hair braided in profile and looking at the angles and the symmetry. And I shared that, you know, I spent so many hours in the beauty shop with my aunties and my mom and my grandma and continue to, to this day, that it just, it struck me immediately as familiar. And it struck me immediately as seeing an image that was reflective of my lived reality, projected as valuable and worthwhile for consideration in the world of mathematics. Which is not what I felt as a student of mathematics as a young adult or child. So it was this beautiful moment of, for me, the power of when we see images and we allow opportunities for re-envisioning what may be a common practice for that student, or may be something that they see every day.

Allison Hintz (20:44):

And in that same way, that image that was put up, we wanna think really carefully about representation in the stories that we select. And when we think of stories as mirrors or windows, we really wanna be mindful in story selection of whose stories are told and whose stories are heard. And when you said that you would sit down to listen to a story and you felt at ease or that you saw an image and you saw yourself that can be and should be something we really think carefully about when we select the stories that we select.

Dan Meyer (21:21):

It’s a wider path for representation of different kinds of people in literature, because people’s stories seem so much more present and towards the surface of their lives, versus, say, the abstractions and numbers and shapes in mathematics. It feels like more of a struggle to find ways to show people, hey, like you’re here, this, this place belongs to you. So in all these reasons, I think it’s really great you folks are using literature, which has this history of humanities, literally humanities, as a vehicle for mathematics. That seems pretty special here.

Antony Smith (21:56):

We both go to libraries and bookstores and look through books as often as we can, but also our partner, a children’s librarian, Mie-Mie Wu, helped us go through—when we would meet, she would bring three or four hundred books at a time.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (22:13):

When you described her wheeling in the cart, oh, I wish I been in that room! <Laugh>

Antony Smith (22:18):

And the cart was, you know, probably three or four times bigger than she was sometimes. And we would go through hundreds of books and look at them and listen to her thoughts as a skilled librarian sharing with families, diverse families, and what catches the attention of a three-year-old sitting with her grandfather. And that was really a valuable, helpful experience. And it’s a partnership that continues. So in Last Stop on Market Street—and this is in the book; we talk about this, this children’s book quite a bit—in this story, CJ with his Nana, his grandmother, are riding the bus to the last stop on Market Street in San Francisco, to go, as we will find out, to help serve in a soup kitchen to help the community. And the teacher, Susan Hadreas, had the children record their ideas. She charted them in an open Notice and Wonder read. And one of the ideas that a young boy noticed was that CJ on the bus…a man with a guitar starts playing the guitar on the bus and CJ closes his eyes and it says CJ’s chest grew full. And he was lost in the sound and the sound gave him the feeling of magic. So this boy said, “I wonder, what does that feel like if you’re feeling the magic? What’s that?” And that was one of many ideas in the open Notice and Wonder, and Allison will talk about the math lens read, but first Susan went back and read with them. She had that idea, she circled it on the chart paper, and another day that week, she said, let’s go back and visit this story we really liked. And remember, we wondered what feeling the magic was like. Let’s go back through and let’s keep track of all the feelings and emotions that CJ had across the journey to the soup kitchen in this book. And so they did another read of the story; they were very familiar with it, of course, but they noticed new things and they also, every few pages, stopped and she helped chart all of the emotions that CJ experienced from envy to excitement to sadness. There’s a huge range in this book. And it was fascinating.

Allison Hintz (24:36):

I think one of the things that the children noticed was that CJ’s feelings were shaped by community. And that he shaped and shaped…he was shaped by and helped shape his community. And so the ways that he felt across the story were impacted by the other characters that he comes across. The guitar man on the bus. The bus driver who can pull a coin out from behind someone’s ear. The lady with the butterflies in the jar. Nana helping him to see the rainbow. And the students started, you know, being curious about that. How do we shape and how are we shaped by community? What communities are we a part of? This class is one community. I’m in many communities across my life. And they started to quantify the number of people in the story. So Mrs. Hedreas went back for a math lens read, and she said, let’s just keep track of and pay attention to how many people are in CJ’s life in this day. Because I can hear you starting to think about quantity. This class at the same time in other areas of the day had been working on counting collections, how to keep track, so they got out their tools. Some people pulled out ten frames, some people pulled out clipboards. They had a wide range of things they could use to help them keep track. They developed their own strategy, keep track however you want. She did a quicker read through it, flipping the pages, and then they get into these debates: <laugh> “We already counted that person!” “But they took their hat off and put it down to collect money!

Antony Smith (26:10):

“What about the dog?”

Allison Hintz (26:11):

“That’s the same person!” “Yeah, there’s a dog pound in his community!” <laugh> “Do animals count in our community?”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:17):

I love it!

Allison Hintz (26:17):

“Yes, they count!” Uh, and so we went through and quantified and there was really this understanding as you saw these people throughout the story that communities can be of different sizes, but community has impact. And you have responsibility in your community to show up and to lean in and to know that bringing your full, authentic, vulnerable self, you shape people and they shape you. And what communities are people a part of. And it turned into this really interesting discussion about quantity and helped us think more about quantity and community. I think a really important moment for us and for that class was the transition from being people who almost did mathematics to a story, like counted things on a page, um, count acorns on a page in an autumn book, to being mathematicians who thought within the story.

Antony Smith (27:17):

And then two idea investigations that came from that —not at the same time, of course, but with the same group of children—one was they identified an emotion of their own and wrote and drew about that. And also, who helped them address or get out of or acknowledge that emotion. And then the other idea investigation was that all of the children drew or kind of mapped out a community that they were part of. Whether it was their neighborhood or their classroom or their soccer team or whatever it was. And so then those investigations strengthened the connections of those concepts to the lives of those children.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:05):

Well, I, actually wanted to ask you about idea investigations. Because I feel like that was such an important invitation in your book. And the way I understood the idea investigation is you’re really paying attention to what’s coming up in your other reads. Right? And then these are opportunities to extend the thinking, or like you said, to extend a particular aspect: What’s your community? Can we map your community? Or what’s a particular emotion? And it was in such contrast to what I think I have probably done in my classroom more than once, which was like, “Oh, we read this story about seals. So now my story problem is gonna be about seals, right? <laugh> Like in the story, you know, Jojo, the seal had five balls. <laugh> So if Jojo still had five balls and two of them bounced away…” You know, or whatever. Right? But that’s not what an idea investigation is. Right?

Allison Hintz (29:03):

Yeah. I think this is where we also had some stumbles and can totally relate to what you’re saying as previous classroom teachers as well. We have come to a place where we are pretty in favor of a super open-ended idea investigation that takes up the things that have surfaced in the multiple reads and making sure it’s a rich task with many, many ways children can engage with that. There’s many, many, many right answers or ways to engage. Less is more there. So we moved way away from, like, even a worksheet that might have an idea from it to blank paper and math tools and places to get into some productive struggle around some of the complex things that were raised.

Antony Smith (29:59):

A challenge with worksheets is that they put a frame around children’s ideas. So either there are only three lines to write on, or there’s only a small box to draw in. Whereas a blank page really opens up the possibility. Um, and so—is it Ann Jonas who wrote Splash!? sorry, I don’t have it in front of me—the book Splash!, about animals that end up in and out of the pond, including a cat that is not happy about ending up in the pond, an idea investigation after that for very young children was, with the list of the different creatures displayed at the front of the room: On blank paper, hey, draw your own pond and decide how many of which and each type of animal you want in your pond and then write about it. Just on blank paper. And so that allowed some children to draw, like, three giant goldfish. But other children drew 17 frogs and three cats. And, and just, it lets children follow—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:02):

It was theirs, right? It was theirs.

Antony Smith (31:04):

Their idea. <laugh> And that comes partly from, I think, as Allison mentioned, we both were classroom teachers before moving into academia. And I remember giving children worksheets, particularly math worksheets, where they weren’t necessarily bad, but right at the bottom, it says like, explain your strategy. And it gives two lines.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:23):

Right! <laugh>

Antony Smith (31:25):

The only thing a seven-year-old can write there is “I thought.” Or “I solved it.” <laugh> And that’s not where we need to go.

Dan Meyer (31:34):

Yeah. If I could just ask the indulgence of the primary crowd here, like, I’m trying to make sense of all this. And I just wanna like, offer my perspective. My summary statement of what’s going on here. I’m trying to—I love how you both came here—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:45):

<laughs> How ya doin’, Dan? How ya doin’?

Dan Meyer (31:47):

<laughs> I’m, ah, A, I’m loving this a lot. Um, B, I came in here loving how you folks are broadening the work of primary education to kind of find commonalities between these sometimes seemingly disparate kinds of teaching in ELA and math. Love that, I wanna say. But I think you folks are describing, with all these teachers you observed and your own work, is the work of attaching meaning to what students might not realize yet has meaning. Or they might think it only has one kind of meaning. But you, the teacher, with their knowledge, realizes that there are many more dimensions of meaning that can be attached to those thoughts. And I’m hearing that from you folks, when you describe A, what math is and the power of a teacher to name a thing as mathematical. Like, “Oh, you didn’t think math was that, but math is noticing; math is wondering; math is asking questions,” for one. But also this work you’re describing of how, like, first the task has to invite lots of student thoughts and then to say like, “Oh, I see that there’s a similarity to these two.” And to raise those up for a conversation or to ask a question like to extend one person’s, one student’s question a little bit more. But it’s always…I’m just hearing you folks attaching more meaning than the student might have originally thought. I appreciate the conversation. That’s really interesting.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (33:03):

Well, and now that the book is out, I think it’s gonna keep evolving, right? Now that it’s gonna be in the hands of teachers and librarians and educators and caregivers, it’s exciting to see kind of where it goes next. Which actually brings us to our MTL challenge. Dan Meyer, do you wanna share?

Dan Meyer (33:22):

Math Teacher Lounge, we have a challenge for the folks who listen and we’d love for them to hop into the Facebook group Math Teacher Lounge, or hit us up on Twitter at @MTLShow and just, like, kind of exercise beyond listening, exercise the ideas you folks are talking about, some kind of a challenge that can help us dive deeper into your ideas. So what would you folks suggest for our crowd, for our listeners?

Allison Hintz (33:42):

I would love to invite people to playfully experiment with a favorite story, with a story that’s new to you. I would love to invite listeners to sit with a story maybe on your own, and just ask yourself as a mathematician: What do you notice and wonder in this story? Don’t feel any pressure. Maybe sit with a child or some children and listen to what they notice and wonder. Like, really listen! Don’t ask questions! But hear their questions and place children at the center and consider multiple reads. Consider continuing to pursue their questions. And we have a planning template that might support people in kind of sketching out some ideas if you’re open to playing with that too.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:34):

And we will post—

Dan Meyer (34:36):

That’s awesome.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:36):

—a link for that planning template in our Facebook group and on Twitter as well. So thank you so much for that resource, because I think it’ll definitely help. It could help you, like you said, it could help you kind of organize your thoughts or help you think about this work in a new way. So thank you for that resource and thank you for the amazing resource that is Mathematizing Children’s Literature. I am so excited to continue to engage with you both and with listeners as they dive into this book. If folks want to engage with you more, where can they find you? How can they reach you?

Allison Hintz (35:12):

Well, we’re on Twitter.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:14):

Great.

Dan Meyer (35:15):

What’s your home address? <laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:24):

Wait, let me try that again. <laugh> ‘Cause it does sound like I’m like, <fake ominous voice> “Where can they find you?”

Allison Hintz (35:29):

4-2-5…. <laughs>

Antony Smith (35:32):

At the bookstore!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:34):

Y’all, if folks want to continue this conversation or share these ideas or the math challenge, how can they tag you? How can they, they reach you on the World Wide Web, besides the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group?

Antony Smith (35:50):

Yeah. Well, we are both on Twitter, and we’ve been trying to promote the hashtag #MathematizingChildrensLiterature. It’s very long, but once you type it once, your phone or computer…

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:01):

Easy. Yeah, those click, right? Is that what it is now?

Antony Smith (36:03):

<laugh> The other is that we do for our project, we have an Instagram account that is @MathematizeChildren’sLiterature.

Allison Hintz (36:11):

We care really deeply about hearing from people. You know, we think our ideas are constantly evolving and that there’s such exciting room to grow. And we just felt compelled to share what we were learning now so that together we could learn and build vibrant experiences for young children and teachers and families through stories. So we want to hear from people! We wanna learn about stories that are important in your lives and what children say, and grow these ideas together.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:42):

And credit to Dan, you told me you went and ordered a bunch of the books they have on the suggested read list.

Dan Meyer (36:48):

Oh my gosh.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:49):

You read ’em to your son.

Dan Meyer (36:50):

I got such a side-eye from my significant others around here for what I dropped on Amazon in one night! <laugh> Uh, all these books I didn’t have. Some of them I did. We are not fully illiterate around here! We do love the written word at the Meyer household! But there were a bunch that that I grabbed. I’m morseling them out day by day.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:09):

Wait, at bedtime I read my one-year-old One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab. <laugh> And let me tell you, he had vigorous pointing and “Da? Da da da da?”

Allison Hintz (37:22):

<laugh> Aww, da da!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:22):

So hey, we’re on the road. <laugh> <music> Deeply grateful, not only for your work and your beautiful book and your work, but also for the invitation to dive into the world of children’s literature in a way that many of us have not before. And it’s fun! Thank you, Tony. And thank you, Allison. And thanks for hanging out in the lounge.

Allison Hintz (37:48):

Thanks for having the lounge!

Antony Smith (37:49):

It’s been fun!

Allison Hintz (37:52):

Thank you both.

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What Allison Hintz says about math

“We started asking ourselves, “what would happen if we considered any story a chance to engage as mathematical sensemakers”.”

– Allison Hintz

Author and Associate Professor, University of Washington Bothell

Meet the guest

Allison B. Hintz: Dr. Hintz’s research and teaching are in the area of mathematics education. Her focus on mathematics came about during her years as a fifth grade teacher – it was alongside her students that she developed her own positive identity as a mathematician! Today she studies teaching and learning, specifically facilitating engaging discussion. Her research and teaching happen in partnership with educators and children in formal and informal settings and focuses on beliefs and practices that support all children in lively mathematics learning. She is a co-author, with Elham Kazemi, of Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions.

