Core Knowledge Language Arts Program
The Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) Program includes two strands of instruction, and these strands correspond with the elements of reading isolated in the simple view of reading. The Skills Strand is meant to build students’ decoding skills, while the Listening and Learning Strand is meant to build students’ language comprehension ability by exposing them to vocabulary, concepts, and ideas through frequent reading aloud.
Skills Strand
The Skills Strand teaches the mechanics of reading–students are taught systematic and explicit phonics instruction as their primary tool for decoding written English. By the end of grade 2, students have learned all of the sound‐spelling correspondences in the English language and are able to decode written material they encounter. In addition to phonics, students also are taught spelling, grammar, and writing during the Skills Strand.
Listening and Learning Strand
The Listening and Learning Strand consists of a series of read‐alouds organized by topics (called domains), many of which are informational in nature. The goal of the Listening and Learning Strand is for students to acquire language competence through listening, specifically building a rich vocabulary, and broad knowledge in history and science by being exposed to carefully selected, sequenced, and coherent read‐alouds.
Listening and Learning Timeline 17-18
For more information on the Core Knowledge Language Arts Program, Please visit:
https://www.engageny.org/resource/kindergarten-english-language-arts
CKLA Skills Resources:
Below you will find PDF links for resources used to help students practice their phonics and literacy skills. Over the course of the program, students will be required to read CVC words as well as digraph words, and be able to identify all 35 Tricky Words by the end of the year. CKLA Unit 3-5 Overview has many CVC words students can practice reading. Please use these resources at home to help your student be even more successful in school!