Twitter: @allisonhintz124

Antony T. Smith: Antony T. Smith is an associate professor of literacy education at the University of Washington, Bothell. He works alongside teachers to create engaging literacy-mathematics learning experiences through exploring and discussing children’s literature. He is committed to the concepts of motivation, engagement, challenge, and creativity in literacy teaching and learning.

 Twitter: @smithant  Instagram: mathematizechildrensliterature

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About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

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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!

Click here to learn more about Amplify CKLA.

Click here to learn more about 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:

Three illustrations: one shows people at a gaming session, the middle depicts a diverse group standing together, and the third portrays a group gardening outdoors.

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

Virginia 6–8 ELA Review Site

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Unless otherwise noted, the DPAs are based on the Student Data Privacy Consortium’s (SDPC) model agreement which was created to simplify the contracting process between providers and local education agencies (LEAs) while ensuring LEAs have the necessary data protection obligations in place with providers. For additional information please visit the SDPC website and select your state.

General Offer of Privacy Terms:
To expedite your district’s need for a DPA and streamline the contracting process, we have compiled the following DPAs, listed by state.

By executing the General Offer of Privacy Terms, your LEA can “piggy back” off an existing DPA that other LEAs in your state have already agreed to. If you do not see your state below, please contact privacy@amplify.com.

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*Please note, states marked with an asterisk do not have a General Offer of Privacy Terms; however, please review the instructions below on how to quickly implement a DPA in compliance with your LEA’s state law.

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To facilitate your district’s compliance with the requirements of Connecticut’s student data privacy law (Connecticut General Statutes §§ 10-234aa through 10-234dd), Amplify is proud to offer our “Connecticut Terms of Service Addendum” linked below. This Addendum supplements Amplify’s Terms and Conditions for use of Amplify products licensed by the district available at https://amplify.com/customer-terms.
Addendum: Connecticut Terms of Service Addendum
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Hawaii*
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Option 1:
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Addendum: New York Data Privacy and Security Addendum
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Instructions: Please download a copy of the Data Confidentiality and Security Agreement with Amplify Addendum, return an executed copy to your account executive, and retain a copy for your records.

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What is mCLASS Intervention?

mCLASS Intervention is a staff-led, supplemental Tier 2/3 intervention program that seamlessly integrates with mCLASS with DIBELS® 8th Edition data and helps students develop the skills they need to access their core instruction.

Illustrated in the continuum below, each hexagon represents a skill taught in mCLASS Intervention. Skills to the left are generally precursors to skills on the right.

Diagram illustrating the components of reading comprehension, including alphabetic principle, vocabulary, and fluency, connected by arrows to a central circle labeled "reading comprehension.

How does mCLASS Intervention work?

The strength of mCLASS Intervention comes from its technology-powered algorithm. Using sophisticated software algorithms, mCLASS Intervention automatically:

  • Analyzes DIBELS 8th Edition and diagnostic measure results collected via the mCLASS platform.
  • Determines which skills each student already knows and which they’re ready to learn next.
  • Puts students into small, homogeneous groups of 4–6.
  • Compiles detailed lessons that target the specific needs of each group.

In-depth analysis

Here is a brief example of how mCLASS Intervention identifies the right intervention path for each student.

The image below shows the MOY Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) results for two first-grade students—Student A and Student B.

Two digital tablets display reading fluency tests for "student a" and "student b," showing grids with red and blue-highlighted letters and numbers.

Both students scored 29, which is Well Below Benchmark for this time of year. In spite of these students having the same score, mCLASS Intervention’s automatic analysis of each students’ item-level responses detects that they actually have very different needs.

  • For Student A, mCLASS Intervention recommends a focus on letter-sound knowledge, and sounding out and blending.
  • For Student B,  mCLASS Intervention recommends a focus on Regular & Irregular Word recognition. (mCLASS Intervention spirals instruction by having students work in two strands at the same time.)

Without mCLASS Intervention, this type of analysis would take educators hours to complete and, as a result, could only be completed sporadically. The automatic nature of mCLASS Intervention’s data analysis algorithm makes it possible for busy educators to complete this analysis regularly, which in turn enables them to continually target intervention instruction at students’ evolving needs, day after day.

Automatic grouping

The mCLASS Intervention algorithm not only determines the ideal instructional focus for each student, but also automatically forms small groups of 4–6 students who share the same instructional focus and builds a 10-day plan with detailed lessons that target the specific needs of each group.

Ready-to-teach 10-day plan

Each 10-day plan systematically builds skills. For example, in the 10-day plan below, mCLASS Intervention has a particular group of students work on phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge. And within phonological awareness, mCLASS Intervention first introduces the group to phoneme segmentation; moves students through phoneme identification and substitution in subsequent days; then finishes with first, last, and middle sound segmentation.

Image showing a detailed 10-day lesson plan for phonics improvement, marked with annotations and progress indicators on a pink highlighted background.

This systematic move from less advanced to more advanced skills allows for spaced practice over time, which research has shown to have significant impact on student literacy growth.

  • In a Tier 2 intensity, mCLASS Intervention lessons last 30 minutes per day and are delivered daily in groups of 4–6 students. Each session has five activities and each activity is 5–8 minutes long.
  • In a Tier 3 intensity, mCLASS Intervention lessons can be 30 or 60 minutes per day and are delivered daily in groups of 3–4 students.

What makes mCLASS Intervention different?

Explicit instructional approach

All mCLASS Intervention activities begin with a Model (“I Do”) followed by a Practice (“You Do”). During the Model section, the instructor demonstrates how to do the activity. During the Practice section, the instructor has students practice. mCLASS Intervention uses subtle but impactful moves to maximize students’ independent thinking during the Practice portion of an activity. For example, mCLASS Intervention has the instructor call on a student only after posing the question to all students in the group and giving the group 3–5 seconds of “think time.” This approach helps instructors keep all students mentally engaged. When instructors take the opposite approach—calling on one student and then asking the question—students who aren’t called on tune out and inadvertently rob themselves of crucial practice opportunities they need to catch up to their peers.

Step-by-step guidance for staff

Because mCLASS Intervention activities are explicit and easy to follow, both certified educators and paraprofessionals with little or no training in early elementary reading can deliver mCLASS Intervention with impact. This detailed guidance gives schools a range of options when it comes to staffing intervention. And that added flexibility is vital—especially for moderate and high-need schools, which often struggle to provide intervention to all students in need.

Swift and interactive pace

mCLASS Intervention regularly incorporates game-based, kinesthetic, peer-to-peer approaches to further increase student engagement, and as a result, educators often report that mCLASS Intervention is their students’ favorite part of the day. This is likely due to the fact that students participating in mCLASS Intervention lessons:

  • Get more focused attention in homogenous small groups.
  • Get their specific literacy needs met with targeted instruction, so they are neither bored nor frustrated.
  • Get 30-minute bursts of support filled with a variety of fast-paced and high-energy activities.
Image of a detailed lesson plan chart titled "reading - flu and comp. burst #1" for 10 days, listing daily reading tasks and skills to be developed.

Sample materials and demo access

mCLASS Intervention delivers targeted instruction in 10-day bursts. Click the buttons below to see a sample.

Phonological Awareness and Letter Sounds (Grade 1) 
Fluency and Comprehension Skills (Grade 4)

Follow the instructions below to login to your demo account.

  • Click the mCLASS Intervention Demo button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: atahan
  • Enter the password: Abcd1234
  • Click the mCLASS®: Amplify Reading Edition tile.
  • Click the Intervention button.
mCLASS Intervention Demo

What is Amplify CKLA?

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades K–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
Reading rope showing knowledge-building and skill development strands, and the merging of language comprehension and word recognition

How does Amplify CKLA work?

Grades K–2: Dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction
Every day, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge 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: Integrated instruction
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills 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.

How does Amplify CKLA integrate with the other parts of the literacy system?

Amplify CKLA + mCLASS® with DIBELS® 8th Edition

Amplify CKLA integrates with your mCLASS assessment through the CKLA Connect feature, which matches your students with targeted CKLA lessons based on their mCLASS assessment data. In other words, it aligns your assessments more closely with your core curriculum while recommending effective differentiated instruction.

Screenshot of an educational platform. It shows lesson plans for a group on "Letter Sound Knowledge" under the heading "CKLA Connect." Group 2 has 2 students. Activities for phonics skills are listed below.

Amplify CKLA + Amplify Reading

Amplify Reading is the student-driven skill practice program within CKLA, providing differentiated, digital instruction in both foundational skills and comprehension strategies. Because Amplify Reading is built on the same approach to reading as CKLA, students are able to extend their learning from the core program further, at their own pace.

Amplify CKLA and Amplify Reading reinforce each other through:

  • An aligned scope and sequence and instructional approach: In both programs, students get instruction and practice in phonological awareness and phonics, with the most common, least ambiguous spellings first.
  • Consistent vocabulary words: Many Amplify CKLA words are taught and practiced in Amplify Reading vocabulary games.
  • Complementary texts: Fiction and nonfiction books within Amplify Reading reinforce Amplify CKLA knowledge domains.
  • Seamless integrations between platforms: Students can easily access Amplify Reading directly from the Amplify CKLA Student Hub.
Educational website interface showing icons for theater, sounds, library, and activities with a greeting "hello student!" and a grade level indicator.

What makes Amplify CKLA different?

Built on the Science of Reading

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA 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.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Explicit systematic skills instruction

Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature interesting plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Coherent knowledge instruction

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.
Illustration montage featuring scenes of learning: a cartoon character with books, two people shoveling snow under the stars, and an astronaut on a lunar landscape, with educational interfaces.

Embedded differentiation for all learners

Amplify CKLA provides built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students, including supports for English learners and Standard English learners.

  • Access supports for ELs: Integrated ELD supports in each lesson segment
    for English learners and Standard English learners are specific to students’ mastery of the lesson’s objectives.
  • Support and Challenge for all learners: Lessons include Support and Challenge suggestions that provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson. These supports are suitable for all learners, including ELs.
  • 30 minutes of Additional Support in every Skills lesson: In the Skills Strand, every lesson concludes with an Additional Support section of recommendations for 30 minutes of extended instruction and activities, directly aligned to the skills taught in the lesson to assist students who need more support in mastering the lesson’s objectives.
  • Intervention Toolkit: The Intervention Toolkit provides easy-to-use resources to assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ foundational skills. Teachers will find of hundreds of activities to support phonics, fluency, comprehension, handwriting, and other key skills.

Designated ELD

Amplify CKLA’s designated English Language Development (ELD) component—Language Studio—helps English learners preview and revisit key content within core instruction, building a foundation of academic vocabulary and background knowledge. Core instruction lessons include point-of-use supports for English learners and Support and Challenge strategies for all learners.

Young boy with his hands over his mouth, looking up in wonder, beside a diagram labeled "language studio" with educational elements.

This carefully developed program follows the CKLA Knowledge domains, previewing and reinforcing skills and content from core instruction using instruction specifically built for English learners. The program is also designed around frequent formative assessment, including assessment of language proficiency, giving you effective ways to guide and support your English learners.

Language Studio supports teachers and English learners through the following:

  • 30 minutes of instruction with lesson segments are carefully designed around Content Knowledge, Meaning Making, Language Development, Effective Expression, and Foundational Skills.
  • Every Language Studio lesson accompanies a core lesson, helping English learners deepen domain and academic vocabulary that will help them access core content.
  • Culminating tasks support core projects and target the same skills as primary instruction.

Ready-to-go slides and all-in-one platform

The slides-based Amplify CKLA digital experience enhances instruction while saving you time. Everything you need is all in one place, making it easier than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work.

  • Simplify planning and instruction: Teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive
    experience—through Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.
  • Interactive student activities: Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactive resources from one simple dashboard.
  • Your teacher command center: You’re provided with the tools you need to ensure a productive digital experience that’s personalized to meet your students’ needs. This includes a teacher home from which to launch and track lessons, LMS integrations such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, and other customizations based on classroom needs.
  • Get real-time insights into your students’ work: The innovative live review tool enables you to keep an eye on students drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

Navigating the program

Digital navigation walkthrough

Physical materials walkthrough

Sample materials

Knowledge Strand:

Skills Strand:

Knowledge Strand:

Skills Strand:

Integrated Strand

Demo access

Laptop screen displaying a login page for "amplify" with multiple sign-in options including google, clever, a qr code, and district sso.

Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

  • Click the CKLA Demo button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • To explore as a teacher, enter this username: t1.alaskareads@demo.tryamplify.net
  • To explore as a student, enter this username: s1.alaskareads@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-alaskareads
  • Click the Programs and apps menu
  • Select CKLA Teacher Resource Site
  • Select the desire grade level
CKLA Demo

Check out these additional resources

Amplify CKLA review resources:

Explore Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos

Thank you for reviewing the top-rated Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) and its new Spanish-language partner Amplify Caminos. 

Built on the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos sequence deep content knowledge with research-based foundational skills to help New York City students become strong readers, writers, speakers, and thinkers. As part of our commitment to creating richer curricula that is more diverse and culturally responsive, we’ve built on the foundation of our 1st Edition to create a new Amplify CKLA, complete with program enhancements that better help you reach every student.

Jump directly to requested NYC review materials

Illustration of a suspension bridge connecting a cityscape with both modern high-rises and traditional buildings in the foreground.
Laptop screen displaying a login page for "amplify" with multiple sign-in options including google, clever, a qr code, and district sso.

Access your demo account

Access your NYC demo account to perform a full program review and explore the digital features that enhance instruction and save educators valuable time.

CKLA.amplify.com/home

Username: t.nyc-ckla-demo@tryamplify.net

Password: Demo1234

Click here for demo login and navigation support.

Built on the Science of Reading

Through a unique, evidence-based two-strand approach, Amplify CKLA helps students master foundational skills and build a robust knowledge base–both of which are necessary for accessing and comprehending complex texts.

Grades K–2: Dedicated knowledge building and explicit skills instruction
Every day, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that builds foundational reading skills in the Amplify CKLA Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds background knowledge in the Amplify CKLA Knowledge 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: Integrated instruction
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills 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.

Reading rope showing knowledge-building and skill development strands, and the merging of language comprehension and word recognition
Illustration split in two: left side shows children diving underwater with marine life, labeled "kit"; right side shows children playing jump rope on a court, labeled "kids excel.

Illustrated for engagement

All of the Amplify CKLA K–2 Skills Readers have been redesigned and reillustrated to increase student engagement and students’ sense of connection with the decodable stories and their characters. Stories with human characters now have improved inclusivity and authenticity and feature individuals with a broad range of identity factors, including socioeconomic status, age, ability, race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, and more. Other stories feature fantastical creatures to bring excitement and whimsy to the tales.

These new readers better reflect New York City classrooms and give students intensive practice with 100% decodable text.

Learn more.

Inspire inquiry and spark curiosity

New Knowledge Research Units in each grade of Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos provide a collection of high-interest authentic trade books that will spark your students’ curiosity and inspire more inquiry. The rich topics and highly visual components featured in these units provide students with new perspectives and additional windows and mirrors as they work to build knowledge.

In these 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 Billie Holiday. And they’ll explore the far reaches of the world with Jacques Cousteau, Matthew Henson, and Eugenie Clark.

Illustration of diverse people engaged in different activities: a black woman listening to music, two astronauts in space, and a man reading a book by a plant.
Five illustrated children's books with colorful covers, featuring titles in Spanish and cartoon characters including a llama, children, dancers, and a large cactus.

Parallel Spanish literacy instruction

Like Amplify CKLA, Amplify Caminos provides a two-strand approach to instruction via authentic Spanish foundational skills instruction sequenced with the same knowledge-building content found in Amplify CKLA. Every day in Grades K–2, students complete one full lesson that builds foundational reading skills in the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura strand, as well as one full lesson that builds background knowledge in the Amplify Caminos Conocimiento strand.

When used with Amplify CKLA, Amplify Caminos provides parity across English and Spanish that’s suitable for any Spanish and English biliteracy implementation model.

New York City review materials

The Amplify CKLA Program Guide and the Amplify Caminos Program Guide provide you with more details on how these programs work, how they’re structured, and why they’re uniquely capable of helping you bring English and Spanish reading instruction built on the Science of Reading to your classroom. 

NYC DOE requested review information:

For an even more in-depth review, access the following materials:

Ilustración que muestra una "campaña de alfabetización temprana" con niños participando en actividades educativas y de lectura en diferentes carteles.

What is mCLASS Intervention?

mCLASS Intervention is a staff-led, supplemental Tier 2/3 intervention program that seamlessly integrates with mCLASS with DIBELS® 8th Edition data and helps students develop the skills they need to access their core instruction.

Illustrated in the continuum below, each hexagon represents a skill taught in mCLASS Intervention. Skills to the left are generally precursors to skills on the right.

Diagram illustrating the components of reading comprehension, including alphabetic principle, vocabulary, and fluency, connected by arrows to a central circle labeled "reading comprehension.

How does mCLASS Intervention work?

The strength of mCLASS Intervention comes from its technology-powered algorithm. Using sophisticated software algorithms, mCLASS Intervention automatically:

  • Analyzes DIBELS 8th Edition and diagnostic measure results collected via the mCLASS platform.
  • Determines which skills each student already knows and which they’re ready to learn next.
  • Puts students into small, homogeneous groups of 4–6.
  • Compiles detailed lessons that target the specific needs of each group.

In-depth analysis

Here is a brief example of how mCLASS Intervention identifies the right intervention path for each student.

The image below shows the MOY Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) results for two first-grade students—Student A and Student B.

Two digital tablets display reading fluency tests for "student a" and "student b," showing grids with red and blue-highlighted letters and numbers.

Both students scored 29, which is Well Below Benchmark for this time of year. In spite of these students having the same score, mCLASS Intervention’s automatic analysis of each students’ item-level responses detects that they actually have very different needs.

  • For Student A, mCLASS Intervention recommends a focus on letter-sound knowledge, and sounding out and blending.
  • For Student B,  mCLASS Intervention recommends a focus on Regular & Irregular Word recognition. (mCLASS Intervention spirals instruction by having students work in two strands at the same time.)

Without mCLASS Intervention, this type of analysis would take educators hours to complete and, as a result, could only be completed sporadically. The automatic nature of mCLASS Intervention’s data analysis algorithm makes it possible for busy educators to complete this analysis regularly, which in turn enables them to continually target intervention instruction at students’ evolving needs, day after day.

Automatic grouping

The mCLASS Intervention algorithm not only determines the ideal instructional focus for each student, but also automatically forms small groups of 4–6 students who share the same instructional focus and builds a 10-day plan with detailed lessons that target the specific needs of each group.

Ready-to-teach 10-day plan

Each 10-day plan systematically builds skills. For example, in the 10-day plan below, mCLASS Intervention has a particular group of students work on phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge. And within phonological awareness, mCLASS Intervention first introduces the group to phoneme segmentation; moves students through phoneme identification and substitution in subsequent days; then finishes with first, last, and middle sound segmentation.

Image showing a detailed 10-day lesson plan for phonics improvement, marked with annotations and progress indicators on a pink highlighted background.

This systematic move from less advanced to more advanced skills allows for spaced practice over time, which research has shown to have significant impact on student literacy growth.

  • In a Tier 2 intensity, mCLASS Intervention lessons last 30 minutes per day and are delivered daily in groups of 4–6 students. Each session has five activities and each activity is 5–8 minutes long.
  • In a Tier 3 intensity, mCLASS Intervention lessons can be 30 or 60 minutes per day and are delivered daily in groups of 3–4 students.

What makes mCLASS Intervention different?

Explicit instructional approach

All mCLASS Intervention activities begin with a Model (“I Do”) followed by a Practice (“You Do”). During the Model section, the instructor demonstrates how to do the activity. During the Practice section, the instructor has students practice. mCLASS Intervention uses subtle but impactful moves to maximize students’ independent thinking during the Practice portion of an activity. For example, mCLASS Intervention has the instructor call on a student only after posing the question to all students in the group and giving the group 3–5 seconds of “think time.” This approach helps instructors keep all students mentally engaged. When instructors take the opposite approach—calling on one student and then asking the question—students who aren’t called on tune out and inadvertently rob themselves of crucial practice opportunities they need to catch up to their peers.

Step-by-step guidance for staff

Because mCLASS Intervention activities are explicit and easy to follow, both certified educators and paraprofessionals with little or no training in early elementary reading can deliver mCLASS Intervention with impact. This detailed guidance gives schools a range of options when it comes to staffing intervention. And that added flexibility is vital—especially for moderate and high-need schools, which often struggle to provide intervention to all students in need.

Swift and interactive pace

mCLASS Intervention regularly incorporates game-based, kinesthetic, peer-to-peer approaches to further increase student engagement, and as a result, educators often report that mCLASS Intervention is their students’ favorite part of the day. This is likely due to the fact that students participating in mCLASS Intervention lessons:

  • Get more focused attention in homogenous small groups.
  • Get their specific literacy needs met with targeted instruction, so they are neither bored nor frustrated.
  • Get 30-minute bursts of support filled with a variety of fast-paced and high-energy activities.
Image of a detailed lesson plan chart titled "reading - flu and comp. burst #1" for 10 days, listing daily reading tasks and skills to be developed.

What is Amplify CKLA?

Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades TK–5 that delivers:

  • 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.
  • Equitable and authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.
Reading rope showing knowledge-building and skill development strands, and the merging of language comprehension and word recognition

How does Amplify CKLA work?

Grades K–2: Dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction
Every day, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge 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: Integrated instruction
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills 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 makes Amplify CKLA different?

Built on the Science of Reading

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA 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.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Explicit systematic skills instruction

Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature interesting plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Coherent knowledge instruction

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.
Illustration montage featuring scenes of learning: a cartoon character with books, two people shoveling snow under the stars, and an astronaut on a lunar landscape, with educational interfaces.

Embedded differentiation for all learners

Amplify CKLA provides built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students, including supports for English learners and Standard English learners.

  • Access supports for ELs: Integrated ELD supports in each lesson segment
    for English learners and Standard English learners are specific to students’ mastery of the lesson’s objectives.
  • Support and Challenge for all learners: Lessons include Support and Challenge suggestions that provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson. These supports are suitable for all learners, including ELs.
  • 30 minutes of Additional Support in every Skills lesson: In the Skills Strand, every lesson concludes with an Additional Support section of recommendations for 30 minutes of extended instruction and activities, directly aligned to the skills taught in the lesson to assist students who need more support in mastering the lesson’s objectives.
  • Intervention Toolkit: The Intervention Toolkit provides easy-to-use resources to assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ foundational skills. Teachers will find of hundreds of activities to support phonics, fluency, comprehension, handwriting, and other key skills.

Designated ELD

Amplify CKLA’s designated English Language Development (ELD) component—Language Studio— helps English learners preview and revisit key content within core instruction, building a foundation of academic vocabulary and background knowledge. Core instruction lessons include point-of-use supports for English learners and Support and Challenge strategies for all learners.

Young boy with his hands over his mouth, looking up in wonder, beside a diagram labeled

Built on the California ELA/ELD Framework, our carefully developed program follows the CKLA Knowledge domains, previewing and reinforcing skills and content from core instruction using instruction specifically built for English learners. The program is also designed around frequent formative assessment, including assessment of language proficiency, giving you effective ways to guide and support your English learners.

Language Studio supports teachers and English learners through the following:

  • 30 minutes of instruction with lesson segments are carefully designed around Content Knowledge, Meaning Making, Language Development, Effective Expression, and Foundational Skills.
  • Every Language Studio lesson accompanies a core lesson, helping English learners deepen domain and academic vocabulary that will help them access core content.
  • Culminating tasks support core projects and target the same skills as primary instruction.

Ready-to-go slides and all-in-one platform

The slides-based Amplify CKLA digital experience enhances instruction while saving you time. Everything you need is all in one place, making it easier than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work.

  • Simplify planning and instruction: Teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive
    experience—through Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.
  • Interactive student activities: Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactive resources from one simple dashboard.
  • Your teacher command center: You’re provided with the tools you need to ensure a productive digital experience that’s personalized to meet your students’ needs. This includes a teacher home from which to launch and track lessons, LMS integrations such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, and other customizations based on classroom needs.
  • Get real-time insights into your students’ work: The innovative live review tool enables you to keep an eye on students drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

How does Amplify CKLA integrate with the other parts of the literacy system?

Amplify CKLA + mCLASS® with DIBELS® 8th Edition

Amplify CKLA integrates with your mCLASS assessment through the CKLA Connect feature, which matches your students with targeted CKLA lessons based on their mCLASS assessment data. In other words, it aligns your assessments more closely with your core curriculum while recommending effective differentiated instruction.

Screenshot of an educational platform. It shows lesson plans for a group on "Letter Sound Knowledge" under the heading "CKLA Connect." Group 2 has 2 students. Activities for phonics skills are listed below.

Amplify CKLA + Amplify Reading

Amplify Reading is the student-driven skill practice program within CKLA, providing differentiated, digital instruction in both foundational skills and comprehension strategies. Because Amplify Reading is built on the same approach to reading as CKLA, students are able to extend their learning from the core program further, at their own pace.

Amplify CKLA and Amplify Reading reinforce each other through:

  • An aligned scope and sequence and instructional approach: In both probrams, students get instruction and practice in phonological awareness and phonics, with the most common, least ambiguous spellings first.
  • Consistent vocabulary words: Many Amplify CKLA words are taught and practiced in Amplify Reading vocabulary games.
  • Complementary texts: Fiction and nonfiction books within Amplify Reading reinforce Amplify CKLA knowledge domains.
  • Seamless integrations between platforms: Students can easily access Amplify Reading directly from the Amplify CKLA Student Hub.
Educational website interface showing icons for theater, sounds, library, and activities with a greeting "hello student!" and a grade level indicator.

Navigating the program

Digital navigation walkthrough

Physical materials walkthrough

Check out these additional resources

Amplify CKLA review resources:

What is mCLASS Intervention?

mCLASS Intervention is a staff-led, supplemental Tier 2/3 intervention program that seamlessly integrates with mCLASS with DIBELS® 8th Edition data and helps students develop the skills they need to access their core instruction.

Illustrated in the continuum below, each hexagon represents a skill taught in mCLASS Intervention. Skills to the left are generally precursors to skills on the right.

Diagram illustrating the components of reading comprehension, including alphabetic principle, vocabulary, and fluency, connected by arrows to a central circle labeled "reading comprehension.

How does mCLASS Intervention work?

The strength of mCLASS Intervention comes from its technology-powered algorithm. Using sophisticated software algorithms, mCLASS Intervention automatically:

  • Analyzes DIBELS 8th Edition and diagnostic measure results collected via the mCLASS platform.
  • Determines which skills each student already knows and which they’re ready to learn next.
  • Puts students into small, homogeneous groups of 4–6.
  • Compiles detailed lessons that target the specific needs of each group.

In-depth analysis

Here is a brief example of how mCLASS Intervention identifies the right intervention path for each student.

The image below shows the MOY Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) results for two first-grade students—Student A and Student B.

Two digital tablets display reading fluency tests for "student a" and "student b," showing grids with red and blue-highlighted letters and numbers.

Both students scored 29, which is Well Below Benchmark for this time of year. In spite of these students having the same score, mCLASS Intervention’s automatic analysis of each students’ item-level responses detects that they actually have very different needs.

  • For Student A, mCLASS Intervention recommends a focus on letter-sound knowledge, and sounding out and blending.
  • For Student B,  mCLASS Intervention recommends a focus on Regular & Irregular Word recognition. (mCLASS Intervention spirals instruction by having students work in two strands at the same time.)

Without mCLASS Intervention, this type of analysis would take educators hours to complete and, as a result, could only be completed sporadically. The automatic nature of mCLASS Intervention’s data analysis algorithm makes it possible for busy educators to complete this analysis regularly, which in turn enables them to continually target intervention instruction at students’ evolving needs, day after day.

Automatic grouping

The mCLASS Intervention algorithm not only determines the ideal instructional focus for each student, but also automatically forms small groups of 4–6 students who share the same instructional focus and builds a 10-day plan with detailed lessons that target the specific needs of each group.

Ready-to-teach 10-day plan

Each 10-day plan systematically builds skills. For example, in the 10-day plan below, mCLASS Intervention has a particular group of students work on phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge. And within phonological awareness, mCLASS Intervention first introduces the group to phoneme segmentation; moves students through phoneme identification and substitution in subsequent days; then finishes with first, last, and middle sound segmentation.

Image showing a detailed 10-day lesson plan for phonics improvement, marked with annotations and progress indicators on a pink highlighted background.

This systematic move from less advanced to more advanced skills allows for spaced practice over time, which research has shown to have significant impact on student literacy growth.

  • In a Tier 2 intensity, mCLASS Intervention lessons last 30 minutes per day and are delivered daily in groups of 4–6 students. Each session has five activities and each activity is 5–8 minutes long.
  • In a Tier 3 intensity, mCLASS Intervention lessons can be 30 or 60 minutes per day and are delivered daily in groups of 3–4 students.

What makes mCLASS Intervention different?

Explicit instructional approach

All mCLASS Intervention activities begin with a Model (“I Do”) followed by a Practice (“You Do”). During the Model section, the instructor demonstrates how to do the activity. During the Practice section, the instructor has students practice. mCLASS Intervention uses subtle but impactful moves to maximize students’ independent thinking during the Practice portion of an activity. For example, mCLASS Intervention has the instructor call on a student only after posing the question to all students in the group and giving the group 3–5 seconds of “think time.” This approach helps instructors keep all students mentally engaged. When instructors take the opposite approach—calling on one student and then asking the question—students who aren’t called on tune out and inadvertently rob themselves of crucial practice opportunities they need to catch up to their peers.

Step-by-step guidance for staff

Because mCLASS Intervention activities are explicit and easy to follow, both certified educators and paraprofessionals with little or no training in early elementary reading can deliver mCLASS Intervention with impact. This detailed guidance gives schools a range of options when it comes to staffing intervention. And that added flexibility is vital—especially for moderate and high-need schools, which often struggle to provide intervention to all students in need.

Swift and interactive pace

mCLASS Intervention regularly incorporates game-based, kinesthetic, peer-to-peer approaches to further increase student engagement, and as a result, educators often report that mCLASS Intervention is their students’ favorite part of the day. This is likely due to the fact that students participating in mCLASS Intervention lessons:

  • Get more focused attention in homogenous small groups.
  • Get their specific literacy needs met with targeted instruction, so they are neither bored nor frustrated.
  • Get 30-minute bursts of support filled with a variety of fast-paced and high-energy activities.
Image of a detailed lesson plan chart titled "reading - flu and comp. burst #1" for 10 days, listing daily reading tasks and skills to be developed.

Sample materials and demo access

mCLASS Intervention delivers targeted instruction in 10-day bursts. Click the buttons below to see a sample.

Phonological Awareness and Letter Sounds (Grade 1) 
Fluency and Comprehension Skills (Grade 4)

Follow the instructions below to login to your demo account.

  • Click the mCLASS Intervention Demo button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: atahan
  • Enter the password: Abcd1234
  • Click the mCLASS®: Amplify Reading Edition tile.
  • Click the Intervention button.
mCLASS Intervention Demo

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.
Illustration depicting the flow of genetic information, represented by ribbons transitioning from dna to rna, connected to various educational images and diagrams.

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.

Curriculum flowchart for Kindergarten to Grade 5, showing subject progression in language, science, and social studies, with highlighted and connected units.

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.

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.
Three book covers displaying children's books in spanish, each featuring colorful and stylized illustrations related to cultural stories.

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.

Three connected orange blocks labeled

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.

A collage of illustrated book covers, including themes of Don Quixote, space exploration, and anthropomorphic animals in various scenarios, all enriched with Spanish language elements.

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.

young male students writing with a pencil

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.

Reading assessment validated for benchmark, progress monitoring, and dyslexia screening

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

Spanish Support

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.

Laptop screen displaying a login page for
  • 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.
CKLA and Caminos Demo

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:

Lectoescritura Strand:

Conocimiento Strand:

Lectoescritura Strand:

Integrated Strand

Additional resources

What is mCLASS Intervention?

mCLASS Intervention is a staff-led, supplemental Tier 2/3 intervention program that seamlessly integrates with mCLASS with DIBELS® 8th Edition data and helps students develop the skills they need to access their core instruction.

Illustrated in the continuum below, each hexagon represents a skill taught in mCLASS Intervention. Skills to the left are generally precursors to skills on the right.

Diagram illustrating the components of reading comprehension, including alphabetic principle, vocabulary, and fluency, connected by arrows to a central circle labeled "reading comprehension.

How does mCLASS Intervention work?

The strength of mCLASS Intervention comes from its technology-powered algorithm. Using sophisticated software algorithms, mCLASS Intervention automatically:

  • Analyzes DIBELS 8th Edition and diagnostic measure results collected via the mCLASS platform.
  • Determines which skills each student already knows and which they’re ready to learn next.
  • Puts students into small, homogeneous groups of 4–6.
  • Compiles detailed lessons that target the specific needs of each group.

In-depth analysis

Here is a brief example of how mCLASS Intervention identifies the right intervention path for each student.

The image below shows the MOY Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) results for two first-grade students—Student A and Student B.

Two digital tablets display reading fluency tests for "student a" and "student b," showing grids with red and blue-highlighted letters and numbers.

Both students scored 29, which is Well Below Benchmark for this time of year. In spite of these students having the same score, mCLASS Intervention’s automatic analysis of each students’ item-level responses detects that they actually have very different needs.

  • For Student A, mCLASS Intervention recommends a focus on letter-sound knowledge, and sounding out and blending.
  • For Student B,  mCLASS Intervention recommends a focus on Regular & Irregular Word recognition. (mCLASS Intervention spirals instruction by having students work in two strands at the same time.)

Without mCLASS Intervention, this type of analysis would take educators hours to complete and, as a result, could only be completed sporadically. The automatic nature of mCLASS Intervention’s data analysis algorithm makes it possible for busy educators to complete this analysis regularly, which in turn enables them to continually target intervention instruction at students’ evolving needs, day after day.

Automatic grouping

The mCLASS Intervention algorithm not only determines the ideal instructional focus for each student, but also automatically forms small groups of 4–6 students who share the same instructional focus and builds a 10-day plan with detailed lessons that target the specific needs of each group.

Ready-to-teach 10-day plan

Each 10-day plan systematically builds skills. For example, in the 10-day plan below, mCLASS Intervention has a particular group of students work on phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge. And within phonological awareness, mCLASS Intervention first introduces the group to phoneme segmentation; moves students through phoneme identification and substitution in subsequent days; then finishes with first, last, and middle sound segmentation.

Image showing a detailed 10-day lesson plan for phonics improvement, marked with annotations and progress indicators on a pink highlighted background.

This systematic move from less advanced to more advanced skills allows for spaced practice over time, which research has shown to have significant impact on student literacy growth.

  • In a Tier 2 intensity, mCLASS Intervention lessons last 30 minutes per day and are delivered daily in groups of 4–6 students. Each session has five activities and each activity is 5–8 minutes long.
  • In a Tier 3 intensity, mCLASS Intervention lessons can be 30 or 60 minutes per day and are delivered daily in groups of 3–4 students.

What makes mCLASS Intervention different?

Explicit instructional approach

All mCLASS Intervention activities begin with a Model (“I Do”) followed by a Practice (“You Do”). During the Model section, the instructor demonstrates how to do the activity. During the Practice section, the instructor has students practice. mCLASS Intervention uses subtle but impactful moves to maximize students’ independent thinking during the Practice portion of an activity. For example, mCLASS Intervention has the instructor call on a student only after posing the question to all students in the group and giving the group 3–5 seconds of “think time.” This approach helps instructors keep all students mentally engaged. When instructors take the opposite approach—calling on one student and then asking the question—students who aren’t called on tune out and inadvertently rob themselves of crucial practice opportunities they need to catch up to their peers.

Step-by-step guidance for staff

Because mCLASS Intervention activities are explicit and easy to follow, both certified educators and paraprofessionals with little or no training in early elementary reading can deliver mCLASS Intervention with impact. This detailed guidance gives schools a range of options when it comes to staffing intervention. And that added flexibility is vital—especially for moderate and high-need schools, which often struggle to provide intervention to all students in need.

Swift and interactive pace

mCLASS Intervention regularly incorporates game-based, kinesthetic, peer-to-peer approaches to further increase student engagement, and as a result, educators often report that mCLASS Intervention is their students’ favorite part of the day. This is likely due to the fact that students participating in mCLASS Intervention lessons:

  • Get more focused attention in homogenous small groups.
  • Get their specific literacy needs met with targeted instruction, so they are neither bored nor frustrated.
  • Get 30-minute bursts of support filled with a variety of fast-paced and high-energy activities.
Image of a detailed lesson plan chart titled "reading - flu and comp. burst #1" for 10 days, listing daily reading tasks and skills to be developed.

Sample materials and demo access

mCLASS Intervention delivers targeted instruction in 10-day bursts. Click the buttons below to see a sample.

Phonological Awareness and Letter Sounds (Grade 1) 
Fluency and Comprehension Skills (Grade 4)

Follow the instructions below to login to your demo account.

  • Click the mCLASS Intervention Demo button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: atahan
  • Enter the password: Abcd1234
  • Click the mCLASS®: Amplify Reading Edition tile.
  • Click the Intervention button.
  • Follow the instructions on pages 3 and 4 of this document.
mCLASS Intervention Demo

About mCLASS in NC

DPI is committed to providing literacy instruction for all by:

  • Aligning core curriculum, instruction, and assessments with Science of Reading.
  • Providing appropriate literacy interventions to address difficulty with reading development.
  • Implementing practices based on the Science of Reading in every classroom every day.
  • Providing aligned resources to parents, guardians and family members.

mCLASS is built on decades of research at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon, a national center for early childhood assessment and instruction. The measures are already in use in many districts in North Carolina. With the additional mCLASS suite including reporting, grouping, lessons and caregiver support, DPI’s early literacy goals for North Carolina students will be met.

North Carolina mCLASS DIBELS 8 requirements

DIBELS 8th Edition fulfills legislative requirements for K-3 students with sub test measures for:

  • Phonemic awareness
  • Phonics
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Comprehension

For the above reasons, the state will begin using DIBELS 8 data for EVAAS purposes effective 2021-22 from MOY-EOY for Kindergarten, BOY-EOY for all 1-2 teachers, and BOG-EOG for grade 3.

DIBELS measures at each grade level
Measure Grade K Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3
Letter naming fluency    
Phonemic segmentation fluency    
Nonsense word fluency
Word reading fluency
Oral reading fluency  
Maze (basic comprehension)    
Required additional measures at each grade level below 
Oral language
Vocabulary

Amplify assessment invalidation process

  1. Teacher requests approval for an invalidation from a school-level administrator and provides a valid reason for requesting the invalidation.
  2. School-level administrators reach out to the district Read to Achieve (RtA) contact to approve the invalidation.
  3. District RtA contact approves the request and notifies the school-level administrator who notifies the teacher.
  4. Teacher invalidates assessment.

Professional Learning

Stay tuned for new registration links!

Stay tuned for new registration links!

Preparing for EOY (Administrators and Enrollment)

North Carolina Online Course

All of our monthly webinars will be linked in the online course. You will access the North Carolina Online Course to view previous webinars.

  1. When you open your course you will see a navigation panel along the left hand side. 
  2. At the top of this panel, you will see a small back arrow by the title mCLASS in North Carolina Initial Training. 
  3. Click on that back arrow to be taken to the beginning of the course with the introduction.
  4. When you land on that Introduction page along the left panel, you will see the welcome to the course. 
  5. Scroll down that left panel to the section titled Monthly Recorded Webinars, within that section you will see a link to the page where we are posting the webinars, click on the “this page” link.

mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition online course

As part of the implementation of mCLASS with DIBELS 8th Edition for the 2023-24 school year, all North Carolina educators will have access to a self-paced online course as a support for a successful implementation and to serve as a resource throughout the school year.

Learn how to:

  • Administer and score mCLASS with DIBELS 8th Edition Interpret student data Identify students’ instructional need Access skills-focused lessons.
  • Plan differentiated instruction.
  • Please contact your district for access information to the online course. Districts received the link for the course in the DPI memo. Please reach out to your DPI consultant for assistance.

Monthly Webinar recordings will be placed on the Online Course site upon the completion of each session.

In addition, PSUs may purchase additional remote or in-person training sessions. Amplify offers in-person training options pending:

  • agreement to Amplify’s Covid safety guidelines, and
  • confirmation of availability for the requested training date.

Contact us for more information on additional PD.

Reading Camp

Overview

The Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021 defines “Reading camp” as an additional educational program outside the instructional calendar that the local school administrative unit offers as a literacy intervention to:

  1. any third-grade student who does not demonstrate reading proficiency and
  2. any second-grade student who demonstrates difficulty with reading development. Local school administrative units may offer a reading camp as a literacy intervention to any first-grade student who demonstrates difficulty with reading development.

Resources

The resources below review the Summer Benchmark assessment, Reading Camp data, and explain enrollment for Reading Camp. 

Please Note: Do not make any manual changes in the Amplify platform prior to June 1st, 2026. Any changes made before this date will be overwritten. 

Additional support:

We will be hosting office hours each Wednesday from 2:00 pm-2:30 pm EDT starting May 20th, 2026 and continuing through July 15th, 2026. This is a time for you to chat directly with us so we can help answer any questions you may have regarding reading camp.

Click here to join the office hours.

Office hours will occur on the following dates:

  • May 20th
  • May 27th
  • June 3rd
  • June 10th
  • June 17th
  • June 24th
  • July 1st
  • July 8th
  • July 15th

Please note that this is not a presentation, but a chance to ask questions and receive specific support. 

Enrollment resources

Each night, DPI extracts rostering files from Infinite Campus and sends them to Amplify. Changes in the enrollment system are captured in mCLASS the next day. As a reminder, no manual changes can take place in mCLASS.

In order to be included in the staff file sent to mCLASS from Infinite Campus, staff members must have a Read to Achieve role assigned to them. It is also important to ensure staff members are active, have a district assignment (Navigation to verify district assignment: Search Staff > Census > Staff > District Assignments), and an email address associated with NCEdCloud; If a staff member receives a “user not found” message when attempting to log in to mCLASS via NCEdCloud, this means they do not have a staff record enrolled in mCLASS.

Additional troubleshooting documents around enrollment can be found here.

Infinite Campus Resources:

mCLASS reporting

mCLASS gives you instant results and clear next steps for each student. Quick and actionable reports provide detailed insight into students’ reading development across foundational literacy skills for teachers, specialists, administrators, and caregivers.

View the mCLASS Reporting Guide to learn more.

Charter Schools

More information coming soon!

Remote assessment

We at Amplify and the team at the University of Oregon are here to provide continued guidance and support around collecting and using DIBELS® 8th Edition data.

This guide offers recommendations for benchmark assessment with DIBELS as well as tips for interpreting benchmark data during our unpredictable school disruptions.

North Carolina remote assessment guidance

Service Hub

Amplify Service Hub Now Live:
The Service Hub is an online portal which allows district- and school-level administrators to create support tickets, check on ticket status, and view reports related to support cases. Educators who have an RtA Admin role have access to the Service Hub. You can access the Service Hub here. Log in with the SSO Login icon and search for North Carolina Public Schools. Your NCEdCloud credentials will enable you to access the Service Hub.

Learn about navigating, viewing insights, and more in the

Amplify Service Hub Overview.

Spanish in NC

mCLASS Lectura is available for all students enrolled in a Dual Language program. When mCLASS Lectura is used with D8 teachers have access to the dual language report. This report provides side-by-side data of the student’s performance in Spanish and English. 

Then mCLASS suggests actual strategies and specific activities to promote cross-linguistic transfer for bilingual students.

If you have students that would benefit from this assessment but are not enrolled in a dual language program, individual licenses can be purchased. Please reach out to your CSM and Jennifer Eason, your Account Executive, for more information.

Science of Reading resources

To continue your own professional learning around the Science of Reading, subscribe and join with your colleagues.

Science of Reading: The Podcast delivers the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. Further your professional development with each episode by subscribing and downloading them now.

Science of Reading: The Community is built for those committed to fostering conversation around the Science of Reading and implementing best practices in the classroom (including the virtual classroom).

What does classroom instruction look like when it is based on Science of Reading practices? We’ve outlined a Science of Reading action plan to guide your evaluation in our new FREE ebook, Science of Reading: Making the shift.

Caregiver supports

The mCLASS Home Connect website houses literacy resources for parents and caregivers, including at-home lessons organized by skill to help students at home during remote learning. Our mCLASS parent/caregiver letters in English and Spanish ensure that families know how to best support their child.

Screenshot of the mclass home connect website showing educational activities in three categories: word race, count the ways, and mystery game, with navigation options at the top.

Support

NCDPI has been provided with its own dedicated support line: +1 (888) 890-2505
The current national support line will remain available and include the North Carolina option on the phone tree throughout the fall.

FAQs

Interested in learning more?

Amplify and NC DPI are collaborating on this FAQ. Please continue to check back, as we are updating this based on questions we receive about mCLASS and the current NC implementation.

FAQ Link

Additional Amplify products

Get in touch with us to learn more about bringing other high-quality Amplify programs to your school or district.

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Round-the-clock help resources

Access comprehensive support anytime, anywhere with our 24/7 Help Center. Find articles, answers, and quick links with ease in this collection of resources.

For system status updates, click on Amplify System Status.

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Join our lively Facebook communities to connect with fellow educators, share insights, and be part of a network advocating for student success and innovative education.

What’s included in our grades K–2 language arts curriculum

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a comprehensive early literacy curriculum, grounded in the Science of Reading. The K–2 curriculum sequences deep content knowledge-building with research-based foundational skills. 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.

Choose Level

K–23–5PreK

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 & domains at a glance

The number of days to complete each Skills Unit and Knowledge Domain varies based on instructional purpose.

Knowledge Domain 1

Nursery Rhymes and Fables

Well-known fables introduce students to new vocabulary, build phonological awareness, and prompt discussion of character, virtues, and behavior.

Number of Lessons: 12

Knowledge Domain 2

The Five Senses

Students explore how they learn about the world using their five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

Number of Lessons: 8

Knowledge Domain 3

Stories

Students develop an awareness of language and recurring themes in children’s literature, including classic stories, trickster tales, and fiction from other cultures.

Number of Lessons: 10

Knowledge Domain 4

Plants

Read-aloud texts introduce students to basic knowledge of ecology, parts of plants, how plants grow, and the interdependence of all living things.

Number of Lessons: 11

Knowledge Domain 5

Farms

Students identify several farm animals and crops and contrast how plants make their food with how animals get their food.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 6

Native Americans

Students explore cultures of three Native American groups, as well as how conditions in different geographical regions influence their ways of life.

Number of Lessons: 8

Knowledge Domain 7

Kings and Queens

Students listen to read-aloud texts, both fiction and nonfiction, about kings, queens, and royal families, which build students’ understanding of royal customs.

Number of Lessons: 8

Knowledge Domain 8

Seasons and Weather

This is an introduction to weather and the seasons, where students learn that regions of Earth experience different characteristic weather patterns throughout the year.

Number of Lessons: 8

Knowledge Domain 9

Columbus and the Pilgrims

A look at the first contact between Europe and the Americas and some of its results.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 10

Colonial Towns and Townspeople

Students are introduced to the early history of the United States as they explore what life was like for people in colonial times.

Number of Lessons: 10

Knowledge Domain 11

Taking Care of the Earth

Students are introduced to the importance of environmental awareness and conservation as they become familiar with the earth’s natural resources.

Number of Lessons: 10

Knowledge Domain 12

Presidents and American Symbols

Students learn about the legacies of five famous presidents, several national symbols, the branches of government, the role of the president, and elections.

Number of Lessons: 9

Skills Unit 1

Students build phonological awareness through environmental noises, words within sentences, and sounds within words. They learn basic strokes used to form letters.

Skills Unit 2

Students learn how to blend syllables together to form multisyllabic words. They orally produce two- and three-sound words by blending sounds.

Skills Unit 3

Students learn eight new sounds and practice blending them into words. They learn how to write letters that represent the new sounds.

Skills Unit 4

With oral language games, chaining exercises, and shared reading, students practice blending eight new sounds into words and writing the sound-letter correspondences.

Skills Unit 5

Eight new sounds are introduced, including a spelling alternative for /k/. Students continue to practice previously learned sound-letter correspondences.

Skills Unit 6

Students are introduced to consonant clusters, letter names, and rhyming words. Students begin to read text independently using decodable Student Readers.

Skills Unit 7

Students learn about various digraphs. Students practice blending and segmenting the sounds through phonemic awareness and phonics activities, chaining exercises, and reading.

Skills Unit 8

This unit introduces students to double-letter spellings for consonant sounds, as well as seven new high-frequency Tricky Words.

Skills Unit 9

Students practice writing uppercase letters and learn 17 new Tricky Words. Students answer comprehension questions about stories in the Student Reader.

Skills Unit 10

Students learn the basic code spelling for the five long vowel sounds. Students are administered a cumulative end-of-year assessment.

Knowledge Domain 1

Fables and Stories

Students are introduced to fables and stories, increase vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, and become familiar with the key elements of a story.

Number of Lessons: 10

Knowledge Domain 2

The Human Body

Students are introduced to the systems of the human body, care of the body, germs and disease, vaccines, and keys to good health.

Number of Lessons: 10

Knowledge Domain 3

Different Lands, Similar Stories

Students encounter cultures from around the world as they explore the ways in which folktales from different lands treat similar themes or characters.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 4

Early World Civilizations

Students explore Mesopotamia and Egypt and learn about the importance of rivers, farming, writing, laws, art, and beliefs.

Number of Lessons: 16

Knowledge Domain 5

Early American Civilizations

Students compare and contrast key features of the early civilizations of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, and explore the development of cities.

Number of Lessons: 11

Knowledge Domain 6

Astronomy

In this introduction to the solar system, students learn about Earth in relation to the moon, other planets, the sun, and the stars.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 7

The History of the Earth

Students learn about the geographical features of Earth’s surface, the layers of the earth, rocks and minerals, volcanoes, geysers, fossils, and dinosaurs.

Number of Lessons: 8

Knowledge Domain 8

Animals and Habitats

Students focus on the interconnectedness of living things as they learn what a habitat is and explore specific types of habitats.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 9

Fairy Tales

Students learn about the Brothers Grimm, identify common elements of fairy tales, make interpretations, and compare and contrast different tales.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 10

A New Nation: American Independence

Students are introduced to important historical figures and events in the story of how the 13 colonies became an independent nation.

Number of Lessons: 12

Knowledge Domain 11

Frontier Explorers

Students are introduced to exploration of the American West, its key figures, and how colonists spread westward, including their interactions with native peoples.

Number of Lessons: 11

Skills Unit 1

Unit 1 provides a review of the sounds/spellings taught in the CKLA Kindergarten curriculum. Teachers administer the beginning-of-year assessment.

Skills Unit 2

Students read and write words with long vowel spellings and learn new Tricky Words. The unit also includes grammar lessons on nouns.

Skills Unit 3

Work continues on vowel sounds and their spellings. Grammar focus is on verbs and verb tense. Formal instruction in the writing process begins.

Skills Unit 4

Students work with /r/-controlled vowel sounds. Students practice segmenting two-syllable words. Adjectives are introduced as students practice descriptive writing.

Skills Unit 5

Students work with spelling alternatives for sounds. Students also learn to identify sentence types. They plan, draft, and edit opinion letters.

Skills Unit 6

Students continue to work with several spelling alternatives for sounds. Students review nouns and pronouns. They plan, draft, and edit personal narratives.

Skills Unit 7

Students focus on spelling alternatives for sounds. Students plan, draft, and edit an informative/explanatory text. Students are administered an end-of-year assessment.

Knowledge Domain 1

Fairy Tales and Tall Tales

Students consider characteristic elements of fairy tales and tall tales and consider problems faced by the characters and lessons each story conveys.

Number of Lessons: 8

Knowledge Domain 2

Early Asian Civilizations

Students are introduced to Asia, specifically India and China. In addition, students are introduced to related folktales and poetry.

Number of Lessons: 14

Knowledge Domain 3

Ancient Greek Civilization

Students explore the civilization of ancient Greece, which lives on in many ways—in our language, government, art, architecture, the Olympics, and more.

Number of Lessons: 12

Knowledge Domain 4

Greek Myths

Building on the Ancient Greek Civilization domain, students explore common characteristics and story elements of several well-known Greek myths and mythical characters.

Number of Lessons: 10

Knowledge Domain 5

The War of 1812

Students are introduced to major figures and events in the War of 1812, sometimes called America’s “second war for independence.”

Number of Lessons: 8

Knowledge Domain 6

Cycles in Nature

Students are introduced to natural cycles that make life on Earth possible, such as seasonal cycles, life cycles, and the water cycle.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 7

Westward Expansion

Students are introduced to an important period in the history of the United States—the time of westward expansion during the 1800s.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 8

Insects

Students learn about the helpful and harmful characteristics of insects, insect life cycles, and social insects such as bees and ants.

Number of Lessons: 8

Knowledge Domain 9

The U.S. Civil War

Students learn about the controversy between the North and the South over slavery and about key historical figures during that time.

Number of Lessons: 11

Knowledge Domain 10

Human Body: Building Blocks and Nutrition

Students learn about the human body, including body systems, good nutrition, keys to good health, and the advances in microbiology made by Anton van Leeuwenhoek.

Number of Lessons: 9

Knowledge Domain 11

Immigration

Students explore the idea of e pluribus unum and the importance of immigration in the history of the United States.

Number of Lessons: 10

Women in early 20th-century clothing march with signs for voting rights and justice in front of a yellow bus labeled "Cleveland Ave.," making history that can inspire lessons in a K–2 language arts curriculum.

Knowledge Domain 12

Fighting for a Cause

Students explore the connection between ideas and actions, and see how people can do extraordinary things to change the dominant ideas and actions of an entire nation.

Number of Lessons: 9

Un contorno simplificado de un gato saltando para atrapar una mariposa, sobre un fondo verde con varias ilustraciones relacionadas con gatos y palabras como "saltar" y "leche".

Skills Unit 1

Sound-spellings with an emphasis on consonant sounds, one- and two-syllable words, and Tricky Words are reviewed. The beginning-of-year assessment is administered.

Ilustración de un animal verde sobre un fondo verde con varios objetos delineados como una cama, un conejo, una nube y sonidos fonéticos.

Skills Unit 2

The unit focus is on various sound-spellings and words with one- and two-syllables. Students begin the writing process, writing narratives and opinions.

Fondo verde con el contorno blanco de un birrete de graduación en el centro, rodeado de varios garabatos educativos y relacionados con logros, como un trofeo, una cinta y una portería de fútbol.

Skills Unit 3

Practice with spelling alternatives continues. Grammar focuses on capitalization, quotation marks, ending punctuation, and common and proper nouns. Students write personal narratives.

Ilustración de un paisaje urbano con varios símbolos que incluyen un tren subterráneo, una panadería, la Estatua de la Libertad y carteles que dicen "ahora contratando" y "ciudad/ee" sobre un fondo verde.

Skills Unit 4

Students practice a range of spelling alternatives. Students practice persuasive writing as part of a friendly letter. Students learn more about nouns and verbs.

Skills Unit 5

Students practice chunking sounds as they read multisyllabic words. Grammar work includes adjectives, subjects, and predicates. Writing includes rewriting a story ending.

Skills Unit 6

Students review advanced phonics and grammar skills. Students are introduced to expository/report writing. Students take an end-of-year assessment.

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

Knowledge Strand Teacher Guide

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 or digital

Knowledge classroom materials

Amplify CKLA includes oversized Flip Books and smaller Image Cards that bring each topic to life through vivid visuals.

Print or digital

Skills Strand Teacher Guide

Amplify CKLA Skills Strand Teacher Guides include comprehensive research-based instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, print concepts, the alphabetic principle, grammar, writing mechanics, comprehension, spelling, and other critical foundational literacy skills.

Print or digital

Hands-on Skills ancillaries

Dynamic classroom materials include student Chaining Folders, Small and Large Letter Cards, Spelling Cards, Sound Cards, Big Books, Vowel and Consonant Code Flip Books, Code Charts, and more.

Print or digital

Assessment and Remediation Guide

The unit-by-unit Assessment and Remediation Guide provides thousands of pages of activities for reteaching, differentiation, and additional practice.

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

Knowledge Strand Activity Books

Knowledge Strand Activity Books provide students with the opportunity to deepen world and word knowledge by responding to text in a diversity of ways.

Print

Skills Strand Student Reader

Unique decodable Student Readers provide direct practice with just-learned sound-spelling patterns, using compelling stories and characters to integrate phonics and comprehension.

Print

Skills Strand Activity book

Skills Strand Activity Books support the program’s connected approach to reading and writing, providing ample opportunities to respond to text while building core skills.

Print

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

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Desmos Math 6–8 earns perfect scores from EdReports

It’s great news when a student who has worked hard to do their best gets a perfect score on an exacting test.

We’d like to take a brief moment to share some similar news of our own: Desmos Math 6–8 has earned perfect scores and an all-green rating from EdReports!

This is a powerful affirmation not only of our program, but also of every Desmos Math 6–8 student who benefits from the high-quality instructional materials, student-centered instruction, and thoughtful technology in the math classroom.

The power of math technology

Here’s a bit about the program. Based on Illustrative Mathematics’ IM 6–8 Math™ and Open Up Resources, Desmos Math 6–8 features interactive, standards-aligned lessons that are easy to use and fully customizable.

The program empowers teachers with an engaging curriculum that helps them:

  • Celebrate student brilliance.
  • Put student ideas at the center of instruction.
  • Drive student achievement every day.

The technology in the program is purposeful: students are empowered to explore new ideas, and our teacher dashboard helps teachers bridge those ideas together. Whether teachers are observing student learning on our lesson summary page or guiding productive discussions with our conversation toolkit, our facilitation tools make teaching more effective and more fun.

The rigorous EdReports review process

EdReports.org is an independent nonprofit designed to improve K–12 education. Among other things, its expert reviews help equip teachers with the highest-quality instructional materials.

Their review process is necessarily individualized and rigorous. Educator teams develop rubrics and evidence guides; recruit expert reviewers with a collective thousands of years of experience; then conduct rigorous, evidence-based reviews.

The reviews collect evidence about important characteristics of high-quality instructional materials. These include the presence of standards, how well they are sequenced, and how deeply they are included.

Reviews take 4–6 months. Ultimately, multiple educators will analyze every page of the materials, calibrate their findings, and reach a unified conclusion.

And in our case, it was this: Desmos Math 6–8 received perfect scores from EdReports and met expectations for every one of their gateways.

See for yourself

Request a free 30-day trial today!

IM 6–8 Math™ and Illustrative Mathematics® are trademarks of Illustrative Mathematics, which is not affiliated with Amplify. Amplify is not an IM Certified Partner. EdReports and associated marks and logos are trademarks of EdReports.org, Inc.

EdReports.org is an independent nonprofit designed to improve K–12 education. Among other things, its expert reviews help equip teachers with the highest-quality instructional materials.

Introducing our 2023 Science of Reading Star Award finalists!

Roll out the red carpet and shine those spotlights—it’s time to meet the 25 finalists for our 2023 Science of Reading Star Awards!

These educators and leaders help light the way for the next generation. They’ve implemented Science of Reading principles and guided their students toward lifelong literacy. They’ve demonstrated expert change management and professional development. Get ready to meet some of the brightest minds in education as we celebrate their achievements and see what makes them truly stellar!

Join our virtual event and awards program on May 23.

But first…meet our 2023 finalists! Below, you’ll hear from the nominees themselves, as well as the colleagues who nominated them, about what makes them stars.

The Changemaker Award

For exemplary leadership in guiding a district through a shift to the Science of Reading.

And the finalists are…

Heather Campbell
Learning Coach, Sunset Elementary, Washington County District, UT
Why she’s a star: “Heather’s philosophy that all students can learn to read if given proper instruction has changed the data. Our school made the change and the data is showing our students are thriving.” —Shelli Campbell, Learning Coach

Javonna Mack
Lead Content Teacher, Caddo Parish School, LA
Why she’s a star: “Whether working with students or teachers, Mrs. Mack keeps best practices grounded in the Science of Reading at the forefront. She constantly strives to build teachers’ expertise in teaching students to read through content-rich professional learning communities, often on Saturdays or after the workday has ended.” —Shannon Southwell, Lead Content Teacher

Aaron Jura
Reading Interventionist, Bloomingdale, IL School District
Why he’s a star: “Aaron has been the catalyst for our entire district embracing this shift to the Science of Reading, and we are just at the beginning of this amazing journey.” —Nicole Gabany, Reading Interventionist

Nicole Peterson
Director of PreK–8 Education, Sampson County Schools, NC
Why she’s a star: “She has created, initiated, implemented, monitored, evaluated, and adjusted processes and systems to ensure that teachers have access to resources, training, materials, and professional development to ensure that all students gain equitable access to high-quality, evidence-based instruction.” —Matthew McLean, Director, PreK–8th Grade Education

Virginia Quinn-Mooney
Teacher, Northville Elementary School, CT
Why she’s a star: “Virginia has gone from one person with a personal commitment to advancing her literacy knowledge. She has now impacted countless educators, parents, etc., with her tenacity and learning journey.” —Nicole Gregory, Teacher

The Data Dynamo Award

For commendable use of data to align a literacy system and maximize student achievement

Shennoy Barnett
Kindergarten Teacher, South Smithfield Elementary, NC
Why she’s a star: “My objective is to help as many children as I can become fluent readers and critical thinkers. As a literacy specialist here for just four months, I made great strides with literacy with my students.” —Shennoy Barnett, Kindergarten Teacher

Anne Elizabeth Carter
Kindergarten Teacher, Wake County District, NC
Why she’s a star: “Through systematic and explicit phonics instruction as well as targeted language comprehension instruction—using texts that incorporate science and social studies content as well as build knowledge systematically—my kiddos were TRULY learning how to read accurately and fluently.” —David Gaudet, Principal

Bethani Ploegstra
Kindergarten Teacher, Union Colony Elementary, CO
Why she’s a star: “She takes data from mCLASS® DIBELS®, Lexia, and SchoolPace (part of our reading curriculum), as well as formative feedback from what she hears and sees students doing daily in the classroom, to immediately adjust what she presents next to students, whether individually, in small groups, or whole class.” —Mandy Bailey, Assistant Principal

The Knowledge Builder Award

For showing the world that the Science of Reading is more than just phonics, and empowers students with knowledge from elementary to middle school

Corey Beil
Instructional Interventionist, Quakertown Community School District, PA
Why he’s a star: “He incorporated literacy into his daily math instruction by providing our students with opportunities to understand and connect with the content more deeply. Our students were exposed to practicing literacy concepts while expanding their mathematical knowledge and foundational understanding.” —Julianne Pennabaker, Teacher

Kim Smaw
Principal, Rosalyn Yalow Charter School, NY
Why she’s a star: “She was able to persuade the learning community to adopt the Science of Reading, firmly convincing them that this curriculum could empower students to gain rich learning experiences.” —Deirdre Frost, Reading Intervention Specialist

Angie Dutton
Instructional Coach, Onslow County Schools, NC
Why she’s a star: “Her positive attitude about the Science of Reading is contagious and is most likely why other educators feel comfortable reaching out to her for questions and guidance.” —Stacey Horne, Instructional Coach

Nicole Brodie
ELA Grade 7 Teacher, Long Middle School, GA
Why she’s a star: “She encourages her students to use their [voices] for change and impact and supports them in their learning process academically, [socially, and emotionally].”
—Renee Dawson, Grade 7 English Language Arts Teacher

The Intervention Innovator Award

For admirable use of intervention strategies to get at-risk readers back on track

Suzanne Maddox
RTI Teacher, Robertson County Schools, TN
Why she’s a star: “Mrs. Maddox reviewed individual student data, worked with teachers, and began using CKLA Skills and the intervention materials provided with this curriculum to continue a sounds-first approach to meeting the individual needs of students.” —Brooke Callis, RTI Teacher

Sara Thornton
Reading Interventionist, Senior Team Lead, Schmitt Elementary, CO
Why she’s a star: “Sara’s enthusiasm for and dedication to her work has been an inspiration to all involved and has resulted in a successful transition to the Science of Reading—as evidenced by our students’ amazing academic growth!” —Hayley Gunter, Reading Interventionist, Senior Team Lead

Markaya Aga
Reading Interventionist, Merit Academy, CO
Why she’s a star: “Since she has come on board at our school, the mindset around literacy and the growth of our programming [has improved] ten-fold. We need more educators like Markaya!” —Allison Hanson, Reading Interventionist

The Language Luminary Award

For outstanding success in developing the skills and strengths of emergent bilingual students

Wanda Ramirez
Grade 2 Teacher, El Sol Science and Arts Academy, CA
Why she’s a star: “We used to emphasize to students that what they know in one language cannot be used in the other language. Now, as a dual-immersion educator, I have the opportunity to change that mindset, teach my students to embrace their native [language], and empower them to use their entire linguistic ability. It’s a very powerful thing to be able to do.” —Wanda Ramirez, Grade 2 Teacher

Esmeralda Martinez
Kindergarten Teacher, Compass Community Schools, TN
Why she’s a star: “She has consistently worked on improving her teaching methods, tried new ways to engage the class, and worked diligently to support all of our students.” —Rachel, Marinari, Teacher

Christine Black
ESL Teacher, North Dover Elementary School, NJ
Why she’s a star: “We have a rapidly expanding ESL population, and Mrs. Black works tirelessly to ensure that her students are expanding their ELA skills in accordance with the major tenets of the Science of Reading.” —Dawn Gawalis, ESL Teacher

Rookie of the Year Award

For showing the world that the Science of Reading is more than just phonics, and empowers students with knowledge from elementary to middle school

Caitlyn Cockram
Teacher, Patrick County Schools, VA
Why she’s a star: “We have offered professional development in vocabulary and implementing SOR strategies, and Caitlyn is always one of the first teachers to sign up. She is dedicated to improving student achievement through research and evidence-based practices.” —Callie Wheeler, Teacher

Andrea Mason
Academic Interventionist, County Line Elementary School, GA
Why she’s a star: “Making the shift from balanced literacy to the Science of Reading hasn’t always been easy. But I continue to research and implement these best practices with my students because I can see that they are now on a path to becoming strong readers.” —Jennifer Ezell, Academic Interventionist

Mallory Pendergast
Phonics Teacher, Literacy Interventionist, Circle City Prep, IN
Why she’s a star: “As a kindergarten teacher, she led 100% of her scholars to be reading on grade level in the first quarter and maintained that momentum through the first semester.” —Sami Hyde, Senior Instructional Coach

ESSER Ace Award

For notable and innovative use of stimulus funds to help kids rediscover the joy of reading

Stephanie Hurst
District Literacy Specialist, Maple Avenue Elementary, NH
Why she’s a star: “She is also a voice on the utilization of [the] ESSER Fund—using the distribution of funds per federal protocol to ensure that the district’s lowest-performing schools have access to quality instructional materials and professional development all grounded in the Science of Reading.” —Mark Blount, K–12 Literacy Specialist

Callie Wheeler and Sara Vernon
Instructional Coaches, Patrick County Schools, VA
Why Callie’s a star: “Mrs. Wheeler played a key role in creating a culture of literacy within our schools, where the Science of Reading is central to the education of our students.” —Sara Vernon, Instructional Coach
Why Sara’s a star: “Sara has worked tirelessly to make the shift from the vision that was grounded in balanced literacy to one that is now making waves in Southwest Virginia with its Know Better, Do Better, Be Better approach to reading instruction.” —Callie Wheeler, Instructional Coach

Edie Bostic
Literacy Coach, Gallia Local, OH
“As a teacher, district Title I coordinator, elementary principal, and now district literacy coach, she continually champions the students under her care and is passionate about those students receiving the highest levels of instruction.” —Leslie Henry, Principal

Inspired? We are! Register to join our May 23 Science of Reading Star Awards virtual ceremony!

More to explore

Learn with and from other top-notch educators like you through our family of podcasts.

Listen to Science of Reading: The Podcast now

Instructional strategies for integrating literacy into your science classroom

Do you ever feel like science is the underdog in your school or district? You’re not alone.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, we know that science can overdeliver. That’s especially true when educators successfully integrate it with other subjects.

You can dive into the power of integrating science and literacy with the latest season of Science Connections. Here’s a sneak peek at what we explore in the first few episodes of Season 3 of our podcast.

Rooting for the underdog

In what sense is science seen as an underdog? Just ask Eric Banilower and Courtney Plumley of Horizon Research, a consulting firm that supports educational improvement and policy development. Host Eric Cross interviews them in Season 3, Episode 1.

As you know, an underdog is generally a weaker or less favored person or entity. Banilower and Plumley find that science instruction often fits that mold.

One thing they found: elementary school teachers’ schedules allow for less instruction of science than math and ELA. They also note that when there’s a break in routine—a special assembly or early dismissal—science is often “the first thing to go,” says Plumley.

They also note that instructors (like many others) are often expected to design their own curriculum.

The conversation offers some solutions for shifting these practices, as well as supporting science instructors in general.

“You don’t ask doctors to develop new treatments and tests. Their job is to get to know their patient, assess what’s going on, and then use research-based methods to develop a plan of action. That analogy [suggests] a scalable approach for raising…the quality of science education,” Banilower says.

What is that approach? According to Banilower, “Giving teachers research-based, high-quality instructional materials that they can use to meet the needs of their students would allow them to focus on getting to know their students, seeing their strengths, [finding areas where they have] room for growth, and…help[ing] those students progress.”

The power of integrating science and literacy into the science classroom

Science does not need to stay in a silo. As we illuminate in Episodes 2 and 3, bringing literacy work into the science classroom can supercharge students’ work in both. (We also explore the topic in this blog post.)

“We know we need to dramatically improve literacy rates in this country, and as we’ll show in the coming episodes, science can be a key ally in that goal,” says our host, Eric Cross.

It goes the other way, too. Language development and literacy instruction can support science. “Win-win, folks,” says Cross.

In Episode 2, senior science educator Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep described how bilingual and multilingual students in her school accelerated their English speaking and learning when they were excited to discuss science phenomena.

Indeed, she notes, the NGSS provides rich linguistic opportunities for students. We used to talk about language in science as all technical, but that’s changed. “Language is now developed through the science learning experiences,” says Gomez Zwiep.

Two key approaches you can use:

  • Think of science lessons as a narrative. Gomez Zwiep suggests you ask yourself, “What’s the story arc of my science lesson? How are the science ideas building over time?”
  • Welcome language that’s comfortable and conversational for your students.  “This expansion of language, including non-standard dialects and even home language, is really important for letting students bring their whole selves into the classroom,” she says.

More ways to enhance literacy in science 

Don’t worry—you don’t need to take a second job. “It’s not that you have to become a reading specialist to integrate literacy into science,” says Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University. “It’s how our brains work.”

It’s also how science works. “Science teachers and scientists do a lot of reading, writing, speaking, and listening and viewing. They use the five literacy processes all the time,” says Fisher, our guest on Episode 3.

Some strategies Fisher offers:

  • Invite multiple aspects of literacy. Think: What role do speaking, listening, reading, writing, and viewing, play in your class? Provide opportunities for students to do those things each time you meet with them.
  • Read challenging texts. “Science is an ideal place to get students reading things that are hard for them. Doses of struggle are good for our brains,” Fisher says. “Complex texts that don’t give up their meanings easily allow students to reread the text, mark it, talk to peers about it, and answer questions with their groups.”
  • Get them writing, even in short bursts. “Writing is thinking,” he says. “While you are writing, your brain cannot do anything else.” So if your students understand a given concept, have them write about it.

And that’s just the beginning. Tune in—and stay tuned—for more strategies for encouraging literacy integration in a science classroom.

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The Reading Rope: Breaking it all down

What do pipe cleaners have to do with learning to read?

In the late 1990s, reading and literacy expert Hollis Scarborough, Ph. D., used pipe cleaners to create a model of the intertwined skills that make up the process of learning to read.

That model is the iconic Reading Rope, the visualization that helps us understand the essential strands of reading and how they work together.

In this post, we’ll examine the components of the Rope both individually and together, then explore how the Rope aligns with the Science of Reading and the five foundational reading skills.

What is the Reading Rope?

The human brain is wired to do many things, but reading is not one of them. The brain does not automatically know that certain marks on a page or screen are designed to represent sounds, or meaning. That’s why we have to teach reading, explicitly and systematically.

And when we teach reading using what science—the Science of Reading—tells us, the brain wires itself to start recognizing and understanding those letters, syllables, and words.

The Reading Rope provides a visual representation of that process and all its essential, interrelated components.

Why is the Reading Rope important for the Science of Reading?

The Reading Rope emphasizes the need for a comprehensive, deliberate approach to reading instruction. It recognizes that reading is not a singular skill, but rather a set of interwoven processes.

By understanding and addressing each of these processes (known in the Rope as strands), educators can provide the targeted instruction that helps readers succeed.

How does the Simple View of Reading connect to the Reading Rope?

One of the research-based frameworks used in the Science of Reading is the Simple View of Reading. 

According to the Simple View, two cognitive capacities are required for proficient reading: (1) word recognition and (2) language comprehension. 

“Reading comprehension is the product, not the sum, of those two components. If one of them is zero, then overall reading ability is going to be zero,” says Jane Oakhill, Ph.D., professor of experimental psychology at the University of Sussex.

Those two skills make up the two meta-strands of the Rope. But, as Oakhill explains further on her episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, each strand contains its own subset of distinct skills and processes.

What are the strands of the Reading Rope?

Let’s take a look:

  1. Word recognition encompasses the ability to accurately and swiftly decode printed words. Phonological awareness, phonics, and sight word recognition contribute to this strand.
    1. Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) within spoken words. It includes skills such as identifying rhymes, segmenting words into syllables, and manipulating sounds within words. Phonological awareness provides the foundation for phonics instruction.
    2. Phonics describes the systematic relationship between letters and the sounds they represent. It includes understanding letter-sound correspondences, decoding unfamiliar words by applying sound-symbol relationships, and blending sounds to form words. Phonics instruction gives students the tools to decode printed words.
    3. Sight word recognition is the ability to recognize and read words automatically, without decoding. Building a repertoire of sight words boosts fluency.
  2. Language comprehension is the understanding of spoken and written language, including vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and the ability to make inferences and draw conclusions. Language comprehension allows readers to extract meaning from text.
    1. Vocabulary refers to the words one knows and understands, both orally and in writing. A robust vocabulary enhances comprehension and communication.
    2. Grammar and syntax are the rules and structures that govern language. Understanding and applying grammatical rules helps students comprehend and construct sentences, enhancing their ability to make meaning from text.
    3. Inference and conclusion skills describe the abilities of drawing conclusions, making predictions, and deriving implicit meaning. These skills require readers to combine their background knowledge with information in the text to make guesses and reach conclusions.

How do the strands combine to form a process? 

These strands are interconnected and mutually supportive. Strong word recognition skills enable efficient decoding, which frees up cognitive resources for language comprehension. Similarly, robust language comprehension skills facilitate deeper word understanding and contextualized reading.

That’s how the Rope represents not just the elements of learning to read, but also the process toward fluency. As students progress, their word recognition becomes increasingly automatic, and their language comprehension becomes increasingly strategic.

  • In the word recognition strand, readers focus on decoding individual words, relying on phonological awareness and phonics. With practice and instruction, word recognition becomes more efficient and effortless. This automaticity frees up cognitive resources for comprehension and higher-level thinking.
  • In the language comprehension strand, readers learn to engage actively with the text, ask questions, make connections and predictions, and monitor understanding. Strategic readers use comprehension strategies—summarizing, visualizing, self-questioning, and more—to deepen their understanding of what’s on the page. 

Those two processes are intertwined and interdependent. The Rope shows that, as readers progress, they get better at combining automatic word recognition with strategic reading skills.

They can effortlessly recognize words, allowing them to focus on comprehending the text and performing higher-level thinking. By strategically applying language comprehension skills, readers construct meaning, make connections, and analyze the text.

This combination of automatic and strategic skills supports reading and facilitates engagement with more complex and challenging texts.

How does the Rope relate to the five foundational skills of reading? 

The Rope is made of a lot more than the five foundational skills of reading (phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension). How does it all add up?

While the Reading Rope does not explicitly mention these five skills as a distinct set, the strands do align with them. Here’s how:

  1. Phonological awareness (and phonemic awareness) is represented in the Rope’s word recognition strand.
  2. Phonics is also a critical aspect of word recognition.
  3. Fluency—often considered a combination of accuracy, rate, and prosody—is not represented as its own strand, but it’s closely related to the word recognition strand. As students develop automaticity in word recognition, their reading fluency improves.
  4. Vocabulary aligns with the language comprehension strand. The development of a robust vocabulary enhances reading comprehension by enabling students to understand and infer the meaning of words encountered in the text.
  5. Comprehension is built into the language comprehension strand. It includes skills such as understanding sentence structure, making inferences, drawing conclusions, and connecting prior knowledge. These skills help the reader get meaning from the text and connect to higher-level thinking.

The Reading Rope is a game-changing tool, clarifying a complex process and helping teachers target instruction. When the strands come together, they weave the strongest possible foundation for student reading success.

The #1 foundational skill for the Science of Reading

The first of five: Phonemic and phonological awareness

Phonemic awareness and phonological awareness—together, they’re the first of the five foundational reading skills articulated by the Science of Reading. 

The two are intertwined, but not interchangeable. Even though they combine to form one skill, they have distinct meanings and play different roles in helping children become proficient readers.

 In the first of this five-part series on foundational skills, we’ll look at where the path to literacy begins—and why it all starts with sounds. 

What the Science of Reading tells us about the brain

First, an essential reminder: Our brains are not hard-wired for reading. They do not intrinsically know that marks on a page are designed to represent sounds, or meaning. That’s why reading must be taught, explicitly and systematically. 

But when we teach reading using what science tells us, the brain wires itself to start recognizing those letters, syllables, and words.  

“Reading comes through building new neural pathways,” says Alice Wiggins, vice president of instructional design and products at UnboundEd and our guest on Season 3, Episode 2 of Science of Reading: The Podcast. “That’s what happens,” she says, “when we’re taught to read.”  

Why it starts with sound

The Simple View of Reading establishes that if you can’t decode the symbols (letters and combinations of letters) that make up a sentence, you can’t read it—even if you know the language in which it’s written.

And when it comes to spoken language, those symbols were created to capture sounds. 

“Teaching kids that letters represent the sounds in speech has the most potent logic, because written language was invented to represent speech,” says Dr. Louisa Moats, an expert on how children learn to read and our guest on Season 3, Episode 3 of Science of Reading: The Podcast. “We don’t learn to talk from reading. We already know how to talk. We have to learn this system that is mapped onto speech.”

Phonemic awareness and phonological awareness form the building blocks for understanding the relationship between sounds and letters, paving the way for successful reading acquisition.

To understand how important they are, look no further than the Reading Rope, a visual representation of the key skills involved in reading. The strands of the rope represent various interconnected components, including phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness are positioned as the foundational strands.

To understand why, we’ll need to get more specific.

What is phonemic awareness?

Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that make up words. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.

Phonemic awareness plays a vital role in the early stages of reading. By recognizing and manipulating individual sounds within spoken words, kids come to understand how sounds combine to form words.

This ability to segment and blend sounds lays the foundation for phonics, and the ability to decode and read unfamiliar words.

What is phonological awareness?

Phonological awareness encompasses a range of skills that go beyond manipulating individual phonemes. It includes abilities such as recognizing and manipulating larger units of sound, such as syllables, rhymes, onset and rime, and even entire words. It involves tasks like clapping out the syllables in a word, identifying words that rhyme, recognizing words with the same initial sound, and blending or segmenting words into syllables.

This awareness of larger sound units enhances readers’ ability to identify and manipulate individual phonemes. That, in turn, sets the stage for word recognition and decoding.

Phonology and equality

Alice Wiggins notes that just as reading skills start with sound, so does equality. It’s important to acknowledge that students speak and are exposed to a wide variety of pronunciations of English letters and words.

“Being explicit and systematic attends to those differences for all students,” she says. 

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Invest in high-quality professional development

Amplify’s professional development provides a variety of learning experiences over multiple years to incrementally develop and apply the knowledge and skills needed for effective and self-sustaining implementation.

Gain insights into effective instructional techniques, and develop a deeper understanding of your Amplify program(s) by investing in professional development.

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The foundation for long-lasting and sustainable change

Partner with members of our professional learning team to plan long-lasting and sustainable change for your school or district. Change is more likely to stick and get results with deliberate planning. We can support your through this journey to drive your professional improvement, enrich your instructional practice, and increase student impact.

Professional learning journey

Every school and district is unique. That’s why we offer flexible delivery options to best meet your specific needs and objectives.

Our professional development programs come in packages or individual sessions, available both on-site and virtually, to help you get the most out of your Amplify program(s).

You can also customize your learning experience by adding extra sessions, such as Science of Reading, supporting multiliterate learners, and a problem-based approach to math, to build on your base package.

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Prepare
Begin
Practice
Advance
Prepare learning experiences will help shift literacy and math instruction and deepen understanding of research-based practices to support new program implementation. Program-aligned packages will support those who are new to Amplify’s programs. You’ll build the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to begin teaching with your Amplify program(s).

Program-aligned packages will support those who have experience using Amplify’s programs. You’ll refine instructional skills, expand knowledge of your Amplify program(s), and explore more advanced instructional strategies.

Program-aligned offerings will support advanced implementation to deepen understanding of content and pedagogy and build-in house capacity to support a robust, sustainable implementation.

Multi-program, suite packages

Core program packages

Literacy

  • Amplify CKLA
  • Amplify Caminos
  • Amplify ELA

STEM

  • Amplify Math
  • Amplify Desmos Math (K–12)
  • Amplify Science

 

 
 

Intervention program sessions

  • Boost Reading
  • Boost Lectura
  • Boost Close Reading
  • Boost Math

Assessment program packages

  • mCLASS with DIBELS® 8th Edition
  • mCLASS Lectura
  • mCLASS Math

mCLASS Intervention K–6 program sessions

 

 

Empower teachers to continuously improve

Professional development helps teachers stay motivated and inspired to grow professionally. Demonstrate your commitment to your staff by empowering them with professional development packages that include on-site or virtual Launch, Strengthen, or Coach sessions, all of which will orient you and your team to the full features of Amplify programs.

You can also personalize your learning experience by adding enhancement sessions to base packages.

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Launch

On-site and virtual Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation. Self-paced, online courses are also available for select Amplify programs and include an on-demand subscription for 12-months.

After learning about the program’s foundational principles and key features, you’ll practice administering it within a collaborative environment.

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Strengthen

On-site and virtual Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of the program. Session offerings are targeted and meant to take your practice—and your students’ learning—to the next level.

Offered as part of core packages, as well as enhancements, Strengthen sessions are intended to effectively address your students’ needs. Examples include:

  • A focus on data analysis.
  • Examining student writing.
  • Targeted intervention instruction.
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Coach

On-site and virtual Coach sessions are tailored to elevate instructional practices and meet the unique needs of teachers and/or leaders.

Partner with an Amplify coach who will support you in planning customized sessions leveraging our menu of supports, which can include:

  • Lesson modeling by an Amplify facilitator.
  • Classroom observations and debriefs.
  • Grade-level planning.

Commit to sustainable change for long-term impact

Learning may ebb and flow between phases depending on your teachers’ and leaders’ needs, experiences, and professional goals. Amplify professional development aims to continually grow, develop, and refine instructional practices to support student learning and achievement.

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Frequently asked questions

We value your partnership and aim to provide you with the highest quality learning experiences. Check out our frequently asked PD questions below, along with responses.

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Additional learning

Once you become an Amplify customer, you’ll have access to many opportunities to continue learning how to get the most out of your Amplify program(s).

To get a sense of our support, check out some of our free resources:

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Biliteracy supports

Facilitated in both English and Spanish, specialized biliteracy sessions should be scheduled for teachers using both curricula and/or assessments. Sessions are available to support the use of both Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos core programs or mCLASSⓇ DIBELSⓇ 8th Edition and Lectura assessment programs. Substitute a biliteracy session for the 6-hour initial training in your package, or add these sessions on to your package for your biliteracy teachers.

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Community of collaboration

Connect with fellow Science of Reading or science advocates in one of our public Facebook groups. Join a community or tune into one of our podcasts today:

Amplify customers can join our exclusive, program-specific Facebook communities to ask pedagogical questions, share Amplify teaching hacks, and more!

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Strengthening critical thinking with a content-first approach: How Amplify CKLA is closing gaps in an elementary classroom

In my first-grade classroom, we’ve been studying early world civilizations. My students and I have pretended to hop in our time machines and travel back—first to ancient Mesopotamia, then to ancient Egypt. We’ve written our names on clay tablets in cuneiform and learned what it means for a religion to be polytheistic. We’ve compared and contrasted early farming systems and places of worship. As I prepared to read aloud another lesson a few days ago, I mentioned to the class that it was the eleventh lesson in the unit of study, prompting widened eyes and a chorus of “Already!?”

I teach eighteen six- and seven-year olds in a Title I school, where half of the students are low-income, 75% are non-white, and over half are multilingual/English learners or speak another language at home. In my job, I’m honored to empower students who schools and society have not always served well. I became a teacher to help end that inequity—to close the knowledge gap and ensure that low-income, non-white, and immigrant children receive the tools they need to build a bright future. A growing body of research tells us that a strong base of content knowledge is essential for student growth and success in literacy. We also know that students who come from low-income backgrounds are less likely to come to school possessing the academic background knowledge of their peers, presumably because they have more limited opportunities to come across this type of knowledge at home. For this reason, I’m grateful that around a year and a half ago, my district adopted the knowledge-based literacy curriculum CKLA.

Scenes from a knowledge-based curriculum

What does knowledge-based learning look like in practice? Here’s one powerful example of how a knowledge-forward lesson helped my students succeed in practicing an important literacy skill. We were reading about Howard Carter, the British archaeologist who wanted to locate Tutenkhaman’s tomb. The lesson lends itself well to one of our state’s curriculum standards for the quarter: to make and confirm predictions about nonfiction text. Part one of the Read-Aloud ends on a cliffhanger: After a years-long search with no success, encountering dead ends and tomb robbers, Carter uncovers a hidden door marked with a royal seal.

“A prediction,” I explained, “is a careful guess about what you think might happen, based on the clues you already know. Think about what you know from the story, and predict what Carter might find behind the door.” We quickly reviewed some of the main points as I scribed on chart paper: Carter had been searching for Tutenkhaman’s tomb for six years, pharaohs were often buried with treasure or gold, the door they found was in the last possible place to look in the Valley of the Kings. I handed out papers I’d prepared with sentence frames for students to record or dictate their ideas. We hadn’t yet spent much time this year explicitly practicing prediction-making—in fact, I wondered how many of my students even knew what the word prediction meant—but I could see the wheels already turning behind most of my students’ eyes as they wiggled with excitement, envisioning gold, ghosts, King Tut’s tomb, or a pile of bones.

“Maybe nothing,” one student—a six-year-old who speaks primarily Spanish at home—told me with a shrug as I helped him write down his ideas. “Maybe the tomb robbers took it all.”

How to improve critical thinking—with knowledge

Even though my students might or might not have been familiar with the literacy skill of making and confirming predictions, the rich and meaty Read-Aloud set them up for success. It was rife with topics of interest to many a six- or seven-year-old—exploration, tomb robbers, golden treasure, mummies—which kept them engaged. And it included plenty of details through which they could actually draw a meaningful inference about what Carter might have found. I had to explain only once that a prediction should be based on information you already have—not a random guess—and every one of my eighteen students successfully generated a plausible idea.

This is the magic of a knowledge-based curriculum. It levels gaps in learning by generating a rich, shared base of content knowledge that supports the development of key literacy skills. My students were successful in plausibly guessing what might happen next in the story because they had a strong grasp of the information about Howard Carter. I might have chosen to teach an entire mini-lesson on prediction-making first and then asked my students to apply the skill to a less thoughtfully selected text, or to an independently selected book on their own, but if they weren’t already familiar with the topics it covered, my guess is that they would have been far less successful.

The curriculum standards for literacy in both the Common Core and Virginia (my school’s state) emphasize critical thinking skills and specific comprehension strategies, such as inferencing, over content knowledge. This is understandable: Students must learn to make meaning of a text in front of them, not just read the words on the page. But as Natalie Wexler puts it, “The ability to think critically…is inextricably linked to how much knowledge you have about the situation at hand” (The Knowledge Gap, 39). How could my students make a prediction about a future event in a text if they didn’t understand the textual clues they were given in the first place? Especially given that students from low-income homes are likely to possess less background knowledge about the curriculum they will encounter in school, a focus on teaching skills in isolation can contribute to a far-from-level playing field.

Teaching “comprehension skills” first and then expecting students to apply them is common practice in the method of literacy instruction frequently referred to as balanced literacy. Though the conversation about literacy is, thankfully, moving toward a research-backed approach focused on the Science of Reading, we still have a long way to go. While student teaching during my education master’s program less than three years ago, I was encouraged to teach mini-lessons on topics such as “finding the main idea” and “using topic headings to understand,” which students would then practice with independently selected texts. This approach is not supported by research as a best practice—and it assumes a shared base of cultural knowledge. In that way, it entrenches inequality by privileging students who may already possess more background knowledge, allowing our most vulnerable learners to fall even further behind.

By contrast, a knowledge-based curriculum creates that base together, giving all students a better chance at success. My own experience confirms the research. CKLA empowers my students to take ownership of their learning, expand their vocabularies, make connections, and passionately engage. I’m grateful to use an evidence-based curriculum designed to ensure that every student—including those too often left behind by our schools and other institutions—can learn to read.

More to explore

Problem-based learning in Amplify Desmos Math

This program brings problem-based learning into the math classroom, with an approach proven to help students develop math reasoning and problem-solving skills—not to mention deep understanding, fluency, and comfort with all things math. 

Let’s take a closer look at problem-based learning in math, and at the contours of this exciting curriculum. 

How problem-based learning helps math students—and math teachers

When you learned math, you likely started out learning arithmetic then moved on to solving word problems. You might have learned formulas, then practiced using them to determine the volume of a prism or which train will arrive at what time. 

But life works differently. Sometimes we tackle the problem first, not the formula. When you get a new piece of technology—a phone, a TV, a computer—you might read the user guide, or you might just turn it on and try some things. 

If that second style sounds like you, that’s common—and it’s an example of learning through problem-solving. 

“It’s something we naturally do,” says Kristin Gray, executive director of Amplify’s math suite.  “We’ve had a phone before, so we would pick up this new phone and try doing things that we know worked before, and then we would experiment. Does it work the same on this phone? This bouncing between experience and explanation is the foundation of how we learn through problem-solving.”

What does that look like in the math classroom? 

Students tackling interesting problems, raising questions about the math required, receiving an explanation, and applying it back to the problem—just as in the example of new technology. 

“When we show students how to get the answer, we send the message that math is solely about answer-getting and learning processes. Answers are important, but we want to use problems to teach the math, not just teach students to get the answer,” says Gray. 

Learning through problem-solving can also engage more learners in math, says Gray. By influencing the way students (and teachers) think about what it means to know and do math, problem-based learning has the potential to shift the way they think of themselves as mathematicians.

“Students are naturally curious and like solving challenges and trying things in new ways, so that’s a great start,” says Gray. 

And understanding is motivating. It inspires perseverance and confidence. It supports making connections, not learning concepts in isolation. 

When students are given a new problem and are able to use prior knowledge to help solve it, that “promotes the development of autonomous learners,” says Gray. 

Supporting the brilliance of student thinking 

Our program combines interactive problem-based lessons with explicit instruction, reinforcement, and practice. Lessons build a strong foundation in procedural and fact fluency, deepen understanding of concepts, and enable students to apply learning to real-world tasks.

To learn more about how and why it all came together, watch the following video featuring Amplify Director of Project Management Christina Lee, Amplify Math advisor and Desmos user Fawn Nguyen, and Desmos Director of Research Dan Meyer.

Christina: Hi, I’m Christina, the product manager at Amplify working on our K–12 math program. As you may have heard by now, Desmos Classroom is joining Amplify. This includes all of teacher.desmos.com, including all of the free activities, the free activity builder, and the Desmos math curriculum. I have Fawn Nguyen and Dan Meyer here to answer a few questions about what’s going on. Thank you both for joining! 

The first question is to you, Dan. One thing every Desmos user is going to want to know is, will the Desmos calculators and activities on teacher.desmos.com stay free to use forever?

Dan: Yes, period. It’s an important question and an easy one to answer. Our commitment to users, from day one, has been [to] whatever you can use for free. Now we’re not going to make you pay for that. We know how hard it is as a teacher to build your practice on top of software that could disappear, and Amplify shares that commitment in a rock-solid way.

Christina: That’s great to hear! Fawn, can you tell us a little bit about what you love about teacher.desmos.com? Why should a teacher who’s never used [it] check it out?

Fawn: How do I love teacher teacher.desmos.com? Let me count the ways! There’s nothing like it out there that allows teachers to build lessons from scratch. What makes it unique? Well, there are lots of things that are unique about Desmos, but the screen-by-screen build is a standout for me. It allows me to interact with students prior to moving to the next screen. More importantly, the interaction among the students and the teacher dashboard is just brilliant. It lets me see the students’ responses, especially the graphical ones, in real time. I feel like it’s a built-in formative assessment [in] the lesson. And not surprisingly, the structures from the five math practices by Peg Smith are built-in there with the selecting, sequencing, and connecting.

Christina: Dan, why does it make sense for Amplify and Desmos to build one core math program for grades 6–12?

Dan: We’ve been traveling on separate parallel paths for a really long time and it makes a lot of sense for us to go farther together. For instance, we’ve both been building a core curriculum based on the Illustrative Mathematics curriculum. We have both been doing that using core Desmos technology. We both share an understanding of the complexity of teaching, the brilliance of student thinking, and so it makes sense for us to merge together. Desmos brings to the table a deep understanding of how technology can support student learning, and Amplify brings to the table an understanding of how systems support students at scale. So we bring a lot of commonalities and a lot of elements that both of us need from the other.

Image showing an educational digital platform called Amplify Math in collaboration with Desmos Classroom. The interface includes various features such as textbooks, problem-based learning activities, interactive graphs, and practice exercises.

Christina: Fawn, you’ve been an advisor on the Amplify Math curriculum focused on problem-solving. In what ways do you think this knitting together of the two programs will help make teaching through problem-solving easier for teachers?

Fawn: I actually knit, Christina! So I really like your description of the partnership as knitting together the two programs. It’s like taking two luxurious fibers, if I may say––ironically, luxurious but free, which describes literally nothing except Desmos––and weaving them together to create a gorgeous and functional design. I’m thinking about a sweater vest for Dan, he would look great in it! Amplify truly understands what problem-solving is, that it’s non-routine. And Amplify’s math curriculum has many great activities. However, when this task can only live on a printed page it’s hard for it to stay as a problem-solving task. What I mean is that it’s hard for students to unsee things. So when it’s on paper, you have to show all the cards and that ruins everything to me, frankly. But with Desmos again, with that screen-by-screen build and the pause and pace functions, they are designed so that the timing of teacher moves can happen. I think the timing is really important. And then problem-solving is about tinkering with ideas and testing conjectures, and Desmos is built for such. It invites you to play, it invites you to take risks, and it doesn’t shame you when you make a mistake. So ultimately, Desmos brings school mathematics, which Amplify writes, closer to what doing mathematics looks like.

Christina: Dan, one final question for you. What’s going to happen to the Desmos calculators now?

Dan: The Desmos calculators, like all the other technology as part of this deal, will remain free into perpetuity. They’ll get spun over into a new corporation, a public benefit corporation called Desmos Studio, where they’ll have a lot more focus from the people who work on it and a lot more resources to expand and develop and do that work.

Christina: Thank you, Dan. Thank you, Fawn. Thank you both. I’m really excited about this opportunity we have to build something special for teachers and students! For more information about Amplify Math and Desmos Classroom, and everything else we’ve got going on, please visit amplify.com/futureofmath.

From math lesson planning to long-term success

Amplify Desmos Math makes it easy for both teachers and students to make the shift to a problem-based approach by providing captivating activities, powerful teacher-facilitation tools, and lots of support for differentiation and practice.

Lessons start with warm-ups that tap into prior knowledge and move into problems that require collaboration to solve. Teachers monitor, engage, and ultimately synthesize student work into the main idea. There are also ample opportunities for practice and reflection. 

Amplify Desmos Math will be available for 2025–26 school year implementation. Interested districts can pilot the beta release starting fall 2024.

Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.